Asthma medication use and health care utilization evolution during pandemic times.

Pediatric asthma care was significantly impacted by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, with significant decline in asthma health care utilization noted early in the pandemic. We compared Emergency Department (ED) utilization rates and prescription fill rates of controller and quick relief asthma medications between March and December 2020 versus 2021 in a county-specific pediatric Medicaid population to evaluate for changes later in the pandemic. Our data showed an increase in ED utilization by 46.

Improvement in Pulmonary Vascular Resistance After Relief of Fontan Circuit Obstruction.

Objectives: Patients with single-ventricle congenital heart disease undergo staged surgical palliations leading to a final Fontan procedure. After Fontan, cardiac index (CI) is primarily determined by pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Lower Fontan pressure has been achieved after relieving obstruction within the Fontan circuit, but to date the effect on PVR has not been quantified.

Anxiety reduction after pre-procedure meetings in patients with CHD.

Background: Cardiac catheterisations for CHD produce anxiety for patients and families. Current strategies to mitigate anxiety and explain complex anatomy include pre-procedure meetings and educational tools (cardiac diagrams, echocardiograms, imaging, and angiography). More recently, three-dimensionally printed patient-specific models can be added to the armamentarium.

Nrf2 signaling increases expression of ATP-binding cassette subfamily C mRNA transcripts at the blood-brain barrier following hypoxia-reoxygenation stress.

Background: Strategies to maintain BBB integrity in diseases with a hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) component involve preventing glutathione (GSH) loss from endothelial cells. GSH efflux transporters include multidrug resistance proteins (Mrps). Therefore, characterization of Mrp regulation at the BBB during H/R is required to advance these transporters as therapeutic targets.