Biologic Correlates and Consequences of the Social Determinants of Health and Disease.

The consequences of experiences and exposures suffered by those living in poverty can last a lifetime and can even be passed on to the next generation. The challenges associated with poverty have been labeled the "social determinants of health" (SDoH), but this is something of a misnomer. A more appropriate label would be the "social determinants of disease.

Neonatal Sepsis Episodes and Retinopathy of Prematurity in Very Preterm Infants.

Importance: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major morbidity of preterm infants causing visual impairment, including blindness, for which timely treatment is vital and prevention is key. Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to neonatal sepsis contributes to ROP development.

Objective: To investigate the association between neonatal sepsis and ROP in 2 large-scale cohorts of preterm infants born at less than 29 weeks' gestation.

Developmental authenticity - underlying dynamics of inner work processes.

An emerging body of research attends to grasp the concept of authenticity. Nonetheless, a view on the developmental part with its underlying facets of processes, is rare. In this paper, we aim to take a deeper look into the dynamics of inner work processes, that define certain authenticity developmental stages.

Neonatal sepsis as a cause of retinopathy of prematurity: An etiological explanation.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a complex neonatal disorder with multiple contributing factors. In this paper we have mounted the evidence in support of the proposal that neonatal sepsis meets all requirements for being a cause of ROP (not a condition, mechanism, or even innocent bystander) by means of initiating the early stages of the pathomechanism of ROP occurrence, systemic inflammation. We use the model of etiological explanation, which distinguishes between two overlapping processes in ROP causation.

Erythrocyte transfusions are associated with retinopathy of prematurity in extremely low gestational age newborns.

Aim: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major morbidity in preterm infants causing visual impairment including blindness. Prevention and timely treatment are critical. We investigated the potential role of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions as risk factor for ROP development.

Retinal structure and visual pathway function at school age in children born extremely preterm: a population-based study.

Background: Children born extremely preterm (gestational age < 28 weeks) show reduced visual function even without any cerebral or ophthalmological neonatal diagnosis. In this study, we aimed to assess the retinal structure with optical coherence tomography (OCT) and visual function with pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEPs) in a geographically defined population-based cohort of school-aged children born extremely preterm. Moreover, we aimed to explore the association between measures of retinal structure and visual pathway function in this cohort.

Caritas only when.

Finding and respecting the human facets of the patient-parent-physician relationship will enable us to return to where we come from and to offer what is worthy of the appellation "care". The poem adds a piece to the mosaic of humanist pediatrics. Hopefully, the message will add a silver lining to the clouds of professional responsibility and burnout hovering over large parts of the pediatric workforce.

Opioid-related mortality: Dynamic temporal and spatial trends by drug type and demographic subpopulations, Massachusetts, 2005-2021.

Background: Fatal opioid-related overdoses (OOD) present significant public health challenges. Intuitive and replicable analytical approaches are needed to inform targeted public health responses.

Methods: We obtained fatal OOD data for 2005-2021 from the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics.

Small Area Forecasting of Opioid-Related Mortality: Bayesian Spatiotemporal Dynamic Modeling Approach.

Background: Opioid-related overdose mortality has remained at crisis levels across the United States, increasing 5-fold and worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability to provide forecasts of opioid-related mortality at granular geographical and temporal scales may help guide preemptive public health responses. Current forecasting models focus on prediction on a large geographical scale, such as states or counties, lacking the spatial granularity that local public health officials desire to guide policy decisions and resource allocation.

PRENATAL MATERNAL CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH RETINOPATHY OF PREMATURITY.

Purpose: Determine whether prenatal maternal characteristics such as sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, or pregnancy complications affect retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) development.

Methods: Medical records of 236 mother-infant dyads from our institution were reviewed, only including dyads in which infants were born at 30 weeks gestational age or earlier. The primary outcome measure was the risk of ROP (defined Stage 1 or greater in either eye) and its association with prenatal maternal variables.

Visual function correlates with neurodevelopment in a population cohort of school-aged children born extremely preterm.

Aim: To investigate visual function and neurodevelopment in a geographically defined population cohort of school-aged children born extremely preterm.

Methods: All children born extremely preterm in Central Norway between 2006 and 2011 (n=65) were identified, and 36 (median age, min/max: 13, 10/16) were included. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity (four spatial frequencies), parent-reported challenges and neuropsychological testing in learning, executive functions, motor skills, perception, reaction time, working and visual memory, processing speed, and pattern separation were measured.

Web-Based Health Information-Seeking Methods and Time Since Provider Engagement: Cross-sectional Study.

Background: The use of web-based methods to seek health information is increasing in popularity. As web-based health information (WHI)-seeking affects health-related decision support and chronic symptom self-management, WHI-seeking from online sources may impact health care decisions and outcomes, including care-seeking decisions. Patients who are routinely connected to physicians are more likely to receive better and more consistent care.

Retinopathy of prematurity.

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a devastating neurovascular disease of the retina in newborn infants that can lead to vision deficits or even blindness. In this concise review we discuss our current knowledge about diagnosis, etiology, pathogenesis, intervention, and outcomes of the disease. Major advancements have been made both in categorizing the disease in the new International Classification of Retinopathy of Prematurity, Third Edition classification and in treating severe ROP with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents.

The Representation of Causality and Causation with Ontologies: A Systematic Literature Review.

Objective: To explore how disease-related causality is formally represented in current ontologies and identify their potential limitations.

Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search on eight databases (PubMed, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engendering (IEEE Xplore), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Scopus, Web of Science databases, Ontobee, OBO Foundry, and Bioportal. We included studies published between January 1, 1970, and December 9, 2020, that formally represent the notions of causality and causation in the medical domain using ontology as a representational tool.

Health Humanities in Medicina: The Auxiliary Stance.

At the core of medicine is the idea to help fellow human beings by improving or even restoring their health [...

Causation and causal inference in obstetrics-gynecology.

Causation and causal inference are of utmost importance in obstetrics and gynecology. In many clinical situations, causal reasoning is involved in etiological explanations, diagnostic considerations, and conversations about prognosis. In this paper, we offer an overview of the philosophical accounts of causation that may not be familiar to, but still be appreciated by, the busy clinician.

Visuopathy of prematurity: is retinopathy just the tip of the iceberg?

Research on retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) focuses mainly on the abnormal vascularization patterns that are directly visible for ophthalmologists. However, recent findings indicate that children born prematurely also exhibit changes in the retinal cellular architecture and along the dorsal visual stream, such as structural changes between and within cortical areas. Moreover, perinatal sustained systemic inflammation (SSI) is associated with an increased risk for ROP and the visual deficits that follow.

The prenatal phase of retinopathy of prematurity.

Aim: To explore the current literature on prenatal inflammation-associated risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

Methods: Subjective summary of selected experimental and epidemiological publications that support the authors' central hypothesis that the aetiology of ROP begins before birth.

Results: Based on current evidence we suggest that, contrary to current aetiological models, the process of ROP development begins with a prephase in utero.

Evidence Mapping to Justify Health Interventions.

In order to support health interventions, biomedical and population health researchers need to collect solid evidence. This article asks what type of evidence this should be and expands on previous work that focused on etiological explanations, or causal-mechanical explanations of why and how illness occurs. The article proposes adding predictive evidence to the explanatory evidence, in order to form a joint evidence set, or JES = [A,B,C,D], which consists of four different types of evidence: association [A], biology [B], confirmation [C], and difference-making [D].

The Essence of Authenticity.

In this paper, we build upon the model of authenticity proposed by Lehman and colleagues, which includes the dimensions consistency, conformity, and connection. We expand this "3C-view" by adding a fourth dimension, continuity, which results in what we have come to call "4C-view of authenticity." We discuss our proposal from a process perspective and emphasize that congruence might be a reasonable candidate for a concept that unifies the four dimensions of authenticity.