Health Service Utilization Patterns Among Medicaid Enrollees With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Pandemic Response and Recovery Efforts.

Objectives: To assess the impact of COVID-19 on health service utilization of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) through an analysis of Medicaid claims data.

Design: Retrospective cohort study of Medicaid claims.

Setting And Participants: Medicaid members aged 25 to 64 years from January 1, 2018, to March 31, 2021, from the states of Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.

Health Care Fraud and Abuse: Lessons From One of the Largest Scandals of the 21st Century in the Field of Spine Surgery.

Up to hundreds of billions of dollars are annually lost to fraud and abuse in the US health care, making it a significant burden on the system. This study investigates a specific instance of health care fraud in spine surgery, in which a medical device company ended up paying $75 million to settle violations of the False Claims Act. We review the surgical background regarding the kyphoplasty procedure, as well as its billing and reimbursement details.

Class switch toward noninflammatory, spike-specific IgG4 antibodies after repeated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination.

RNA vaccines are efficient preventive measures to combat the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. High levels of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are an important component of vaccine-induced immunity. Shortly after the initial two mRNA vaccine doses, the immunoglobulin G (IgG) response mainly consists of the proinflammatory subclasses IgG1 and IgG3.

Dentate Gyrus Proliferative Responses After Traumatic Brain Injury and Binge Alcohol in Adult Rats.

Background: Traumatic brain injury is a significant public health issue that results in serious disability in survivors. Traumatic brain injury patients are often intoxicated with alcohol when admitted to the hospital; however, it is not clear how acute intoxication affects recovery from a traumatic brain injury. Our group has previously shown that binge alcohol prior to traumatic brain injury resulted in long-term impairment in a fine sensorimotor task that was correlated with a decreased proliferative and neuroblast response from the subventricular zone.

Long-Term Outcomes of a Multidisciplinary Weight Management Intervention for Youth with Disabilities.

Background: Youth with disabilities are at increased risk for obesity compared with their typically developing peers and face unique barriers to healthy lifestyles. A limited number of weight management programs have been specifically tailored to accommodate youth with disabilities, and outcomes research in this population is scarce. We investigated the effectiveness of a specialized multidisciplinary weight management program for children with disabilities.

Towards universal ambient ionization: direct elemental analysis of solid substrates using microwave plasma ionization.

A microwave plasma was used for direct ambient ionization mass spectrometry of solid substrates, rapidly yielding atomic spectra without sample digestion or pre-treatment. Further, molecular spectra for the organic components of the substrate were obtained simultaneously, in an ambient ionization format. Initial characterization of the microwave plasma coupling to an ion trap mass spectrometer was carried out using solution standards and a microwave plasma torch (MPT) configuration.

Outcomes of a weight management clinic for children with special needs.

Objective: Rates of obesity are elevated among children with special needs (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, or developmental disabilities).

Image sensor as a three-channel spectrometer with application to in situ monitoring of wet etching.

A three-channel spectrometer is constructed with a 460 nm high brightness light-emitting diode (LED) source (250 mW peak optical power output, 1 mm sq, 150 μm thick) and a red-green-blue (RGB) image sensor (3 × 4 mm, 1 mm thick) for purposes of a small form factor spectrometer to monitor reflectance/emission spectra from chemical wet etching experiments. The linearity and spectral response of the RGB image sensor is characterized and a three-channel spectral model is fitted to the extracted spectral response. We use this information to quantify time developments of the RGB image sensor outputs for in situ copper and aluminum etching experiments in terms of three defined spectral bands.

Effectiveness of exclusive breastfeeding promotion in low-income mothers: a randomized controlled study.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a breastfeeding promotion program in the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program participants.

Study Design: This randomized clinical trial included 52 women in the intervention group who received one-to-one pre- and postnatal breastfeeding education and support from a lactation consultant. Women (n = 52) randomized to controls received standard breastfeeding services.

Factors contributing to patient satisfaction with medical rehabilitation in German hospitals.

The objective of this study was to quantify overall patient satisfaction, through the identification of the particular aspects of patient satisfaction that were most likely to cause patients to recommend the rehabilitation hospital to others. The research entailed analysing secondary data from a quality improvement programme for medical rehabilitation, conducted from 1997 until 2004, in seven rehabilitation hospitals in Germany. Overall patient satisfaction and several potential predictors were examined in relation to 120,825 patients who had received inpatient medical rehabilitation.

Changes of the lid fissure after surgery on horizontal extraocular muscles.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of isolated medial and lateral rectus muscle surgery on eye lid position.

Design: Prospective, interventional case series.

Methods: We recruited 36 patients with strabismus with surgery performed on one horizontal extraocular muscle only.

Retrobulbar irradiation for thyroid-associated orbitopathy: double-blind comparison between 2.4 and 16 Gy.

Purpose: Retrobulbar irradiation is used as a standard therapy for thyroid-associated orbitopathy. The evidence of its effectiveness is, however, scarce. Doses from 2.

[Idiopathic eosinophilic orbital pseudotumor of the lacrimal gland in a child].

Background: Idiopathic orbital pseudotumor is a rare disease. 10 % of the cases occur in children. In most of these juvenile cases, the swelling is bilateral, and histologically, eosinophilic granulocytes are found.

[Astigmatism after trans-scleral posterior chamber lens implantation in young children].

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the postoperative astigmatism after trans-scleral fixation of intraocular lenses in children and to develop a strategy for amblyopia prophylaxis.

Patients And Methods: In eight eyes with lentectomy, posterior chamber intraocular lenses were fixed in the ciliary sulcus by trans-scleral sutures. The postoperative astigmatism was measured by retinoscopy every 1 to 2 weeks in the first 2 months, followed by monthly intervals thereafter.

[Amiodarone-associated optic neuropathy: an independent syndrome? Three patients with bilateral optic neuropathy].

Background: Optic neuropathy has been reported to occur during antiarrhythmic therapy with amiodarone. Whether or not there is a causal relationship has been discussed controversely.

Patients: Three patients presented with a visual impairment three to seven months after starting amiodarone therapy.

Heterophoria and fixation disparity: a review.

Heterophoria does not provide a reliable clue for ordering prisms in an asthenopic patient. The same reservation applies to associated phoria, as determined by prism correction of fixation disparity. Subjective tests for fixation disparity, even those with a fusionable fixation target, do not correctly indicate the vergence position of the eyes under natural viewing conditions.

Bilateral optic neuropathy after bone marrow transplantation and cyclosporin A therapy.

Background: Cyclosporin A (CsA) is widely used as a prophylactic and therapeutic agent against graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplantation. Under this condition optic neuropathy has been found and considered as a possible side effect of cyclosporin A.

Case Report: A 52-year-old man presented with bilateral optic disc swelling and visual loss 6 months after bone marrow transplantation.

[Can fixation disparity be detected reliably by measurement and correctional techniques according H.J. Haase (MKH)?].

Background: The theory of the "Measuring and Correction Methods of H.-J. Haase" (MCH) states that a small misalignment of one eye, called fixation disparity, indicates a difficulty in overcoming a "vergence position of rest" that is different from ortho position.

Transscleral suture fixation of posterior chamber intraocular lenses in children under 3 years.

Background: Children who have undergone lentectomy for congenital or traumatic cataract do not have adequate capsular support for secondary posterior chamber intraocular lens (PC-IOL) implantation and thus will become severely amblyopic if contact lens intolerance occurs. In order to prevent amblyopia we fixed PC-IOLs by transscleral sutures in three children younger than 3 years. Clinical outcome, visual acuity and course of refraction were studied.

[Strabismus surgery under subconjunctival anesthesia: technique and evaluation by patient and his surgeon].

Background: In adults, eye muscle surgery can be performed under local anesthesia without retrobulbar injection. We wanted to know how patients and surgeons perceive this procedure.

Patients And Methods: 50 patients and 3 surgeons were interviewed with a questionnaire after operation on one or two straight eye muscles, including revisions in 11 cases.

[Fixation disparity with the Pola pointing test: not representative for eye position under natural viewing conditions].

Background: According to certain findings obtained with the Zeiss Polatest, H.J. Haase defined a "Fixation Disparity Type One".

[Etiology of contact lens failure in pediatric aphakia. Indications for intraocular lenses?].

Unlabelled: Due to the low rate of complications, lentectomy and contact lens fitting is the standard treatment for congenital cataract. However, contact lens fitting is not possible in all children. The authors report the main reasons for discontinuation of contact lenses in their patients.

[Orbital sarcoidosis--a case with an unusual course].

Background: Most cases of orbital sarcoidosis are associated with a systemic sarcoidosis.

Patients And Methods: A 67-year-old woman suffered from an orbital mass on the right side, which led to disturbance of the ocular motility. Slight improvement was achieved by the administration of systemic steroids.

Visual field defects in optic neuritis and anterior ischemic optic neuropathy: distinctive features.

Background: We analyzed the value of visual-field defects in the differential diagnosis of optic neuritis (ON) and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION).

Methods: Ninety-nine consecutive patients with acute-onset optic neuropathy formed the basis for this study. Compressive and vasculitic neuropathies were excluded.