Large-pore channels, including those formed by connexin, pannexin, innexin proteins, are part of a broad family of plasma membrane channels found in vertebrates and invertebrates, which share topology features. Despite their relevance in parasitic diseases such as Chagas and malaria, it was unknown whether these large-pore channels are present in unicellular organisms. We identified 14 putative proteins in Trypanosomatidae parasites as presumptive homologs of innexin proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStandard of care (SOC) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies such as axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) and tisagenlecleucel (tisa-cel) are associated with multisystem toxicities. There is limited information available about cardiovascular (CV) events associated with SOC axi-cel or tisa-cel. Patients with CV comorbidities, organ dysfunction, or lower performance status were often excluded in the clinical trials leading to their Food and Drug Adminsitration approval.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) are at risk for developing secondary fungal infections due to greater incidence of preexisting comorbidities and exposure to iatrogenic factors such as corticosteroid use. We present the case of a 44-year-old Hispanic female discovered unresponsive in her home that was found to have severe hyperglycemia with comorbid COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) associated pneumonia. The patient was intubated and treated with several broad-spectrum antibiotics, remdesivir, and corticosteroids but had little improvement in her clinical status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActive matter deals with systems whose particles consume energy at the individual level in order to move. To unravel features such as the emergence of collective structures, several models have been suggested, such as the on-lattice model of run-and-tumble particles implemented the persistent exclusion process (PEP). In our work, we study a one-dimensional system of run-and-tumble repulsive or attractive particles, both on-lattice and off-lattice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurobiological studies of the model species, Aplysia californica (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Euopisthobranchia), have helped advance our knowledge of the neural bases of different forms of learning, including sensitization, a non-associative increase in withdrawal behaviors in response to mild innocuous stimuli. However, our understanding of the natural context for this learning has lagged behind the mechanistic studies. Previous studies, which exclusively used artificial stimuli, such as electric shock, to produce sensitization, left open the question of which stimuli might cause sensitization in nature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Objectives: Prior to COVID-19, telemedicine and its applications to the emergency department (ED) had made significant inroads toward remote evaluation and care. During the local peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City (NYC), there was a dramatic increase in telemedicine based patient encounters for suspected COVID-19 symptoms. In response, pathways were developed to promote a standardized telemedicine approach to remote evaluation and assessment of suspected COVID-19 patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Spain's so-called Stroke Belt is an area with high prevalence of vascular disease. We aimed to determine the prevalence of undetected obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) among patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in southern Spain.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study at the Virgen Macarena University Hospital Stroke Unit during 2018 to 2019.
Objectives: This study aimed to develop mapping algorithms from the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) and the Short-Form (SF) Health Surveys to the Patient-Oriented Prostate Utility Scale (PORPUS), an econometric instrument specifically developed for patients with prostate cancer.
Methods: Data were drawn from 2 cohorts concurrently administering PORPUS, EPIC-50, and SF-36v2. The development cohort included patients who had received a diagnosis of localized or locally advanced prostate cancer from 2017 to 2019.
Objective: To compare clinical and laboratory features of children with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) to those evaluated for MIS-C in the Emergency Department (ED).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of the medical record of encounters with testing for inflammatory markers in an urban, tertiary care Pediatric ED from March 1, 2020 to July 31, 2020. We abstracted demographic information, laboratory values, selected medications and diagnoses.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by disordered DNA methylation, suggesting these epigenetic changes might play a critical role in disease onset and progression. The methyltransferase is a key regulator of DNA methylation. Although somatic mutations in CLL are rare, we found that low expression is associated with more aggressive disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeriacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is effective in the management of developmental dysplasia of the hip and femoroacetabular impingement secondary to acetabular retroversion. During anteverting PAO for acetabular retroversion, the need for both labral treatment and femoral head-neck junction osteochondroplasty remains equivocal. Accordingly, this study evaluated patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) and reoperation rates after anteverting PAO with or without intraarticular intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Studies have shown that patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) who discontinue oral anticoagulants (OACs) are at higher risk of complications such as stroke.
Objective: This analysis compared the risk of non-persistence with OACs among patients with NVAF.
Methods: Adult patients with NVAF who initiated apixaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, or warfarin were identified using 01JAN2013-30JUN2019 data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and four US commercial claims databases.
Purpose: The objective of this study is to describe characteristics and short- and long-term outcomes of patients with hematologic malignancies who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of all Code Blues at a large comprehensive cancer center. Demographic, clinical, and outcome variables were analyzed for patients with a hematologic malignancy who underwent CPR.
Proposapnosia is a type of visual agnosia characterized by the inability to recognize people's faces. There are basically two variants, apperceptive and associative. The "Tortoni effect" is a phenomenon described by Bekinschtein et al a few years ago in waiters from Buenos Aires, who used this tool to remember the orders of each member of a table.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPooled samples are used in veterinary and human medicine as a cost-effective approach to monitor disease prevalence. Nonetheless, there is limited information on the effect of pooling on test performance, and research is required to determine the appropriate number of samples which can be pooled. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the use of pooled serum samples as a herd-level surveillance tool for infectious production-limiting diseases: bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR), enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) and Neospora caninum (NC), by investigating the maximum number of samples one can pool to identify one positive animal, using commercial antibody-detection ELISAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Neonatal airway examination through flexible/rigid bronchoscopy has proved to be useful in the presence of persistent stridor and extubation failure, as well as to assess complications following cardiac surgery. At our institution, these examinations are carried out by a pulmonologist, a neonatologist, an otorhinolaryngologist, and a pediatric surgeon from the pediatric airway committee, established in 2014.
Objective: To analyze the airway examinations performed in neonates during their stay at the neonatology/neonatal intensive care unit since the airway committee was established.
Background And Purpose: Impaired level of consciousness (LOC) on presentation at hospital admission in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) may affect outcomes and the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment (WOLST).
Methods: Patients with ICH were included across 121 Florida hospitals participating in the Florida Stroke Registry from 2010 to 2019. We studied the effect of LOC on presentation on in-hospital mortality (primary outcome), WOLST, ambulation status on discharge, hospital length of stay, and discharge disposition.
Lightning is a common source of disturbance, but its ecological effects in tropical forests are largely undescribed. Here we quantify the contributions of lightning strikes to forest turnover and plant mortality in a lowland Panamanian forest using a real-time lightning monitoring system. We examined 2,195 lightning-damaged trees distributed among 93 different strikes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To examine the contemporary epidemiology of adult pituitary tumors with a particular focus on uncommon tumor types, using the 2017 WHO Classification of pituitary tumors.
Methods: Adult patients presenting with a pituitary or sellar tumor between 2004 and 2017 were identified from the U.S.
Introduction: Emergency departments (ED) globally are addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with varying degrees of success. We leveraged the 17-country, Emergency Medicine Education & Research by Global Experts (EMERGE) network and non-EMERGE ED contacts to understand ED emergency preparedness and practices globally when combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: We electronically surveyed EMERGE and non-EMERGE EDs from April 3-June 1, 2020 on ED capacity, pandemic preparedness plans, triage methods, staffing, supplies, and communication practices.
Cancer patients have unique symptoms from tumor burden and cancer treatments, which affect functional status and quality of life. Reports have shown approximately 65% of cancer patients have at least one functional/rehabilitation need, yet fewer than 10% of these needs get addressed during their cancer journey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe reiterative organogenesis that drives plant growth relies on the constant production of new cells, which remain encased by interconnected cell walls. For these reasons, plant morphogenesis strictly depends on the rate and orientation of both cell division and cell growth. Important progress has been made in recent years in understanding how cell cycle progression and the orientation of cell divisions are coordinated with cell and organ growth and with the acquisition of specialized cell fates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrimary urothelial carcinoma (UCa) of the ureter is relatively uncommon, comprising less than 10% of all urinary tract tumors. Typically, ureteral UCa is found in association with other urinary tract tumors, such as renal pelvic or bladder UCa, making it challenging to analyze the clinicopathologic features in isolation. With only a few small case series and case reports available, our understanding of primary ureteral UCa is limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper reports on the progress of a wearable assistive technology (AT) device designed to enhance the independent, safe, and efficient mobility of blind and visually impaired pedestrians in outdoor environments. Such device exploits the smartphone's positioning and computing capabilities to locate and guide users along urban settings. The necessary navigation instructions to reach a destination are encoded as vibrating patterns which are conveyed to the user via a foot-placed tactile interface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Pneumonia is among the most prevalent complications of influenza. The purpose of this study is to quantify the burden of pneumonia among hospitalized patients with influenza.
Methods: Real-world retrospective data from 01JAN2014-30JUN2019 (study period) were obtained from Optum's de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database (2007-2020) for patients who had ≥ 1 diagnosis for influenza during the identification period and ≥ 1 all-cause inpatient visit within 1 day of diagnosis.