Objectives: Opioid-associated fatal and non-fatal overdose rates continue to rise. Prehospital overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programs are attractive harm-reduction strategies, as patients who are not transported by EMS after receiving naloxone have limited access to other interventions. This narrative summary describes our experiences with prehospital implementation of evidence-based OEND practices across Ohio as part of the HEALing Communities Study (HCS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Sepsis is a time-sensitive condition, and many rural emergency department (ED) sepsis patients are transferred to tertiary hospitals. The objective of this study was to determine whether longer transport times during interhospital transfer are associated with higher sepsis mortality or increased hospital length-of-stay (LOS).
Methods: A cohort of rural adult (age ≥ 18y) sepsis patients transferred between hospitals were identified in the TELEmedicine as a Virtual Intervention for Sepsis Care in Emergency Departments (TELEVISED) parent study.
Background: Varicella zoster virus (VZV) reactivation, manifesting as herpes zoster, increases dementia risk. Herein, we review the literature supporting the biological plausibility of VZV contributing to AD pathologies and examine the unique ability of VZV to induce amylin that has been found in blood vessels and parenchyma of AD patients.
Method: We conducted a literature review on VZV and dementia to elucidate a potential model for how VZV reactivation intersects with AD.
Background: Experiencing behavioural symptoms such as aggression, agitation and psychosis contribute significantly to reduced quality of life amongst people with dementia. These behavioral symptoms can be considered more detrimental to overall well-being than cognitive impairment. In the UK, risperidone is the sole approved atypical antipsychotic for treating these symptoms, despite its notable risk of serious side effects, including stroke.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Previous studies have found connections between recall of proper names (PN) and amyloid positivity in cognitively unimpaired (CU) adults at risk for Alzheimer's Disease (AD; Mueller et al., 2020). Given the promising prospect of employing plasma-based biomarkers to determine amyloid burden, we looked at associations between longitudinal change in PN and total score recall from Logical Memory (LM) story recall test and plasma pTau217.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), along with the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele, has been suggested as a possible risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the relationship between MHT and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers is unknown: we investigated this association, and whether APOE ε4 carrier status moderates it.
Methods: In an observational study of 136 cognitively unimpaired female participants (M = 66.
Background: The medial temporal lobe (MTL) has distinct cortical subregions that are differentially vulnerable to pathology and neurodegeneration in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. However, previous protocols for segmentation of MTL cortical subregions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) vary substantially across research groups, and have been informed by different cytoarchitectonic definitions, precluding consistent interpretations. The Hippocampal Subfields Group aims to create a harmonized, histology-based protocol for segmentation of MTL cortical subregions that can reliably be applied to T2-weighted MRI with high in-plane resolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hearing loss occurs commonly with age and is more prevalent among adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD) than among older adults with typical cognitive abilities. Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids are a recently approved, lower-cost method of hearing treatment which can be accessed directly by patients. However, there are almost no data which can guide whether to recommend this treatment for adults with MCI or ADRD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Late-life depression (LLD) often coincides with cognitive decline, impacting antidepressant treatment outcomes. Investigating the genetic profile of cognitive function and its association with antidepressant response in individuals with LLD is crucial.
Method: In the Incomplete Response in Late-Life Depression: Getting to Remission (IRL-GRey) study, 307 older adults with major depressive disorder underwent 12-week venlafaxine treatment.
Background: Sensitive screening for early Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related cognitive decline are needed. Prior research links high beta-amyloid (Aß) levels to reduced proper name (PN) retrieval in individuals without cognitive impairment. We examined whether language-related regional tau from PET associated with Logical Memory (LM) proper name recall, accounting for LM covariates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
Background: Cognitive decline is often influenced by Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology (e.g., beta-amyloid burden) and other pathology (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Effect and Safety of Electroconvulsive Therapy plus Usual Care for the Acute Management of Severe Agitation in Dementia (ECT-AD) is a multi-site NIA-funded FDA-regulated pioneering clinical trial to investigate the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in treating severe and treatment-refractory agitation and aggression among individuals with advanced dementia, a condition that has a profound negative impact on patient quality of life and caregiver burden. Here we present baseline demographics of the patient population in this ongoing trial.
Method: To date we have enrolled 18 participants, with a mean age of 74.
Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf
January 2025
Purpose: To comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, many real-world data providers mask a patient's date of birth by supplying only year of birth to data users. The lack of granularity around patient age is a challenge when using RWD, especially for pediatric research studies. In this study, a proxy for patient date of birth is evaluated using electronic health record (EHR) data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Recent interest in the clinical use of psychedelics has highlighted plant-derived medicines like ayahuasca showing rapid-acting and sustainable therapeutic effects in various psychiatric conditions. This traditional Amazonian plant decoction contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and β-carboline alkaloids such as harmine. However, its use is often accompanied by distressing effects like nausea, vomiting, and intense hallucinations, possibly due to complex pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) interactions and lack of dose standardization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: While many medical specialties have established links between bibliometric indices, academic rank, leadership roles, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, there exists a gap within the field of pain medicine. The purpose of our study is to examine the impact of research productivity (h-index, m-index, publications, citations), professional degrees (PhD, MPH, MBA), leadership positions (program director, division chief, chairman), and faculty demographics (gender, nationality of training) on attaining NIH grant funding among pain medicine faculty.
Methods: A complete list of 98 civilian pain medicine programs was included in the study.
Fertility-sparing treatment (FST) has become a key aspect of managing gynecologic cancers in reproductive-age patients who wish to preserve fertility. Several leading clinical societies, including the European Society of Gynecological Oncology, the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology, the European Society of Pathology, and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, have recently published evidence-based guidelines on fertility-sparing strategies and posttreatment surveillance of patients with early-stage gynecologic cancers, in particular endometrial and cervical cancers. These guidelines highlight MRI as essential to initial patient selection and follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/objectives: This project aims to provide valuable insights into the formulation of orodispersible films (ODFs) for the delivery of PROTAC ARV-110. The primary objective of this drug delivery formulation is to enhance the solubility of PROTAC ARV-110, which faces significant challenges due to the low solubility of this active pharmaceutical ingredient, as it belongs to a molecular class that is considered to exceed the "Rule of Five".
Methods: We employed the concept of developing a rapidly disintegrating ODF to enhance the solubility of PROTAC ARV-110, utilizing polyvinyl alcohol as the polymer of choice.
Florbetaben (FBB) is a radiopharmaceutical approved by the FDA and EMA in 2014 for the positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of brain amyloid deposition in patients with cognitive impairment who are being evaluated for Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other causes of cognitive decline. Initially, the clinical adoption of FBB PET faced significant barriers, including reimbursement challenges and uncertainties regarding its integration into diagnostic clinical practice. This review examines the progress made in overcoming these obstacles and describes the concurrent evolution of the diagnostic landscape.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA growing literature within the field of air pollution exposure assessment addresses the issue of environmental justice. Leveraging the increasing availability of exposure datasets with broad spatial coverage and high spatial resolution, a number of works have assessed inequalities in exposure across racial/ethnic and other socioeconomic groupings. However, environmental justice research presents the additional need to evaluate exposure inequity-inequality that is systematic, unfair, and avoidable-which may be framed in several ways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Urban spaces need to be rethought to address growing health and environmental challenges. Urban density and transport systems contribute significantly to air pollution, negatively impacting public health. Barcelona has begun a transformation by introducing the Superblock model, an urban development with proven health benefits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Treatment approaches for endometrial cancer became more personalized in the last decade, mainly due to two key advancements - sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping and molecular classification. However, their prognostic interaction remains relatively unexplored.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients with endometrial cancer, who underwent surgical treatment including SLN mapping at the Bern University Hospital, Switzerland.
Purpose Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated direct influences of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) on the immune system. However, it remains unknown if connections between the peripheral ANS and immune system exist in humans and contribute to the development of chronic inflammatory disease. This study had three aims: 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFP-cadherin (pCAD) and LI-cadherin (CDH17) are cell-surface proteins belonging to the cadherin superfamily that are both highly expressed in colorectal cancer. This co-expression profile presents a novel and attractive opportunity for a dual targeting approach using an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). In this study, we used a unique avidity-driven screening approach to generate pCAD x CDH17 bispecific antibodies that selectively target cells expressing both antigens over cells expressing only pCAD or only CDH17.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) is an inherited lysosomal storage disorder leading to deleterious brain effects. While animal models suggested that MPS I severely affects white matter (WM), whole-brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analysis was not performed due to MPS-related morphological abnormalities. 3T DTI data from 28 severe (MPS IH, treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-HSCT), 16 attenuated MPS I patients (MPS IA) enrolled under the study protocol NCT01870375, and 27 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed using the free-water correction (FWC) method to resolve macrostructural partial volume effects and unravel differences in DTI metrics accounting for microstructural abnormalities.
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