Transient neonatal hyperinsulinism: early predictors of duration.

Objectives: Hyperinsulinism is the most common cause of recurrent hypoglycemia in infants, with transient and permanent forms. Currently, there are no effective tools to predict severity and time to resolution in infants with transient hyperinsulinism (tHI). Therefore, our objective was to assess whether early glucose trends predict disease duration in tHI.

Attributable mortality of acute respiratory distress syndrome: a systematic review, meta-analysis and survival analysis using targeted minimum loss-based estimation.

Background: Although acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with high mortality, its direct causal link with death is unclear. Clarifying this link is important to justify costly research on prevention of ARDS.

Objective: To estimate the attributable mortality, if any, of ARDS.

Evaluation of the Clinical Performance of 7 Serological Assays for SARS-CoV-2 for Use in Clinical Laboratories.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serological assays have emerged as a response to the global pandemic, warranting studies evaluating their clinical performance. This study investigated 7 commercially available SARS-CoV-2 serological assays in samples from noninfected individuals and hospitalized patients.

Methods: SARS-CoV-2 qualitative serological assays by Abbott (IgG), Beckman (IgG), DiaSorin (IgG), EUROIMMUN (IgG and IgA), Roche and Bio-Rad (Total) were evaluated using specimens collected pre-December 2019 (n = 393), from nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) negative patients (n = 40), and from 53 patients with COVID-19 by NAAT collected 3-21 days post-onset of symptoms (POS) (N = 83).

Mepolizumab asthma treatment failure due to refractory airway eosinophilia, which responded to benralizumab.

Monoclonal antibodies directed against interleukin (IL)-5, such as mepolizumab and benralizumab, are an effective and established treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma. Here, we present a patient with eosinophilic asthma with a partial clinical response to mepolizumab initially, as measured by these biomarkers, who when investigated was found to have refractory airway eosinophilia. Escalation of the mepolizumab dose led to further but still only partial response.

A Comparative Analysis of the Respiratory Subscore of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Scoring System.

The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) tool is a commonly used measure of illness severity. Calculation of the respiratory subscore of SOFA is frequently limited by missing arterial oxygen pressure (Pa) data. Although missing Pa data are commonly replaced with normal values, the performance of different methods of substituting Pa for SOFA calculation is unclear.

Integrated pediatric urgent care: A perfect fit into patient-centered medical home and meeting the needs of population health and our profession.

General Pediatricians have been constrained into a narrower band of primary care practice with the advent of hospitalists, advanced practice professionals and pediatric specific urgent cares. This new patient care structure will require electronic medical records and institutional systems to decrease interfaces and increase integration, thereby allowing a free flow of information that will provide more efficient and safe care. Pediatric specific urgent cares that are integrated will be able to utilize both efficient system level 1 thinking and deeper more thoughtful system level 2 thinking, which will benefit the pediatric patient by decreasing diagnostic errors.

Certified Nurse-Midwives in Rural Kansas Hospitals: A Survey of Senior Hospital Administrators.

Introduction: Little is known about the nurse-midwifery workforce in rural Kansas hospitals, despite Kansas facing a shortage of primary care physicians providing maternity care rurally. This study investigated the current number of hospitals with certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) with privileges to attend births in Kansas hospitals located in frontier, rural, and densely settled rural counties and anticipated trends in the size of the CNM workforce at hospitals over the next 5 years.

Methods: Electronic surveys were distributed to senior hospital administrators at 94 hospitals in rural Kansas from June to July 2019.

The formation of interlocked grain in African mahogany (Khaya spp.) analysed by X-ray computed microtomography.

Interlocked grain occurs when the orientation of xylem fibres oscillates, alternating between left- and right-handed spirals in successive wood layers. The cellular mechanisms giving rise to interlocked grain, thought to involve the slow rotation of fusiform initials within the vascular cambium, remain unclear. We suggest that observations of wood structure at the cellular level, but over large areas, might reveal these mechanisms.

Outcomes following major resection for colorectal cancer in patients aged 65+ years: a population-based study in Queensland, Australia.

Background: The risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) increases with increasing age. As surgery is the primary treatment for CRC, our aim was to examine outcomes following major resection for CRC in a cohort of individuals aged ≥65 years.

Methods: This population-based retrospective study included 18 339 patients aged ≥65 years diagnosed with CRC from 2007 to 2016.

Constraints on the Coupling between Axionlike Dark Matter and Photons Using an Antiproton Superconducting Tuned Detection Circuit in a Cryogenic Penning Trap.

We constrain the coupling between axionlike particles (ALPs) and photons, measured with the superconducting resonant detection circuit of a cryogenic Penning trap. By searching the noise spectrum of our fixed-frequency resonant circuit for peaks caused by dark matter ALPs converting into photons in the strong magnetic field of the Penning-trap magnet, we are able to constrain the coupling of ALPs with masses around 2.7906-2.

Urine cadmium and acute myocardial infarction among never smokers in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort.

Cadmium exposure has been associated with cardiovascular disease. Cigarette smoking is a key source of cadmium exposure and thus a potential confounder in observational studies of environmental cadmium and cardiovascular disease that include tobacco smokers. We leveraged up to 20 years of follow-up in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort to test the hypothesis that cadmium exposure is associated with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among people who never smoked.

Mepolizumab and Oral Corticosteroid Stewardship: Data from the Australian Mepolizumab Registry.

Background: Oral corticosteroids (OCS) carry serious health risks. Innovative treatment options are required to reduce excessive exposure and promote OCS stewardship.

Objectives: This study evaluated the trajectories of OCS exposure (prednisolone-equivalent) in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma before and after starting mepolizumab and the predictors of becoming OCS free after 6 months of mepolizumab therapy.

Chondroitin Sulfate as a Potential Modulator of the Stem Cell Niche in Cornea.

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is an important component of the extracellular matrix in multiple biological tissues. In cornea, the CS glycosaminoglycan (GAG) exists in hybrid form, whereby some of the repeating disaccharides are dermatan sulfate (DS). These CS/DS GAGs in cornea, through their presence on the proteoglycans, decorin and biglycan, help control collagen fibrillogenesis and organization.

Conjugated hyperbilirubinemia among infants with hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia.

From clinical practice, we noted that a subset of neonates with hyperinsulinism develop conjugated hyperbilirubinemia. A relationship between these two conditions has not been previously described. We aimed to assess the incidence of cholestasis in a cohort of neonates with hyperinsulinism and describe their clinical characteristics.

Dietary Quality Determined by the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and Biomarkers of Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in Middle-to-Older Aged Adults.

Low-grade systemic inflammation is associated with a range of chronic diseases. Diet may modulate inflammation and represents a promising therapeutic target to reduce metabolic dysfunction. To date, no study has examined Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) diet score associations with biomarkers of inflammation.

Internal dose of vanadium in rats following repeated exposure to vanadyl sulfate and sodium orthovanadate via drinking water.

Vanadium is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant that exists in multiple oxidation states. Humans are exposed to vanadyl (V) and vanadate (V) from dietary supplements, food, and drinking water and hence there is a concern for adverse human health. The current investigation is aimed at identifying vanadium oxidation states in vitro and in vivo and internal concentrations following exposure of rats to vanadyl sulfate (V) or sodium metavanadate (V) via drinking water for 14 d.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure-Mandibular Advancement Device Combination Therapy for Moderate-to-Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Preliminary Study.

Objectives:  The purpose of this pilot study was to determine whether compliance to auto-adjusting positive airway pressure (APAP) improves with the addition of a mandibular advancement device (MAD). Secondary outcome measures included were APAP pressure, subjective daytime sleepiness, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), and mask leaks.

Setting And Sample Population:  Participants included were diagnosed with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and became noncompliant to prescribed APAP.

Exploring 12-Year trends in childhood obesity prevalence for the Republic of Ireland - a national study using survey data from 2002 and 2014.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children may have reached a plateau in some developed countries, including Ireland. The aim of this study was to examine 12-year trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among primary-school-aged children in the Republic of Ireland between 2002 and 2014. Two large-scale oral health cross-sectional surveys of primary-school-aged children aged 4-13 years were conducted 12 years apart in 2002 (n=14,055; response rate=68%) and 2014 (n=5,223; response rate=67%).

Serum trace metal association with response to erythropoiesis stimulating agents in incident and prevalent hemodialysis patients.

Alterations in hemodialysis patients' serum trace metals have been documented. Early studies addressing associations levels of serum trace metals with erythropoietic responses and/or hematocrit generated mixed results. These studies were conducted prior to current approaches for erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA) drug dosing guidelines or without consideration of inflammation markers (e.