Patients' experiences and perspectives of post-hospital follow-up care to improve physical recovery for intensive care survivors: A systematic review of qualitative research.

Background: Intensive care units deliver care to a heterogeneous group of patients with pre-existing co-morbid disease. Focus has shifted to improving health related quality of life with more patients surviving beyond hospital discharge. Randomised controlled trials evaluating follow-up interventions, to improve physical recovery, have not demonstrated a health-related quality of life benefit.

A magnetar giant flare in the nearby starburst galaxy M82.

Magnetar giant flares are rare explosive events releasing up to 10 erg in gamma rays in less than 1 second from young neutron stars with magnetic fields up to 10 G (refs. ). Only three such flares have been seen from magnetars in our Galaxy and in the Large Magellanic Cloud in roughly 50 years.

A long-period radio transient active for three decades.

Several long-period radio transients have recently been discovered, with strongly polarized coherent radio pulses appearing on timescales between tens to thousands of seconds. In some cases, the radio pulses have been interpreted as coming from rotating neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields, known as magnetars; the origin of other, occasionally periodic and less-well-sampled radio transients is still debated. Coherent periodic radio emission is usually explained by rotating dipolar magnetic fields and pair-production mechanisms, but such models do not easily predict radio emission from such slowly rotating neutron stars and maintain it for extended times.

Photophobia and allodynia in persistent post-traumatic headache are associated with higher disease burden.

Objective: To assess photophobia and allodynia in subjects with post-traumatic headache and examine how these sensory hypersensitivities associate with clinical measures of disease burden.

Background: Post-traumatic headache is the most frequent and disabling long-term consequence of mild traumatic brain injury. There is evidence of sensory dysfunction in acute post-traumatic headache, and it is known from other headache conditions that sensory amplifications correlate with more severe disease.

Postoperative facial palsy after pediatric posterior fossa tumor resection.

Objective: Facial palsy can be caused by masses within the posterior fossa and is a known risk of surgery for tumor resection. Although well documented in the adult literature, postoperative facial weakness after posterior fossa tumor resection in pediatric patients has not been well studied. The objective of this work was to determine the incidence of postoperative facial palsy after tumor surgery, and to investigate clinical and radiographic risk factors.

A restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategy to prevent myocardial injury in patients undergoing surgery for fractured neck of femur: a feasibility randomised trial (RESULT-NOF).

Background: The optimum transfusion strategy in patients with fractured neck of femur is uncertain, particularly if there is coexisting cardiovascular disease.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, single-centre, randomised feasibility trial of two transfusion strategies. We randomly assigned patients undergoing surgery for fractured neck of femur to a restrictive (haemoglobin, 70-90 g L) or liberal (haemoglobin, 90-110 g L) transfusion strategy throughout their hospitalisation.

Resolution of neonatal posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation coincident with patent ductus arteriosus ligation: case report.

Preterm infants commonly present with a hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (hsPDA). The authors describe the case of a preterm infant with posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation, which resolved in a temporally coincident fashion to repair of hsPDA. The presence of a PDA with left-to-right shunting was confirmed at birth on echocardiogram and was unresponsive to repeated medical intervention.

Laparoscopically assisted versus open oesophagectomy for patients with oesophageal cancer-the Randomised Oesophagectomy: Minimally Invasive or Open (ROMIO) study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Introduction: Surgery (oesophagectomy), with neoadjuvant chemo(radio)therapy, is the main curative treatment for patients with oesophageal cancer. Several surgical approaches can be used to remove an oesophageal tumour. The Ivor Lewis (two-phase procedure) is usually used in the UK.

Pro-Oxidative and Proinflammatory Effects After Traveling From Los Angeles to Beijing: A Biomarker-Based Natural Experiment.

Background: Exposure to air pollution increases cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Preventing chronic cardiovascular diseases caused by air pollution relies on detecting the early effects of pollutants on the risk of cardiovascular disease development, which is limited by the lack of sensitive biomarkers. We have previously identified promising biomarkers in experimental animals but comparable evidence in humans is lacking.

Novel Surgical and Radiologic Risk Factors for Progression or Recurrence of Pediatric Pilocytic Astrocytoma.

Introduction: Pilocytic astrocytomas (PA) are a common, benign childhood tumor known for their slow growth rates and excellent prognosis. The aim of our study was to characterize patient, tumor, and imaging-related risk factors for recurrence and progression of disease.

Methods: We identified 116 patients with PA who underwent surgery at our institution between 2000 and 2015.

Low-frequency facial hemodynamic oscillations distinguish migraineurs from non-headache controls.

Background: Surface imaging is a promising, noninvasive approach to assess regional perfusion in craniovascular disorders such as migraine.

Methods: We used optical imaging to examine differences in facial blood volume at baseline and in response to ammonia inhalation (a noxious stimulus), as well as standardized measures of cardiovascular autonomic function, in healthy, non-headache controls ( = 43) and in interictal migraine subjects ( = 22).

Results: Resting facial cutaneous oscillation (FCO) frequency was significantly different in migraine compared to healthy controls.

Seizure outcomes of supratentorial brain tumor resection in pediatric patients.

Background: This study aims to identify the prevalence of and risk factors for seizure development after supratentorial brain tumor resection in pediatric patients. This could be used to guide the postoperative management and usage of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs).

Methods: Retrospective study was conducted for patients between 0 and 21 years with supratentorial tumor resection between 2005 and 2015 at a single institution.

Quantitative assessment of autonomic symptom burden in Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS).

Postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) is a poorly understood disorder characterized by excessive tachycardia in the upright position. In addition, patients with PoTS often complain of non-postural symptoms, including fatigue, gastrointestinal and vasomotor fluctuations. The present study quantitatively assessed autonomic symptom burden in PoTS patients (n=32) using the COMPASS-31, compared to that of autonomic failure/neuropathy (AF/N; n=47) and asymptomatic, healthy controls (n=32).

Altered pupillary light response scales with disease severity in migrainous photophobia.

Background Autonomic dysfunction and light sensitivity are core features of the migraine attack. Growing evidence also suggests changes in these parameters between attacks. Though sensory and autonomic responses likely interact, they have not been studied together across the spectrum of disease in migraine.

Swings between rotation and accretion power in a binary millisecond pulsar.

It is thought that neutron stars in low-mass binary systems can accrete matter and angular momentum from the companion star and be spun-up to millisecond rotational periods. During the accretion stage, the system is called a low-mass X-ray binary, and bright X-ray emission is observed. When the rate of mass transfer decreases in the later evolutionary stages, these binaries host a radio millisecond pulsar whose emission is powered by the neutron star's rotating magnetic field.

A variable absorption feature in the X-ray spectrum of a magnetar.

Soft-γ-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are slowly rotating, isolated neutron stars that sporadically undergo episodes of long-term flux enhancement (outbursts) generally accompanied by the emission of short bursts of hard X-rays. This behaviour can be understood in the magnetar model, according to which these sources are mainly powered by their own magnetic energy. This is supported by the fact that the magnetic fields inferred from several observed properties of SGRs and AXPs are greater than-or at the high end of the range of-those of radio pulsars.

National surveillance for human and pet contact with oral rabies vaccine baits, 2001-2009.

Objective: To determine the rate and absolute number of human and pet exposures to oral rabies vaccine (ORV) bait containing liquid vaccinia rabies glycoprotein recombinant vaccine and to evaluate factors that might affect human contact with bait to modify the program and reduce human exposure to the vaccine.

Design: Retrospective analysis of surveillance data (2001 to 2009).

Sample: Reports on human and pet contact with ORV baits in states with ORV surveillance programs.

Differences in male breast cancer stage, tumor size at diagnosis, and survival rate between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions.

Although the incidence for breast cancer in men is lower than for women, male breast cancer (MBC) patients are diagnosed at a later stage and have a higher mortality rate than women. This study examined male cases reported from 1988 through 2006 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute for differences in cancer stage, tumor size at diagnosis, and survival rate between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions. Pearson's chi-square was used to evaluate differences in stage and tumor size at diagnosis.

Immigration, income, drinking and obesity in African American adults.

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between immigration status, income, drinking and overweight and obesity in African American adults residing in the United States using an internet web based survey. Data on 303 adult African American immigrants and non-immigrants was collected using a self-administered web based survey. Respondents were recruited using a snowball sampling technique to obtain a convenience sample.

A low-magnetic-field soft gamma repeater.

Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous x-ray pulsars form a rapidly increasing group of x-ray sources exhibiting sporadic emission of short bursts. They are believed to be magnetars, that is, neutron stars powered by extreme magnetic fields, B ~ 10(14) to 10(15) gauss. We report on a soft gamma repeater with low magnetic field, SGR 0418+5729, recently detected after it emitted bursts similar to those of magnetars.

Gamma-ray emission concurrent with the nova in the symbiotic binary V407 Cygni.

Novae are thermonuclear explosions on a white dwarf surface fueled by mass accreted from a companion star. Current physical models posit that shocked expanding gas from the nova shell can produce x-ray emission, but emission at higher energies has not been widely expected. Here, we report the Fermi Large Area Telescope detection of variable gamma-ray emission (0.

Human Salmonella infections linked to contaminated dry dog and cat food, 2006-2008.

Objective: Human Salmonella infections associated with dry pet food have not been previously reported. We investigated such an outbreak of Salmonella Schwarzengrund and primarily affecting young children.

Patients And Methods: Two multistate case-control studies were conducted to determine the source and mode of infections among case-patients with the outbreak strain.

Modulated high-energy gamma-ray emission from the microquasar Cygnus X-3.

Microquasars are accreting black holes or neutron stars in binary systems with associated relativistic jets. Despite their frequent outburst activity, they have never been unambiguously detected emitting high-energy gamma rays. The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has detected a variable high-energy source coinciding with the position of the x-ray binary and microquasar Cygnus X-3.

Detection of high-energy gamma-ray emission from the globular cluster 47 Tucanae with Fermi.

We report the detection of gamma-ray emissions above 200 megaelectron volts at a significance level of 17sigma from the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, using data obtained with the Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Globular clusters are expected to emit gamma rays because of the large populations of millisecond pulsars that they contain. The spectral shape of 47 Tucanae is consistent with gamma-ray emission from a population of millisecond pulsars.