Measurements of cerebral microvascular blood flow, oxygenation, and morphology in a mouse model of whole-brain irradiation-induced cognitive impairment by two-photon microscopy and optical coherence tomography: evidence for microvascular injury in the cerebral white matter.

Whole-brain irradiation (WBI, also known as whole-brain radiation therapy) is a mainstay treatment modality for patients with multiple brain metastases. It is also used as a prophylactic treatment for microscopic tumors that cannot be detected by magnetic resonance imaging. WBI induces a progressive cognitive decline in ~ 50% of the patients surviving over 6 months, significantly compromising the quality of life.

The Inhibition and Variability of Two Different RT-qPCR Assays Used for Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Wastewater.

Faecal shedding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its subsequent detection in wastewater turned the spotlight onto wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for monitoring the coronavirus-disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. WBE for SARS-CoV-2 has been deployed in 70 countries, providing insights into disease prevalence, forecasting and the spatiotemporal tracking and emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Wastewater, however, is a complex sample matrix containing numerous reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) inhibitors whose concentration and diversity are influenced by factors including population size, surrounding industry and agriculture and climate.

Atrio-Ventricular Block by Legionella Disease.

Although Legionnaires' disease mainly affects the lungs, it can also present with other systemic involvement, including rare cardiac manifestations. Recognised presentations are endocarditis, myocarditis, pericarditis, and pericardial effusion. A 72-year-old British man presented with a six-day history of dry cough and a four-day history of fever during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robot-assisted retroperitoneal lymph node dissection: a systematic review of perioperative outcomes.

Objective: To assess the safety and feasibility of robot-assisted retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (R-RPLND) and to compare the perioperative outcomes of R-RPLND with open RPLND (O-RPLND), as RPLND forms an integral part of the management of testis cancer and R-RPLND is a minimally invasive treatment option for this disease.

Materials And Methods: The PubMed , Scopus , Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science™ databases were searched for studies reporting perioperative outcomes of primary and post-chemotherapy R-RPLND and studies comparing R-RPLND with O-RPLND.

Results: The search yielded 42 articles describing R-RPLND, including five comparative studies.

Connections Lab: a case study exploring a web-based innovation designed to advance shared risk and protective factor approaches to preventing injuries and violence.

Background: Injuries and violence share many of the same risk and protective factors, which are rooted in the social determinants of health (SDOH) and the social determinants of equity. Addressing shared risk and protective factors (SRPFs)-common factors that make it more or less likely that a population will experience injuries or violence-is critical prevention efforts. The Safe States Alliance created the Connections Lab-a suite of web-based resources to help injury and violence prevention public health practitioners and their partners understand, describe, implement and evaluate SRPF approaches.

Synthesis of 4-thio-d-glucopyranose and interconversion to 4-thio-d-glucofuranose.

Sulfur containing glycosides offer an exciting prospect for inclusion within noncanonical glycan sequences, particularly as enabling probes for chemical glycobiology and for carbohydrate-based therapeutic development. In this context, we required access to 4-thio-d-glucopyranose and sought its chemical synthesis. Unable to isolate this material in homogenous form, we observed instead a thermodynamic preference for interconversion of the pyranose to 4-thio-d-glucofuranose.

Tibiofemoral compressive force during downhill walking in patients with primary total knee arthroplasty: A statistical parametric mapping approach.

Background: Downhill walking is a necessary part of daily life and an effective activity in post-operative rehabilitation following total knee arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in the behavior of total, medial, and lateral tibiofemoral compressive forces as well as knee extensor and flexor muscle forces between different limbs of patients with total knee arthroplasty (replaced, non-replaced) during downhill and level walking.

Methods: Musculoskeletal modeling and simulation were implemented to determine muscle forces and tibiofemoral compressive forces in 25 patients with total knee arthroplasty.

Trends and Variation in Pediatric Anaphylaxis Care From 2016 to 2022.

Background: Variation in the use of treatments and hospitalization for anaphylaxis would suggest a lack of consensus in therapeutic approach.

Objective: To evaluate trends and practice variation in the emergency department (ED) care of children with anaphylaxis in a large US cohort.

Methods: We conducted a 48-site retrospective cohort study using the Pediatric Health Information System from January 2016 through September 2022.

Patient and family members' experiences with language and environment when receiving bad news: A qualitative exploratory study.

Objectives: Receiving bad news about one's health can be devastating, yet little is known about how the therapeutic nature of the environment where bad news is delivered affects the experience. The current study aimed to explore how patients and their families were affected by the language and the built, natural, social, and symbolic environments when receiving bad news, through the Therapeutic Landscapes theoretical framework.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with a life-limiting illness living in regional Victoria who had a hospital admission within 24 months and a diagnostic/prognostic conversation were invited to participate, as well as a family member who witnessed the conversation.

Sex-dependent effects of microglial reduction on impaired fear extinction induced by single prolonged stress.

Single prolonged stress (SPS) is a preclinical rodent model for studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like behaviors. Previously we found that increased expression of the microglial marker Iba-1 in the ventral hippocampus after SPS exposure was associated with impaired fear extinction, suggesting that microglial activity contributed to the SPS-induced behavioral changes. To test this, we examined whether reducing microglia with the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor blocker, PLX3397, in the diet would prevent the SPS-induced extinction impairment.

Quantifying waste and its costs in hospital foodservices.

Aim: To measure the amount of different types of food and food packaging waste produced in hospital foodservice and estimate the cost associated with its disposal to landfill.

Method: A foodservice waste audit was conducted over 14 days in the kitchens of three hospitals (15 wards, 10 wards, 1 ward) operating a cook-chill or cook-freeze model with food made offsite. The amount (kg) of plate waste, trayline waste and packaging waste (rubbish and recycling) was weighed using scales and the number of spare trays and the food items on them were counted.

Objective assessment of intraoperative skills for robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN).

RAPN training usually takes place in-vivo and methods vary across countries/institutions. No common system exists to objectively assess trainee capacity to perform RAPN at predetermined performance levels prior to in-vivo practice. The identification of objective performance metrics for RAPN training is a crucial starting point to improve training and surgical outcomes.

Interrelationships between Dietary Outcomes, Readmission Rates and Length of Stay in Hospitalised Oncology Patients: A Scoping Review.

Background: Poor food intake is an independent risk factor for malnutrition in oncology patients, and achieving adequate nutrition is essential for optimal clinical and health outcomes. This review investigated the interrelationships between dietary intakes, hospital readmissions and length of stay in hospitalised adult oncology patients.

Methodology: Three databases, MEDLINE, Web of Science and PubMed were searched for relevant publications from January 2000 to the end of August 2022.

Modified-release hydrocortisone is associated with lower plasma renin activity in patients with salt-wasting congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

Objective: Poorly controlled salt-wasting (SW) congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) patients often require high 9α-fluorocortisol doses as they show high levels of 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP), which is a mineralocorticoid (MC)-receptor antagonist.

Design: We investigated the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in patients with SW-CAH receiving twice daily modified-release hydrocortisone (MR-HC, Efmody) compared with standard glucocorticoid (GC) therapy.

Methods: Data were analyzed from the 6-month, phase 3 study of MR-HC (n = 42) versus standard GC therapy (n = 41).

Diffusion in liquid mixtures.

The understanding of transport and mixing in fluids in the presence and in the absence of external fields and reactions represents a challenging topic of strategic relevance for space exploration. Indeed, mixing and transport of components in a fluid are especially important during long-term space missions where fuels, food and other materials, needed for the sustainability of long space travels, must be processed under microgravity conditions. So far, the processes of transport and mixing have been investigated mainly at the macroscopic and microscopic scale.

Association of Race and Ethnicity With Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease.

Background: Appropriate selection of patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) for coronary angiography is dependent on the pretest probability of obstructive CAD; however, little is known about the potential differences in CAD by race and ethnic groups.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of race and ethnicity with coronary obstruction in stable CAD.

Methods: We evaluated first coronary angiography for CAD evaluation between 2012 and 2019 in Ontario, Canada.

Effects of green tea extract treatment on erythropoiesis and iron parameters in iron-overloaded β-thalassemic mice.

β-Thalassemia is characterized by ineffective erythropoiesis leading to chronic anemia. Thus, increased iron absorption from the duodenum and via blood transfusions is required to maintain normal blood hemoglobin (Hb) levels and iron chelators in the removal of excessive iron. Certain agents are also needed for the improvement of stress erythropoiesis and iron dysregulation.

Trauma Incidence During the New Jersey COVID-19 Stay-At-Home Order: A Multicenter Study.

Introduction: Given the early surge of COVID-19 in New Jersey (NJ), a statewide executive order (EO) to stay-at-home was instituted on March 22, 2020. We hypothesized that the EO would result in a decreased number of trauma admissions, length of stay, and resources utilized in trauma patients at NJ trauma centers.

Methods: In an institutional review board-approved, retrospective, multicenter study, trauma registries at three level one trauma centers in NJ were queried from March 22 to June 14 in 2020 and compared to the same timeframe the year prior.

Collision-System and Beam-Energy Dependence of Anisotropic Flow Fluctuations.

Elliptic flow measurements from two-, four-, and six-particle correlations are used to investigate flow fluctuations in collisions of U+U at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV, Cu+Au at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV and Au+Au spanning the range sqrt[s_{NN}]=11.5-200  GeV. The measurements show a strong dependence of the flow fluctuations on collision centrality, a modest dependence on system size, and very little if any, dependence on particle species and beam energy.

The State of Robotic Partial Nephrectomy: Operative, Functional, and Oncological Outcomes From A Robust Multi-Institution Collaborative.

Objective: To describe the most recent surgical, functional, and oncological outcomes of RPN utilizing one of the largest, prospectively maintained, multi-institution consortium of patients undergoing robotic renal surgery.

Materials And Methods: Data was obtained from a prospectively maintained multi-institutional database of patients who underwent RPN for clinically localized kidney cancer between 2018 and 2022 by 9 high-volume surgeons. Demographic and tumor characteristics as well as operative, functional, and oncological outcomes were queried.

Total Energy Expenditure in Healthy Ambulatory Older Adults Aged ≥80 Years: A Doubly Labelled Water Study.

Introduction: The life expectancy of older adults continues to increase; however, knowledge regarding their total energy requirements is lacking. This study aimed to compare the total energy expenditure (TEE) of older adults ≥80 years measured using doubly labelled water (DLW), with estimated TEE. The hypothesis was that the Mifflin, Ikeda, and Livingston equations will more closely estimate energy requirements than the commonly used Schofield equation.