Global deletion of the immune cell transcription factor, T-bet, alters gut microbiota and insulin sensitivity in mice.

The gut microbiota plays a role in energy homeostasis: its composition differs in lean and obese mice and may impact insulin sensitivity. The immune system has co-evolved with the gut microbiota, but direct regulation of microbial communities by the immune system and its metabolic impact is unclear. Mice lacking the immune cell specific transcription factor T-bet (Tbx21) are insulin sensitive.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Hospitalization Outcomes by Palliative Care Utilization and Trends Among Women With Metastatic Breast Cancer in the United States.

Purpose: We examined the trends in palliative care utilization, racial/ethnic disparities in hospitalization outcomes among adult women with a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer (MBC), and effect modification by palliative care utilization.

Methods: Retrospective cohort analyses were conducted using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality sponsored Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project-National Inpatient Sample database from 2016 to 2020. Regression analyses were used to evaluate palliative care trends, and the association between race/ethnicity and in-hospital mortality, length of stay, total hospital charges, and discharge disposition.

Pneumonia in Patients Treated for Solid Organ Malignancy.

is a fungal pathogen that can present as an opportunistic cause of pneumonia and can occur in individuals with various causes of immunosuppression, including malignancy and treatments for malignancy that confer increased risk. Although the guidelines for use of prophylaxis in certain populations are clear, the rapid development of novel cancer therapies elicits the need to accurately assess the degree of immunosuppression conferred by these regimens and to determine if patients receiving these therapies warrant prophylaxis. We present 2 cases of pneumonia in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast treated with a dose-dense chemotherapy regimen consisting of doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and paclitaxel.

Optimisation of visual reinforcement audiometry: a scoping review.

Objective: Visual reinforcement audiometry (VRA) is a well-established behavioural test used to assess hearing in infants and young children. This scoping review aimed to summarise the evidence for different approaches to optimising and improving the effectiveness of VRA for clinical practice.

Design: A pre-registered scoping review was conducted.

Facilitating accessible, rapid, and appropriate processing of ancient metagenomic data with AMDirT.

Background: Access to sample-level metadata is important when selecting public metagenomic sequencing datasets for reuse in new biological analyses. The Standards, Precautions, and Advances in Ancient Metagenomics community (SPAAM, https://spaam-community.org) has previously published AncientMetagenomeDir, a collection of curated and standardised sample metadata tables for metagenomic and microbial genome datasets generated from ancient samples.

Knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship and the Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRe) classification of antibiotics among frontline healthcare professionals in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) aims to improve antibiotic use while reducing resistance and its consequences. There is a paucity of data on the availability of AMS programmes in southern Nigeria. Further, there is no data on Nigerian healthcare professionals' knowledge of the WHO 'Access, Watch and Reserve' (AWaRe) classification of antibiotics.

A two-tool assessment of the quality of life of patients with breast cancer using generic and disease-specific tools in a Nigerian teaching hospital.

Assessing the quality of life (QoL) of breast cancer (BC) patients using a triangulation of tools is crucial for understanding their well-being and tailoring specific interventions to improve their overall experience. The study assessed the QoL of BC patients using a combination of generic and disease-specific validated questionnaires. The study utilized a self-administered questionnaire-based cross-sectional design among BC patients attending the Oncology clinic in a Nigerian teaching hospital.

Knowledge and perception of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship among healthcare students in Nigeria.

Background: Assessment of knowledge and perception of healthcare students regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) would facilitate more effective education of these future prescribers.

Objectives: To assess knowledge and perception of AMR and AMS among healthcare students in Nigerian universities.

Methods: This was a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional survey of medical, nursing and pharmacy undergraduate students from November 2019 to January 2020, using both paper and electronic modes of self-administration.

A high-throughput focused collimator for OAR-sparing preclinical proton FLASH studies: commissioning and validation.

. To fabricate and validate a novel focused collimator designed to spare normal tissue in a murine hemithoracic irradiation model using 250 MeV protons delivered at ultra-high dose rates (UHDRs) for preclinical FLASH radiation therapy (FLASH-RT) studies..

Trends, Sociodemographic and Hospital-Level Factors Associated with Palliative Care Utilization Among Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients.

Several factors are reported to be associated with palliative care utilization among patients with various cancers, but literature is lacking on metastatic prostate cancer (MPC) specific factors. Early integration of palliative care in management of MPC patients could increase their quality of life and overall outcomes. Retrospective longitudinal analyses were conducted using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data (2010 - 2019).

How do people with intellectual disabilities understand friendship? A systematic meta-synthesis.

Background: Previous systematic reviews of the relationships of people with intellectual disabilities have included consideration of intimate relationships. In this paper, we report a systematic review of papers describing friendship only.

Method: A systematic qualitative meta-synthesis of the research exploring experiences of friendship as reported by people with intellectual disabilities.

The impact of face coverings on audio-visual contributions to communication with conversational speech.

The use of face coverings can make communication more difficult by removing access to visual cues as well as affecting the physical transmission of speech sounds. This study aimed to assess the independent and combined contributions of visual and auditory cues to impaired communication when using face coverings. In an online task, 150 participants rated videos of natural conversation along three dimensions: (1) how much they could follow, (2) how much effort was required, and (3) the clarity of the speech.

Ancient Genomes From Bronze Age Remains Reveal Deep Diversity and Recent Adaptive Episodes for Human Oral Pathobionts.

Ancient microbial genomes can illuminate pathobiont evolution across millenia, with teeth providing a rich substrate. However, the characterization of prehistoric oral pathobiont diversity is limited. In Europe, only preagricultural genomes have been subject to phylogenetic analysis, with none compared to more recent archaeological periods.

Efficacy and safety of Mazdutide on weight loss among diabetic and non-diabetic patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Overweight and obesity are increasing global public health problems. Mazdutide is a new dual agonist drug that can potentially reduce weight and blood glucose levels simultaneously. However, the synthesis of evidence on the efficacy and safety of this drug is scarce.

Participatory translational science of neurodivergence: model for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism research.

Background: There are increasing calls for neurodivergent peoples' involvement in research into neurodevelopmental conditions. So far, however, this has tended to be achieved only through membership of external patient and public involvement (PPI) panels. The Regulating Emotions - Strengthening Adolescent Resilience (RE-STAR) programme is building a new participatory model of translational research that places young people with diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism at the heart of the research team so that they can contribute to shaping and delivering its research plan.

Technical note: A small animal irradiation platform for investigating the dependence of the FLASH effect on electron beam parameters.

Background: The recent rediscovery of the FLASH effect, a normal tissue sparing phenomenon observed in ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) irradiations, has instigated a surge of research endeavors aiming to close the gap between experimental observation and clinical treatment. However, the dependences of the FLASH effect and its underpinning mechanisms on beam parameters are not well known, and large-scale in vivo studies using murine models of human cancer are needed for these investigations.

Purpose: To commission a high-throughput, variable dose rate platform providing uniform electron fields (≥15 cm diameter) at conventional (CONV) and UHDRs for in vivo investigations of the FLASH effect and its dependences on pulsed electron beam parameters.

PET Imaging of Innate Immune Activation Using C Radiotracers Targeting GPR84.

Chronic innate immune activation is a key hallmark of many neurological diseases and is known to result in the upregulation of GPR84 in myeloid cells (macrophages, microglia, and monocytes). As such, GPR84 can potentially serve as a sensor of proinflammatory innate immune responses. To assess the utility of GPR84 as an imaging biomarker, we synthesized and carbon-11 alkylation for use as positron emission tomography (PET) tracers targeting this receptor.

Assessing health-related quality of life of people with diabetes in Nigeria using the EQ-5D-5L: a cross-sectional study.

Assessing the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of people with diabetes is important to evaluate treatment effectiveness and identify interventions that would be beneficial to the patients. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to assess the HRQoL of people with diabetes visiting 15 community pharmacies in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, and to identify its determinants. The English (Nigeria) version of the EQ-5D-5L was administered to 420 eligible patients between August and September 2021.

Racial/ethnic disparities in inpatient palliative care utilization and hospitalization outcomes among patients with colorectal cancer.

Purpose: Research has shown that racial/ethnic disparities exist in outcomes for colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, but there are no studies assessing inpatient palliative care utilization and hospitalization outcomes in this population. We examined racial/ethnic disparities in palliative care utilization and hospitalization outcomes among CRC and early-onset CRC patients.

Methods: Using National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data collected between 2016 and 2018, cross-sectional analyses were performed.

Pharmacokinetics and Biodistribution of 16,16 dimethyl Prostaglandin E2 in Non-Irradiated and Irradiated Mice and Non-Irradiated Non-Human Primates.

Exposure to high-dose ionizing radiation can lead to life-threatening injuries and mortality. Bone marrow is the most sensitive organ to radiation damage, resulting in the hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome (H-ARS) with the potential sequelae of infection, hemorrhage, anemia, and death if untreated. The development of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to protect or mitigate radiation injury is a medical necessity.

Animal Model Considerations for Medical Countermeasure Development for Radiation and Sulfur Mustard Exposures: Animal models for radiation and HD exposures.

Development of medical countermeasures (MCM) to mitigate and/ or treat the pulmonary complications associated with exposure to chemical, radiological, and/ or nuclear weapons is a national, public health preparedness posture priority in the United States (US). Pulmonary exposure to either sulfur mustard vapor or radiation causes oxidative damage, vascular injury, hyperinflammation, and pro-fibrotic signaling cascades that lead to life-threatening and potentially debilitating lung disease. There is no MCM currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to mitigate and/ or treat lung injury caused by sulfur mustard or radiation exposure.

Evaluation of Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk in Infants With Intraventricular Hemorrhage.

Background This study evaluates the long-term risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in infants with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) using the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers-Revised with Follow-Up (M-CHAT-R/F) screening tool. Methods This retrospective cohort study compared IVH (exposed) infants across all gestational age groups with no-IVH (non-exposed) infants admitted to level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The M-CHAT-R/F screening tool was used to assess the ASD risk at 16-30 months of age.

Development and Initial Assessment of [F]OP-801: a Novel Hydroxyl Dendrimer PET Tracer for Preclinical Imaging of Innate Immune Activation in the Whole Body and Brain.

Purpose: Innate immune activation plays a critical role in the onset and progression of many diseases. While positron emission tomography (PET) imaging provides a non-invasive means to visualize and quantify such immune responses, most available tracers are not specific for innate immune cells. To address this need, we developed [F]OP-801 by radiolabeling a novel hydroxyl dendrimer that is selectively taken up by reactive macrophages/microglia and evaluated its ability to detect innate immune activation in mice following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge.

Patient and multidisciplinary team perspectives on watch and wait in rectal cancer.

This article adopts a multidisciplinary approach, including surgery, oncology, radiology and patient perspectives, to discuss the key points of debate surrounding a watch and wait approach. In an era of shared decision-making, discussion of watch and wait as an option in the context of complete clinical response is appropriate, although it is not the gold standard treatment. Key challenges are the difficulty in assessing for a complete clinical response, prediction of recurrence and access to timely diagnostics for surveillance.