Publications by authors named "Romano J"

Intraoral disease, including macropod progressive periodontal disease, is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality for wallabies under human care. Clinical signs associated with intraoral disease vary, and diagnostic findings can be difficult to interpret without intraoral radiographs or advanced imaging; therefore, this disease process can be challenging to detect in its early stages. Previous studies have investigated the effects of intraoral disease on the normal oral microbiome of various domestic species.

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  • The Asia-Pacific region faces a significant challenge with obesity, which is linked to various health issues and rising medical costs; a hypothetical 10% weight loss could lead to significant savings over the next decade.
  • Using an epidemiological-economic model, the study assessed current and future obesity-related health costs and problems in Australia, South Korea, Thailand, and India, revealing that costs could increase dramatically if no action is taken.
  • A 10% weight reduction could save billions in medical expenses by 2032 while reducing the incidence of obesity-related comorbidities, highlighting the need for effective policies to support obesity management in the region.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly capable of processing complex and multilayered datasets. Innovations in generative AI and deep learning have notably enhanced the extraction of insights from both unstructured texts, images, and structured data alike. These breakthroughs in AI technology have spurred a wave of research in the medical field, leading to the creation of a variety of tools aimed at improving clinical decision-making, patient monitoring, image analysis, and emergency response systems.

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Accurately determining the binding affinity of a ligand with a protein is important for drug design, development, and screening. With the advent of accessible protein structure prediction methods such as AlphaFold, several approaches have been developed that make use of information determined from the 3D structure for a variety of downstream tasks. However, methods for predicting binding affinity that do consider protein structure generally do not take full advantage of such 3D structural protein information, often using such information only to define nearest-neighbor graphs based on inter-residue or inter-atomic distances.

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Background: Resource allocation for stroke care was impacted worldwide by the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID19) pandemic. Regionally, worsened stroke outcomes varied, however comparative year-over-year in-hospital performance metrics from the pandemic are unreported. Therefore, within the large Florida Stroke Registry (FSR), we assessed the pandemic's effects upon the American Heart Association (AHA) Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) ischemic stroke metrics and the meta-metric, Defect-Free Care (DFC).

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Introduction And Objectives: Prevalence estimates are crucial for enhancing preparedness to prevent and manage chronic diseases. This is the first study to estimate the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and advanced fibrosis in Canada, leveraging a nationally representative survey and multiple validated non-invasive tests (NITs).

Materials And Methods: The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) is Canada's largest direct health measures survey, which collects data on sociodemographic, clinical factors, and blood chemistry.

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This is a case of a spinal epidural abscess (SEA) in a 41-year-old male with a history of chronic alcohol abuse, who initially presented with severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Following stabilization of DKA, the patient developed persistent gram-positive bacteremia, which progressed to an epidural abscess extending from the cervical to the thoracic spine with potential intracranial extension. Despite the complexity of the case, prompt diagnosis via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and timely neurosurgical intervention for drainage, combined with targeted antibiotic therapy, led to a favorable outcome.

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This study identifies the association between patient perception of discharge education/resources and adequate transitions of care (ATOC) (i.e., patient achievement of at least 75% of recommended positive behaviors and activities within 30 days post-stroke hospitalization).

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  • Hybrid stage I palliation is a procedure used mainly for high-risk patients with single ventricle heart disease, serving various roles such as a starter treatment or a bridge to more complex surgeries or transplants.
  • A survey sent to congenital heart centers in the U.S. and Canada revealed that about 45 out of 106 centers perform this type of palliation, with a majority using pulmonary artery bands and ductal stents for management.
  • There is significant variation in the practices and indications for hybrid stage I palliation among centers, highlighting the need for multicenter studies to establish standardized protocols and improve patient outcomes.
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Hybrid stage 1 palliation (HS1P) is used as an alternative to the surgical Norwood for single ventricle patients and specific other conditions. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) occurs in 5%-18% of infants after surgical Norwood, contributing to significant morbidity. We sought to compare the NEC incidences in HS1P versus Norwood patients.

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Splice-modulating antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are precision RNA-based drugs that are becoming an established modality to treat human disease. Previously, we reported the discovery of ASOs that target a novel, putative intronic RNA structure to rescue splicing of multiple pathogenic variants of exon 16 that cause hemophilia A. However, the conventional approach to discovering splice-modulating ASOs is both laborious and expensive.

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  • * Researchers found that while most children had normal neurodevelopmental scores, a significant number displayed issues, especially as they grew older; specific factors like low birth weight and maternal education influenced outcomes.
  • * The findings suggest that children with sTOF may have elevated developmental concerns, and although the type of surgical intervention didn't seem to affect these outcomes, other risks like genetic syndromes are important to consider for early intervention.
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Neonates with congenital heart disease (CHD) and ductal-dependent pulmonary blood flow (DD-PBF) require early intervention. Historically, this intervention was most often a surgical systemic-to-pulmonary shunt (SPS; e.g.

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Neonates with congenital heart disease and ductal-dependent pulmonary blood flow (DD-PBF) require early intervention. Historically, this intervention was most often a surgical systemic-to-pulmonary shunt (SPS; eg, Blalock-Thomas-Taussig shunt). However, over the past two decades, an alternative to SPS has emerged in the form of transcatheter ductal artery stenting (DAS).

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  • Cancer impacts both patients and their caregivers, and avoidant communication styles are linked to poorer psychological and relationship adjustments for both parties involved.* ! -
  • The study involved 286 patient-caregiver pairs responding to smartphone prompts over 14 days, focusing on their communication and relationship dynamics.* ! -
  • Results indicated that intimacy plays a critical role in relationship satisfaction and psychological distress, suggesting that improving communication could help foster closer relationships and better coping in cancer care.* !
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To evaluate the association between initial management strategy of neonatal symptomatic Tetralogy of Fallot (sTOF) and later health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes. We performed a multicenter, cross-sectional evaluation of a previously assembled cohort of infants with sTOF who underwent initial intervention at ≤ 30 days of age, between 2005 and 2017. Eligible patients' parents/guardians completed an age-appropriate Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, a Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Cardiac Module Heart Disease Symptoms Scale, and a parental survey.

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  • Neonates with symptomatic tetralogy of Fallot (sTOF) often require early surgical intervention, which can involve either staged repair (SR) or primary repair (PR), but both strategies expose them to low-dose ionizing radiation that may raise cancer risk.
  • This study analyzed the cumulative radiation exposure and lifetime attributable risk (LAR) of cancer in sTOF patients who underwent either SR or PR, using data from 242 neonates across multiple centers.
  • Results showed that SR resulted in significantly higher radiation exposure compared to PR and highlighted an increased LAR of cancer, particularly for females, emphasizing the need to consider radiation risk when choosing treatment options for this vulnerable group.*
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Background And Purpose: Social determinants of health (SDOH), including social networks, impact disability and quality of life post-stroke, yet the direct influence of SDOH on functional change remains undetermined. We aimed to identify which SDOH predict change on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) within 90 days after stroke hospitalization.

Methods: Stroke patients from the Transitions of Care Stroke Disparities Study (TCSDS) were enrolled from 12 hospitals in the Florida Stroke Registry.

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Introduction: Electronic devices and communication technologies are increasingly used to provide medical care to patients with high blood pressure. The main objective was to evaluate doctors' perception on the usefulness of digital technologies in hypertension. The secondary objectives were to evaluate the prevalence of use of digital technologies in the follow-up of patients with hypertension and to identify the barriers perceived by doctors for their implementation in the Argentine Republic.

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  • Hybrid stage I palliation (HS1P) has been applied to patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease, and this study examines its use for biventricular outcomes as well.
  • A total of 39 patients were analyzed, with significant findings indicating that resolving intracardiac risk factors (ICRF) was linked to successful biventricular (BiV) repairs, while persistence of these risk factors pointed to poorer outcomes.
  • Despite common complications and high mortality rates in certain cases, the study suggests HS1P can effectively delay the decision-making process regarding the type of surgical intervention needed for these high-risk patients.
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Background: Tuberculosis medication nonadherence is a multi-dimensional public health problem with serious consequences worldwide. There is little information available for medication nonadherence in South Sudan. This study assessed the proportion, reasons, and associated factors for nonadherence among patients with TB in Wau Municipality, South Sudan.

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Objective: Our aim was to better understand attitudes towards parental leave from the perspective of both surgeon faculty and current surgical trainees. We hypothesized that support for trainees to take parental leave would vary by year of residency graduation and by parental status.

Design: We conducted a web-based survey regarding opinions on trainee parental leave.

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The objective of this study was to compare the plasma (PL) and seminal plasma (SP) pharmacokinetic profile of ceftiofur (CEFT) and desuroylceftiofur acetamide (DFCA) after administration of CEFT crystalline-free acid (CCFA) by SC route in two sites of the ear in beef bulls. Four clinically healthy Hereford bulls received a comprehensive physical exam and subsequently a breeding-soundness examination, CBC, and chemistry profile panel. All bulls were diagnosed healthy and satisfactory potential breeders.

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Objectives: We explore patient-reported behaviors and activities within 30-days post-stroke hospitalization and their role in reducing death or readmissions within 90-days post-stroke.

Methods: We constructed the adequate transitions of care (ATOC) composite score, measuring patient-reported participation in eligible behaviors and activities (diet modification, weekly exercise, follow-up medical appointment attendance, medication adherence, therapy use, and toxic habit cessation) within 30 days post-stroke hospital discharge. We analyzed ATOC scores in ischemic and intracerebral hemorrhage stroke patients discharged from the hospital to home or rehabilitation facilities and enrolled in the NIH-funded Transitions of Care Stroke Disparities Study (TCSD-S).

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