The immunomodulatory enzyme IDO2 is an essential mediator of autoantibody production and joint inflammation in preclinical models of autoimmune arthritis. Although originally identified as a tryptophan-catabolizing enzyme, we recently discovered a previously unknown nonenzymatic pathway is essential for the proarthritic function of IDO2. We subsequently identified Runx1 (Runt-related transcription factor 1) as a potential component of the nonenzymatic pathway IDO2 uses to drive arthritis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 41-year-old male with a history of tobacco and alcohol use presented to our clinic for a follow up of an incidentally diagnosed splenic mass. The patient was sent for further diagnostic evaluation, and computed tomography showed a large splenic mass with heterogenous enhancement raising concern for neoplasm. Due to the uncertain nature of the splenic lesion and high complication rate of percutaneous splenic biopsy, a splenectomy was performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are rare vascular anomalies that present complex diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, particularly in uncommon locations such as the lower extremities. A 72-year-old female with chronic atrial fibrillation, hypertension, and peripheral vascular disease presented with severe lower extremity edema due to multiple AVMs below the knee. This case underscores the importance of a multidisciplinary, individualized approach in managing complex AVMs and highlights the need for advanced imaging and diverse interventional techniques to ensure effective treatment and long-term outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInvasive fungal diseases (IFDs) comprise a growing healthcare burden, especially given the expanding population of immunocompromised hosts. Early diagnosis of IFDs is required to optimise therapy with antifungals, especially in the setting of rising rates of antifungal resistance. Molecular techniques including nucleic acid amplification tests and whole genome sequencing have potential to offer utility in overcoming limitations with traditional phenotypic testing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe right posterior segmental duct (RPSD) draining into the cystic duct is exceedingly rare. Ligation of the cystic duct in proximity to the junction of an aberrant right hepatic duct after a cholecystectomy can lead to life threatening complications. The present case study reveals a severed anomalous RPSD and subsequent Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy procedure employed to fix biliary anomaly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStud Health Technol Inform
January 2024
Clinical narratives recording behaviours and emotions of patients are available from EHRs in a forensic psychiatric centre located in Tasmania. This rich data has not been used in risk prediction. Prior work demonstrates natural language processing can be used to identify patient symptoms in these free-text records and can then be used to predict risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCocoa pod husks (CPHs) represent an underutilized component of the chocolate manufacturing process. While industry's current focus is understandably on the cocoa beans, the husks make up around 75 wt % of the fruit. Previous studies have been dominated by the carbohydrate polymers present in CPHs, but this work highlights the presence of the biopolymer lignin in this biomass.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: We propose that implicit learning, including syntactic priming, has therapeutic promise to enhance the syntactic knowledge of children with developmental language disorder (DLD).
Method: We review the chunk-based learning framework of syntactic learning, the developmental evidence in support of it, and the developmental literature on syntactic priming as an instance of chunk-based statistical learning. We use this framework to help understand the nature of the syntactic learning difficulties of children with DLD.
The purpose is to examine the availability of consumer pricing information for arthroscopic meniscal surgery in the United States. Secondary objectives were comparing the price of meniscal repair to meniscectomy and regional pricing differences. Orthopaedic sports medicine clinics were sorted by state and randomly selected from American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's online directory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To describe the role of the pharmacist in and initial outcomes of a remote monitoring and telemanagement program implemented to proactively provide outreach to high-risk patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Summary: A remote monitoring and telemanagement program was developed at a large, nonprofit, multicenter, academic health system as an innovative way to manage patients at risk for decompensation of their chronic diseases in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program mobilized an interprofessional workforce including nurses, medical assistants, social workers, virtualists, patient schedulers, and ambulatory care pharmacists.
IDO2 is one of two closely related tryptophan catabolizing enzymes induced under inflammatory conditions. In contrast to the immunoregulatory role defined for IDO1 in cancer models, IDO2 has a proinflammatory function in models of autoimmunity and contact hypersensitivity. In humans, two common single-nucleotide polymorphisms have been identified that severely impair IDO2 enzymatic function, such that <25% of individuals express IDO2 with full catalytic potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe purpose of this study was to investigate the dimensionality of the cognitive processes related to memory capacity and language ability and to assess the magnitude of the relationships among these processes in children developing typically (TD) and children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Participants were 234 children between the ages of 7;0 and 11;11 (117 TD and 117 DLD) who were propensity matched on age, sex, mother education and family income. Latent variables created from cognitive processing tasks and standardized measures of comprehension and production of lexical and sentential aspects of language were tested with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural regression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChildren with complex communication needs who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) strategies to communicate have difficulty participating in interactions with their peers. Integrating a collaborative learning framework with art activities may facilitate social interactions between children with complex communication needs and their peers. A single-subject withdrawal design was utilised to examine the impact of collaborative art activities on reciprocal social interactions between 2 dyads of participants with complex communication needs and their same-age peers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose The nature of the relationship between memory and sentence comprehension in school-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD) has been unclear. We present a novel perspective that highlights the relational influences of fluid intelligence, controlled attention, working memory (WM), and long-term memory (LTM) on sentence comprehension in children with and without DLD. This perspective has new and important implications for theory, assessment, and intervention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study was conducted to teach and evaluate the effectiveness of an online training called The CAPTURE & Share program. The program was taught using online instruction in an asynchronous manner with six volunteers who facilitate recreational participation for individuals with complex communication needs. The online training focused on teaching volunteers how to support opportunities for individuals to capture photos and videos from recreation and then share them across their social networks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIndoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO)1 and IDO2 are two closely related tryptophan catabolizing enzymes encoded by linked genes. The IDO pathway is also immunomodulatory, with IDO1 well-characterized as a mediator of tumor immune evasion. Due to its homology with IDO1, IDO2 has been proposed to have a similar immunoregulatory function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth Educ Behav
December 2021
Lead exposure has been linked to neurological, reproductive, and developmental effects, and approximately 3.5% of Chicago children under the age of 3 years have elevated blood lead levels. The aim of this research was to provide outreach opportunities to address the issue of lead exposure in water and soil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelective processing of the β-O-4 unit in lignin is essential for the efficient depolymerisation of this biopolymer and therefore its successful integration into a biorefinery set-up. An approach is described in which this unit is modified to incorporate a carboxylic ester with the goal of enabling the use of mild depolymerisation conditions. Inspired by preliminary results using a Cu/TEMPO/O system, a protocol was developed that gave the desired β-O-4-containing ester in high yield using certain dimeric model compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Pediatric air transport research is limited, especially scene transport. Study purpose was to review transport epidemiology, outcomes, and documentation to inform development of a pediatric flight quality improvement (QI) program and outreach.
Methods: Study design was ongoing review and analysis of flight, ED, EMS and hospital records over 2 years from children ≤ 18 years transported by a regional flight program.
The automated design of meander line RFID antennas is a discrete self-avoiding walk (SAW) problem for which efficiency is to be maximized while resonant frequency is to be minimized. This work presents a novel exploration of how discrete local search may be incorporated into a continuous solver such as differential evolution (DE). A prior DE algorithm for this problem that incorporates an adaptive solution encoding and a bias favoring antennas with low resonant frequency is extended by the addition of the backbite local search operator and a variety of schemes for reintroducing modified designs into the DE population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose The storage-only deficit and joint mechanism deficit hypotheses are 2 possible explanations of the verbal working memory (vWM) storage capacity limitation of school-age children with developmental language disorder (DLD). We assessed the merits of each hypothesis in a large group of children with DLD and a group of same-age typically developing (TD) children. Method Participants were 117 children with DLD and 117 propensity-matched TD children 7-11 years of age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecreational and leisure activities offer many meaningful and motivating opportunities for communication and improving quality-of-life. Volunteers in recreation activities have important roles as participation and communication facilitators, while also creating opportunities for learning and social interaction. The aim of this study was to implement a novel photo and video intervention called the CAPTURE & Share Program, and to evaluate its impact on communication opportunities and participation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent reports demonstrate that applications of the biopolymer lignin can be helped by the use of a fraction of the lignin which has an optimal molecular weight range. Unfortunately, the current methods used to determine lignin's molecular weight are inconsistent or not widely accessible. Here, an approach that relies on 2D DOSY NMR analysis is described that provides a measure of lignin's molecular weight.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate agreement of 4 methods (Tikhonov gamma variate adaptive regularization of plasma concentration-time curve fitting applied to technetium Tc 99m diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid [Tc-DTPA] plasma clearance [Tk-GV], plasma clearance of exogenous creatinine [CrCL], Gates gamma camera-based measurement method with Tc-DTPA renal clearance and dynamic scintigraphy [GTS], and iohexol renal clearance assessed with dynamic CT with Patlak plotting [CT-Pp]) for measuring glomerular filtration rates (GFR) in healthy cats.
Animals: 7 healthy, laboratory-raised cats.
Procedures: Each method for measuring GFR was performed twice in 7 cats at 24-day intervals.