Transjugular antegrade transvenous obliteration, with and without portal decompression, for management of rectal variceal hemorrhage.

Purpose: To report antegrade transvenous obliteration, with or without concurrent portosystemic shunt creation, for the treatment of hemorrhagic rectal varices.

Materials And Methods: Eight patients, including five (62.5%) females and three (37.

A systematic literature review of voluntary behaviour change approaches in single use plastic reduction.

Plastic waste is a leading contributor to climate change due to its build up in landfill and oceans, releasing harmful greenhouse gases and causing harm to ecosystems. The past decade has seen a rise in the number of policies and legislative regulations surrounding the use of single-use plastics (SUP). Such measures are needed and have shown effectiveness in the reduction of SUP's.

COMPARING FUNCTIONAL AND VASCULAR LAYER OUTCOMES OF LASER PHOTOCOAGULATION VERSUS SUBTHRESHOLD MICROPULSE LASER FOR DIABETIC MACULAR EDEMA: An OCT-Angiography Study.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of conventional laser and subthreshold micropulse laser (SML) in treating diabetic macular edema in terms of functional outcomes and changes in quantitative metrics for the retinal capillary and choriocapillary vascular layers.

Methods: Fifty-two eyes from 52 patients with treatment-naive, clinically significant macular edema were randomly assigned to the conventional laser group or SML group in a 1:1 ratio. Best-corrected visual acuity, central macular thickness (CMT), and optical coherence tomography angiography scans were measured at baseline, 1, 3, and 6 months after treatment.

Acute postoperative endophthalmitis after cataract operation: result of early vitrectomy within 24 hours of presentation.

Objectives: To evaluate result of early pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) within 24 hours of presentation for acute postoperative endophthalmitis after cataract operation, and to determine factors that predict visual outcome.

Methods: Consecutive patients who developed acute postoperative endophthalmitis within 6 weeks after cataract operation were reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups for analysis: (1) those receiving PPV within 24 hours of presentation (early PPV group), and (2) those receiving initial intravitreal antibiotics only without PPV within 24 hours of presentation (IVA group).

The Application and Outcome Evaluation of a Social Marketing Intervention to Increase Seasonal Influenza Vaccination among University Students.

Seasonal flu vaccination rates among university students are exceedingly low and research focused on voluntarily influencing vaccination uptake is limited. This study outlines the development, implementation, and evaluation of a theory-driven social marketing vaccination intervention following the co-create-build-engage (CBE) framework. This study drew upon a pre-intervention segmentation study and co-created interventions targeted at receptive segments.

Increasing Seasonal Influenza Vaccination among University Students: A Systematic Review of Programs Using a Social Marketing Perspective.

The health and economic consequences of seasonal influenza present great costs to communities. Promoting voluntary uptake of the seasonal influenza vaccine among university students, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, can deliver protective effects for both individuals and the wider community. Vaccine uptake will be greatest when more of the social marketing benchmarks are applied.

Motivating Seasonal Influenza Vaccination and Cross-Promoting COVID-19 Vaccination: An Audience Segmentation Study among University Students.

In the response to the coronavirus pandemic, much attention has been invested in promoting COVID-19 vaccination. However, the impact of seasonal influenza should not be neglected, particularly during the winter influenza surge. Currently, most influenza vaccination campaigns target at healthcare workers or high-risk population groups, while COVID-19 vaccination programmes are targeting the whole population as a single homogeneous group.

Hesitancy in the time of coronavirus: Temporal, spatial, and sociodemographic variations in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Leveraging nationally representative survey data on 443,680 respondents from January to March 2021, this study examines the temporal, spatial, and sociodemographic variations in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. Findings reveal multidimensional determinants of vaccination intentions involving confidence, complacency, and circumspection factors.

Applications of Multimodal Imaging in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy Evaluation.

Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is a macular disease characterized by serous retinal detachment commonly involving the macular region. CSCR has a wide spectrum of clinical presentations. Although a significant proportion of CSCR cases are self-limiting, patients can suffer from persistent or recurrent disease, sometimes complicated with choroidal neovascularization, resulting in permanent visual loss.

Quantifying the Financial Impact of Delayed Adoption of CPT Code Changes in Radiology.

Purpose: To quantify the financial effect of delayed reporting of new moderate sedation (MS) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes at an academic radiology practice, and to identify barriers to timely reporting.

Materials And Methods: Billing and reimbursement data was collected for a 28-month period (January 1, 2017-April 30, 2019). Reporting of new MS codes was identified and compared to the number of procedures performed by radiology over the study period.

Endovascular treatment of postpartum haemorrhage in a woman with genitourinary and vascular congenital malformations.

A 43-year-old woman presented with postpartum haemorrhage necessitating uterine artery embolisation. Prior to embolisation, angiography demonstrated the presence of a persistent sciatic artery (PSA). Due to the possibility of embolic particles inadvertently traveling to the lower extremity via this variant arterial pathway, care was taken to only embolise the uterine artery.

The utility of initial staging PET-CT as a baseline scan for surveillance imaging in stage II and III melanoma.

Background: This study evaluates the utility of whole-body PET-CT for the initial staging and subsequent surveillance imaging of patients with completely resected stage II and stage III melanoma.

Methods: A single-center, retrospective review of patients who received perioperative whole-body PET-CT from January 1, 2005 to December 1, 2019 within three months of initial melanoma diagnosis was performed.

Results: Of 258 total patients with completely resected melanoma who had a PET-CT within 3 months after their melanoma diagnosis, 113 had stage II and 145 had stage III melanoma.

Financial Effect of Unbundling Moderate Sedation from Procedural Codes in Radiology.

Purpose: To assess and quantify the financial effect of unbundling newly unbundled moderate sedation codes across major payors at an academic radiology practice.

Materials And Methods: Billing and reimbursement data for 23 months of unbundled moderate sedation codes were analyzed for reimbursement rates and trends. This included 10,481 and 28,189 units billed and $443,257 and $226,444 total receipts for codes 99152 (initial 15 minutes of moderate sedation) and 99153 (each subsequent 15 minute increment of moderate sedation), respectively.

Infectious keratitis and orthokeratology lens use: a systematic review.

Purpose: Myopia is a prevalent condition among Asians. Orthokeratology lens has gained popularity as a method of myopia control. This systematic review is to summarize the clinical profile of infectious keratitis in association with orthokeratology lens wear.

Discrimination among protein variants using an unfoldase-coupled nanopore.

Previously we showed that the protein unfoldase ClpX could facilitate translocation of individual proteins through the α-hemolysin nanopore. This results in ionic current fluctuations that correlate with unfolding and passage of intact protein strands through the pore lumen. It is plausible that this technology could be used to identify protein domains and structural modifications at the single-molecule level that arise from subtle changes in primary amino acid sequence (e.