Association of health care utilization and costs with patient-reported outcomes in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

Interventions for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) have improved patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical studies. However, limited data exist associating these improvements with health care resource utilization (HCRU) or cost savings. Few studies have evaluated the economic impact of patient-reported physical status and related disease burden in patients with AS in the United States.

Health care utilization and costs associated with functional status in patients with psoriatic arthritis.

The Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) has been validated and widely used in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) clinical trials for the assessment of patient functional status. Significant improvements in the HAQ-DI have been reported in response to therapeutic interventions; however, few US studies have evaluated the economic impact of functional disability in patients with PsA. To evaluate the association of functional status with health care resource utilization (HCRU) and total health care costs in US patients diagnosed with PsA.

infective endocarditis.

We present a case of endocarditis secondary to disseminated infection affecting the native tricuspid valve. After a thorough workup, our patient was treated conservatively with appropriate intravenous antibiotic therapy for 6 weeks. A follow-up echocardiogram showed resolution of the vegetation without any residual valvular involvement.

Correction: The first wave of COVID-19 in Malta; a national cross-sectional study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Nonperturbative Infrared Finiteness in a Superrenormalizable Scalar Quantum Field Theory.

We present a study of the IR behavior of a three-dimensional superrenormalizable quantum field theory consisting of a scalar field in the adjoint of SU(N) with a φ^{4} interaction. A bare mass is required for the theory to be massless at the quantum level. In perturbation theory, the critical mass is ambiguous due to IR divergences, and we indeed find that at two loops in lattice perturbation theory the critical mass diverges logarithmically.

Patient and physician perspectives guiding intra-articular treatment choice in knee osteoarthritis: stakeholders are aligned on treatment priorities but have different assessments of treatment effect.

Objectives: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of health-related disability. In the absence of curative non-operative therapies, treatment goals are limited to symptom relief. Data are limited on how patients and physicians prioritise available treatment options.

The first wave of COVID-19 in Malta; a national cross-sectional study.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed major challenges to all aspects of healthcare. Malta's population density, large proportion of elderly and high prevalence of diabetes and obesity put the country at risk of uncontrolled viral transmission and high mortality. Despite this, Malta achieved low mortality rates compared to figures overseas.

Novel |V_{us}| Determination Using Inclusive Strange τ Decay and Lattice Hadronic Vacuum Polarization Functions.

We propose and apply a new approach to determining |V_{us}| using dispersion relations with weight functions having poles at Euclidean (spacelike) momentum which relate strange hadronic τ decay distributions to hadronic vacuum polarization (HVP) functions obtained from lattice quantum chromodynamics. We show examples where spectral integral contributions from the region where experimental data have large errors or do not exist are strongly suppressed but accurate determinations of the relevant lattice HVP combinations remain possible. The resulting |V_{us}| agrees well with determinations from K physics and three-family Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity.

Calculation of the Hadronic Vacuum Polarization Contribution to the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment.

We present a first-principles lattice QCD+QED calculation at physical pion mass of the leading-order hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. The total contribution of up, down, strange, and charm quarks including QED and strong isospin breaking effects is a_{μ}^{HVP LO}=715.4(18.

Cervical Proprioception in a Young Population Who Spend Long Periods on Mobile Devices: A 2-Group Comparative Observational Study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate if young people with insidious-onset neck pain who spend long periods on mobile electronic devices (known as "text neck") have impaired cervical proprioception and if this is related to time on devices.

Methods: A 2-group comparative observational study was conducted at an Australian university. Twenty-two participants with text neck and 22 asymptomatic controls, all of whom were 18 to 35 years old and spent ≥4 hours per day on unsupported electronic devices, were assessed using the head repositioning accuracy (HRA) test.

Exploratory Lattice QCD Study of the Rare Kaon Decay K^{+}→π^{+}νν[over ¯].

We report a first, complete lattice QCD calculation of the long-distance contribution to the K^{+}→π^{+}νν[over ¯] decay within the standard model. This is a second-order weak process involving two four-Fermi operators that is highly sensitive to new physics and being studied by the NA62 experiment at CERN. While much of this decay comes from perturbative, short-distance physics, there is a long-distance part, perhaps as large as the planned experimental error, which involves nonperturbative phenomena.

Industrial Safety and Utopia: Insights from the Fukushima Daiichi Accident.

Feedback from industrial accidents is provided by various state or even international, institutions, and lessons learned can be controversial. However, there has been little research into organizational learning at the international level. This article helps to fill the gap through an in-depth review of official reports of the Fukushima Daiichi accident published shortly after the event.

Development of a Novel Simulation Reactor for Chronic Exposure to Atmospheric Particulate Matter.

Epidemiological studies have shown that air pollution is associated with the morbidity and mortality from cardiopulmonary diseases. Currently, limited experimental models are available to evaluate the physiological and cellular pathways activated by chronic multi-pollutant exposures. This manuscript describes an atmospheric simulation reactor (ASR) that was developed to investigate the health effects of air pollutants by permitting controlled chronic in vivo exposure of mice to combined particulate and gaseous pollutants.

Design and Development of Non-Contact Bio-Potential Electrodes for Pervasive Health Monitoring Applications.

For the advent of pervasive bio-potential monitoring, it will be necessary to utilize a combination of cheap, quick to apply, low-noise electrodes and compact electronics with wireless technologies. Once available, all electrical activity resulting from the processes of the human body could be actively and constantly monitored without the need for cumbersome application and maintenance. This could significantly improve the early diagnosis of a range of different conditions in high-risk individuals, opening the possibility for new treatments and interventions as conditions develop.

Up and Down Quark Masses and Corrections to Dashen's Theorem from Lattice QCD and Quenched QED.

In a previous Letter [Borsanyi et al., Phys. Rev.

Calculation of the Hadronic Vacuum Polarization Disconnected Contribution to the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment.

We report the first lattice QCD calculation of the hadronic vacuum polarization (HVP) disconnected contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment at physical pion mass. The calculation uses a refined noise-reduction technique that enables the control of statistical uncertainties at the desired level with modest computational effort. Measurements were performed on the 48^{3}×96 physical-pion-mass lattice generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations.

Lattice Computation of the Nucleon Scalar Quark Contents at the Physical Point.

We present a QCD calculation of the u, d, and s scalar quark contents of nucleons based on 47 lattice ensembles with N_{f}=2+1 dynamical sea quarks, 5 lattice spacings down to 0.054 fm, lattice sizes up to 6 fm, and pion masses down to 120 MeV. Using the Feynman-Hellmann theorem, we obtain f_{ud}^{N}=0.

Ab initio calculation of the neutron-proton mass difference.

The existence and stability of atoms rely on the fact that neutrons are more massive than protons. The measured mass difference is only 0.14% of the average of the two masses.

Isospin splittings in the light-baryon octet from lattice QCD and QED.

While electromagnetic and up-down quark mass difference effects on octet baryon masses are very small, they have important consequences. The stability of the hydrogen atom against beta decay is a prominent example. Here, we include these effects by adding them to valence quarks in a lattice QCD calculation based on Nf=2+1 simulations with five lattice spacings down to 0.

Kawasaki disease presenting as hepatitis.

Kawasaki disease (KD) presenting with an acute hepatitic picture is exceedingly rare. A 3.5-year-old girl presented with acute hepatitis and went on to satisfy the criteria for the diagnosis of KD for which she was treated.

Mutations in the gene for connexin 26 (GJB2) that cause hearing loss have a dominant negative effect on connexin 30.

Mutations in the gene (GJB2) encoding connexin 26 (cx26) have been linked to sensorineural hearing loss either alone or as part of a syndrome. Here we compare the properties of four cx26 mutants derived from point mutations associated with dominantly inherited hearing loss, either non-syndromic (W44S, R75W) or with various skin disorders (G59A, D66H, R75W). Since cx26 and cx30 are co-localized within the inner ear the effect of the dominant cx26 mutations on both of these wild-type proteins was determined.

Hospital laundry workers--an at-risk group for hepatitis A?

Twenty-two laundry personnel at St. Luke's Hospital, Malta, were tested for seropositivity to hepatitis A together with 37 nursing aides working in paediatric and infectious disease wards, matched for age, who were used as controls. IgG antibodies were found in 54.