Thighplasty for Transfemoral Amputations and Osseointegration: Lower Rate of Complications Than Thighplasty for Body Contouring.

Background: Modern techniques in lower extremity amputation have made significant advances to improve prosthetic control and soft-tissue envelopes through various techniques, including medial thighplasties. These advances are necessary to enhance the fit and functionality of the prosthesis in transfemoral amputations.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all thighplasties performed at our institution in patients with ipsilateral transfemoral amputation from November 2017 to December 2021.

Insights from the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) genome for MHC gene architecture and evolution in threatened rattlesnakes.

Conservation of threatened species can benefit from an evaluation of genes in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), whose loci encode proteins that bind pathogens and are often under strong selection to maintain diversity in immune response to diseases. Despite this gene family's importance to disease resistance, little is known about these genes in reptiles including snakes. To address this issue, we assembled and annotated a highly-contiguous genome assembly for the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), a pit viper which is threatened or endangered in parts of its range, and analyzed this new genome along with three other rattlesnake genomes to characterize snake MHC loci.

The Effect of Telehealth on Cost of Health Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.

As the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) altered delivery of health care, alternate forms of health care delivery were adopted. The usage of telehealth expanded during the PHE to reduce exposure to COVID-19, which provides the opportunity to understand how expanded telehealth access affected costs of care. The objective of this work was to evaluate the association between telehealth adoption and health care-related costs during the COVID-19 PHE.

Putting skin in the game: a descriptive study of lower extremity ulcers in general medical inpatients.

Lower extremity ulcers contribute a significant burden to patient care. Targeted investigation and management are pertinent to improving patient outcomes. We evaluated the aetiology, risk factors, investigations and management of lower extremity ulcers in general medicine patients.

Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation Outcomes in Pediatric Trisomy 21 Patients with Overweight or Obesity.

Objectives: To assess the impact of body mass index (BMI) on hypoglossal nerve stimulator (HNS) implantation outcomes in pediatric patients with Down syndrome (DS). We compare outcomes of HNS implantation when comparing children based on overweight or obese status.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of patients at a single tertiary pediatric hospital who underwent HNS implantation between 2022 and 2024.

Comprehensive Review of the Utility of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI for the Diagnosis and Treatment Assessment of Spinal Benign and Malignant Osseous Disease.

Conventional MRI is currently the preferred imaging technique for detection and evaluation of malignant spinal lesions. However, this technique is limited in its ability to assess tumor viability. Unlike conventional MRI, dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI provides insight into the physiologic and hemodynamic characteristics of malignant spinal tumors and has been utilized in different types of spinal diseases.

The natural progression of basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) awaiting surgical intervention.

Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are slow growing keratinocyte tumours with limited literature reporting the natural history of untreated BCCs. This study evaluated the natural progression and patient outcomes of BCCs whilst awaiting surgical intervention. Only patients with histologically proven BCCs were included in the data collection.

Validity and Reliability of a Newly Developed Instrument to Measure Nursing Workarounds During Medication Administration.

According to patient safety literature, workarounds are used when processes are not clear and may not match the intended workflows. There is no available quantitative instrument to measure the type and frequency of workarounds when nurses administer medications. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a newly developed instrument that measured the type and frequency of workarounds when nurses administer medications to patients.

Topology Testing and Demographic Modeling Illuminate a Novel Speciation Pathway in the Greater Caribbean Sea Following the Formation of the Isthmus of Panama.

Recent genomic analyses have highlighted the prevalence of speciation with gene flow in many taxa and have underscored the importance of accounting for these reticulate evolutionary processes when constructing species trees and generating parameter estimates. This is especially important for deepening our understanding of speciation in the sea where fast-moving ocean currents, expanses of deep water, and periodic episodes of sea level rise and fall act as soft and temporary allopatric barriers that facilitate both divergence and secondary contact. Under these conditions, gene flow is not expected to cease completely while contemporary distributions are expected to differ from historical ones.

The Development of a Video-based Nutrition Education Curriculum for Patients Undergoing Radical Cystectomy.

Background: The treatment for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer includes neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy. The American Urological Association guidelines stress the optimization of patient performance status in the perioperative setting. Therefore, implementation of nutrition education is critical for the multi-disciplinary care of this vulnerable patient population and wide distribution of information is critical.

General physicians' perspectives on SGLT2 inhibitors for heart failure.

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) are novel agents for heart failure (HF) and are now recommended in guidelines. Understanding general physicians' perspectives can help to optimise utilisation of this new medication.

Aim: To understand the clinical concerns and barriers from general physicians about prescribing SGLT2is in a general medicine cohort.

Impact of patient selection in clinical trials: application of ROCKET AF and ARISTOTLE criteria in GARFIELD-AF.

Background: The extent to which differences in results from Apixaban for Reduction in Stroke and Other Thromboembolic Events in Atrial Fibrillation (ARISTOTLE) and Rivaroxaban Once Daily Oral Direct Factor Xa Inhibition Compared with Vitamin K Antagonism for Prevention of Stroke and Embolism Trial (ROCKET) atrial fibrillation (AF)-the landmark trials for the approval of apixaban and rivaroxaban, respectively, for non-valvular AF-were influenced by differences in their protocols is debated. The potential influence of selection criteria on trial results was assessed by emulating these trials in data from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the Field (GARFIELD)-AF registry.

Methods: Vitamin K antagonist (VKA) and non-vitamin K oral antagonist (NOAC) users from GARFIELD-AF were selected according to eligibility for the original ARISTOTLE or ROCKET AF trials.

Bomb radiocarbon evidence for strong global carbon uptake and turnover in terrestrial vegetation.

Vegetation and soils are taking up approximately 30% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions because of small imbalances in large gross carbon exchanges from productivity and turnover that are poorly constrained. We combined a new budget of radiocarbon produced by nuclear bomb testing in the 1960s with model simulations to evaluate carbon cycling in terrestrial vegetation. We found that most state-of-the-art vegetation models used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project underestimated the radiocarbon accumulation in vegetation biomass.

Comparison of polystyrene and hydrogel microcarriers for optical imaging of adherent cells.

Significance: The ability to observe and monitor cell density and morphology has been imperative for assessing the health of a cell culture and for producing high quality, high yield cell cultures for decades. Microcarrier-based cultures, used for large-scale cellular expansion processes, are not compatible with traditional visualization-based methods, such as widefield microscopy, due to their thickness and material composition.

Aim: Here, we assess the optical imaging compatibilities of commercial polystyrene microcarriers versus custom-fabricated gelatin methacryloyl (gelMA) microcarriers for non-destructive and non-invasive visualization of the entire microcarrier surface, direct cell enumeration, and sub-cellular visualization of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells.

Physician Perceptions of Medication Prescribing in Heart Failure: A Scoping Review.

Introduction: The swift uptake of new medications into clinical practice has many benefits; however, slow uptake has been seen previously with other guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMT) in heart failure (HF). Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors are a novel therapy in HF proven to be efficacious and will have beneficial clinical outcomes if prescribed. Understanding physician perspectives on prescribing GDMT in HF can help target strategies to bridge the gap between guidelines and practice.

PEARR tool training and implementation: building awareness of violence and human trafficking in a hospital system.

Introduction: Health professionals have an opportunity to assist patients who are experiencing many types of violence, including human trafficking; however, current approaches are often not person-centered. The Provide privacy, Educate, Ask, Respect and Respond (PEARR) Tool, a recognized screening tool in the U.S.

Sizing Up General Practice Environments for Big-Bodied Patients: An Environmental Assessment of Three Facilities in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Objectives: This research describes the physical environments of and equipment in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) general practices in relation to available standards for big-bodied people (BBP) seeking healthcare.

Background: The prevalence of BBP both in NZ and globally has increased over the last 30 years and is expected to increase further. As the first and most utilized point of contact for patients in NZ and many countries, it is essential that general practices provide suitable environments to cater for and meet the needs of big-bodied patients seeking healthcare.

A cohort study comparing pharmacist activities during participation in general medical ward rounds: telehealth versus in-person during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic created systemic challenges in patient care delivery.

Aim: To evaluate the impact on pharmacist activities during pharmacist participation in ward rounds via telehealth, compared to physical attendance.

Method: A single-centre, retrospective cohort study conducted from 18th Aug through 26th Oct 2020.

Geographic source of bats killed at wind-energy facilities in the eastern United States.

Bats subject to high rates of fatalities at wind-energy facilities are of high conservation concern due to the long-term, cumulative effects they have, but the impact on broader bat populations can be difficult to assess. One reason is the poor understanding of the geographic source of individual fatalities and whether they constitute migrants or more local individuals. Here, we used stable hydrogen isotopes, trace elements and species distribution models to determine the most likely summer geographic origins of three different bat species (, , and ) killed at wind-energy facilities in Ohio and Maryland in the eastern United States.

Impact of Weight Management on Obesity-Driven Biomarkers of Prostate Cancer Progression.

Purpose: Excess body and visceral fat increase the risk of death from prostate cancer (PCa). This phase II study aimed to test whether weight reduction by > 5% total body weight counteracts obesity-driven PCa biomarkers.

Materials And Methods: Forty men scheduled for prostatectomy were randomized into intervention (n = 20) or control (n = 20) arms.

Genetic mechanisms and biological processes underlying host response to ophidiomycosis (snake fungal disease) inferred from tissue-specific transcriptome analyses.

Emerging infectious diseases in wildlife species caused by pathogenic fungi are of growing concern, yet crucial knowledge gaps remain for diseases with potentially large impacts. For example, there is detailed knowledge about host pathology and mechanisms underlying response for chytridiomycosis in amphibians and white-nose syndrome in bats, but such information is lacking for other more recently described fungal infections. One such disease is ophidiomycosis, caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, which has been identified in many species of snakes, yet the biological mechanisms and molecular changes occurring during infection are unknown.

Incidence and predictors of post-thrombotic syndrome in patients with proximal DVT in a real-world setting: findings from the GARFIELD-VTE registry.

Although substantial progress has been made in the pathophysiology and management of the post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS), several aspects still need clarification. Among them, the incidence and severity of PTS in the real world, the risk factors for its development, the value of patient's self-evaluation, and the ability to identify patients at risk for severe PTS. Eligible participants (n = 1107) with proximal deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) from the global GARFIELD-VTE registry underwent conventional physician's evaluation for PTS 36 months after diagnosis of their DVT using the Villalta score.