Response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in immune mediated inflammatory diseases: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: The treatment for COVID-19 often utilizes immune-modulating drugs. These drugs are also used in immune mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). We performed a systematic review about seroconversion after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with IMIDs and impact of various drugs on seroconversion rates.

Reexamining Risk Aversion: Willingness to Pursue and Utilize Nonideal Donor Livers Among US Donation Service Areas.

Background: Livers from "nonideal" but acceptable donors are underutilized; however, organ procurement organization (OPO) metrics do not assess how OPO-specific practices contribute to these trends. In this analysis, we evaluated nonideal liver donor avoidance or risk aversion among OPOs and within US donation service areas (DSAs).

Methods: Adult donors in the United Network for Organ Sharing registry who donated ≥1 organ for transplantation between 2007 and 2019 were included.

A Large Animal Model for Pulmonary Hypertension and Right Ventricular Failure: Left Pulmonary Artery Ligation and Progressive Main Pulmonary Artery Banding in Sheep.

Decompensated right ventricular failure (RVF) in pulmonary hypertension (PH) is fatal, with limited medical treatment options. Developing and testing novel therapeutics for PH requires a clinically relevant large animal model of increased pulmonary vascular resistance and RVF. This manuscript discusses the latest development of the previously published ovine PH-RVF model that utilizes left pulmonary artery (PA) ligation and main PA occlusion.

Multiethnic Prediction of Nicotine Biomarkers and Association With Nicotine Dependence.

Introduction: The nicotine metabolite ratio and nicotine equivalents are measures of metabolism rate and intake. Genome-wide prediction of these nicotine biomarkers in multiethnic samples will enable tobacco-related biomarker, behavioral, and exposure research in studies without measured biomarkers.

Aims And Methods: We screened genetic variants genome-wide using marginal scans and applied statistical learning algorithms on top-ranked genetic variants, age, ethnicity and sex, and, in additional modeling, cigarettes per day (CPD), (in additional modeling) to build prediction models for the urinary nicotine metabolite ratio (uNMR) and creatinine-standardized total nicotine equivalents (TNE) in 2239 current cigarette smokers in five ethnic groups.

Demographic Pattern and Mortality Risk Factors for Prescription Opioid Overdose Hospitalizations: Results From Nationwide Inpatient Sample Analysis.

Objectives To explore the demographic patterns of hospitalizations related to prescription opioid overdose (POD) and evaluate the mortality risk of association in POD inpatients. Methodology We conducted a cross-sectional study using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample of 184,711 POD inpatients. A binomial logistic regression model was used to evaluate the odds ratio (OR) of association for mortality risk due to comorbidities (substance use disorders (SUD) and medical complications) in POD inpatients.

Temporal Trends and Evolving Outcomes After Simultaneous Liver-Kidney Transplantation: Results from the US SLKT Consortium.

We aimed to understand the contemporary changes in the characteristics and the determinants of outcomes among simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation (SLKT) recipients at 6 liver transplantation centers in the United States. We retrospectively enrolled SLKT recipients between 2002 and 2017 in the US Multicenter SLKT Consortium. We analyzed time-related trends in recipient characteristics and outcomes with linear regression and nonparametric methods.

Clinically Applicable Segmentation of Head and Neck Anatomy for Radiotherapy: Deep Learning Algorithm Development and Validation Study.

Background: Over half a million individuals are diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year globally. Radiotherapy is an important curative treatment for this disease, but it requires manual time to delineate radiosensitive organs at risk. This planning process can delay treatment while also introducing interoperator variability, resulting in downstream radiation dose differences.

Establishment of Cephalic Index Using Cranial Parameters by Computed Tomography in a Sampled North Indian Population.

Background: Cephalic index (CI) also called cranial index is the ratio of maximum breadth to a maximum length of head. The purpose of the study was to study anthropometry of cranial parameters using the computed tomography (CT) scans to establish the CI of the sampled population in North India.

Materials And Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried on the subjects of age group ranging from 6 to 95 years of either sex (total 1000 subjects; 540 male and 460 female) in the radio-diagnosis department of Era's Medical College Lucknow, UP, India.

Evaluation of Clinical Decision Support to Reduce Sedative-Hypnotic Prescribing in Older Adults.

Objective: We sought to characterize the performance of inpatient and outpatient computerized clinical decision support (CDS) alerts aimed at reducing inappropriate benzodiazepine and nonbenzodiazepine sedative medication prescribing in older adults 18 months after implementation.

Methods: We reviewed the performance of two CDS alerts in the outpatient and inpatient settings in 2019. To examine the alerts' effectiveness, we analyzed metrics including overall alert adherence, provider-level adherence, and reasons for alert trigger and override.

Opioid-Sparing Multimodal Analgesia Protocol for Lumpectomy Patients Results in Superior Postoperative Pain Control.

Background: We sought to determine if lumpectomy patients who received perioperative opioid-sparing multimodal analgesia reported less pain when compared with those who received traditional opioid-based care.

Study Design: A prospective cohort of patients undergoing lumpectomy who received an opioid-sparing multimodal analgesia protocol [no opioids group (NOP)] was compared with a large cohort of patients who received traditional care [opioids group (OG)]. In-hospital and discharge opioids were compared using oral morphine equivalents (OMEs).

Mediterranean, DASH, and Alternate Healthy Eating Index Dietary Patterns and Risk of Death in the Physicians' Health Study.

Objective: Our primary objective was to examine the associations of the Mediterranean (MED), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) diet with total mortality. Our secondary objective was to examine the association of these three dietary patterns with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality.

Research: Design and Methods: We prospectively studied 15,768 men from the Physicians' Health Study who completed a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Calcified Atherosclerotic Plaques in the Coronary Arteries: The NHLBI Family Heart Study.

Background: Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake is associated with higher risk of weight gain, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cardiovascular mortality. However, the association of SSB with subclinical atherosclerosis in the general population is unknown.

Objective: Our primary objective was to investigate the association between SSB intake and prevalence of atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries in The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Family Heart Study.

Efficacy and safety of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors following intestinal and multivisceral transplantation.

This is a descriptive study reviewing the outcomes of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors (mTORs) in intestinal (IT) and multivisceral transplantation (MVT). This study included 22 patients, 20 adults, and two children, and an overall mean age of 46 years old at the time of transplantation. Twelve patients (54.

Prevalence and cross states comparison of case fatality rate and recovery rate of COVID 19/SARS-COV-2 in India.

Background And Aim: CFR and RR are important indicator of disease pandemic. As of now no data is available about cross-states analysis of these. We aimed to evaluate CFR and RR of COVID-19 across majorly affected States in India.

Control of Multigene Expression Stoichiometry in Mammalian Cells Using Synthetic Promoters.

To successfully engineer mammalian cells for a desired purpose, multiple recombinant genes are required to be coexpressed at a specific and optimal ratio. In this study, we hypothesized that synthetic promoters varying in transcriptional activity could be used to create single multigene expression vectors coexpressing recombinant genes at a predictable relative stoichiometry. A library of 27 multigene constructs was created comprising three discrete fluorescent reporter gene transcriptional units in fixed series, each under the control of either a relatively low, medium, or high transcriptional strength synthetic promoter in every possible combination.

Environmental Enrichment Sharpens Sensory Acuity by Enhancing Information Coding in Barrel Cortex and Premotor Cortex.

Environmental enrichment (EE) is beneficial to sensory functions. Thus, elucidating the neural mechanism underlying improvement of sensory stimulus discrimination is important for developing therapeutic strategies. We aim to advance the understanding of such neural mechanism.

Progression Toward Decompensated Right Ventricular Failure in the Ovine Pulmonary Hypertension Model.

Decompensated right ventricular failure (RVF) in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) is fatal, with limited treatment options. Novel mechanical circulatory support systems have therapeutic potential for RVF, but the development of these devices requires a large animal disease model that replicates the pathophysiology observed in humans. We previously reported an effective disease model of PH in sheep through ligation of the left pulmonary artery (PA) and progressive occlusion of the main PA.

Lithium ion battery degradation: what you need to know.

The expansion of lithium-ion batteries from consumer electronics to larger-scale transport and energy storage applications has made understanding the many mechanisms responsible for battery degradation increasingly important. The literature in this complex topic has grown considerably; this perspective aims to distil current knowledge into a succinct form, as a reference and a guide to understanding battery degradation. Unlike other reviews, this work emphasises the coupling between the different mechanisms and the different physical and chemical approaches used to trigger, identify and monitor various mechanisms, as well as the various computational models that attempt to simulate these interactions.

Impact of COVID-19 on Orthopaedic Care and Practice: A Rapid Review.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a large body of literature regarding the impact of COVID-19 on orthopaedic care and practice. This rapid review aims to synthesize this published literature to give the orthopaedic fraternity an overview about the best practices that need to be followed during this period.

Methodology: A rapid review was conducted following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement for rapid reviews on the impact of COVID-19 on orthopaedic care and practice.

The Impact of the 2017 Kidney Allocation Policy Change on Simultaneous Liver-Kidney Utilization and Outcomes.

Historically in the United States, kidneys for simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation (SLKT) candidates were allocated with livers, prioritizing SLKT recipients over much of the kidney waiting list. A 2017 change in policy delineated renal function criteria for SLKT and implemented a safety net for kidney-after-liver transplantation. We compared the use and outcomes of SLKT and kidney-after-liver transplant with the 2017 policy.

Ethnic differences in excretion of butadiene-DNA adducts by current smokers.

1,3-Butadiene (BD) is a known human carcinogen used in the synthetic polymer industry and also found in cigarette smoke, automobile exhaust and wood burning smoke. BD is metabolically activated by cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYP) 2E1 and 2A6 to 3,4-epoxy-1-butene (EB), which can be detoxified by GST-catalyzed glutathione conjugation or hydrolysis. We have previously observed ethnic differences in urinary levels of EB-mercapturic acids in white, Japanese American and Native Hawaiian smokers.