Limitations of Blood Pressure Measurements in Pediatric Trauma Patients During Field Triage.

Introduction: Recent revisions of national field triage guidelines recommend the addition of age-specific systolic blood pressure (SBP) measurement for identifying the most severely injured children requiring transport to a trauma center. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency in which blood pressures are documented by Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers and the role this measurement has had, among other factors, in triage decisions.

Methods: This is an exploratory descriptive study with a retrospective review from the trauma registry database of all pediatric trauma admissions that arrived by EMS at a level II pediatric trauma center from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022.

Early biological markers of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

To understand the roles of acute-phase viral dynamics and host immune responses in post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), we enrolled 136 participants within 5 days of their first positive SARS-CoV-2 real-time PCR test. Participants self-collected up to 21 nasal specimens within the first 28 days post-symptom onset; interviewer-administered questionnaires and blood samples were collected at enrollment, days 9, 14, 21, 28, and month 4 and 8 post-symptom onset. Defining PASC as the presence of any COVID-associated symptom at their 4-month visit, we compared viral markers (quantity and duration of nasal viral RNA load, infectious viral load, and plasma N-antigen level) and host immune markers (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-α, IFN-γ, MCP, IP-10, and Spike IgG) over the acute period.

Rural-urban differences in emergency medical services bypass routing of stroke in North Carolina.

Purpose: Acute stroke is a serious, time-sensitive condition requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency medical services (EMS) routing and direct transport of acute stroke patients to stroke centers improves timely access to care. This study aimed to describe EMS stroke routing and transports by rurality in North Carolina (NC).

Salivary, lacrimal and nasal (SALANS) measure to assess side effects following radioactive iodine treatment: development, psychometric properties, and factor structure.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop and psychometrically evaluate a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM), SAlivary, LAcrimal, NaSal (SALANS), to document patients' symptoms after radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).

Methods: We generated and iteratively revised SALANS items based on expert input, focus group discussions and feedback from cognitive testing (n = 17). We administered an initial SALANS measure with 39 items to patients diagnosed with DTC in the past two years (n = 105).