Quality of Life in People With HIV at the End of Life: Preliminary Results From the Last Gift Observational Cohort Study.

Background: As people living with HIV (PWH) age, they face new challenges that can have a negative impact on their quality of life (QOL) and mental health.

Setting: This study enrolled PWH at the end of life (EOL) who were actively engaged in cure-related research in Southern California, United States. EOL was defined as having a prognosis of 6 months or less to live.

Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in human milk from 21 women with confirmed COVID-19 infection.

Background: One potential mechanism for protection from SARS-CoV-2 in children is through passive immunity via breast milk from a mother infected with the novel coronavirus. The primary objectives of this study were to establish the presence of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA and IgG and to characterize the antigenic regions of SARS-CoV-2 proteins that were reactive with antibodies in breast milk.

Methods: Between March 2020 and September 2020, 21 women with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled in Mommy's Milk.

Maternal and Child Outcomes Reported by Breastfeeding Women Following Messenger RNA COVID-19 Vaccination.

In December 2020, two novel messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; however, the early trials excluded lactating women.

Immune network dysregulation associated with child neurodevelopmental delay: modulatory role of prenatal alcohol exposure.

Background: Evidence suggests that cytokine imbalances may be at the root of deficits that occur in numerous neurodevelopmental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. Notably, while clinical studies have demonstrated maternal cytokine imbalances with alcohol consumption during pregnancy-and data from animal models have identified immune disturbances in alcohol-exposed offspring-to date, immune alterations in alcohol-exposed children have not been explored. Thus, here we hypothesized that perturbations in the immune environment as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure will program the developing immune system, and result in immune dysfunction into childhood.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in a Pacific Southwest City: Maternal and Child Characteristics.

Background: There are limited data on the characteristics of children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and their mothers from the general population in the United States.

Methods: During the 2012 and 2013 academic years, first-grade children in a large urban Pacific Southwest city were invited to participate in a study to estimate the prevalence of FASD. Children who screened positive on weight, height, or head circumference ≤25th centile or on parental report of developmental concerns were selected for evaluation, along with a random sample of those who screened negative.

Statistical sensitivity analysis for the estimation of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders prevalence.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are thought to be the leading cause of developmental disabilities worldwide. Accurate estimates of the prevalence of FASD have been lacking. An improved estimate of FASD prevalence in the U.

Marijuana Use by Breastfeeding Mothers and Cannabinoid Concentrations in Breast Milk.

Unlabelled: : media-1vid110.1542/5799877373001PEDS-VA_2018-1076 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Marijuana is the most commonly used recreational drug among breastfeeding women. With legalization of marijuana in several US states and a 1990 study in which authors documented psychomotor deficits in infants breastfed by mothers using marijuana, there is a need for information on potential exposure to the breastfed infant.

Altered maternal immune networks are associated with adverse child neurodevelopment: Impact of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Cytokines and chemokines are potent modulators of brain development and as such, dysregulation of the maternal immune system can result in deviations in the fetal cytokine balance, altering the course of typical brain development, and putting the individual on a "pathway to pathology". In the current study, we used a multi-variate approach to evaluate networks of interacting cytokines and investigated whether alterations in the maternal immune milieu could be linked to alcohol-related and alcohol-independent child neurodevelopmental delay. This was achieved through the measurement of 40 cytokines/chemokines from maternal blood samples collected during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

Prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in 4 US Communities.

Importance: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are costly, life-long disabilities. Older data suggested the prevalence of the disorder in the United States was 10 per 1000 children; however, there are few current estimates based on larger, diverse US population samples.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, including fetal alcohol syndrome, partial fetal alcohol syndrome, and alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, in 4 regions of the United States.

Bone Marrow-sparing Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy With Concurrent Cisplatin For Stage IB-IVA Cervical Cancer: An International Multicenter Phase II Clinical Trial (INTERTECC-2).

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) reduces acute hematologic and gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity for patients with locoregionally advanced cervical cancer.

Methods And Materials: We enrolled patients with stage IB-IVA cervical carcinoma in a single-arm phase II trial involving 8 centers internationally. All patients received weekly cisplatin concurrently with once-daily IMRT, followed by intracavitary brachytherapy, as indicated.

Three measures of explained variation for correlated survival data under the proportional hazards mixed-effects model.

Measures of explained variation are useful in scientific research, as they quantify the amount of variation in an outcome variable of interest that is explained by one or more other variables. We develop such measures for correlated survival data, under the proportional hazards mixed-effects model. Because different approaches have been studied in the literature outside the classical linear regression model, we investigate three measures R(2) , Rres2, and ρ(2) that quantify three different population coefficients.

Low Rates of Malignancy and Mortality in Asymptomatic Patients With Suspected Neoplastic Pancreatic Cysts Beyond 5 Years of Surveillance.

Background & Aims: The 2015 American Gastroenterological Association guidelines recommend discontinuation of surveillance of pancreatic cysts after 5 years, although there are limited data to support this recommendation. We aimed to determine the rate of pancreatic cancer development from neoplastic pancreatic cysts after 5 years of surveillance.

Methods: We performed a retrospective multicenter study, collecting data from 310 patients with asymptomatic suspected neoplastic pancreatic cysts, identified by endoscopic ultrasound from January 2002 to June 2010 at 4 medical centers in California.

An educational intervention on drug interactions and contraceptive options for epilepsy patients: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Objective: This pilot study investigates whether an educational handout could increase short-term information retention about drug interactions between antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and hormonal contraceptives among female epilepsy patients of reproductive age.

Study Design: This is a pilot randomized controlled trial of an educational intervention among reproductive-age women with epilepsy in an academic neurology clinic. Investigators measured knowledge before and after participants received either usual care or the educational handout.

United Network for Organ Sharing regional variations in appeal denial rates with non-standard Model for End-Stage Liver Disease/Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease exceptions: support for a national review board.

Although it has been generally recognized that there are inconsistencies among Regional Review Boards in the assignment of points for model for end-stage liver disease (MELD)/pediatric end-stage liver disease (PELD) exception patients with resulting considerable variation in appeal denial rates, data to actually prove this have been limited. We reviewed 6533 MELD/PELD exception applications submitted between 2005 and 2008, calculated the variation in approval/denial rates, and followed these cases through mid-2013 to assess the effects on patient outcomes. We found highly significant regional variations in denial rates for appeals by exception patients and in transplantation rates.