Postoperative Outcomes Following Lung Resection Performed at Private Equity-Acquired Hospitals.

Objective: Private equity acquisition of hospitals performing complex operations is increasingly prevalent in the United States healthcare landscape. While comparative health outcomes for common medical conditions have been investigated, the quality of thoracic surgical care in private equity-acquired hospitals is unknown.

Methods: Medicare Beneficiaries, aged 65-99 years, undergoing elective lung resection between 2016 to 2020 were included.

Translation, adaptation and validation of an epilepsy screening instrument in two Ghanaian languages.

Introduction: The prevalence of epilepsy in sub-Saharan Africa varies considerably, and the exact estimate for Ghana remains unclear, particularly in peri-urban areas where data are scarce. More community-based studies are required to understand better the actual burden of epilepsy in these areas and the difficulties in accessing healthcare.

Objective: To adapt and validate a household survey epilepsy-screening instrument in Shai-Osudoku and Ningo-Prampram District of Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

Inefficient transfer of diatoms through the subpolar Southern Ocean twilight zone.

The Southern Ocean, a region highly vulnerable to climate change, plays a vital role in regulating global nutrient cycles and atmospheric CO via the biological carbon pump. Diatoms, photosynthetically active plankton with dense opal skeletons, are key to this process as their exoskeletons are thought to enhance the transfer of particulate organic carbon to depth, positioning them as major vectors of carbon storage. Yet conflicting observations obscure the mechanistic link between diatoms, opal and particulate organic carbon fluxes, especially in the twilight zone where greatest flux losses occur.

No Injury Observed in Kidneys Treated with Burst Wave Lithotripsy in Therapeutically Anticoagulated Pigs.

Current American Urological Association guidelines recommend that patients with acute obstructive kidney stone requiring continuous anticoagulation/antiplatelet therapy should not be treated by shockwave lithotripsy or percutaneous nephrolithotomy because of the risk of catastrophic renal hemorrhage possible with those techniques. Currently, ureteroscopy is the only recommended surgical treatment. We evaluated if burst wave lithotripsy (BWL) could be used in these cases by treating pigs with BWL while undergoing anticoagulation therapy.

Plasma levels of anti phosphocholine IgM antibodies are negatively correlated with bone mineral density in humans.

Phosphatidylcholine is a ubiquitous phospholipid. It contains a phosphocholine (PC) headgroup and polyunsaturated fatty acids that, when oxidized, form reactive oxidized phospholipids (PC-OxPLs). PC-OxPLs are pathogenic in multiple diseases and neutralized by anti-PC IgM antibodies.