Radiographic outcomes and subsidence rate in hyperlordotic versus standard lordotic interbody spacers in patients undergoing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

Background: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a common surgery for patients with degenerative cervical disease and current interbody spacers utilized vary based on material composition, structure, and angle of lordosis. Currently, there is a lack of literature comparing subsidence rates or long-term radiographic outcomes with hyperlordotic and standard lordotic spacers. This study compares long-term radiographic outcomes, subsidence rate, and rate of fusion in patients who underwent ACDF with hyperlordotic or standard interbody placement.

Assessing the Understandability and Actionability of Education Materials for Agricultural Workers' Health.

Objectives: Agricultural health and safety educators, including community health workers and Extension agents, represent an important community of practice, connecting agricultural workers (i.e. migrant and seasonal farmworkers) to health information and care.

Evidence of a novel gene locus for longitudinal change in hemoglobin A1c levels among non-diabetic subjects from the Long Life Family Study.

Glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) indicates average glucose levels over three months and is associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Longitudinal change in circulating HbA1c (ΔHbA1c) are also associated with aging processes, cognitive performance, and mortality. We analyzed ΔHbA1c in 1,886 non-diabetic Europeans from the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) to uncover gene loci influencing ΔHbA1c.

Regional Near-Surface Dose Predicts Moist Desquamation and Implant Failure in Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer.

Purpose: We correlated regional near-surface dose with toxic effects and implant complications in patients receiving breast or chest wall irradiation. We also compared toxic effects and implant complications between patients receiving photon or proton irradiation with prospective near-surface dose optimization.

Methods And Materials: Patients at a single institution who received conventionally fractionated breast or chest wall and regional nodal irradiation from 2017 to 2022 were included.

Self-Reported Pesticide Application, Access to Pesticide Labels, and QR Code Use Among Agricultural H-2A Workers, North Carolina, 2024.

Background: Despite the composition of the United States' agricultural workforce and the sector's reliance on Spanish-speaking migrant labor, pesticide labels are largely available in English only. Currently, federal regulators are considering strategies to provide pesticide label information access in Spanish via a QR code or through other electronic methods on the pesticide container. Data on access to labels and the use of QR codes among agricultural workers are limited.

Preparing for Inclusion of Agricultural Workers in Climate-Related and Other Public Health Emergencies: A Quantitative Content Analysis of County Emergency Preparedness Plans, Eastern North Carolina, 2022-2023.

Objective: Agricultural workers such as migrant and seasonal farmworkers are a population uniquely vulnerable to the negative effects of climate-related disasters. The primary aim of this study was to assess how counties in eastern North Carolina (NC) incorporated best practices related to agricultural workers in emergency preparedness planning.

Methods: The authors conducted a quantitative content analysis of 47 emergency preparedness plans from 41 eastern NC counties between November 2022 and March 2023.

An Analysis of Gender-Affirming Care Offerings on United States Pediatric Hospital Websites: Exploring the Impact of State Legislative Bans.

This longitudinal study compared the presence of information about gender-affirming care (GAC) on U.S. pediatric hospital websites in March 2022, when bans on the provision of pediatric GAC had been passed in two states, versus in October 2023, when bans had been passed in 22 states and implemented in 15 states without court blockage.

Validity of one-time assessments for identifying prodromal Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome.

Introduction: New Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatments have created an urgent need for accurate early diagnosis of high-risk adults with Down syndrome (DS), distinguishing prodromal DS-AD symptoms from lifelong cognitive impairments. Often, clinicians will need to evaluate dementia status during a single assessment, and here we describe empirically supported methods effective under such circumstances.

Methods: Archived data collected between 1987 and 2017 included longitudinal findings for 144 individuals maintaining cognitive stability and 126 developing prodromal DS-AD.

Breaking Down Barriers for Same-Sex Female Couples Building Families: Fertilization Utilization Following the Enactment of 2021 Legislation in New York State.

In 2021, New York State passed legislation that eliminated the requirement that same-sex female couples needed up to 12 months of intrauterine insemination with donor sperm to meet the medical definition of infertility and qualify for insurance coverage. This study compared the duration of time from consultation to utilization of fertilization (IVF) by same-sex female couples before and after the New York legislative change. Same-sex female couples who underwent IVF or reciprocal IVF between 2010 and 2023 in New York City were categorized into pre- and postlegislation cohorts based on when they sought initial treatment.

Enterococcus dysbiosis as a mediator of vitamin D deficiency-associated memory impairments.

Low vitamin D status is linked to disturbance in cognitive performance. This study explored possible ways how composition and functional capacity of the gut microbiome affects vitamin D metabolism, directing serum vitamin D (VitD) levels and memory impairmets. It was found that gut microbiome composition, characterized by an increase in the relative abundance of Enterococcus and correlated with vitamin D deficiency and, as consequence, with memory impairments.

A Decade of Oocyte Cryopreservation: New Horizons in Patients Accessing Care.

Utilization of fertility preservation treatments has increased since the American Society for Reproductive Medicine lifted the "experimental" label for oocyte cryopreservation in 2012. This study characterizes changes in insurance coverage, clinical outcomes, and live birth probabilities over a span of a decade (2012-2022) in patients who underwent planned oocyte cryopreservation. Retrospective analysis of planned oocyte cryopreservation cycles using vitrification from 2012 to 2022.

Advances in RNA secondary structure prediction and RNA modifications: Methods, data, and applications.

Due to the hierarchical organization of RNA structures and their pivotal roles in fulfilling RNA functions, the formation of RNA secondary structure critically influences many biological processes and has thus been a crucial research topic. This review sets out to explore the computational prediction of RNA secondary structure and its connections to RNA modifications, which have emerged as an active domain in recent years. We first examine the progression of RNA secondary structure prediction methodology, focusing on a set of representative works categorized into thermodynamic, comparative, machine learning, and hybrid approaches.

The Impact of Genetic Polymorphism on Complication Development in Heart Failure Patients.

Despite the high progress that has been made in the field of cardiology, the left ventricular assist device (LVAD) can still cause complications (thrombosis/bleeding) in heart failure (HF) patients after implantation. Complications develop due to the incorrect dose of antithrombotic therapy, due to the influence of the non-physiological shear stress of the device, and also due to inherited genetic polymorphisms. Therefore, the aim of our study is to identify the influence of the genetic polymorphisms on complication development in HF patients with implanted LVADs with prescribed antiplatelet therapy.

Outcomes After Thoracoscopic and Open Repair of Esophageal Atresia With Tracheoesophageal Fistula at US Children's Hospitals.

Background: Thoracoscopic repair of esophageal atresia with tracheoesophageal fistula (EA/TEF) has been reported to have superior outcomes to the open approach. We sought to evaluate adoption of thoracoscopic repair at US children's hospitals and compare outcomes to open repair.

Methods: The Pediatric Health Information System database was used to identify patients with EA/TEF who underwent repair between 2016 and 2023.

Hemorrhagic Cervical Synovial Cyst With Atypical Chest Pain Presentation.

Cervical synovial cysts are rare, especially hemorrhagic cervical synovial cysts. The patient was a 58-year-old male with a five-month history of tingling in his right shoulder region, radicular pain in his right arm, and increased pain on the right chest wall that worsened with lying supine down. The patient was diagnosed with a right-sided hemorrhagic synovial cyst at the C7-T1 level.

Duration of cryostorage is not associated with rates of thaw survival, fertilization, blastulation and ploidy, or pregnancy outcomes of vitrified human oocytes.

Purpose: This study is to evaluate duration of oocyte cryostorage and association with thaw survival, fertilization, blastulation, ploidy rates, and pregnancy outcomes in patients seeking fertility preservation.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study to evaluate clinical outcomes in patients who underwent fertility preservation from 2011 to 2023 via oocyte vitrification for non-oncologic indications. Primary outcome was thaw survival rate.

Prevalence and patterns of testing for anaemia in primary care in England: a cohort study using an electronic health records database.

Background: Despite epidemiological data on anaemia being available on a global scale, the prevalence of anaemia in the UK is not well described.

Aim: To describe anaemia prevalence and testing patterns for haemoglobin and other blood parameters.

Design And Setting: This study was a descriptive population-based cohort study using data drawn from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum database in 2019.

Rotationally Intensified Proton Lattice: A Novel Lattice Technique Using Spot-Scanning Proton Arc Therapy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility and dosimetric advantage of using spot-scanning proton arc (SPArc) for lattice radiation therapy in comparison with volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) lattice techniques.

Methods: Lattice plans were retrospectively generated for 14 large tumors across the abdomen, pelvis, lung, and head-and-neck sites using VMAT, IMPT, and SPArc techniques. Lattice geometries comprised vertices 1.

Insecticidal and Repellent Activity of Essential Oil and Its Pure Compounds Against Imported Fire Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Kunth (Piperaceae) essential oil (EO) was evaluated for its toxicity and repellency against red imported fire ants (RIFA), Buren, and a hybrid (HIFA) of red ( and black ( Forel) imported fire ants. Through bioactivity-guided fractionation, two major components, elemicin and myristicin, were isolated from the EO. Removal of treated sand in a digging bioassay was used as the criterion for repellency.

Prognostic value of central gland volume on MRI for biochemical recurrence after prostate radiotherapy.

Purpose: This study evaluates pretreatment prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) metrics and clinical characteristics in predicting biochemical recurrence (BCR) after prostate radiotherapy (RT).

Methods: In this retrospective single institution study, we identified men in our prostate cancer database who underwent MRI within 6 months prior to completing definitive RT from May 2011 to February 2023. Central gland volume and peripheral zone volume were measured by a radiologist using manual segmentation, along with Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) score.

Sublingual glyceryl trinitrate given during adenosine sestamibi myocardial perfusion imaging causes apparent transient ischaemic dilation in a propensity-matched analysis.

Objectives: Administration of sublingual glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) prior to resting radiotracer injection during myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) has been advocated to aid detection of viable myocardium and increase the extent of reversible perfusion defects. However, GTN is also known to reduce resting left ventricular volume and could thus increase the transient ischaemic dilation (TID) ratio, independently of severe or extensive coronary artery disease. We aimed to determine if GTN administration causes an increase in the TID ratio.