Association of body mass index on time to fetal expulsion for individuals undergoing medication abortion over 13 weeks gestational duration.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the association of body mass index (BMI, kg/m) with time to fetal expulsion for individuals undergoing medication abortion over 13 weeks.

Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort study of singleton pregnancies undergoing medication abortion >13 weeks at a single academic medical center between 2020 and 2024. Our primary outcome was time to fetal expulsion.

Trends in interstate abortion travel to Oregon following the Dobbs court decision.

Objectives: This study describes how interstate travel for abortion to the state of Oregon changed following the Dobbs decision.

Study Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using vital statistics data from the Oregon Health Authority of all medical and surgical abortions between 2015 and 2023.

Results: Following the Dobbs decision, 14.

Differences between rural and urban residence in the detection and treatment of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Background: Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are common, serious complications of pregnancy. Disparities exist by race and income in the prevalence and treatment of these conditions, and overall treatment rates remain low. Outside of pregnancy, a small body of literature suggests that rural residency may contribute to higher rates of depression for those who identify as women.

Impact of the Dobbs decision on abortion services from a large tertiary center in Oregon.

Objectives: Evaluate the impact of the Dobbs vs Jackson decision on abortion care at an academic center in Oregon, a state with no legal restrictions on abortion.

Study Design: Electronic health records from patients who received an abortion at Oregon's largest tertiary hospital were utilized to compare the years before and after Dobbs.

Results: Monthly average abortions increased from 57.

Contraceptive services in Oregon's state-funded network during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: To understand how changes to in-person health care during the COVID pandemic impacted contraceptive use in Oregon's state-funded network.

Study Design: A retrospective cohort of 245,600 visits (virtual and in-person) among 70,295 women presenting to publicly funded family planning clinics in Oregon between January 2019 and June 2021. Data were abstracted from clinic records and restricted to visits of patients identifying as female, 12-51 years old, not using sterilization as a method.

Improving the precision of parallel registration by incorporating a priori information.

This paper presents an algorithm for the precise registration of optical wavefronts. A wavefront exceeding the spatial or dynamic measurement range of a wavefront sensor, e.g.

Association of 12-month contraceptive supply policy and months of oral contraception prescribed by obstetrics and gynecology resident physicians: an exploratory cross-sectional study.

Objective: This study sought to determine if there was a difference in the months of oral contraception prescribed by resident physicians living in U.S. states with a 12-month supply policy compared to resident physicians in states without a policy.

Iterative parallel registration of strongly misaligned wavefront segments.

The paper presents an algorithm for the precise registration of multiple wavefront segments containing large misalignment and phase differences. The measurement of a wavefront with huge dynamics or a large aperture size can be carried out in multiple Shack-Hartmann sensor measurements of segments of the wavefront. The registration algorithm is flexible with respect to the shape of the wavefront and can reconstruct a plane as well as divergent wavefronts, making it suitable for freeform wavefronts.

Fast, precise, and shape-flexible registration of wavefronts.

A fast and precise algorithm for wavefront reconstruction by the registration of wavefront segments is presented. If the wavefront exceeds the sensor aperture or the dynamic range of the sensor, a Shack-Hartmann sensor can measure only segments of an optical wavefront. The algorithm registers the wavefront segments in parallel, where they are simultaneously transformed to minimize their overlap mismatch for precise reconstruction of the entire wavefront.

Use of postpartum contraception during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To assess how use of postpartum contraception (PPC) changed during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Methods: Billing and coding data from a single urban institution (n = 1797) were used to compare use of PPC in patients who delivered from March to June 2020 (COVID Cohort, n = 927) and from March to June 2019 (Comparison Cohort, n = 895). χ and multivariable logistic regression models assessed relationships between cohorts, use of contraception, and interactions with postpartum visits and race/ethnicity.

Robust wavefront segment registration based on a parallel approach.

This paper presents a robust registration algorithm for wavefront reconstruction from multiple partial measurements. Wavefronts exceeding the dynamic range or size of the Shack-Hartmann sensor can be measured as a set of segments. The wavefront is reconstructed by parallel registration of these wavefront segments, enabling compensation for sensor misalignment as well as for phase differences.

Confocal chromatic sensor with an actively tilted lens for 3D measurement.

Confocal chromatic displacement sensors are versatile and precise sensors for measuring the distance to a single point. In order to obtain a 3D measurement device, this paper presents an integrated scanning sensor design that employs a tilting lens mechanism for manipulating the light path of the sensor. The optical implications of the design are analytically modeled and simulated.

Current evidence of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in chronic Achilles tendinopathy.

Chronic Achilles tendinopathy has been described as the most common overuse injury in sports medicine. Several treatment modalities such as activity modification, heel lifts, arch supports, stretching exercises, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, and eccentric loading are known as standard treatment mostly without proven evidence. After failed conservative therapy, invasive treatment may be considered.

Characterization of the Anopheles gambiae octopamine receptor and discovery of potential agonists and antagonists using a combined computational-experimental approach.

Background: Octopamine receptors (OARs) perform key functions in the biological pathways of primarily invertebrates, making this class of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) a potentially good target for insecticides. However, the lack of structural and experimental data for this insect-essential GPCR family has promoted the development of homology models that are good representations of their biological equivalents for in silico screening of small molecules.

Methods: Two Anopheles gambiae OARs were cloned, analysed and functionally characterized using a heterologous cell reporter system.

A robotic needle-positioning and guidance system for CT-guided puncture: Ex vivo results.

Purpose: To test the feasibility of a robotic needle-guidance platform during CT-guided puncture ex vivo.

Material And Methods: Thin copper wires inserted into a torso phantom served as targets. The phantom was placed on a carbon plate and the robot-positioning unit (RPU) of the guidance platform (iSYS Medizintechnik GmbH, Kitzbuehel, Austria) was attached.

[Chondrocalcinosis. Clinical impact of intra-articular calcium phosphate crystals].

Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) crystals are known to cause acute attacks of pseudogout in joints but crystal deposition has also been reported to be associated with osteoarthritis (OA). Aside from CPPD crystals, basic calcium phosphates (BCPs), consisting of carbonate-substituted hydroxyapatite (HA), tricalcium phosphate and octacalcium phosphate, have been found in synovial fluid, synovium and cartilage of patients with OA. Although CPPD crystals have been found to be associated with OA and are an important factor in joint disease, this has also recently been associated with a genetic defect.

Inhibition of smooth muscle cell proliferation by adiponectin requires proteolytic conversion to its globular form.

Accelerated atherosclerosis is the primary cardiovascular manifestation of diabetes and correlates inversely with levels of circulating adiponectin, an anti-atherosclerotic adipokine that declines in diabetes. We therefore initiated a study to examine the mechanisms by which adiponectin, a hormone released from adipose tissue, influences the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Addition of adiponectin to quiescent porcine coronary artery SMCs increased both protein and DNA synthesis and concurrently activated ERK1/2 and Akt.

High diagnostic value of synovial biopsy in periprosthetic joint infection of the hip.

Background: The role of the synovial biopsy in the preoperative diagnosis of a periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) of the hip has not been clearly defined.

Questions/purposes: We asked whether the value of a biopsy for a PJI is greater than that of aspiration and C-reactive protein (CRP).

Methods: Before revision in 100 hip endoprostheses, we obtained CRP values, aspirated the joint, and obtained five synovial biopsy samples for bacteriologic analysis and five for histologic analysis.

Decreased levels of nucleotide pyrophosphatase phosphodiesterase 1 are associated with cartilage calcification in osteoarthritis and trigger osteoarthritic changes in mice.

Objective: To analyse the function of nucleotide pyrophosphatase phosphodiesterase (NPP1), a member of the pyrophosphate pathway, in osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: mRNA expression of NPP1, ANK ankylosing protein and tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase was assessed by quantitative PCR. NPP1 protein levels were analysed in mouse and human cartilage samples.

Does the FDA have regulatory authority over adult autologous stem cell therapies? 21 CFR 1271 and the emperor's new clothes.

FDA has recently asserted that many autologous cell therapies once considered the practice of medicine are in fact drugs. These changes began with the creation of new sections of 21 CFR 1271 and a subsequent one word change where the FDA, without public commentary, altered a single word in its regulatory language regarding cell and tissue based therapies that asserted the authority to classify autologous tissue as drugs. The bright line between medical care and drug production can be delineated in many ways, but a simple metric that defines the dichotomy is the consent status of the patient.

Modulation of bovine chondrocyte metabolism by free periosteal grafts in vitro.

Purpose: Autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) is an established method in cartilage repair. Although long-term results show durable repair of isolated cartilage defects, some problems still remain. Since hypertrophy of the transplanted periosteum is a common problem, alternatives for periosteum are in demand.

Is cosmetic platelet-rich plasma a drug to be regulated by the Food and Drug Administration?

In the area of cosmetic dermatology, some physicians have been injecting activated platelet-rich plasma into the face to promote cosmesis or using it to enhance fat grafts. However, subtle changes to the federal drug code (21 CFR 1271.1) made in 2004, when applied to activated PRP, purport to make this autologous substance a federally regulated drug requiring an extensive and costly Biologics License Application.

Amyloid deposition in rheumatoid arthritis of the hip.

The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of amyloid deposition in patients with end-stage rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of the hip. The impact on the clinical situation and the RA severity regarding the inflammation was analyzed. Fifty patients with RA who consecutively underwent total hip replacement were prospectively evaluated.