Long-term Outcomes of Laparoscopic Sacrohysteropexy with SERATEX SlimSling Mesh: A Retrospective Case Series.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) surgery has evolved toward minimally invasive techniques. Laparoscopic sacrohysteropexy (LSHP) is associated with reduced morbidity and lower mesh exposure risks. This study evaluates the long-term outcomes of LSHP using the SERATEX SlimSling mesh for isolated uterine prolapse.

Equity Zones: Building the Bridge to Transformation.

This article is a call to action for transformative health equity initiatives empowering communities to address systemic health inequities through expanded implementation and enhanced evaluation of health equity zone models. These models prioritize community capacity building and power sharing for upstream, transformative change, urging increased investment in transformative public health practice. Lessons from Rhode Island and Chicago, Illinois, highlight strategies for preventing health inequities and reducing downstream needs among vulnerable populations, underscoring the need for developing innovative evaluation practices measuring transformative change.

Evolving Approach to Antibiotic Treatment of Pediatric Spondylodiscitis.

Objective: To describe for intervertebral spondylodiscitis (IS) its clinical characteristics, treatment approaches with intravenous (IV) antibiotics, and clinical implications of changes in treatment approach.

Study Design: This retrospective study included all children aged 0-18 years diagnosed with imaging-confirmed thoracic and lumbar IS from 2000 to 2022 at a tertiary pediatric hospital. Patients with longer IV treatment regimen were compared with those with a shorter clinically directed IV to oral regimen.

Differential Serum Phosphate Levels in Pediatric Febrile Syndromes and Their Clinical Significance.

Background: The potential of hypophosphatemia (HP) to differentiate between febrile syndromes and its clinical significance in children without sepsis were not previously described.

Methods: Data were retrospectively collected of febrile children 3 months to 18 years of age, hospitalized at general pediatric wards during 2010-2019. Phosphate levels were compared between bacterial infection (BI), viral infection (VI), and Kawasaki disease (KD).

Genotype-phenotype correlations in chronic granulomatous disease: insights from a large national cohort.

Neutrophils are the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Neutrophils execute and modulate immune responses by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immune deficiency disorder of phagocytes, caused by inherited mutations in the genes of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate reduced oxidase enzyme.

Effective Doses of Low-Dose Naltrexone for Chronic Pain - An Observational Study.

Purpose: Despite the availability of a wide variety of analgesics, many patients with chronic pain often experience suboptimal pain relief in part related to the absence of any medication to address the nociplastic component of common pain syndromes. Low-dose naltrexone has been used for the treatment of chronic pain, typically at 4.5 mg per day, even though it is also noted that effective doses of naltrexone for chronic pain presentations range from 0.

Impact of newborn screening for SCID on the management of congenital athymia.

Background: Newborn screening (NBS) programs for severe combined immunodeficiency facilitate early diagnosis of severe combined immunodeficiency and promote early treatment with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, resulting in improved clinical outcomes. Infants with congenital athymia are also identified through NBS because of severe T-cell lymphopenia. With the expanding introduction of NBS programs, referrals of athymic patients for treatment with thymus transplantation have recently increased at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) (London, United Kingdom).

Chronic intermittent hypoxia promotes glomerular hyperfiltration and potentiates hypoxia-evoked decreases in renal perfusion and PO.

Sleep apnea (SA) is highly prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease and may contribute to the development and/or progression of this condition. Previous studies suggest that dysregulation of renal hemodynamics and oxygen flux may play a key role in this process. The present study sought to determine how chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) associated with SA affects regulation of renal artery blood flow (RBF), renal microcirculatory perfusion (RP), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and cortical and medullary tissue PO as well as expression of genes that could contribute to renal injury.

Planning and commitment prompts to encourage reporting of HIV self-test results: A cluster randomized pragmatic trial in Tshwane District, South Africa.

Reporting of HIV self-test results to encourage linkage to HIV care for those who receive a positive test result is a common challenge faced by HIV self-testing programs. The impact of self-testing programs is diminished if individuals who obtain a self-test do not use the test or seek confirmatory testing and initiate HIV treatment following a positive result. We conducted a cluster randomized trial of two interventions designed to increase reporting of HIV self-test results: a "plan and commit" intervention that leveraged insights from behavioral economics, and an enhanced usual care version of the standard HIV self-test community distribution protocol that promoted the importance of reporting results.

Cardiovascular and autonomic dysfunction in long-COVID syndrome and the potential role of non-invasive therapeutic strategies on cardiovascular outcomes.

A significant percentage of COVID-19 survivors develop long-lasting cardiovascular sequelae linked to autonomic nervous system dysfunction, including fatigue, arrhythmias, and hypertension. This post-COVID-19 cardiovascular syndrome is one facet of "long-COVID," generally defined as long-term health problems persisting/appearing after the typical recovery period of COVID-19. Despite the fact that this syndrome is not fully understood, it is urgent to develop strategies for diagnosing/managing long-COVID due to the immense potential for future disease burden.

Incentives to promote accessing HIV care and viral suppression among HIV self-screening test users who obtain a reactive result.

Introduction: Achieving viral suppression in people with HIV is crucial in ending the AIDS epidemic. Among users of HIV self-screening tests, low rates of linkage to care and early retention in care are key obstacles to achieving viral suppression. This study sought to evaluate the efficacy of financial incentives in supporting HIV case management.

Peripheral chemoreflex modulation of renal hemodynamics and renal tissue PO2 in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

Aberrant carotid body chemoreceptor (CBC) function contributes to increased sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) and reduced renal blood flow (RBF) in chronic heart failure (CHF). Intermittent asphyxia (IA) mimicking sleep apnea is associated with additional increases in SNA and may worsen reductions in RBF and renal PO2 (RPO2) in CHF. The combined effects of decreased RBF and RPO2 may contribute to biochemical changes precipitating renal injury.

Adoption of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among women at high risk of HIV infection in Kenya.

In 2017, Kenya became one of the first African countries to provide pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in its national HIV prevention plan. We sought to characterize factors associated with PrEP uptake and persistence among a cohort of women at risk of HIV infection during the early stages of PrEP scale-up in Kenya. HIV-negative women ≥18 years with ≥2 sexual partners in the past 4 weeks were recruited as part of an ongoing cluster randomized trial of an HIV self-testing intervention.

Investigating the role of hand perspective in learning from procedural animations.

Background: Research indicates that animations presenting procedural instructions lead to better learning if the animation displays the procedural task from a first-person perspective (over-the-shoulder) compared to a third-person perspective (face-to-face).

Aims: This study extends view-perspective research by investigating whether the observation of human hands completing manipulative tasks in an animation are necessary or not.

Sample: Sixty university students participated in the study.

Cardiorespiratory alterations following intermittent photostimulation of RVLM C1 neurons: Implications for long-term blood pressure, breathing and sleep regulation in freely moving rats.

Aim: Sympathoexcitation and sleep-disordered breathing are common contributors for disease progression. Catecholaminergic neurons from the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM-C1) modulate sympathetic outflow and have anatomical projections to respiratory neurons; however, the contribution of highly selective activation of RVLM-C1 neurons on long-term autonomic and breathing (dys)regulation remains to be understood.

Methods: To explore this relationship, a lentiviral vector carrying the light-sensitive cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (LVV-PRSX8-ChR2-YFP) was unilaterally injected into the RVLM of healthy rats.

Trends in Transactional Sex Among Women at Risk for HIV in Rural Kenya During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This cohort study examines trends in economic outcomes and behaviors associated with HIV transmission among women at risk in rural Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic.

'When I have these kits … I have confidence' - HIV self-testing provides agency for women in their sexual decision-making.

Oral fluid-based HIV self-testing (HIVST) has emerged as a promising approach to increasing HIV testing coverage, particularly among high-risk populations. Understanding the experiences of women using self-tests and offering them to their sexual partners (secondary distribution) is crucial for determining the potential of HIVST. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted among 32 women at high risk of HIV infection, including women who engage in transactional sex, who participated in a cluster randomised trial of a secondary distribution strategy in western Kenya.

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in ARPC1B Deficiency.

Mutations in the ARPC1B isoform component of human actin-related protein 2/3 complex have been recently associated with an inborn error of immunity characterized by combined immunodeficiency, allergies, autoinflammation, and platelet abnormalities. Currently, indications on the management of this novel disease and information on its outcome are lacking. We report the first case series of 7 children with a homozygous mutation in ARPC1B gene who underwent allogeneic-HSCT (allo-HSCT).

Medullary astrocytes mediate irregular breathing patterns generation in chronic heart failure through purinergic P2X7 receptor signalling.

Background: Breathing disorders (BD) (apnoeas/hypopneas, periodic breathing) are highly prevalent in chronic heart failure (CHF) and are associated with altered central respiratory control. Ample evidence identifies the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN) as an important chemosensitivity region for ventilatory control and generation of BD in CHF, however little is known about the cellular mechanisms underlying the RTN/BD relationship. Within the RTN, astrocyte-mediated purinergic signalling modulates respiration, but the potential contribution of RTN astrocytes to BD in CHF has not been explored.

Potential Role of the Retrotrapezoid Nucleus in Mediating Cardio-Respiratory Dysfunction in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

A strong association between chemoreflex hypersensitivity, disordered breathing, and elevated sympathetic activity has been shown in experimental and human heart failure (HF). The contribution of chemoreflex hypersensitivity in HF pathophysiology is incompletely understood. There is ample evidence that increased peripheral chemoreflex drive in HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF; EF<40%) leads to pathophysiological changes in autonomic and cardio-respiratory control, but less is known about the neural mechanisms mediating cardio-respiratory disturbances in HF with preserved EF (HFpEF; EF>50%).