Multimodal prehabilitation and postoperative outcomes in upper abdominal surgery: systematic review and meta-analysis.

The impact of multimodal prehabilitation on postoperative complications in upper abdominal surgeries is understudied. This review analyzes randomized trials on multimodal prehabilitation with patient and hospital outcomes. MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane CENTRAL were searched for trials on prehabilitation before elective (non-emergency) abdominal surgery.

Revisiting Neuroblastoma: Nrf2, NF-κB and Phox2B as a Promising Network in Neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma is the most common solid extracranial tumor during childhood; it displays extraordinary heterogeneous clinical courses, from spontaneous regression to poor outcome in high-risk patients due to aggressive growth, metastasizing, and treatment resistance. Therefore, the identification and detailed analysis of promising tumorigenic molecular mechanisms are inevitable. This review highlights the abnormal regulation of NF-κB, Nrf2, and Phox2B as well as their interactions among each other in neuroblastoma.

The impact of obesity on the outcome of severe SARS-CoV-2 ARDS in a high volume ECMO centre: ECMO and corticosteroids support the obesity paradox.

Purpose: The aim was to verify the impact of obesity on the long-term outcome of patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 ARDS.

Materials And Methods: The retrospective study included patients admitted to the high-volume ECMO centre between March 2020 and March 2022. The impact of body mass index (BMI), co-morbidities and therapeutic measures on the short and 90-day outcomes was analysed.

NET Release of Long-Term Surviving Neutrophils.

Background: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)-as double-edged swords of innate immunity-are involved in numerous processes such as infection, inflammation and tissue repair. Research on neutrophil granulocytes is limited because of their short lifetime of only a few hours. Several attempts have been made to prolong the half-life of neutrophils using cytokines and bacterial products and have shown promising results.

Validating Visual Stimuli of Nature Images and Identifying the Representative Characteristics.

This study fills a void in the literature by both validating images of nature for use in future research experiments and examining which characteristics of these visual stimuli are found to be most representative of nature. We utilized a convenience sample of university students to assess 129 different nature images on which best represented nature. Participants ( = 40) viewed one image per question ( = 129) and were asked to rate images using a 5-point Likert scale, with the anchors "best represents nature" (5) and "least represents nature" (1).

Assessing Patient Needs During Natural Disasters: Mixed Methods Analysis of Portal Messages Sent During Hurricane Harvey.

Background: Patient portals play an important role in connecting patients with their medical care team, which improves patient engagement in treatment plans, decreases unnecessary visits, and reduces costs. During natural disasters, patients' needs increase, whereas available resources, specifically access to care, become limited.

Objective: This study aims to examine patients' health needs during a natural crisis by analyzing the electronic messages sent during Hurricane Harvey to guide future disaster planning efforts.

Quantifying Patient Portal Use: Systematic Review of Utilization Metrics.

Background: Use of patient portals has been associated with positive outcomes in patient engagement and satisfaction. Portal studies have also connected portal use, as well as the nature of users' interactions with portals, and the contents of their generated data to meaningful cost and quality outcomes. Incentive programs in the United States have encouraged uptake of health information technology, including patient portals, by setting standards for meaningful use of such technology.

The Inhibitory Effect of Curosurf and Alveofact on the Formation of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps.

Background: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are a defense mechanism in which neutrophils cast a net-like structure in response to microbial infection. NETs consist of decondensed chromatin and about 30 enzymes and peptides. Some components, such as neutrophil elastase (NE) and myeloperoxidase (MPO), present antimicrobial but also cytotoxic properties, leading to tissue injury.

Ethical Considerations When Using a Mobile Eye Tracker in a Patient-Facing Area: Lessons from an Intensive Care Unit Observational Protocol.

This article describes the process of designing, approving, and conducting an investigator-initiated protocol to use an eye-tracking device in a health care setting. Participants wore the device, which resembles eyeglasses, in a front-facing manner in an intensive care unit for the study of personnel gaze patterns, producing a visual record of workflow. While the data of interest for our study was not specifically the health information protected by the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a wide variety of such data was captured by the eye-tracking device, and the prospective consent of all people who might have been incidentally videotaped was not feasible.

Adapting an Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic to Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Practice Perspective.

As the demand for telepsychiatry increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, the strengths and challenges of telepsychiatry implementation must be articulated to improve clinical practices in the long term. Currently, observations within US contexts are lacking; therefore, we report on the rapid implementation of telepsychiatry and workflow experiences in a psychiatric practice based within a large health care system in southeast Texas with a national catchment area. We discuss the logistics of the implementation, including modes of communication, scheduling, coordination, and capacity; the psychological effects of web-based services, including both the loss of the physical therapeutic environment and the unique interpersonal dynamics experienced in the virtual environment; and postadoption patterns of engagement with our services and with other clinical functions affected by the rapid adaptation to telemedicine.

Surgical Site Infections in Slovenian Acute Care Hospitals: Surveillance Results, 2013-2016.

Introduction: The objective was to present the results of the Slovenian National surgical site infections (SSIs) surveillance system from 2013 to 2016 and to compare them to the reference data for the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries.

Methods: Surveillance was conducted according to the Slovenian protocol consistent with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control protocol. Descriptive analyses were performed.

Six Values Never to Silence: Jewish Perspectives on Nazi Medical Professionalism.

An ideological case study based on medical profession norms during the Third Reich will be used to exemplify the importance of diversity in the manifestations of professional ethics. The German professional medical community banned their Jewish colleagues from treating German citizens. This included legally mandated employment discrimination and outright censure which led to a professional ethic devoid of diverse voices.

The prevalence of and risk factors for healthcare-associated infections in Slovenia: results of the second national survey.

Introduction: In the second Slovenian national healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) prevalence survey, conducted within the European point prevalence survey of HAIs and antimicrobial use in acute-care hospitals, we estimated the prevalence of all types of HAIs and identified risk factors.

Methods: Patients from acute-care hospitals were enrolled into a one-day cross-sectional study in October 2011. Descriptive analyses were performed to describe the characteristics of patients, their exposure to invasive procedures and the prevalence of different types of HAIs.

Effects of Developmental Temperature on Gametocysts and Oocysts of Two Species of Gregarines Blabericola migrator and Blabericola cubensis (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinida: Blabericolidae) Parasitizing Blaberid Cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae).

Abiotic environmental conditions, especially temperature and humidity, have profound effects on the growth and development of gregarines, but these effects remain largely undocumented. Quantifying the effects of environmental conditions on the growth and development of exogenous gregarine ontogenetic stages is an important first step in understanding the transmission, population dynamics, and environmental persistence of gregarine infection. In this study, we examined the effect of 6 environmental temperatures (10, 18, 22, 27, 35, and 40 C) at constant humidity (0 mmHg vapor pressure deficit) on gametocyst development and oocyst viability in 2 gregarine species: Blabericola migrator and Blabericola cubensis parasitizing the Tiger-striped Hissing Cockroach, Princisia vanwaerebecki, and the Discoid Cockroach, Blaberus discoidalis, respectively.

Evaluation of a549 as a new vaccine cell substrate: digging deeper with massively parallel sequencing.

In the past three decades, the use of tumorigenic cell substrates has been the topic of five Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meetings, including a review of the A549 cell line in September 2012. Over that period of time, major technological advances in biotechnology have improved our ability to assess the risk associated with using a tumorigenic cell line. As part of the September 2012 review, we assessed the history of A549 cells and evaluated the probable transforming event based on patterns of mutations to cancer genes.

Evaluation of homogeneity and genetic stability of REOLYSIN (pelareorep) by complete genome sequencing of reovirus after large scale production.

REOLYSIN (pelareorep) is a proprietary isolate of the reovirus T3D (Type 3 Dearing) strain which is currently being tested in clinical trials as an anticancer therapeutic agent. Reovirus genomes are composed of ten segments of double-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) characterized by genome size: large (L1, L2, and L3), medium (M1, M2, and M3), and small (S1, S2, S3, and S4). The objective of this work was to evaluate the homogeneity and genetic stability of REOLYSIN.

Conflicts among multinational ethical and scientific standards for clinical trials of therapeutic interventions.

Utilizing a sorted compendium of international clinical trial standards, investigators identified 15 conflicts among ethical and methodological guidance. Analysis distinguishes interpretational issues, lack of clarity, and contradiction as factors to be addressed if international trial guidance is to be improved.

Massively parallel sequencing for the detection of adventitious viruses.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDING Proceedings of the PDA/FDA Adventitious Viruses in Biologics: Detection and Mitigation Strategies Workshop in Bethesda, MD, USA; December 1-3, 2010 Guest Editors: Arifa Khan (Bethesda, MD), Patricia Hughes (Bethesda, MD) and Michael Wiebe (San Francisco, CA) The rate at which unknown adventitious agents are being discovered is accelerating. The ability to mitigate this risk begins with detection. Several molecular technologies for the detection of adventitious agent genomic signatures are reviewed here.

A case of OXA-48 carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a patient transferred to Slovenia from Libya, November 2011.

We report the first documented case of OXA-48-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in Slovenia isolated from rectal surveillance cultures from a patient transferred from Libya. The patient was colonised with both ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and ESBL- and OXA-48-producing K. pneumoniae.

The fecal viral flora of California sea lions.

California sea lions are one of the major marine mammal species along the Pacific coast of North America. Sea lions are susceptible to a wide variety of viruses, some of which can be transmitted to or from terrestrial mammals. Using an unbiased viral metagenomic approach, we surveyed the fecal virome in California sea lions of different ages and health statuses.

Ensuring the safety of vaccine cell substrates by massively parallel sequencing of the transcriptome.

Massively parallel, deep, sequencing of the transcriptome coupled with algorithmic analysis to identify adventitious agents (MP-Seq™) is an important adjunct in ensuring the safety of cells used in vaccine production. Such cells may harbour novel viruses whose sequences are unknown or latent viruses that are only expressed following stress to the cells. MP-Seq is an unbiased and comprehensive method to identify such viruses and other adventitious agents without prior knowledge of the nature of those agents.