Satisfaction With Department of Veterans Affairs Prosthetics and Support Services as Reported by Women and Men Veterans.

Background: Women veterans represent a growing number of veterans with limb loss who receive Veterans Health Administration treatment. This study surveyed a large sample of veterans about their satisfaction with prosthetic-related care and sought to understand how women veterans with limb loss rate their satisfaction with prostheses and care.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, mixed-mode survey of 46,614 veterans with major upper or lower limb amputation or partial foot amputation to assess amputation type, prosthesis use intensity, satisfaction with prostheses and services, and quality of life.

Canadian Stroke Best Practice Recommendations: Vascular cognitive impairment, 7th edition practice guidelines update, 2024.

The Canadian Stroke Best Practice Recommendations (CSPR) 7th edition includes this new module on the diagnosis and management of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) with or without neurodegenerative disease. An expert writing group and people with VCI lived experience (PWLE) reviewed current evidence. Existing recommendations were reviewed and revised, and new recommendations added.

Evaluation of Drug-Drug Interactions in Pharmacoepidemiologic Research.

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) represent a significant concern for clinical care and public health, but the health consequences of many DDIs remain largely underexplored. This knowledge gap underscores the critical need for pharmacoepidemiologic research to evaluate real-world health outcomes of DDIs. In this review, we summarize the definitions commonly used in pharmacoepidemiologic DDI studies, discuss common sources of bias, and illustrate through examples how these biases can be mitigated.

Evaluating the Real-World Safety of Icosapent Ethyl Versus Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid in Nationwide US Veterans Cohort: Examining Atrial Fibrillation and Bleeding Endpoints.

Purpose: The REDUCE-IT randomized trial demonstrated a cardiovascular benefit of icosapent ethyl (IPE) but also raised potential safety signals for atrial fibrillation (AF) and serious bleeding. We aimed to evaluate the real-world safety of IPE versus mixed omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (OM-3) formulations.

Methods: This retrospective active comparator new-user cohort study compared rates of new-onset AF and major bleeding (MB) among adult new users of IPE versus OM-3 in 2020-2024 US Veterans Affairs data.

Viability assessment of Chlamydia trachomatis in men who have sex with men using molecular and culture methods.

Objectives: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the most commonly reported bacterial sexually transmitted infection worldwide. Diagnosis relies on nucleic acid amplification techniques, such as PCR, which does not distinguish between viable pathogens and residual bacterial DNA, leading to potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment. PCR with confirmation of pathogen viability has not been widely explored in the sexually transmitted infection field.

Principal component analysis of the Serological response to Plasmodium Falciparum using a Multiplex bead-based assay in Nigeria.

Characterization of serological responses to Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is of interest to understand disease burden and transmission dynamics; however, their interpretation is challenging. Dried blood spots from 30,815 participants aged 6 months to 15 years from the 2018 Nigeria HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey were analyzed by multiplex bead-based assay to measure immunoglobulin G (IgG) to Pf-stage-specific MSP-1, AMA-1, GLURPR0, LSA-1, and CSP. These IgG levels were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA).

The transcriptional landscape of the developing chick trigeminal ganglion.

The trigeminal ganglion is a critical structure in the peripheral nervous system, responsible for transmitting sensations of touch, pain, and temperature from craniofacial regions to the brain. Trigeminal ganglion development depends upon intrinsic cellular programming as well as extrinsic signals exchanged by diverse cell populations. With its complex anatomy and dual cellular origin from cranial placodes and neural crest cells, the trigeminal ganglion offers a rich context for examining diverse biological processes, including cell migration, fate determination, adhesion, and axon guidance.

Testing of Retail Cheese, Butter, Ice Cream, and Other Dairy Products for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in the US.

The recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cows has created public health concerns about the potential of consumers being exposed to live virus from commercial dairy products. Previous studies support that pasteurization effectively inactivates avian influenza in milk and an earlier retail milk survey showed viral RNA, but no live virus could be detected in the dairy products tested. Because of the variety of products and processing methods in which milk is used, additional product testing was conducted to determine if HPAI viral RNA could be detected in retail dairy samples, and for positive samples by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) further testing for the presence of live virus.

Assessing the Value of New Antimicrobials: Evaluations of Cefiderocol and Ceftazidime-Avibactam to Inform Delinked Payments by the NHS in England.

Objectives: The UK has recently established subscription-payment agreements for two antimicrobials: cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam. This article summarises the novel value assessments that informed this process and lessons learned for future pricing and funding decisions.

Methods: The evaluations used decision modelling to predict population incremental net health effects (INHEs), informed by systematic reviews, evidence syntheses, national surveillance data and structured expert elicitation.

Implementation of a mobile prosthetic and orthotic care program in the VA; a qualitative study of implementation challenges and associated strategies for improvement.

Introduction: Anticipating and addressing implementation challenges is critical to ensuring success of mobile healthcare programs. Mobile Prosthetic and Orthotic (O&P) Care (MoPOC) is a new U.S.

Effectiveness of French Phonological Components Analysis in individuals with chronic aphasia.

Background: Over 50% of individuals with aphasia face ongoing word-finding issues. Studies have found phonologically oriented therapy helpful for English speakers, but this has not yet been studied in French. It is essential to assess the effectiveness of such a therapy in French, considering the distinct linguistic typologies between both languages, which may impact the outcomes of phonologically oriented interventions.

Association between fine particulate matter and eczema: A cross-sectional study of the All of Us Research Program and the Center for Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions.

Background: The prevalence of eczema has increased with industrialization. Industrial practices generate ambient air pollution, including fine particulate matter of diameter ≤ 2.5μm (PM2.

Late side effects of testicular cancer and treatment: a comprehensive review.

Testicular cancer is a rare solid organ tumour associated with high cure rates and young age at diagnosis, hence it has a sizeable cohort of survivors worldwide. As it is one of the earliest tumours to be cured, a lot of studies have highlighted the late side effects of cancer and its different treatment modalities including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. While we are trying to identify the population at higher risk of platinum based chemotherapy and reduce its exposure, cisplatin based regimes remain an important tool to cure testicular cancer.

Symmetric, Bilateral Auricular Calcifications in Twins With Noonan Syndrome.

Noonan syndrome (NS) is a rare, genetic multisystem disorder often presenting with associated craniofacial abnormalities. The authors report an identical twin pair with classical features of NS including short stature, mild ptosis, hypertelorism, down-slanting palpebral fissures, low-set angulated ears, and giant cell tumors in the craniofacial skeleton. Interestingly, these patients also presented with bilateral, symmetric, dystrophic auricular calcifications.

Early visual modulation and selection predict saccadic timing during visual search: An ERP study.

Saccadic eye movements, a critical aspect of real-world visual behavior, are preceded by an initial accumulation of visual information followed by the selection of a single location to move one's eyes. However, it is currently unclear how each of these stages uniquely affects saccadic timing. In this study, participants searched for a contour integration target while EEG was used to measure posterior cortical activity between search display onset and first saccade initiation.

Do relationships between ambient temperature and serious adverse health outcomes vary among users of different antidiabetes drugs? A retrospective cohort study of US Medicaid beneficiaries with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: Prior studies demonstrate that some untoward clinical outcomes vary by outdoor temperature. This is true of some endpoints common among persons with diabetes, a population vulnerable to climate change-associated health risks. Yet, prior work has been agnostic to the antidiabetes drugs taken by such persons.

Evidence Synthesis and Clinical Recommendations for Supporting School Students With Sensory Processing Challenges: A Rapid Review.

Importance: Children with sensory processing challenges often need supports to access, participate in, and achieve at school. However, research on best practice is varied, presenting difficulty for practitioners to assess the appropriateness of each support.

Objective: To provide evidence-informed recommendations regarding best practices in school-based supports for students with sensory processing challenges via a Rapid Evidence Assessment of current literature.

Performance of somatic structural variant calling in lung cancer using Oxford Nanopore sequencing technology.

Background: Lung cancer is a heterogeneous disease and the primary cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Somatic mutations, including large structural variants, are important biomarkers in lung cancer for selecting targeted therapy. Genomic studies in lung cancer have been conducted using short-read sequencing.

Concomitant Use of Oral Anticoagulants with Oral Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors and Serious Bleeding Events.

In a prior screening study, saxagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP-4i), was found to have an increased rate of serious bleeding when used concomitantly with several oral anticoagulants (OACs). We aimed to confirm or refute the associations between concomitant use of individual OACs and DPP-4is and serious bleeding in a large US database, using self-controlled case series (SCCS) and case-crossover (CCO) designs. The study population was eligible Medicare beneficiaries co-exposed to a DPP-4i (precipitant) and either an OAC (object drug) or lisinopril (negative control object drug) in 2016-2020.

The transcriptional landscape of the developing chick trigeminal ganglion.

The trigeminal ganglion is a critical structure in the peripheral nervous system, responsible for transmitting sensations of touch, pain, and temperature from craniofacial regions to the brain. Trigeminal ganglion development depends upon intrinsic cellular programming as well as extrinsic signals exchanged by diverse cell populations. With its complex anatomy and dual cellular origin from cranial placodes and neural crest cells, the trigeminal ganglion offers a rich context for examining diverse biological processes, including cell migration, fate determination, adhesion, and axon guidance.

Implementation of the Acute Inpatient Medicine-High Reliability, Learning Environment, and Workforce Development Initiative (AIM-HI) in rural Veterans Health Administration hospitals: A mixed methods evaluation protocol.

Introduction: Few rural hospital medicine programs include workforce development training that provides social and professional support for interdisciplinary teams. Even fewer include training that creates supportive learning environments that result in higher staff satisfaction, lower burnout, and reduced turnover. The Acute Inpatient Medicine-High Reliability, Learning Environment, and Workforce Development Initiative (AIM-HI) aims to create supportive learning environments in Veterans Health Administration (VA) rural hospital medicine teams.