Chronic Low Back Pain Causal Risk Factors Identified by Mendelian Randomization: a Cross-Sectional Cohort Analysis.

Background Context: There are a number of risk factors- from biological, psychological, and social domains- for non-specific chronic low back pain (cLBP). Many cLBP treatments target risk factors on the assumption that the targeted factor is not just associated with cLBP but is also a cause (i.e, a causal risk factor).

Machine learning for forecasting initial seizure onset in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Objective: This study was undertaken to develop a machine learning (ML) model to forecast initial seizure onset in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) utilizing clinical and quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) features.

Methods: We developed a gradient boosting ML model (Neo-GB) that utilizes clinical features and QEEG to forecast time-dependent seizure risk. Clinical variables included cord blood gas values, Apgar scores, gestational age at birth, postmenstrual age (PMA), postnatal age, and birth weight.

Chronic Low Back Pain Causal Risk Factors Identified by Mendelian Randomization: a Cross-Sectional Cohort Analysis.

Background Context: There are a number of risk factors- from biological, psychological, and social domains- for non-specific chronic low back pain (cLBP). Many cLBP treatments target risk factors on the assumption that the targeted factor is not just associated with cLBP but is also a cause (i.e, a causal risk factor).

Epidural Analgesia During Labor and Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy.

Importance: Epidural analgesia is used by approximately 70% of birthing persons in the US to alleviate labor pain and is a common cause of elevated temperature in the birthing parent during labor, which, in turn, is associated with adverse neonatal outcomes such as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).

Objective: To determine whether epidural analgesia is associated with increased risk of HIE after adjusting for the birthing person's maximal temperature before epidural placement and for the propensity to get an epidural.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective, population-based cohort study was conducted at 15 Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals.

[Facilitators and barriers to the implementation of health promotion in daycare centers and elementary schools based on four selected projects].

Background: Health promotion (HP) is a complex, politically required task. The quality of implementation correlates with the effectiveness of health promotion initiatives. Successful implementation requires consideration of contextual conditions, which tend to be neglected in effectiveness studies.

Tracking Trace Elements Found in Coffee and Infusions of Commercially Available Coffee Products Marketed in Poland.

Coffee is a source of micronutrients, including iron, zinc, copper, and manganese. It may also contain toxic metals, such as lead and cadmium. The effects of coffee on the human body may vary depending on its composition.

Persistent effectiveness of CGRP antibody therapy in migraine and comorbid medication overuse or medication overuse headache - a retrospective real-world analysis.

Background: Management of patients with migraine who have concomitant medication overuse (MO) or medication overuse headache (MOH) is a major problem in clinical practice. Detoxification of acute analgesics before or during initiation of prophylactic therapy has long been recommended although this concept has recently been questioned. Additionally, relapse after detoxification is a common problem.

[Digitalization in Migraine Therapy].

Digitalization is a commonly used keyword in medicine and also in the area of migraine and its therapy. However, digitalization should not be an end in itself, but should improve the treatment of patients and make the work of practitioners easier. This article summarizes the use of e-health applications for migraine medicine, today and in the future.

Effectiveness and tolerability of eptinezumab in treating patients with migraine resistant to conventional preventive medications and CGRP (receptor) antibodies: a multicentre retrospective real-world analysis from Germany.

Background: Eptinezumab is a monoclonal antibody that targets calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP mAb) and is used for migraine prophylaxis. Efficacy data are mainly from clinical trials, real-world data are hardly available yet. Reimbursement policy in Germany leads to eptinezumab mainly being used in patients having failed pre-treatment with other CGRP mAb.

Design of the COMEBACK and BACKHOME Studies, Longitudinal Cohorts for Comprehensive Deep Phenotyping of Adults with Chronic Low-Back Pain (cLBP): a part of the BACPAC Research Program.

Objective: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Core Center for Patient-centric, Mechanistic Phenotyping in Chronic Low Back Pain (REACH) is one of the three NIH Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Programs Mechanistic Research Centers (MRCs). The goal of UCSF REACH is to define cLBP phenotypes and pain mechanisms that can lead to effective, personalized treatments for patients across the population. The primary objective of this research project is to address the critical need for new diagnostic and prognostic markers, and associated patient classification protocols for chronic low back pain (cLBP) treatment.

Quantitative analysis of promoter methylation in glioblastoma suggests nonlinear prognostic effect.

Background: Epigenetic inhibition of the () gene has emerged as a clinically relevant prognostic marker in glioblastoma (GBM). Methylation of the promoter has been shown to increase chemotherapy efficacy. While traditionally reported as a binary marker, recent methodological advancements have led to quantitative methods of measuring promoter methylation, providing clearer insight into its functional relationship with survival.

Perinatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: Incidence Over Time Within a Modern US Birth Cohort.

Background: Recent studies suggest that the incidence of perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) may be increasing in developed countries. However, this observed increase may be due to increased ascertainment and increased treatment with therapeutic hypothermia rather than an increase in disease burden. In a US population-based cross-sectional study, we determined the incidence of perinatal HIE over time.

Bayesian adaptive design for covariate-adaptive historical control information borrowing.

Interest in incorporating historical data in the clinical trial has increased with the rising cost of conducting clinical trials. The intervention arm for the current trial often requires prospective data to assess a novel treatment, and thus borrowing historical control data commensurate in distribution to current control data is motivated in order to increase the allocation ratio to the current intervention arm. Existing historical control borrowing adaptive designs adjust allocation ratios based on the commensurability assessed through study-level summary statistics of the response agnostic of the distributions of the trial subject characteristics in the current and historical trials.

Correlating Quantitative MRI-based Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Metrics with 24-month Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Neonates from the HEAL Trial.

Background Multiple qualitative scoring systems have been created to capture the imaging severity of hypoxic ischemic brain injury. Purpose To evaluate quantitative volumes of acute brain injury at MRI in neonates with hypoxic ischemic brain injury and correlate these findings with 24-month neurodevelopmental outcomes and qualitative brain injury scoring by radiologists. Materials and Methods In this secondary analysis, brain diffusion-weighted MRI data from neonates in the High-dose Erythropoietin for Asphyxia and Encephalopathy trial, which recruited participants between January 2017 and October 2019, were analyzed.

Neonatal brain MRI and short-term outcomes after acute provoked seizures.

Objective: We investigated how diagnosis and injury location on neonatal brain MRI following onset of acute provoked seizures was associated with short term outcome.

Study Design: A multicenter cohort of neonates with acute provoked seizures enrolled in the Neonatal Seizure Registry. MRIs were centrally evaluated by a neuroradiologist for location of injury and radiologic diagnosis.

Network anatomy in logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia.

The logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized linguistically by gradual loss of repetition and naming skills, resulting from left posterior temporal and inferior parietal atrophy. Here, we sought to identify which specific cortical loci are initially targeted by the disease (epicenters) and investigate whether atrophy spreads through pre-determined networks. First, we used cross-sectional structural MRI data from individuals with lvPPA to define putative disease epicenters using a surface-based approach paired with an anatomically-fine-grained parcellation of the cortical surface (i.

Efficacy of alcohol reduction interventions among people with HIV as evaluated by self-report and a phosphatidylethanol (PEth) outcome: protocol for a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Introduction: Unhealthy alcohol use is associated with a range of adverse outcomes among people with HIV (PWH). Testing the efficacy and promoting the availability of effective interventions to address unhealthy alcohol use among PWH is thus a priority. Alcohol use outcomes in intervention studies are often measured by self-report alone, which can lead to spurious results due to information biases (eg, social desirability).

A novel thiol-saccharide mucolytic for the treatment of muco-obstructive lung diseases.

Background: Mucin disulfide cross-links mediate pathologic mucus formation in muco-obstructive lung diseases. MUC-031, a novel thiol-modified carbohydrate compound, cleaves disulfides to cause mucolysis. The aim of this study was to determine the mucolytic and therapeutic effects of MUC-031 in sputum from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and mice with muco-obstructive lung disease (βENaC-Tg mice).

CAPER: patient preferences to inform nonsurgical treatment of chronic low back pain: a discrete-choice experiment.

Objective: We developed and used a discrete-choice measure to study patient preferences with regard to the risks and benefits of nonsurgical treatments when they are making treatment selections for chronic low back pain.

Methods: "CAPER TREATMENT" (Leslie Wilson) was developed with standard choice-based conjoint procedures (discrete-choice methodology that mimics an individual's decision-making process). After expert input and pilot testing, our final measure had 7 attributes (chance of pain relief, duration of relief, physical activity changes, treatment method, treatment type, treatment time burden, and risks of treatment) with 3-4 levels each.

Point-of-care motion capture and biomechanical assessment improve clinical utility of dynamic balance testing for lower extremity osteoarthritis.

Musculoskeletal conditions impede patient biomechanical function. However, clinicians rely on subjective functional assessments with poor test characteristics for biomechanical outcomes because more advanced assessments are impractical in the ambulatory care setting. Using markerless motion capture (MMC) in clinic to record time-series joint position data, we implemented a spatiotemporal assessment of patient kinematics during lower extremity functional testing to evaluate whether kinematic models could identify disease states beyond conventional clinical scoring.

Hypnic Headache - What do we know in 2022?

Background: Hypnic Headache, also known as "alarm clock headache", is a rare primary headache disorder. It is characterized by frequently recurring headache attacks, which only develop during sleep, especially nighttime sleep.

Objective: This article gives a narrative review on the current knowledge about Hypnic Headache with a focus on secondary Hypnic Headache.

An Undergraduate Laboratory Exploring Mutational Mechanisms in Escherichia coli Based on the Luria-Delbrück Experiment.

Understanding the mechanism for DNA mutations is a key concept in most genetics and microbiology courses. In addition, understanding that most mutations occur prior to exposure to selection is an important yet often difficult concept for students to grasp. We developed an undergraduate laboratory activity on mutation mechanisms based on the classic experiment from Luria and Delbrück.