Background: Tuberculous meningitis is fatal if untreated and can lead to lifelong neurological sequelae. However, to our knowledge, there are no data on the number of children affected by this disease. We aimed to estimate the global disease burden and attributable mortality of childhood tuberculous meningitis by WHO regions, age groups, treatment status, and HIV status in 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Diagnostic imaging is commonly used in the management of low back pain (LBP), with approximately one-quarter of those who present to primary care referred for imaging. Current estimates of imaging frequency commonly exclude older adults; however, pathology detected with imaging (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuestions: What reassurance is being delivered by physiotherapists and chiropractors to people with non-specific low back pain? How is it being delivered? What are the barriers and enablers to delivering reassurance to people with non-specific low back pain?
Design: A qualitative study.
Participants: Thirty-two musculoskeletal clinicians (16 physiotherapists and 16 chiropractors) who manage low back pain in primary care.
Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted about their experiences delivering reassurance.
We used a scoping review design to map the available evidence describing the use of reassurance in clinical practice, interventions to increase the delivery of reassurance, and reassurance-related outcome measures. We searched CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Central from inception to October 2024. Publications were included if they described the use of reassurance or reassurance-related outcome measures in patients with non-specific low back pain (LBP) presenting to primary care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a genome assembly from a specimen of (the ruby bryozoan; Bryozoa; Gymnolaemata; Cheilostomatida; Bugulidae). The genome sequence has total length of 216.00 megabases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlaces of worship serve as a venue for both mass and routine gathering around the world, and therefore are associated with risk of large-scale SARS-CoV-2 transmission. However, such routine gatherings also offer an opportunity to distribute self-tests to members of the community to potentially help mitigate transmission and reduce broader community spread of SARS-CoV-2. Over the past four years, self-testing strategies have been an impactful tool for countries' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially early on to mitigate the spread when vaccination and treatment options were limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImplicit statistical learning, whereby predictable relationships between stimuli are detected without conscious awareness, is important for language acquisition. However, while this process is putatively implicit, it is often assessed using measures that require explicit reflection and conscious decision making. Here, we conducted three experiments combining an artificial grammar learning paradigm with a serial reaction time (SRT-AGL) task, to measure statistical learning of adjacent and nonadjacent dependencies implicitly, without conscious decision making.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the United States, tuberculosis (TB) screening is recommended for pregnant individuals with TB risk factors. We conducted a retrospective study of perinatal TB infection testing and treatment in a tertiary health system. Of 165 pregnant individuals with positive TB infection tests, only 9% completed treatment within 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Biotin has widespread popularity as a hair supplement. We sought to review the literature regarding biotin's efficacy as a hair supplement.
Methods: We conducted a literature search of PubMed for articles specifically studying the use of oral biotin for hair growth or quality.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
August 2024
DNA recognition is critical for assembly of double-stranded DNA viruses, particularly for the initiation of packaging the viral genome into the capsid. The key component that recognizes viral DNA is the small terminase protein. Despite prior studies, the molecular mechanism for DNA recognition remained elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To explore how people perceive three different forms of advice for acute low back pain (LBP).
Design: Content analysis of qualitative data collected in a three-arm randomised experiment.
Participants: 2200 participants with acute LBP (ie, pain duration for ≤6 weeks) were randomly assigned to receive three types of advice: guideline advice and guideline advice with the addition of either brief pain science or ergonomics messages.
Background: We assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB notifications in Ukraine, stratified by multiple subgroups.
Design/methods: We analyzed data from Ukraine's National TB Program from January 2015 to December 2020 using interrupted time series models. We compared observed cases to counterfactual estimated cases had the pandemic not occurred and estimated trends through December 2020 nationally and by various demographics.
Although low back pain (LBP) may persist or recur over time, few studies have evaluated the individual course of LBP over a long-term period, particularly among older adults. Based on data from the longitudinal Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study, we aimed to identify and describe different LBP trajectories in older men and characterize members in each trajectory group. A total of 5 976 community-dwelling men (mean age = 74.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle-stranded DNA bacteriophages of the family are major components of the global virosphere. Microviruses are highly abundant in aquatic ecosystems and are prominent members of the mammalian gut microbiome, where their diversity has been linked to various chronic health disorders. Despite the clear importance of microviruses, little is known about the molecular mechanism of host infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Radiography is commonly used in the assessment of spinal disorders, despite a lack of high-quality evidence demonstrating improved clinical outcomes or additional benefit to the patient. There is disagreement amongst chiropractors regarding the appropriate use of radiography for clinical management. This study aims to qualitatively explore chiropractors' perceptions on the use of spinal radiographs in clinical practice with respect to how they determine when to order radiographs; and how they use radiographs to inform clinical management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We evaluated whether more severe back pain phenotypes-persistent, frequent, or disabling back pain-are associated with higher mortality rate among older men.
Methods: In this secondary analysis of a prospective cohort, the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study, we evaluated mortality rates by back pain phenotype among 5215 older community-dwelling men (mean age, 73 years, SD = 5.6) from 6 sites in the United States.
This study evaluated the nationwide associations between concomitant left atrial appendage clip (LAAC) placement during cardiac surgery and postoperative outcomes. We identified 1,260,999 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, valve, and aortic surgeries in the 2016 to 2020 Nationwide Readmissions Database and stratified by concomitant LAAC versus no LAAC placement. Patients who underwent surgical ablation were excluded.
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