Don't break the (blood) bank: Can waste be minimized in a whole blood program?

Background: Wastage concerns are a barrier to adopting whole blood (WB) therapy in trauma patients. Converting aging WB to red blood cell units (RBCs) may minimize wastage.

Methods: Blood bank records for WB and standard blood products were retrospectively reviewed at a level 1 trauma center from 8/2020 - 3/2023.

Long-term, home-based transcranial direct current stimulation coupled with computerized cognitive training in frontotemporal dementia: A case report.

We present the case of a 62-year-old woman with probable behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) with cognitive/language deficits who demonstrated improved performance on cognitive/language testing and in functional tasks following long-term, home-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) coupled with computerized cognitive training (CCT). The patient underwent home-based tDCS (anode on the left prefrontal cortex and cathode on the right homologue) for 46 sessions over 10 weeks along with CCT. On post-treatment testing, the patient improved by 3 points on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) (23 to 26).

Baseline functional connectivity predicts who will benefit from neuromodulation: evidence from primary progressive aphasia.

Background: Identifying the characteristics of individuals who demonstrate response to an intervention allows us to predict who is most likely to benefit from certain interventions. Prediction is challenging in rare and heterogeneous diseases, such as primary progressive aphasia (PPA), that have varying clinical manifestations. We aimed to determine the characteristics of those who will benefit most from transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) using a novel heterogeneity and group identification analysis.

Home-Based Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Pilot Study.

Background: This study aims to determine (a) if home-based anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) delivered to the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) coupled with verbal short-term memory/working memory (vSTM/WM) treatment ("RAM", short for "Repeat After Me") is more effective than sham-tDCS in improving vSTM/WM in patients with primary progressive aphasia (PPA), and (b) whether tDCS effects generalize to other language and cognitive abilities.

Methods: Seven PPA participants received home-based a-tDCS and sham-tDCS coupled with RAM treatment in separate conditions in a double-blind design. The treatment task required participants to repeat word spans comprising semantically and phonologically unrelated words in the same and reverse order.

Brain total creatine differs between primary progressive aphasia (PPA) subtypes and correlates with disease severity.

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is comprised of three subtypes: logopenic (lvPPA), non-fluent (nfvPPA), and semantic (svPPA). We used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure tissue-corrected metabolite levels in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right sensorimotor cortex (SMC) from 61 PPA patients. We aimed to: (1) characterize subtype differences in metabolites; and (2) test for metabolite associations with symptom severity.

A deep learning system for differential diagnosis of skin diseases.

Skin conditions affect 1.9 billion people. Because of a shortage of dermatologists, most cases are seen instead by general practitioners with lower diagnostic accuracy.

Avoidable tragedies: Disparities in healthcare access among medically underserved women diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Background: The purpose was to identify barriers including logistical and health belief correlates of late stage presentation of cervical cancer (CxCa) among medically underserved women presenting to a safety net health care system.

Methods: Women presenting with newly diagnosed CxCa were asked to complete a detailed health belief survey that included questions about barriers to care and their knowledge of CxCa. All information was collected prior to initiating cancer treatment.

Assessment of sexual activity and dysfunction in medically underserved women with gynecologic cancers.

Background: Sexual dysfunction is a common long-term side effect of treatments for gynecologic cancer. Studies of sexual problems in gynecologic cancer survivors overrepresent White non-Hispanic, highly educated, and married women. Less is known about the sexual health needs of women in medically underserved populations.

The leaf-area shrinkage effect can bias paleoclimate and ecology research.

Premise Of The Study: Leaf area is a key trait that links plant form, function, and environment. Measures of leaf area can be biased because leaf area is often estimated from dried or fossilized specimens that have shrunk by an unknown amount. We tested the common assumption that this shrinkage is negligible.