Development of axitinib-loaded polymeric ocular implants for the treatment of posterior ocular diseases.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are the primary causes of vision impairment and blindness worldwide. The current treatment for these diseases is an intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF agents, which are costly and require frequent injections. Implants can be used to sustain the release of drugs and minimize side effects.

Food Insecurity among Women Involved in the Criminal Legal System and Members of their Risk Network.

Background: People affected by the criminal legal system face significant challenges accessing food assistance.

Methods: We estimated the prevalence of food insecurity among women involved in the criminal legal system (WICL) and members of their risk network using a secondary analysis.

Results: Among 104 participants, over one-third were food insecure, 97% of whom lived in an economically disadvantaged ZIP Code.

Fast production of highly sensitive nanotextured nonwovens for detection of volatile amines, bacterial growth, and pH monitoring: New tools for real-time food quality monitoring.

An efficient manufacturing of colorimetric nonwoven indicators represents a promising alternative to enable applications of such materials in food quality monitoring. The objective of this study is to use the solution blow spinning technique (SBS) to rapidly produce colorimetric nonwoven indicators based on polycaprolactone, incorporating natural or synthetic pH indicators to detect volatile amines, bacterial growth and monitor pH. Produced via the SBS method, these indicators were characterized aiming their physical, mechanical, thermal, and spectroscopic properties, evaluating their efficacy in detecting amines, monitoring bacterial growth, and pH, as well as assessing color stability during storage.

The Problem to a Solution: A Case of Local Anesthetic-Related Acute Pancreatitis.

Although rare, local anesthetic use has been associated with adverse central nervous system and cardiovascular adverse events. One complication is local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST), wherein the anesthetic agent inadvertently enters systemic circulation resulting in widespread inhibition of fast-gated sodium channels. Organs dependent on aerobic metabolism, such as the heart and brain, are especially susceptible to toxic injury resulting in cardiovascular collapse.

Advances and challenges in the development of visual prostheses.

The past 20 years have witnessed significant advancements in the field of visual prostheses, with developments spanning from early retinal implants to recent cortical approaches. This Perspective looks at some of the remaining challenges to achieve the ambitious clinical goals that these technologies could enable.

Parenting Practices to Prevent Childhood Obesity Among Hispanic Families: A Systematic Literature Review.

Childhood obesity disproportionately affects Hispanic families and remains an unresolved public health concern. Interventions to enhance health-related parenting practices may be a promising strategy to lower the risk for childhood obesity. However, there are scarce data on which parenting practices would be culturally relevant and contribute to lower the risk for childhood obesity among Hispanic families in the United States.

Medical Team Practices and Interpreter Alterations on Family-Centered Rounds.

Background: Robust evidence demonstrates inequities in communication during family-centered rounds for families who use a language other than English (LOE) for health care. This study aimed to characterize the type of interpreter alterations occurring on family-centered rounds and identify medical team communication practices associated with alterations.

Methods: In this observational study of interpreter-supported family-centered rounds, we recorded and transcribed family-centered rounds encounters for Spanish-speaking families.

The impact of language discordance on pediatric cancer care outcomes: A systematic review.

Language discordance between clinicians and families in pediatrics has been associated with adverse events and lower quality of care. We aimed to summarize the existing literature evaluating the impact of language discordance among healthcare professionals and families within pediatric oncology by conducting a systematic review. Of 8364 studies, 43 studies met eligibility for inclusion in this review.

Multilevel challenges to equitable inclusion of children in trials when parents use languages other than English: A qualitative report from Children's Oncology Group's Diversity and Health Disparities Committee Language Equity Working Group.

Background: Increasing representation in clinical trials is a priority for the National Cancer Institute and Children's Oncology Group (COG). Our survey of COG-affiliated institutions revealed that many sites have insufficient processes and resources to enroll children whose parents use languages other than English (LOE). We describe reported barriers and facilitators to enrolling children in clinical trials when parents use LOE and propose opportunities for improvement.

The socio-cultural contexts shaping health-seeking behaviours among community members regarding childhood cancer in Tanzania: A qualitative study.

Background: Timely diagnosis of childhood cancer, early hospital presentation and completion of treatment significantly improve outcomes. Unfortunately, in Tanzania, thousands of children die of cancer each year without ever being diagnosed or treated. To reduce childhood death from cancer, it is important to understand the social-cultural context, values and beliefs that influence healthcare-seeking behaviours among the Tanzanian community.

Language, 6-mercaptopurine adherence, and relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Hispanic children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have lower 6-mercaptopurine (6MP) adherence and greater hazard of relapse compared with non-Hispanic White children. We examined the association between Spanish language and 6MP adherence, and hazard of relapse. 6MP adherence was measured electronically over a 6-month period.

Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome: A Case Report on a Rare Disease and Variant Hepatic Arterial Anatomy.

Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS) is a rare gastroenterological illness that arises from the compression of the celiac trunk by the fibrous arch known as the median arcuate ligament, which connects the muscular tendon of the diaphragm to the vertebral column. It is hypothesized that this syndrome arises due to the inadequate caudal migration of the celiac trunk during embryogenesis, although the exact pathophysiology behind this disease process remains unclear. While MALS is classically associated with a triad of post-prandial pain, weight loss, and epigastric bruit, the triad is often incomplete due to variations in vascular structures with collateral circulation from adjacent vessels.

Use of dried blood spots in the detection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review.

Introduction: COVID-19 disease continues to be a global health concern. The current protocol for detecting SARS-CoV-2 requires healthcare professionals to draw blood from patients. Recent studies showed that dried blood spot (DBS) is a valuable sampling procedure that can collect a low blood volume without the need for the presence of medical practitioners.

A kidney-hypothalamus axis promotes compensatory glucose production in response to glycosuria.

The kidneys facilitate energy conservation through reabsorption of nutrients including glucose. Almost all the filtered blood glucose is reabsorbed by the kidneys. Loss of glucose in urine (glycosuria) is offset by an increase in endogenous glucose production to maintain normal energy supply in the body.

Asking the "Right" Questions about Financial Hardship: Using Cognitive Interviews with Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer and Their Caregivers to Inform Measure Development.

Financial hardship as a result of cancer treatment can have a significant and lasting negative impact on adolescents and young adults (AYAs) and their families. To address a lack of developmentally informed and psychometrically sound measures of financial hardship for AYAs and their caregivers, we used rigorous measurement development methods recommended by the National Institutes of Health's Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System® (PROMIS®) to determine comprehensibility and relevance of measure content. Our multi-step approach involved item identification, refinement, and generation; translatability and reading level review; and cognitive interviews.

Clinical trial recruitment of people who speak languages other than English: a Children's Oncology Group report.

Background: Persons who speak languages other than English are underrepresented in clinical trials, likely in part because of inadequate multilevel resources. We conducted a survey of institutions affiliated with the Children's Oncology Group (COG) to characterize current research recruitment practices and resources regarding translation and interpretation services.

Methods: In October 2022, a 20-item survey was distributed electronically to institutions affiliated with COG to assess consent practices and resources for recruiting participants who speak languages other than English to COG trials.

Immunometric and functional measurement of endogenous vasoinhibin in human sera.

Introduction: Circulating levels of the antiangiogenic protein vasoinhibin, a fragment of prolactin, are of interest in vasoproliferative retinopathies, preeclampsia, and peripartum cardiomyopathy; however, it is difficult to determine the circulating levels of vasoinhibin due to the lack of quantitative assays.

Methods: This study used human serum samples to assess the concentration and bioactivity of vasoinhibin using a novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human vasoinhibin, which employs an anti-vasoinhibin monoclonal antibody, a human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation assay, and a chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) angiogenesis assay.

Results: Serum samples from 17 pregnant women without (one group) and with preeclampsia and pregnancy induced hypertension (another group) demonstrated endogenous vasoinhibin concentrations in the range of 5-340 ng/ml.

Assessing Outcomes of Patients Subject to Intensive Care to Facilitate Organ Donation: A Spanish Multicenter Prospective Study.

Intensive Care to facilitate Organ Donation (ICOD) consists of the initiation or continuation of intensive care measures in patients with a devastating brain injury (DBI) in whom curative treatment is deemed futile and death by neurological criteria (DNC) is foreseen, to incorporate organ donation into their end-of-life plans. In this study we evaluate the outcomes of patients subject to ICOD and identify radiological and clinical factors associated with progression to DNC. In this first prospective multicenter study we tested by multivariate regression the association of clinical and radiological severity features with progression to DNC.

Physiological Responses of a Grapefruit Orchard to Irrigation with Desalinated Seawater.

Desalinated seawater (DSW) has emerged as a promising solution for irrigation in regions facing water scarcity. However, adopting DSW may impact the existing cultivation model, given the presence of potentially harmful elements, among other factors. A three-year experiment was carried out to assess the short-term effects of four irrigation waters-freshwater (FW), DSW, a mix 1:1 of FW and DSW (MW), and DSW with low boron (B) concentration (DSW-B)-on a 'Rio Red' grapefruit orchard.

The Miocene primate Pliobates is a pliopithecoid.

The systematic status of the small-bodied catarrhine primate Pliobates cataloniae, from the Miocene (11.6 Ma) of Spain, is controversial because it displays a mosaic of primitive and derived features compared with extant hominoids (apes and humans). Cladistic analyses have recovered Pliobates as either a stem hominoid or as a pliopithecoid stem catarrhine (i.

Improving Clinical Wait Times in a Veterans Affairs' Urologic Setting.

Long clinic wait times can contribute to treatment delays and decreased patient satisfaction. Veterans are often waiting in the urology clinic for a prolonged period that delays treatments including possible surgical interventions leading to patient dissatisfaction. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to decrease the overall procedural wait times in an outpatient urology clinic by implementing a Fast-Track procedural clinic.