Perceptions of access to harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people who inject drugs in metropolitan Chicago.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic amplified the risk environment for people who inject drugs (PWID), making continued access to harm reduction services imperative. Research has shown that some harm reduction service providers were able to continue to provide services throughout the pandemic. Most of these studies, however, focused on staff perspectives, not those of PWID.

Severity and mortality of acute respiratory failure in pediatrics: A prospective multicenter cohort in Bogotá, Colombia.

Background And Aims: Acute respiratory failure (ARF) is the most frequent cause of cardiorespiratory arrest and subsequent death in children worldwide. There have been limited studies regarding ARF in high altitude settings. The aim of this study was to calculate mortality and describe associated factors for severity and mortality in children with ARF.

Connexins 30 and 43 expression changes in relation to age-related hearing loss.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL), also known as presbycusis, is the number one communication disorder for aging adults. Connexin proteins are essential for intercellular communication throughout the human body, including the cochlea. Mutations in connexin genes have been linked to human syndromic and nonsyndromic deafness; thus, we hypothesize that changes in connexin gene and protein expression with age are involved in the etiology of ARHL.

Social-spatial network structures among young urban and suburban persons who inject drugs in a large metropolitan area.

Background: Recent studies underscore the significance of adopting a syndemics approach to study opioid misuse, overdose, hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV infections, within the broader context of social and environmental contexts in already marginalized communities. Social interactions and spatial contexts are crucial structural factors that remain relatively underexplored. This study examines the intersections of social interactions and spatial contexts around injection drug use.

A Novel Index Measure of Housing-related Risk as a Predictor of Overdose among Young People Who Inject Drugs and Injection Networks.

Background: For people who inject drugs (PWID), housing instability due to decreasing housing affordability and other factors (e.g., loss of housing due to severed relational ties, evictions due to drug use) results in added pressure on an already vulnerable population.

Social-spatial network structures among young urban and suburban persons who inject drugs in a large metropolitan area.

Background: It is estimated that there are 1.5% US adult population who inject drugs in 2018, with young adults aged 18-39 showing the highest prevalence. PWID are at a high risk of many blood-borne infections.

Network ethnic homophily and injection equipment sharing among Latinx and White non-Latinx people who inject drugs.

Latinx people who inject drugs (PWID) are less likely to engage in injection equipment sharing, but are more vulnerable to injection drug use (IDU)-related morbidity and mortality than Whites. Identifying subgroups of Latinx PWID who engage in equipment sharing and likely bear the brunt of this health burden is a priority. Ethnic disparities may reflect contextual drivers, including injection networks.

COVID-19 in children and the influence on the employment activity of their female caregivers: A cross sectional gender perspective study.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, women disproportionately assume more unpaid activities, affecting their employment.

Objective: Describe the influence of COVID-19 on the employment of caregivers of children and adolescents from a gender perspective.

Methods: Cross-sectional study in three high-complexity hospitals in Bogotá, Colombia from April 2020 to June 2021.

Incidence, etiology, sociodemographic and clinical characterization of acute respiratory failure in pediatric patients at a high-altitude city: A multicenter cohort study.

Background: Acute respiratory failure is a life-threatening medical condition, associated with a variety of conditions and risk factors, including acute respiratory diseases which are a frequent cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Colombia, the literature related to ARF is scarce.

Objective: To determine the incidence, causes, and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of ARF in three hospitals in Bogota, a high-altitude city located in Colombia, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Applying the perturbative integral in aeromaneuvers around Mars to calculate the cost.

The perturbative integral method was applied to quantify the contribution of external forces during a specific interval of time in trajectories of spacecraft around asteroids and under the Luni-solar influence. However, this method has not been used to quantify the contributions of drag in aerocapture and aerobraking. For this reason, the planet Mars is selected to apply this method during an aerogravity-assisted maneuver.

Effectiveness of palivizumab immunoprophylaxis in infants with respiratory syncytial virus disease in Colombia.

Introduction: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most important childhood infections.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of palivizumab immunoprophylaxis in preterm infants at a high risk of severe respiratory syncytial virus infection during the RSV season in Colombia.

Methodology: A prospective observational non-comparative multicenter study in six Colombian cities.

Cochlear Inflammaging in Relation to Ion Channels and Mitochondrial Functions.

The slow accumulation of inflammatory biomarker levels in the body-also known as inflammaging-has been linked to a myriad of age-related diseases. Some of these include neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's disease, obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and many others. Though a direct correlation has not been established, research connecting age-related hearing loss (ARHL)-the number one communication disorder and one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases of our aged population-and inflammaging has gained interest.

TARP syndrome associated with renal malformation and optic nerve atrophy.

Talipes equinovarus, atrial septal defect, Robin sequence and persistent left superior vena cava (TARP) syndrome is a congenital disease caused by mutations in the RBBM10 gene. It has a low prevalence and a high rate of mortality in the neonatal stage. In this case report, we present a case of a 32-week gestational age preterm newborn with a prenatal diagnosis of intrauterine growth restriction, with a persistent left superior vena cava, interatrial communication and a horseshoe kidney.

Reducing Opioid Mortality in Illinois (ROMI): A case management/peer recovery coaching critical time intervention clinical trial protocol.

Individuals with a history of opioid use are disproportionately represented in Illinois jails and prisons and face high risks of overdose and relapse at community reentry. Case management and peer recovery coaching are established interventions that may be leveraged to improve linkage to substance use treatment and supportive services during these critical periods of transition. We present the protocol for the Reducing Opioid Mortality in Illinois (ROMI), a type I hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized trial of a case management, peer recovery coaching and overdose education and naloxone distribution (CM/PRC + OEND) critical time intervention (CTI) compared to OEND alone.

Datasets for lot sizing and scheduling problems in the fruit-based beverage production process.

The datasets presented here were partially used in "Formulation and MIP-heuristics for the lot sizing and scheduling problem with temporal cleanings" (Toscano, A.,  Ferreira, D., Morabito, R.

Implementation and Usefulness of Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: Identify and summarize the available literature on the acceleration in the use of telemedicine in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an aim to provide justification and guidance for its implementation to overcome the limitations associated with the pandemic worldwide.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review through different search strategies in MEDLINE and Google Scholar to identify the available literature reporting data on implementation and usefulness of various modalities of telemedicine during the current pandemic. We summarized the included studies according to field and mode of implementation in a narrative way.

Translational implications of the interactions between hormones and age-related hearing loss.

Provocative research has revealed both positive and negative effects of hormones on hearing as we age; with in some cases, mis-regulation of hormonal levels in instances of medical comorbidities linked to aging, lying at the heart of the problem. Animal model studies have discovered that hormonal fluctuations can sharpen hearing for improved communication and processing of mating calls during reproductive seasons. Sex hormones sometimes have positive effects on auditory processing, as is often the case with estrogen, whereas combinations of estrogen and progesterone, and testosterone, can have negative effects on hearing abilities, particularly in aging subjects.

Ebstein anomaly associated with cri du chat (cat's cry) syndrome and 20q duplication.

Ebstein anomaly is a congenital heart defect with a low prevalence and high mortality in the early stages of life. In medical literature, there is no reported association between Ebstein anomaly and cri du chat syndrome. Here, we report the case of a full-term newborn with a low weight for his age and who had a prenatal diagnosis of Ebstein anomaly and a postnatal diagnosis of cri du chat syndrome and 20q duplication detected on array CGH.

On the use of a continuous thrust to find bounded planar trajectories at given altitudes in Low Earth Orbits.

In this work, it is shown how a spacecraft equipped with a thrust and subjected to a drag force can be bounded at specific altitudes as function of the parameters of the thrust. It is used nonlinear dynamics tools to find attractors, which bound the motion of the spacecraft. For a specific set of parameters of the thrust, the spacecraft is bounded to a given altitude.

Respiratory syncytial virus infection as a cause of hospitalization in population under 1 year in Colombia.

Objective: to determine the frequency, complications and seasonality at which respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection of the lower respiratory tract causes hospitalization in infants of age 1 year or less in 6 cities of Colombia.

Methods: one-year prospective multicentric observational study that included 717 patients presenting to the emergency department with respiratory symptoms in 6 cities of Colombia. Hospitalized children were tested for RSV with an immunofluorescence rapid test in nasopharyngeal secretions.

Maternal clinical findings in malaria in pregnancy in a region of northwestern Colombia.

In malaria-endemic regions of Latin America, little is known about malaria in pregnancy. To characterize the clinical and laboratory findings of maternal infection, we evaluated 166 cases of pregnant women infected with Plasmodium spp. in a prospective study conducted in northwestern Colombia during 2005-2006.