Relationship of COPD Exacerbation Severity and Frequency on Risks for Future Events and Economic Burden in the Medicare Fee-For-Service Population.

Purpose: To quantify the effects of moderate and/or severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations on future exacerbations and healthcare costs in Medicare Fee-For-Service beneficiaries.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients ≥40 years of age, with continuous enrollment from 2015 to 2018, with an index COPD diagnosis defined as first hospitalization, emergency department visit, or first of two outpatient visits (≥30 days apart) in 2015 with a claim for chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or chronic airway obstruction. Patients were stratified by baseline exacerbation categories in year one (YR1) and subsequently evaluated in YR2 and YR3: (A) none; (B) 1 moderate; (C) ≥2 moderate; (D) 1 severe; and (E) ≥2, one being severe.

The Role and Targets of the RNA-Binding Protein ProQ in the Gram-Negative Bacterial Pathogen Pasteurella multocida.

The Gram-negative pathogen Pasteurella multocida is the causative agent of many important animal diseases. While a number of P. multocida virulence factors have been identified, very little is known about how gene expression and protein production is regulated in this organism.

Association of Hearing Impairment and 24-Hour Total Movement Activity in a Representative Sample of US Adults.

Importance: Lower physical activity (PA) levels have been proposed as a mechanism to explain the association between hearing loss and various adverse outcomes of aging. But whether hearing loss is associated with lower PA is poorly understood.

Objective: To evaluate whether hearing loss is associated with lower levels of PA.

Hearing Loss and Cognition: What We Know and Where We Need to Go.

Although a causal association remains to be determined, epidemiologic evidence suggests an association between hearing loss and increased risk of dementia. If we determine the association is causal, opportunity for targeted intervention for hearing loss may play a fundamental role in dementia prevention. In this discussion, we summarize current research on the association between hearing loss and dementia and review potential casual mechanisms behind the association (e.

Interactions of N-hydroxyamphetamine with an iron porphyrin: A unique intramolecular H-bond probed by DFT calculations.

Hydroxylamine (NHOH) and its N-substituted derivatives (RNHOH) are important biological intermediates in the global N cycle. Heme plays a central role in the binding and activation of these hydroxylamines. We report the crystal structures of N-hydroxyamphetamine (AmphNHOH) in complex with Fe and Co heme models.

Care preferences in physician orders for life sustaining treatment in California nursing homes.

Background: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) facilitates documentation and transition of patients' life-sustaining treatment orders across care settings. Little is known about patient and facility factors related to care preferences within POLST across a large, diverse nursing home population. We describe the orders within POLST among all nursing home (NH) residents in California from 2011 to 2016.

Exosomal miR-29b of Gut Origin in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis Suppresses Heart Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor.

While the interplay between heart and gut in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has previously been noted, how the inflamed gut impairs heart function remain elusive. We hypothesized that exosomal miRNAs of gut origin induce cardiac remodeling in IBD. Our aim was to identify plasma exosomal miRNAs that not only are of diagnostic value but also contribute to cardiac remodeling in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Public acceptability of non-pharmaceutical interventions to control a pandemic in the UK: a discrete choice experiment.

Objective: To understand how individuals trade off between features of non-pharmaceutical interventions (eg, lockdowns) to control a pandemic across the four nations of the UK.

Design: A survey that included a discrete choice experiment. The survey design was informed using policy documents, social media analysis and input from remote think-aloud interviews with members of the public (n=23).

Antagonism of the transient receptor potential melastatin‑2 channel leads to targeted antitumor effects in primary human malignant melanoma cells.

Melanoma continues to be the most aggressive and devastating form of skin cancer for which the development of novel therapies is required. The present study aimed to determine the effects of antagonism of the transient receptor potential melastatin‑2 (TRPM2) ion channel in primary human malignant melanoma cells. TRPM2 antagonism via use of the antifungal agent, clotrimazole, led to decreases in cell proliferation, as well as dose‑dependent increases in cell death in all melanoma cell lines investigated.

Gait Impairment in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Gait impairment occurs across the spectrum of traumatic brain injury (TBI); from mild (mTBI) to moderate (modTBI), to severe (sevTBI). Recent evidence suggests that objective gait assessment may be a surrogate marker for neurological impairment such as TBI. However, the most optimal method of objective gait assessment is still not well understood due to previous reliance on subjective assessment approaches.

Loss and Promoter Hypermethylation Negatively Predict for Immunogenicity in BRCA-Deficient Ovarian Cancer.

Purpose: Ovarian cancers can exhibit a prominent immune infiltrate, but clinical trials have not demonstrated substantive response rates to immune checkpoint blockade monotherapy. We aimed to understand genomic features associated with immunogenicity in mutation-associated cancers.

Materials And Methods: Using the Cancer Genome Atlas whole-exome sequencing, methylation, and expression data, we analyzed 66 ovarian cancers with either germline or somatic loss of and whole-exome sequencing, immunohistochemistry, and CyTOF in 20 ovarian cancers with germline pathogenic variants from Penn.

Exploring Inertial-Based Wearable Technologies for Objective Monitoring in Sports-Related Concussion: A Single-Participant Report.

Objective: Challenges remain in sports-related concussion (SRC) assessment to better inform return to play. Reliance on self-reported symptoms within the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool means that there are limited data on the effectiveness of novel methods to assess a player's readiness to return to play. Digital methods such as wearable technologies may augment traditional SRC assessment and improve objectivity in making decisions regarding return to play.

TNFα Blockade Inhibits Both Initial and Continued Control of Pulmonary .

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) is a pluripotent cytokine that is important in many infections, though its role in infection remains poorly understood. The need to understand TNFα in infection has increased recently with the widespread use of TNFα inhibitors for a wide variety of autoimmune conditions. Here, we couple the newly developed infection model using strain Cp1038 and C57BL/6 × DBA/2J F1 (B6D2F1) mice.

Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo.

Modern herpetoculture has seen a rise in welfare-related habitat modifications, although ethologically-informed enclosure design and evidence-based husbandry are lacking. The diversity that exists within snakes complicates standardizing snake welfare assessment tools and evaluation techniques. Utilizing behavioral indicators in conjunction with physiological measures, such as fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations, could aid in the validation of evidence-based metrics for evaluating snake welfare.

Women in Academic Pathology: Pathways to Department Chair.

The Association of Pathology Chairs, an organization of American and Canadian academic pathology departments, has a record percent of women department chairs in its ranks (31%), although still not representative of the percent of women pathology faculty (43%). These women chairs were surveyed to determine what had impeded and what had facilitated their academic advancement before becoming chairs. The 2 most frequently identified impediments to their career advancement were heavy clinical loads and the lack of time, training, and/or funding to pursue research.

Designing and Implementing a Virtual Anatomic Pathology Elective During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed conventional undergraduate medical education, converting previously in-person clerkships into virtual experiences. In order to allow students to gain exposure to the field of pathology, make connections with pathologists, and provide opportunities for letters of recommendation, the authors quickly developed a Virtual Anatomic Pathology Elective at the University of Minnesota. We succeeded in developing the foundation of a Virtual Anatomic Pathology Elective that allows for the rotation to be accessible not only to our medical students but also to international medical graduates and medical students from different programs.

Longitudinal Associations of Self-Reported Visual, Hearing, and Dual Sensory Difficulties With Symptoms of Depression Among Older Adults in the United States.

Evidence conflicts on the association between sensory difficulty and depression. Few studies have examined this association using longitudinal or population-based data. We used data from Rounds 1-9 of the nationally representative National Health and Aging Trends Study to evaluate the longitudinal association between self-reported visual, hearing, and dual sensory difficulties and clinically significant depressive symptoms.

Mouse Model of a Human STAT4 Point Mutation That Predisposes to Disseminated Coccidiomycosis.

STAT4 plays a critical role in the generation of both innate and adaptive immune responses. In the absence of STAT4, Th1 responses, critical for resistance to fungal disease, do not occur. Infection with the dimorphic fungus, , is a major cause of community-acquired pneumonia in the endemic regions of Arizona and California.

Morphological characteristics of Meibomian Glands and their Influence on Dry Eye disease in contact lens wearers.

Purpose: Meibomian glands (MG) are now easily imaged via clinical meibography machines. The purpose of this work was to explore the utility of the known MG morphology metrics for predicting dry eye disease (DED) in contact lens (CL) wearers.

Methods: Successful and previous CL wearers were recruited.

Epigenetic state determines inflammatory sensing in neuroblastoma.

Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, but many cancers are not impacted by currently available immunotherapeutic strategies. Here, we investigated inflammatory signaling pathways in neuroblastoma, a classically "cold" pediatric cancer. By testing the functional response of a panel of 20 diverse neuroblastoma cell lines to three different inflammatory stimuli, we found that all cell lines have intact interferon signaling, and all but one lack functional cytosolic DNA sensing via cGAS-STING.

Assessment of hearing and vision impairment in cohort studies collecting cognitive data in older adults.

Introduction: There are no standard practices for considering sensory impairment in studies measuring cognitive function among older adults. Exclusion of participants with impairments may inaccurately estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia.

Methods: We surveyed prospective cohort studies measuring cognitive function in older adults, determined the proportion that excluded participants based on sensory impairment and the proportion that assessed each type of sensory impairment, and described the methods of sensory assessment.