Chlamydial and Gonococcal Infections and Adverse Reproductive Health Conditions Among Patients Assigned Female at Birth in the Veterans Health Administration.

Background: Reproductive age female individuals comprise the fastest-growing segment of Veterans Health Administration patients, but little is known about rates of reproductive health outcomes among those with chlamydia or gonorrhea infections. Our aim was to estimate the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, and pelvic pain in female veterans tested for chlamydia or gonorrhea.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of female veterans tested for chlamydia or gonorrhea between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2020.

Clinical validation of an artificial intelligence algorithm offering cross-platform detection of atrial fibrillation using smart device electrocardiograms.

Background: Several smart devices are able to detect atrial fibrillation automatically by recording a single-lead electrocardiogram, and have created a work overload at the hospital level as a result of the need for over-reads by physicians.

Aim: To compare the atrial fibrillation detection performances of the manufacturers' algorithms of five smart devices and a novel deep neural network-based algorithm.

Methods: We compared the rate of inconclusive tracings and the diagnostic accuracy for the detection of atrial fibrillation between the manufacturers' algorithms and the deep neural network-based algorithm on five smart devices, using a physician-interpreted 12-lead electrocardiogram as the reference standard.

Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing in the National Veterans Health Administration Patient Cohort During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

Background: We performed a retrospective study of chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) during 2019-2021.

Methods: We determined the annual number of chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV tests from 2019 through 2021 using electronic health record data. We calculated rates by age, birth sex, race, census region, rurality, HIV status, and use of preexposure prophylaxis.

Evaluation of an Ambulatory ECG Analysis Platform Using Deep Neural Networks in Routine Clinical Practice.

Background Holter analysis requires significant clinical resources to achieve a high-quality diagnosis. This study sought to assess whether an artificial intelligence (AI)-based Holter analysis platform using deep neural networks is noninferior to a conventional one used in clinical routine in detecting a major rhythm abnormality. Methods and Results A total of 1000 Holter (24-hour) recordings were collected from 3 tertiary hospitals.

Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Testing and Case Rates Among Women Veterans in the Veterans Health Administration.

Background: United States (US) rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) in women, especially gonorrhea and chlamydia, have increased over the past decade. Women Veterans may be at increased risk for STIs due to high rates of sexual trauma. Despite the availability of effective diagnostic tests and evidence-based guidelines for annual screening among sexually active women under age 25, screening rates for gonorrhea and chlamydia remain low in the US and among Veterans.

AI Filter Improves Positive Predictive Value of Atrial Fibrillation Detection by an Implantable Loop Recorder.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether incorporation of a 2-part artificial intelligence (AI) filter can improve the positive predictive value (PPV) of implantable loop recorder (ILR)-detected atrial fibrillation (AF) episodes.

Background: ILRs can detect AF. Devices transmit data daily.

A deep neural network for 12-lead electrocardiogram interpretation outperforms a conventional algorithm, and its physician overread, in the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.

Background: Automated electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretations may be erroneous, and lead to erroneous overreads, including for atrial fibrillation (AF). We compared the accuracy of the first version of a new deep neural network 12-Lead ECG algorithm (Cardiologs®) to the conventional Veritas algorithm in interpretation of AF.

Methods: 24,123 consecutive 12-lead ECGs recorded over 6 months were interpreted by 1) the Veritas® algorithm, 2) physicians who overread Veritas® (Veritas® + physician), and 3) Cardiologs® algorithm.

Modeling the Correlated Activity of Neural Populations: A Review.

The principles of neural encoding and computations are inherently collective and usually involve large populations of interacting neurons with highly correlated activities. While theories of neural function have long recognized the importance of collective effects in populations of neurons, only in the past two decades has it become possible to record from many cells simultaneously using advanced experimental techniques with single-spike resolution and to relate these correlations to function and behavior. This review focuses on the modeling and inference approaches that have been recently developed to describe the correlated spiking activity of populations of neurons.

Associations between Race/Ethnicity, Uterine Fibroids, and Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy in the VA Healthcare System.

Background: In the general population, Black and Latina women are less likely to undergo minimally invasive hysterectomy than White women, which may be related to racial/ethnic variation in fibroid prevalence and characteristics. Whether similar differences exist in the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System (VA) is unknown.

Methods: Using VA clinical and administrative data, we identified all women veterans undergoing hysterectomy for benign indications in fiscal years 2012-2014.

A spike sorting toolbox for up to thousands of electrodes validated with ground truth recordings in vitro and in vivo.

In recent years, multielectrode arrays and large silicon probes have been developed to record simultaneously between hundreds and thousands of electrodes packed with a high density. However, they require novel methods to extract the spiking activity of large ensembles of neurons. Here, we developed a new toolbox to sort spikes from these large-scale extracellular data.

Blindfold learning of an accurate neural metric.

The brain has no direct access to physical stimuli but only to the spiking activity evoked in sensory organs. It is unclear how the brain can learn representations of the stimuli based on those noisy, correlated responses alone. Here we show how to build an accurate distance map of responses solely from the structure of the population activity of retinal ganglion cells.

Closed-Loop Estimation of Retinal Network Sensitivity by Local Empirical Linearization.

Understanding how sensory systems process information depends crucially on identifying which features of the stimulus drive the response of sensory neurons, and which ones leave their response invariant. This task is made difficult by the many nonlinearities that shape sensory processing. Here, we present a novel perturbative approach to understand information processing by sensory neurons, where we linearize their collective response locally in stimulus space.

Invasive Obstetric Procedures and Cesarean Sections in Women With Known Herpes Simplex Virus Status During Pregnancy.

Background: Neonatal herpes is a potentially devastating infection that results from acquisition of herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 or 2 from the maternal genital tract at the time of vaginal delivery. Current guidelines recommend (1) cesarean delivery if maternal genital HSV lesions are present at the time of labor and (2) antiviral suppressive therapy for women with known genital herpes to decrease HSV shedding from the genital tract at the time of vaginal delivery. However, most neonatal infections occur in infants born to women without a history of genital HSV, making current prevention efforts ineffective for this group.

Identification of Parameters of Host Cell Vulnerability during Salmonella Infection by Quantitative Image Analysis and Modeling.

targets and enters epithelial cells at permissive entry sites: some cells are more likely to be infected than others. However, the parameters that lead to host cell heterogeneity are not known. Here, we quantitatively characterized host cell vulnerability to infection based on imaged parameters.

A Tractable Method for Describing Complex Couplings between Neurons and Population Rate.

Neurons within a population are strongly correlated, but how to simply capture these correlations is still a matter of debate. Recent studies have shown that the activity of each cell is influenced by the population rate, defined as the summed activity of all neurons in the population. However, an explicit, tractable model for these interactions is still lacking.

Common vaginal and vulvar disorders.

Vaginal and vulvar disorders are among the leading causes for women to visit a health care professional. Therefore, it is important to have a basic understanding of these diseases. Although rarely life threatening, these disorders can impact significantly a woman's sexual function and sense of well-being.

Herpes simplex virus infection during pregnancy.

Genital herpes in pregnancy continues to cause significant maternal morbidity, with an increasing number of infections being due to oral-labial transmission of herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1. Near delivery, primary infections with HSV-1 or HSV-2 carry the highest risk of neonatal herpes infection, which is a rare but potentially devastating disease for otherwise healthy newborns. Prevention efforts have been limited by lack of an effective intervention for preventing primary infections and the unclear role of routine serologic testing.

High Prevalence of Sexual Dysfunction in a Vulvovaginal Specialty Clinic.

Objective: Our study evaluated the presence and predictors of sexual dysfunction in a vulvovaginal specialty clinic population.

Materials And Methods: Women who presented to a vulvovaginal specialty clinic were eligible to enroll. The participants completed a questionnaire, including Female Sexual Function Index to assess sexual dysfunction and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 depression screen, and underwent a standardized physical examination, with vaginal swabs collected for wet mount and culture.

Long-term effect of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate on vaginal microbiota, epithelial thickness and HIV target cells.

Background: Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) has been linked to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) acquisition.

Methods: Vaginal microbiota of women using DMPA for up to 2 years were cultured. Mucosal immune cell populations were measured by immunohistological staining.

Sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted infections in a nationally representative sample of women veterans and nonveterans.

Background: Women veterans are a growing population with unique characteristics and documented health disparities. Few studies have examined their sexual behaviors and rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and none have compared women veterans to nonveterans to identify potential sexual health disparities.

Methods: We used data from the 1999-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a nationally representative U.

Older LGBT adult training panels: an opportunity to educate about issues faced by the older LGBT community.

Older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults face unique issues that can impede their well-being. Although many advances have helped address these issues, there is a need for education efforts that raise awareness of service providers about these issues. This study explores evaluation data of training panels provided by older LGBT adults and the views of training participants on issues faced by the older LGBT community after attending the panels.