Self-Assessment of Cultural Competence and Social Determinants of Health within a First-Year Required Pharmacy Course.

As social determinants of health (SDOH) and health disparities are integrated with cultural competence in healthcare education, tools assessing multiple topics are needed. The Self-Assessment of Perceived Level of Cultural Competence (SAPLCC) survey is validated in student pharmacists and includes SDOH. The research objective was to determine if the SAPLCC survey can quantify cultural competence and SDOH course learning.

Older people in custody in a forensic psychiatric facility, prevalence of dementia, and community reintegration needs: an exploratory analysis.

Background: Across much of the developed world, the number of older people in custody has been increasing, which presents challenges for correctional systems due to the complex social, medical and mental health needs of this subgroup, especially those living with dementia. The present study therefore aimed to increase insight into the extent to which older people in custody are (a) potentially living with dementia and (b) receiving appropriate supports/services (particularly, with respect to community reintegration).

Results: Cross-sectional data were drawn from a sample of 29 older people in custody and 20 correctional health care professionals at a regional forensic psychiatric hospital in a medium-sized Canadian city.

Microdialysis techniques and microdialysis-based patient-near diagnostics.

This article will debate the usefulness of POCT measurements and the contribution microdialysis can make to generating valuable information. A particular theme will be the rarely considered difference between ex vivo sampling, which typically generates only a static measure of concentration, and in vivo measurements that are subject to dynamic changes due to mass transfer. Those dynamic changes provide information about the patients' physiological state.

Association Between 18-FDG Positron Emission Tomography and MRI Biomarkers of Plaque Vulnerability in Patients With Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis.

Pathologic studies suggest that unstable plaque morphology and inflammation are associated with cerebrovascular events. F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is a validated technique for non-invasive imaging of inflammation-related plaque metabolism, and MRI can identify morphologic features of plaque instability. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of selected imaging characteristics of plaque vulnerability measured with MRI and PET in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis.

Indigenous-specific cultural safety within health and dementia care: A scoping review of reviews.

Globally, health inequities experienced by Indigenous communities are often described and documented in terms of deficits and disease. However, health disparities are complex and involve numerous underlying issues beyond the social determinants of health. Indigenous Peoples face unique barriers to accessing culturally safe and equitable healthcare, including racism, systemic injustice, and a historical legacy of colonialism.

An integrated device for fast and sensitive immunosuppressant detection.

The present paper describes a compact point of care (POC) optical device for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). The core of the device is a disposable plastic chip where an immunoassay for the determination of immunosuppressants takes place. The chip is designed in order to have ten parallel microchannels allowing the simultaneous detection of more than one analyte with replicate measurements.

Adaptive Evolution in TRIF Leads to Discordance between Human and Mouse Innate Immune Signaling.

The TIR domain-containing adapter inducing IFN-β (TRIF) protein is an innate immune system protein that mediates the MyD88-independent toll-like receptor response pathway in mice and humans. Previously, we identified positive selection at seven distinct residues in mouse TRIF (mTRIF), as compared with human and other mammalian orthologs, thus predicting protein functional shift in mTRIF. We reconstructed TRIF for the most recent common ancestor of mouse and human, and mutated this at the seven sites to their extant mouse/human states.

Depressive symptoms in adults in rural and urban regions of Canada: a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Objectives: Previous studies on depression in rural areas have yielded conflicting results. Features of rural areas may be conducive or detrimental to mental health. Our objective for this study was to determine if there are rural-urban disparities in depressive symptoms between those living in rural and urban areas of Canada.

Visually guided chick ocular length and structural thickness variations assessed by swept-source optical coherence tomography.

Chicks are an excellent model for studying myopia. To study the change of the ocular structures in chicks, ultrasound is mostly used. However, it suffers from limited spatial resolution.

Establishing a Molecular Genetic Diagnosis in Children with Differences of Sex Development: A Clinical Approach.

Background: Despite distinct underlying aetiologies, the clinical phenotypes and hormonal profiles of children with various differences of sex development (DSD) are often similar, which presents challenges to ascertaining an accurate diagnosis on clinical grounds alone. Associated features and important clinical outcomes can, however, vary significantly in different DSD, thus establishing an accurate molecular diagnosis may have important implications for decision-making and management planning in a given individual.

Summary: The wider availability of next-generation sequencing techniques in recent years has led to recommendations for earlier integration of genetic testing in the diagnostic pathway of children with DSD.

Genomic characterization of silvergrass cryptic virus 1, a novel partitivirus infecting Miscanthus sinensis.

In the present study we report the identification of a novel partitivirus recovered from Miscanthus sinensis, for which the provisional name "silvergrass cryptic virus 1" (SgCV-1) is proposed. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) allowed the assembly of the complete sequence of each double-stranded RNA genome segment of this novel virus. The largest dsRNA segment, dsRNA1 (1699 bp), was predicted to encode a viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase protein (RdRp) with 478 aa, and dsRNA2 (1490 bp) and dsRNA3 (1508 bp) were predicted to encode putative capsid proteins (CPs) with 347 and 348 aa, respectively.

Bone segmentation in contrast enhanced whole-body computed tomography.

Segmentation of bone regions allows for enhanced diagnostics, disease characterisation and treatment monitoring in CT imaging. In contrast enhanced whole-body scans accurate automatic segmentation is particularly difficult as low dose whole body protocols reduce image quality and make contrast enhanced regions more difficult to separate when relying on differences in pixel intensities. This paper outlines a U-net architecture with novel preprocessing techniques, based on the windowing of training data and the modification of sigmoid activation threshold selection to successfully segment bone-bone marrow regions from low dose contrast enhanced whole-body CT scans.

Measuring True Change in Individual Patients: Reliable Change Indices of Cardiac Rehabilitation Outcomes, and Implications for Quality Indicators.

Background: Mediated by outcomes such as improved exercise capacity, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) reduces morbidity and mortality. For accuracy, an individual CR patient's change must be measured reliably, an issue not typically considered in practice. Drawing from psychometric theory, we calculated reliable change indices (RCIs), to measure CR patients' apart from that from error and test practice/exposure, in exercise capacity, anxiety, and depression.

Space use by the endemic common (weedy) seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus): influence of habitat and prey.

The weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus: Syngnathidae) is an iconic fish endemic to the southern coastal waters of Australia. The authors of this study analysed the habitat preferences and factors influencing microhabitat selection by P. taeniolatus in a population from Kurnell, NSW, Australia.

Facilitating treatment engagement for early psychosis through peer-delivered decision support: intervention development and protocol for pilot evaluation.

Background: Emerging adults with early psychosis demonstrate high rates of service disengagement from critical early intervention services. Decision support interventions and peer support have both been shown to enhance service engagement but are understudied in this population. The purposes of this article are to describe the development of a novel peer-delivered decision coaching intervention for this population and to report plans for a pilot study designed to gather preliminary data about its feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact.

Diabetes As an Independent Risk Factor for Stroke Recurrence in Ischemic Stroke Patients: An Updated Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: Stroke and its recurrence and diabetes will increase in incidence as the population ages globally. This study explores the relationship between diabetes and stroke recurrence to understand if diabetes is an independent predictor for stroke recurrence in ischemic stroke (IS) patients.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the effect of diabetes on stroke recurrence among patients with IS.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia has sustained effects on insomnia, fatigue, and function among people with chronic heart failure and insomnia: the HeartSleep Study.

Study Objectives: Insomnia is common among adults with chronic heart failure (HF) and associated with daytime symptoms and decrements in function. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to evaluate the sustained effects over one year of CBT-I (Healthy Sleep: HS) compared with HF self-management education (Healthy Hearts; attention control: HH) on insomnia severity, sleep characteristics, symptoms, and function among people with stable HF. The primary outcomes were insomnia severity, actigraph-recorded sleep efficiency, and fatigue.

ADAR1 entraps sinister cellular dsRNAs, thresholding antiviral responses.

ADAR1 edits adenosines to inosines in cellular double-stranded (ds)RNA, thereby preventing aberrant activation of antiviral dsRNA sensors, as well as interferon (IFN) induction in Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) encephalopathy. Recently, Nakahama et al., Tang et al.

Braak's Unfinished Hypothesis: A Clinicopathological Case Report of α-Synuclein Peripheral Neuropathy Preceding Parkinsonism by 20 Years.

Background: α-synuclein aggregates in the form of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Autopsy studies suggest that α-synuclein aggregates appear in localized areas of the central nervous system before spreading in a sequential pattern from the brainstem to the cerebral cortex, known as the Braak hypothesis. Increased prevalence of peripheral neuropathy in PD is recognized, with multiple hypothesized mechanisms including α-synuclein deposition.

Prognostic factors of depression and depressive symptoms after hip fracture surgery: systematic review.

Background: Patients with hip fracture and depression are less likely to recover functional ability. This review sought to identify prognostic factors of depression or depressive symptoms up to 1 year after hip fracture surgery in adults. This review also sought to describe proposed underlying mechanisms for their association with depression or depressive symptoms.

Carotid Plaque Inflammation Imaged by PET and Prediction of Recurrent Stroke at 5 Years.

Background And Objectives: To determine whether carotid plaque inflammation identified by F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET is associated with late (5-year) recurrent stroke.

Methods: We did an individual-participant data pooled analysis of 3 prospective studies with near-identical study methods. Eligible patients had recent nonsevere (modified Rankin Scale score ≤3) ischemic stroke/TIA and ipsilateral carotid stenosis (50%-99%).

Does early-stage intervention improve caregiver well-being or their ability to provide care to persons with mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Interventions for caregivers of persons with dementia are well supported, but it remains unclear whether caregivers benefit from early-stage intervention when caring for persons with mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This systematic review and meta-analysis examined whether early-stage interventions for this population positively affect their well-being and ability to provide care and whether effectiveness varies based on intervention or caregiver/recipient characteristics. Searches of four databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PSYCINFO, and CINAHL) yielded 20,722 titles and 1,305 full texts were independently screened.