Measuring quality of dental care: Caries prevention services for children.

Background: The authors conducted a study to validate the following 3 evidence-based, process-of-care quality measures focused on dental caries prevention for children with an elevated risk of experiencing caries: sealants for 6- to 9-year-olds, sealants for 10- to 14-year-olds, and topical fluoride.

Methods: Using evidence-based guidelines, the Dental Quality Alliance developed measures for implementation with administrative data at the plan and program levels. To validate the measures, the authors used data from the Florida and Texas Medicaid programs and Children's Health Insurance Programs and from national commercial dental benefit plans.

Clinical features and outcomes of invasive pneumococcal disease in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Background: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) results in high morbidity and mortality globally each year, although it is a vaccine-preventable disease. This study aimed to characterize the clinical features of IPD in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Taiwan. The seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was introduced in the private sector in October 2005.

Estimating minimally important difference (MID) in PROMIS pediatric measures using the scale-judgment method.

Objective: To assess minimally important differences (MIDs) for several pediatric self-report item banks from the National Institutes of Health Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System(®) (PROMIS(®)).

Methods: We presented vignettes comprising sets of two completed PROMIS questionnaires and asked judges to declare whether the individual completing those questionnaires had an important change or not. We enrolled judges (including adolescents, parents, and clinicians) who responded to 24 vignettes (six for each domain of depression, pain interference, fatigue, and mobility).

Hypoxia Enhances the Toxicity of Corexit EC9500A and Chemically Dispersed Southern Louisiana Sweet Crude Oil (MC-242) to Sheepshead Minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) Larvae.

Oil exploration and production activities are common in the northern Gulf of Mexico as well as many other coastal and near coastal areas worldwide. Seasonal hypoxia is also a common feature in the Northern Gulf, and many other coastal areas, which is likely to increase in severity and extent with continuing anthropogenic nutrient inputs. Hypoxia has well established physiological effects on many organisms, and it has been shown to enhance the toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (persistent components of petroleum) in fish.

The relationship between four health-related quality-of-life indicators and use of mammography and Pap test screening in US women.

Purpose: Limited evidence is available to explain the role of four components of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) on breast and cervical cancer screening. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between four HRQoL aspects and use of mammography and Pap test screening in US women.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

A glycine insertion in the estrogen-related receptor (ERR) is associated with enhanced expression of three cytochrome P450 genes in transgenic Drosophila melanogaster.

Insecticide-resistant Drosophila melanogaster strains represent a resource for the discovery of the underlying molecular mechanisms of cytochrome P450 constitutive over-expression, even if some of these P450s are not directly involved in the resistance phenotype. For example, in select 4,4'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) resistant strains the glucocorticoid receptor-like (GR-like) potential transcription factor binding motifs (TFBMs) have previously been shown to be associated with constitutively differentially-expressed cytochrome P450s, Cyp12d1, Cyp6g2 and Cyp9c1. However, insects are not known to have glucocorticoids.

PROMIS(®) pediatric self-report scales distinguish subgroups of children within and across six common pediatric chronic health conditions.

Purpose: To conduct a comparative analysis of eight pediatric self-report scales for ages 8-17 years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS(®)) in six pediatric chronic health conditions, using indicators of disease severity.

Methods: Pediatric patients (N = 1454) with asthma, cancer, chronic kidney disease, obesity, rheumatic disease, and sickle cell disease completed items from the PROMIS pediatric mobility, upper extremity functioning, depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger, peer relationships, pain interference, and fatigue self-report scales. Comparisons within the six pediatric chronic health conditions were conducted by examining differences in groups based on the disease severity using markers of severity that were specific to characteristics of each disease.

Graphene-Based Integrated Photovoltaic Energy Harvesting/Storage Device.

Energy scavenging has become a fundamental part of ubiquitous sensor networks. Of all the scavenging technologies, solar has the highest power density available. However, the energy source is erratic.

Developing and testing pediatric oral healthcare quality measures.

Objective: This study describes processes used to develop and test pediatric oral healthcare quality measures and provides recommendations for implementation.

Methods: At the request of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Dental Quality Alliance (DQA) was formed in 2008 as a multi-stakeholder group to develop oral healthcare quality measures. For its initial focus on pediatric care, measure development processes included a literature review and environmental scan to identify relevant measure concepts, which were rated on importance, feasibility, and validity using the RAND/UCLA modified Delphi approach.

Prevalence and characterization of enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis and toxigenic Clostridium difficile in a Taipei emergency department.

Background/purpose: Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF) and toxin-encoding Clostridium difficile (TXCD) are associated with gastroenteritis. Routine anaerobic blood culture for recovery of these anaerobic pathogens is not used for the detection of their toxins, especially for toxin-variant TXCD. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of the genotypes of these anaerobes in patients with acute diarrheal illnesses.

Integrated high quality factor lithium niobate microdisk resonators.

Lithium Niobate (LN) is an important nonlinear optical material. Here we demonstrate LN microdisk resonators that feature optical quality factor ~10(5), realized using robust and scalable fabrication techniques, that operate over a wide wavelength range spanning visible and near infrared. Using our resonators, and leveraging LN's large second order optical nonlinearity, we demonstrate on-chip second harmonic generation with a conversion efficiency of 0.

IFITM-Family Proteins: The Cell's First Line of Antiviral Defense.

Animal cells use a wide variety of mechanisms to slow or prevent replication of viruses. These mechanisms are usually mediated by antiviral proteins whose expression and activities can be constitutive but are frequently amplified by interferon induction. Among these interferon-stimulated proteins, members of the IFITM (interferon-induced transmembrane) family are unique because they prevent infection before a virus can traverse the lipid bilayer of the cell.

A novel minimal in vitro system for analyzing HIV-1 Gag-mediated budding.

A biomimetic minimalist model membrane was used to study the mechanism and kinetics of cell-free in vitro HIV-1 Gag budding from a giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV). Real-time interaction of Gag, RNA, and lipid, leading to the formation of mini-vesicles, was measured using confocal microscopy. Gag forms resolution-limited punctae on the GUV lipid membrane.

Comparison of acute lobar nephronia and acute pyelonephritis in children: a single-center clinical analysis in southern taiwan.

Background: Patients with acute lobar nephronia (ALN) require a longer duration of antimicrobial treatment than those with acute pyelonephritis (APN), and ALN is associated with renal scarring. The aim of this study was to provide an understanding of ALN by comparing the clinical features of pediatric patients with ALN and APN.

Methods: We enrolled all of the patients with ALN (confirmed by computed tomography) admitted to our hospital from 1999 to 2012 in the ALN group.

Infantile hepatitis B in immunized children: risk for fulminant hepatitis and long-term outcomes.

Background: Infantile hepatitis B after neonatal immunoprophylaxis is a rare yet distinct disease. This study aimed to analyze the long-term outcomes and risk factors in immunized infants with hepatitis B.

Methods: The clinical parameters and outcomes of 41 infants born after universal immunization, and admitted for HBV-positive hepatitis were studied.

IFITM3 polymorphism rs12252-C restricts influenza A viruses.

The IFITM3 polymorphism rs12252-C, which encodes an IFITM3 isoform (Δ21 IFITM3) lacking 21 amino acids at the amino terminus, has been controversially associated with poor clinical outcomes in patients with H1N1 influenza A virus (IAV) infections. In vitro studies have shown that Δ21 IFITM3 loses its ability to restrict H1N1 IAV. Subsequent research has also revealed that tyrosine 20 is the key determinant for IFITM3 endocytic trafficking, which is essential for the efficient anti-viral activity of IFITM3.

Developing item banks for measuring pediatric generic health-related quality of life: an application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth and item response theory.

The purpose of this study was to develop item banks by linking items from three pediatric health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments using a mixed methodology. Secondary data were collected from 469 parents of children aged 8-16 years. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-Children and Youth (ICF-CY) served as a framework to compare the concepts of items from three HRQoL instruments.

A genetic assay for transcription errors reveals multilayer control of RNA polymerase II fidelity.

We developed a highly sensitive assay to detect transcription errors in vivo. The assay is based on suppression of a missense mutation in the active site tyrosine in the Cre recombinase. Because Cre acts as tetramer, background from translation errors are negligible.

Lethality of sortase depletion in Actinomyces oris caused by excessive membrane accumulation of a surface glycoprotein.

Sortase, a cysteine-transpeptidase conserved in Gram-positive bacteria, anchors on the cell wall many surface proteins that facilitate bacterial pathogenesis and fitness. Genetic disruption of the housekeeping sortase in several Gram-positive pathogens reported thus far attenuates virulence, but not bacterial growth. Paradoxically, we discovered that depletion of the housekeeping sortase SrtA was lethal for Actinomyces oris; yet, all of its predicted cell wall-anchored protein substrates (AcaA-N) were individually dispensable for cell viability.

Relationships among symptoms, psychosocial factors, and health-related quality of life in hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors.

Purpose: The study aims to evaluate the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on the relationship between physical symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) survivors and to test a conceptual model of psychosocial factors, in addition to physical and psychological symptoms, that might contribute to HRQOL.

Methods: This is a secondary data analysis using HSCT survivors (N = 662) identified from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. Data were collected through mail and phone surveys and medical records.