Sex Differences in Youth and Young Adult Sport Training Patterns, Specialization, and Return to Sport Durations.

Background: Young female athletes may have higher rates of overuse injuries and sport specialization than male athletes. The association of sports specialization and return to sport (RTS) timeframe is also unknown.

Hypothesis: Specialized female athletes will have more intense, year-round training patterns, more overuse injuries, and longer RTS times than male athletes.

A Risk Tool for Evaluating Overuse Injury and Return-to-Play Time Periods in Youth and Collegiate Athletes: Preliminary Study.

Background: Overuse injuries in youth athletes are associated with risks, including sports specialization, biological maturation, female sex, and workload measures. As no assessment tool exists to evaluate risk accumulation, we developed a novel risk factor scoring system (Sport Training Assessment of Risk [STAR]) to assess participants' risk of overuse injury and explore association with return-to-play (RTP) time periods.

Hypothesis: (1) STAR will reach an acceptable predictive threshold in the assessment of overuse injury in youth athletes.

The Effects of Injury Type on Health-Related Quality of Life in Youth Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.

Objective: The relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and injury type has not been analyzed for young athletes. We hypothesized that there would be no difference in HRQoL between injured athletes, injured nonathletes, and normative data for healthy youth (NDHY) or among athletes with acute, overuse, or concussion injuries.

Design: Cross-sectional clinical cohort.

Three-year Outcomes After Conversion From Monthly to Every 2-month Belatacept Maintenance Therapy in Kidney Transplant Recipients: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Unlabelled: Maintenance immunosuppression with belatacept following kidney transplantation results in improved long-term graft function as compared with calcineurin inhibitors. However, broad application of belatacept has been limited, in part related to logistical barriers surrounding a monthly (q1m) infusion requirement.

Methods: To determine whether every 2-mo (q2m) belatacept is noninferior to standard q1m maintenance, we conducted a prospective, single-center randomized trial in low-immunologic-risk, stable renal transplant recipients.

Stroke Lesion Volume and Injury to Motor Cortex Output Determines Extent of Contralesional Motor Cortex Reorganization.

Background: After stroke, increases in contralesional primary motor cortex (M1) activity and excitability have been reported. In pre-clinical studies, M1 reorganization is related to the extent of ipsilesional M1 (M1) injury, but this has yet to be tested clinically.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that the extent of damage to the ipsilesional M1 and/or its corticospinal tract (CST) determines the magnitude of M1 reorganization and its relationship to affected hand function in humans recovering from stroke.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Care Continuum Outcomes After Transition to Adult Care Among a Prospective Cohort of Youth With HIV in Atlanta, Georgia.

Background: Healthcare transition from pediatric to adult-oriented clinical settings is often viewed as a high-risk time for care disengagement. However, there is a paucity of prospective, longitudinal research documenting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care outcomes after healthcare transition.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, observational cohort study of healthcare transition among youth enrolled at an HIV care center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Prospective comparison of dysphagia following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with and without rhBMP-2.

Background Context: Previous studies have called into question the safety of using rhBMP-2 in anterior cervical fusion due to the possibility of airway compromise and dysphagia. A retrospective chart review identified a significant increase in the severity of dysphagia after II-level ACDF with rhBMP-2 compared to patients who did not receive rhBMP-2. To date, this topic has not been studied prospectively.

Association of Blood Donor Sex and Age With Outcomes in Very Low-Birth-Weight Infants Receiving Blood Transfusion.

Importance: There are conflicting data on the association between blood donor characteristics and outcomes among patients receiving transfusions.

Objective: To evaluate the association of blood donor sex and age with mortality or serious morbidity in very low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants receiving blood transfusions.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This is a cohort study using data collected from 3 hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia.

A yeast expressed RBD-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine formulated with 3M-052-alum adjuvant promotes protective efficacy in non-human primates.

Ongoing SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development is focused on identifying stable, cost-effective, and accessible candidates for global use, specifically in low and middle-income countries. Here, we report the efficacy of a rapidly scalable, novel yeast expressed SARS-CoV-2 specific receptor-binding domain (RBD) based vaccine in rhesus macaques. We formulated the RBD immunogen in alum, a licensed and an emerging alum adsorbed TLR-7/8 targeted, 3M-052-alum adjuvants.

IL-21 and IFNα therapy rescues terminally differentiated NK cells and limits SIV reservoir in ART-treated macaques.

Unlike HIV infection, which progresses to AIDS absent suppressive anti-retroviral therapy, nonpathogenic infections in natural hosts, such African green monkeys, are characterized by a lack of gut microbial translocation and robust secondary lymphoid natural killer cell responses resulting in an absence of chronic inflammation and limited SIV dissemination in lymph node B-cell follicles. Here we report, using the pathogenic model of antiretroviral therapy-treated, SIV-infected rhesus macaques that sequential interleukin-21 and interferon alpha therapy generate terminally differentiated blood natural killer cells (NKG2a/cCD16) with potent human leukocyte antigen-E-restricted activity in response to SIV envelope peptides. This is in contrast to control macaques, where less differentiated, interferon gamma-producing natural killer cells predominate.

Virologic and Immunologic Features of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Control Post-ART Interruption in Rhesus Macaques.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) cannot eradicate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and a rapid rebound of virus replication follows analytical treatment interruption (ATI) in the vast majority of HIV-infected individuals. Sustained control of HIV replication without ART has been documented in a subset of individuals, defined as posttreatment controllers (PTCs). The key determinants of post-ART viral control remain largely unclear.

Observational study of cytomegalovirus from breast milk and necrotising enterocolitis.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between cytomegalovirus (CMV) exposure from breast milk and risk of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC).

Design: Secondary analysis of a multicentre, observational cohort study. Maternal breast milk and infant serum or urine were serially evaluated by nucleic acid testing at scheduled intervals for CMV.

Enteral iron supplementation, red blood cell transfusion, and risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in very-low-birth-weight infants.

Background: Enteral iron supplementation and RBC transfusions are routinely administered to very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants, although the potential risks of these exposures have not been adequately quantified. This study evaluated the association between the cumulative dose of enteral iron supplementation, total volume of RBCs transfused, and risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in VLBW infants.

Study Design And Methods: Retrospective, multicenter observational cohort study in Atlanta, Georgia.

The effects of roux en y gastric bypass surgery on neurobehavioral symptom domains associated with severe obesity.

Background: Neurobehavioral symptoms and cognitive dysfunction related to mood disorders are present in individuals with severe obesity. We sought to determine acute improvements in these symptoms and relationships with adiposity, inflammation, and insulin sensitivity after roux-en-y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery.

Methods: The self-report Zung Depression Rating (ZDRS) and Neurotoxicity Rating (NRS) scales were administered before, and at 6-months after RYGB surgery in severely obese women (body mass index > 35 kg/m; N = 19).

Platelet transfusions and mortality in necrotizing enterocolitis.

Background: Prior studies have suggested an association between platelet transfusions (PTXs) and worse outcomes among infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), potentially mediated by proinflammatory factors released by platelets. However, the effects of storage on platelet proinflammatory factor release and the confounding role of illness severity on NEC outcomes have not been determined.

Study Design And Methods: First, neuropeptide Y (a potent splanchnic vasoconstrictor released by platelets) was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in fresh frozen plasma and in the supernatant of leukoreduced apheresis-derived platelets at different times during storage.

Medicaid Payer Status Is Associated with Increased 90-Day Morbidity and Resource Utilization Following Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Propensity-Score-Matched Analysis.

Background: Medicaid payer status has been shown to affect risk-adjusted outcomes and resource utilization across multiple medical specialties. The purpose of this study was to examine resource utilization via readmission rates, length of stay, and total cost specific to Medicaid payer status following primary total hip arthroplasty.

Methods: The Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD) was utilized to identify patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty in 2013 as well as corresponding "Medicaid" or "non-Medicaid" payer status.

High-resolution plasma metabolomics analysis to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis-associated metabolites that distinguish active pulmonary tuberculosis in humans.

Introduction: Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is a major worldwide health problem that lacks robust blood-based biomarkers for detection of active disease. High-resolution metabolomics (HRM) is an innovative method to discover low-abundance metabolites as putative blood biomarkers to detect TB disease, including those known to be produced by the causative organism, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb).

Methods: We used HRM profiling to measure the plasma metabolome for 17 adults with active pulmonary TB disease and 16 of their household contacts without active TB.

Medicaid is associated with increased readmission and resource utilization after primary total knee arthroplasty: a propensity score-matched analysis.

Background: Medicaid payer status has been shown to affect resource utilization across multiple medical specialties. There is no large database assessment of Medicaid and resource utilization in primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA), which this study sets out to achieve.

Methods: The Nationwide Readmissions Database was used to identify patients who underwent TKA in 2013 and corresponding "Medicaid" or "non-Medicaid" payer statuses.

Social Capital, Depressive Symptoms, and HIV Viral Suppression Among Young Black, Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV.

Social capital, the sum of an individual's resource-containing social network connections, has been proposed as a facilitator of successful HIV care engagement. We explored relationships between social capital, psychological covariates (depression, stigma and internalized homonegativity), and viral suppression in a sample of young Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (YB-GBMSM). We recruited 81 HIV-positive YB-GBMSM 18-24 years of age from a clinic setting.

T-cell receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand/osteoprotegerin imbalance is associated with HIV-induced bone loss in patients with higher CD4+ T-cell counts.

Objective: Higher incidence of osteopenia and osteoporosis underlie increased rates of fragility fracture in HIV infection. B cells are a major source of osteoprotegerin (OPG), an inhibitor of the key osteoclastogenic cytokine receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL). We previously showed that higher B-cell RANKL/OPG ratio contributes to HIV-induced bone loss.

Peritransplantation Red Blood Cell Transfusion Is Associated with Increased Risk of Graft-versus-Host Disease after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

More than 90% of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) recipients receive red blood cell (RBC) or platelet transfusions in the peritransplantation period. We tested the hypothesis that transfusions are associated with the development of severe (grade III-IV) acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) or mortality after allo-HSCT in a retrospective study of 322 consecutive patients receiving an allogeneic bone marrow or granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized blood stem cell graft for a hematologic malignancy. Counting transfused RBC and platelet units between day -7 pretransplantation and day +27 post-transplantation, but excluding transfusions administered after a diagnosis of aGVHD, yielded medians of 5 RBC units and 2 platelet units transfused.

The impact of diabetes on CD4 recovery in persons with HIV in an urban clinic in the United States.

The purpose of this study was to exam the impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on CD4 cell count trends in adults with HIV. In a longitudinal retrospective study in an urban primary care HIV clinic in the southeastern United States from 2010 to 2012, patients with HIV medical charts were audited to obtain their CD4 cell count, diabetes status, weight, and demographic information. Rates of increase of CD4 T cell count (i.

Association of Red Blood Cell Transfusion, Anemia, and Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Very Low-Birth-Weight Infants.

Importance: Data regarding the contribution of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion and anemia to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) are conflicting. These associations have not been prospectively evaluated, accounting for repeated, time-varying exposures.

Objective: To determine the relationship between RBC transfusion, severe anemia, and NEC.