The Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio in Pediatric Preseptal and Orbital Infectious Cellulitis.

Purpose: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an important biomarker in a variety of systemic conditions, though its role in orbital disease remains unclear. We sought to investigate the utility of the NLR in distinguishing orbital cellulitis (OC) from preseptal cellulitis (PC) in a pediatric population.

Methods: The earliest available NLRs of immunocompetent pediatric patients who presented to the emergency department with OC and PC were calculated from a single institution's database.

Serologic Evaluations in the Distinction Between Sinusitis-Related Orbital Cellulitis and Periorbital Necrotizing Fasciitis.

Purpose: While sinusitis-related orbital cellulitis (SROC) and periorbital necrotizing fasciitis (PNF) share similar clinical presentations, they are managed differently, making rapid recognition of the appropriate clinical entity critical to optimal outcomes. This study was performed to assess whether serologic testing might help clinicians to distinguish between SROC and PNF.

Methods: A retrospective review analysis was used to compare initial complete blood counts and comprehensive metabolic panels among adult patients with SROC and PNF.

Racial Differences in Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Purpose: To delineate racial differences in the incidence and time course of ROP in a large cohort of premature infants.

Methods: The secondary analysis of data from the two Postnatal Growth and ROP Studies (G-ROP-1 and G-ROP-2) that were collected in 41 hospitals in North America from 2006 to 2017. According to self-reported maternal race, premature infants were classified into 3 groups: White (N = 5580), Black (N = 3252), and Asian (N = 353).

Pediatric glaucoma suspects: characteristics and outcomes.

Purpose: To determine the characteristics of children diagnosed with glaucoma suspect (GS) status, their clinical outcomes, and risk factors for progression to a diagnosis of glaucoma.

Methods: This was a retrospective sequential cohort study of children <18 years diagnosed as GS between 2013 and 2019, based on clinical (C-GS) and CGRN (CGRN-GS) criteria. Children with penetrating ocular trauma, steroid-response, treated ocular hypertension, and glaucoma at presentation were excluded.

Daily Oxygen Supplementation and Risk of Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Purpose: Excessive oxygen supplementation increases risk of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). While numerous oxygen parameters could be considered when predicting ROP (saturation targets, actual saturation, fraction of inspired oxygen, etc.), complicated measures are impractical as screening criteria.

Association of Cardiovascular Disease with Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Purpose: To determine the associations of presence and types of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) with development of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in premature infants undergoing ROP examinations.

Study Design: We performed secondary analyses of data from the multi-center Postnatal Growth and ROP Validation Study (GROP-2). CVD was categorized based on pulmonary blood flow (PBF), systemic blood flow (SBF), pulmonary hypertension (PPHN), or dysrhythmia.

Exploring the Conformational Landscape and Stability of Aurora A Using Ion-Mobility Mass Spectrometry and Molecular Modeling.

Protein kinase inhibitors are highly effective in treating diseases driven by aberrant kinase signaling and as chemical tools to help dissect the cellular roles of kinase signaling complexes. Evaluating the effects of binding of small molecule inhibitors on kinase conformational dynamics can assist in understanding both inhibition and resistance mechanisms. Using gas-phase ion-mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS), we characterize changes in the conformational landscape and stability of the protein kinase Aurora A (Aur A) driven by binding of the physiological activator TPX2 or small molecule inhibition.

Embryonic and early postnatal cranial bone volume and tissue mineral density values for C57BL/6J laboratory mice.

Background: Laboratory mice are routinely used in craniofacial research based on the relatively close genetic relationship and conservation of developmental pathways between humans and mice. Since genetic perturbations and disease states may have localized effects, data from individual cranial bones are valuable for the interpretation of experimental assays. We employ high-resolution microcomputed tomography to characterize cranial bones of C57BL/6J mice at embryonic day (E) 15.

Changes in institutional oxygen saturation targets are associated with an increased rate of severe retinopathy of prematurity.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of changes in institutional peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO) targets, made in response to recent randomized trials, on risk of developing severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of data from 21 North American hospitals during the periods 2006-2012 and 2015-2017. Hospitals were categorized based on whether or not SpO targets were increased between the two study periods.

Recovery of Vision after Optic Nerve Sheath Fenestration in Children and Adolescents with Elevated Intracranial Pressure.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of optic nerve sheath fenestration (ONSF) on the recovery of visual function in pediatric patients with optic disc swelling owing to increased intracranial pressure.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Methods: Medical chart review of all pediatric patients who underwent ONSF between 2009 and 2020 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Association of Surgical Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Its Timing with Retinopathy of Prematurity.

Objective: The study aimed to determine the association of surgical necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and its timing, with the development and timing of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Study Design: This was a secondary data analysis of 7,483 preterm infants from the Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity Study. Associations between infants with surgical NEC, early-onset surgical NEC (8-28 days), and late-onset surgical NEC (over 28 days) with ROP were evaluated by using multivariable logistic regression models, controlling for birth weight, gestational age, small for gestational age status, chronic lung disease, intraventricular hemorrhage, hydrocephalus, patent ductus arteriosus, and periventricular leukomalacia.

Pulsed-Focused Ultrasound Slows B16 Melanoma and 4T1 Breast Tumor Growth through Differential Tumor Microenvironmental Changes.

Focused ultrasound (FUS) has shown promise as a non-invasive treatment modality for solid malignancies. FUS targeting to tumors has been shown to initiate pro-inflammatory immune responses within the tumor microenvironment. Pulsed FUS (pFUS) can alter the expression of cytokines, chemokines, trophic factors, cell adhesion molecules, and immune cell phenotypes within tissues.

Retinal Detachment after Treatment of Retinopathy of Prematurity with Laser versus Intravitreal Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor.

Purpose: To compare rates of short-term retinal detachment (RD) of infants treated for type 1 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) with intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy with infants treated with laser therapy. The choice between these 2 treatments remains controversial. Comparative data are limited and describe re-treatment rates rather than retinal structural outcomes predictive of long-term vision.

Poor postnatal weight growth is a late finding after sepsis in very preterm infants.

Objective: To characterise the association between sepsis and postnatal weight growth when accounting for the degree of growth restriction present at birth.

Design: Retrospective matched cohort study using data from the Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity study. Participants were born with birth weights of <1500 g or gestational ages of <32 weeks between 2006 and 2011 at 29 neonatal centres in the USA and Canada.

Incidence, timing and risk factors of type 1 retinopathy of prematurity in a North American cohort.

Background/aims: Early detection and timely treatment of type 1 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) can reduce the risk of blindness. To evaluate the incidence, timing and risk factors of type 1 ROP in a large, broad-risk cohort of premature infants.

Methods: Secondary analysis of data from the two Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity studies.

Symmetry of Disease in Retinopathy of Prematurity in the Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity (G-ROP) Study.

Purpose: To determine the symmetry of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) between fellow eyes in a broad-risk cohort.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study, the Postnatal Growth and ROP (G-ROP) Study, of 7483 infants undergoing ROP examinations conducted at 29 hospitals in the United States and Canada from 2006 to 2012. The main outcomes were the symmetry for the highest stage and the most severe type (1, 2, not 1 or 2, no ROP) of ROP and disease course of the fellow eye when only one eye developed type 1.

Evaluation of the economic impact of modified screening criteria for retinopathy of prematurity from the Postnatal Growth and ROP (G-ROP) study.

Importance: The Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity (G-ROP) Study showed that the addition of postnatal weight gain to birth weight and gestational age detects similar numbers of infants with ROP, but requires examination of fewer infants.

Objective: To determine the incremental cost-effectiveness of screening with G-ROP compared with conventional screening.

Design, Setting And Participants: We built a microsimulation model of a 1-year US birth cohort <32 weeks gestation, using data from the G-ROP study.

The Impact of Focused Ultrasound in Two Tumor Models: Temporal Alterations in the Natural History on Tumor Microenvironment and Immune Cell Response.

Image-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) has been successfully employed as an ablative treatment for solid malignancies by exposing immune cells to tumor debris/antigens, consequently inducing an immune response within the tumor microenvironment (TME). To date, immunomodulation effects of non-ablative pulsed-FUS (pFUS) on the TME are poorly understood. In this study, the temporal differences of cytokines, chemokines, and trophic factors (CCTFs) and immune cell populations induced by pFUS were interrogated in murine B16 melanoma or 4T1 breast cancer cells subcutaneously inoculated into C57BL/6 or BALB/c mice.

Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry to Evaluate the Effects of Protein Modification or Small Molecule Binding on Protein Dynamics.

Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) of intact protein complexes under native conditions is a powerful tool for the analysis of protein complexes and protein-ligand interactions, permitting insight into ligand-induced changes in protein conformation. Here we describe a procedure for analyzing the effects of phosphorylation and/or inhibitor binding on protein kinase conformational flexibility using Protein Kinase A (PKA) as a model system. By calculating the protein collision cross section (CCS) before and after inhibitor binding, and additionally by performing collision-induced unfolding (CIU), we can establish the effects of protein modification or small molecule binding on protein dynamics.

Validation of the Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity Screening Criteria.

Importance: The first Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity Study (G-ROP-1) developed new screening criteria with 100% sensitivity for type 1 retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and 30% reduction of infants requiring examinations in a retrospective development cohort of 7483 infants from 29 North American hospitals in 2006-2012. Infants meeting 1 or more of the following criteria undergo examinations: gestational age less than 28 weeks or birth weight less than 1051 g; weight gain less than 120 g during age 10 to 19 days, weight gain less than 180 g during age 20 to 29 days, or weight gain less than 170 g during age 30 to 39 days; or hydrocephalus.

Objective: To evaluate the generalizability of the G-ROP screening criteria in a new cohort of at-risk infants.

Determination of Phosphohistidine Stoichiometry in Histidine Kinases by Intact Mass Spectrometry.

Protein histidine phosphorylation has largely remained unexplored due to the challenges of analyzing relatively unstable phosphohistidine-containing proteins. We describe a procedure for determining the stoichiometry of histidine phosphorylation on the human histidine kinases NME1 and NME2 by intact mass spectrometry under conditions that retain this acid-labile protein modification. By characterizing these two model histidine protein kinases in the absence and presence of a suitable phosphate donor, the stoichiometry of histidine phosphorylation can be determined.

Treatment of non-type 1 retinopathy of prematurity in the Postnatal Growth and Retinopathy of Prematurity (G-ROP) study.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of eyes treated for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) not meeting currently recommended early treatment (type 1) criteria.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data from the Postnatal Growth and ROP (G-ROP) study, a retrospective cohort study of 7,483 infants undergoing ROP examinations and treatment at 29 North American hospitals between January 2006 and June 2012. Medical records were reviewed to determine the prevalence and characteristics of eyes treated for ROP less severe than type 1 ROP.