Publications by authors named "Skaggs J"

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess current knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding hearing impairment and screening referrals in patients with diabetes among providers who have a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CBDCE) Certification.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey created through Qualtrics was emailed to health care providers in the United States with CDCES certification. Providers responded regarding knowledge and importance of hearing impairment compared to other diabetes complications, when they would refer a patient to an audiologist, the percentage of patients referred, and awareness of over-the-counter hearing aids.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Vehicle collisions with birds are financially costly and dangerous to humans and animals. To reduce collisions, it is necessary to understand how birds respond to approaching vehicles. We used simulated (.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Land use influences surface water quality, often alleviating stoichiometric constraints on primary production and altering biogeochemical cycling. However, land use effects on nutrient content and potential trace metal accumulation in aquatic plants remain unclear, and high concentrations of metals and altered nutrient ratios could impact the health of herbivores and detritivores. We tested for land use effects on nutrient and trace metal accumulation in a widespread riverine macrophyte, Podostemum ceratophyllum, collected from 91 locations from Georgia to Maine, USA in 2014-2016.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices among providers and patients regarding hearing impairment and screening referrals in people with diabetes.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey design among health care providers and patients at an academic medical center in Oklahoma was used to gather knowledge, attitudes, and practices data.

Results: Only 25.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Wastewater treatment wetlands are cost-effective strategies for remediating trace metals in industrial effluent. However, biogeochemical exchange between wastewater treatment wetlands and adjacent environments provides opportunities for trace metals to cycle in surrounding ecosystems. The transfer of trace metals to wildlife inhabiting treatment wetlands must be considered when evaluating wetland success.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Emergency department (ED) wait times and ED length of stay (LOS) have a significant impact on patient morbidity and mortality and patient satisfaction. Consultation-to-decision time can contribute to increased wait times and LOS in the ED. Up to 40% of patients presenting to the ED require consultation from subspecialty services.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Technology failures in telehealth are common, and clinicians need the skills to diagnose and manage them at the point of care. However, there are issues beyond technology failures mediating the effective use of telehealth. We must teach best-practice procedures for conducting telemedicine visits and include in instructional simulations commonly encountered failure modes so students can build their skills.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Goal-directed fluid therapy (GDFT) is usually recommended in patients undergoing major surgery and is essential in enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols. This fluid regimen is usually guided by dynamic hemodynamic parameters and aims to optimize patients' cardiac output to maximize oxygen delivery to their vital organs. While many studies have shown that GDFT benefits patients perioperatively and can decrease postoperative complications, there is no consensus on which dynamic hemodynamic parameters to guide GDFT with.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) cause lethal endotoxemia if not rapidly cleared from blood circulation. Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) systemically clear LPS by unknown mechanisms. We discovered that LPS clearance through LSEC involves endocytosis and lysosomal inactivation via Stabilin-1 and 2 (Stab1 and Stab2) but does not involve TLR4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

BACKGROUND Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare clinical syndrome characterized by dysregulated immune system activation and hyperinflammation. Primary HLH is inherited and almost exclusively seen in childhood, while secondary HLH is mainly seen in adults and has a wide variety of triggering factors, including infection, malignancy, autoimmune disease, and immunosuppression. Due to nonspecific presentation, the differential diagnosis for HLH is equally wide.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We describe the use of a Total Control Introducer (TCI) in combination with video laryngoscopy (VL) to place a left-sided double-lumen endotracheal tube (DLT) in a patient with a history of difficult laryngoscopy undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). VL was used to obtain visualisation of the glottis and a TCI articulating introducer was used to dynamically navigate the airway and access the trachea. A 39 French DLT was subsequently passed over the TCI shaft and into the trachea under indirect visualisation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Injury is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally and disproportionately affects low-income countries. While most injury data comes from tertiary care centers in urban settings, the purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics and severity of injury in rural Uganda and the associated treatment patterns and delays in care.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of a trauma registry that was implemented at Masindi-Kitara Medical Center (MKMC), a rural hospital in Western Uganda.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Achieving therapeutic levels of phenytoin is critical to its efficacy and safety. Free serum levels represent pharmacologically active phenytoin due to the high protein binding of the drug. Predicting free serum levels in patients with left ventricular support devices can be challenging, as the pharmacokinetics (PK) can be significantly altered, and equations to correct total levels have not been validated in this population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cardiac arrest is a challenging clinical presentation that emergency medicine providers often encounter. Aortic dissection is an uncommon etiology in all-comers presenting in cardiac arrest. The use of bedside point of care echocardiography to aid in resuscitative efforts is expanding, particularly with the increasing use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) by emergency medicine providers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of preventable blindness. Timely screening and treatment prevent morbidity, though low follow-up rates remain problematic. Feasible and efficacious methods for increasing screening follow-up rates include patient education, a streamlined referral and scheduling process, and collaboration with local ophthalmologists and primary care providers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The immune responsiveness of mice (without prior natural exposure) and mares (with naturally acquired antibodies) was determined following vaccination with Actinobacillus equuli outer membrane proteins (OMPs) and/or recombinant A. equuli toxin (rAqx). Mice were vaccinated subcutaneously on days 0 and 21 with one of three doses (5, 25 or 50μg) of A.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The newly-discovered tectal longitudinal column (TLC) spans the paramedian region of the mammalian tectum. It has connections with several nuclei of the auditory system. In this report, we provide the first detailed description of the responses of TLC neurons to auditory stimuli, including monaural and binaural tones and amplitude modulated tones.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A 12-wk. study was conducted to contrast the effects of a longer and more frequent aerobic exercise protocol with a shorter and less frequent circuit strength-training protocol for improving U.S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The eye is an excellent candidate for gene therapy as it is immune privileged and much of the disease-causing genetics are well understood. Towards this goal, we evaluated the efficiency of compacted DNA nanoparticles as a system for non-viral gene transfer to ocular tissues. The compacted DNA nanoparticles examined here have been shown to be safe and effective in a human clinical trial, have no theoretical limitation on plasmid size, do not provoke immune responses, and can be highly concentrated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A critical binaural cue important for sound localization and detection of signals in noise is the interaural time difference (ITD), or difference in the time of arrival of sounds at each ear. The ITD can be determined by cross-correlating the sounds at the two ears and finding the ITD where the correlation is maximal. The amount of interaural correlation is affected by properties of spaces and can therefore be used to assess spatial attributes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

It is commonly assumed that photoreceptor (PR) outer segment (OS) morphogenesis is reliant upon the presence of peripherin/rds, hereafter termed Rds. In this study, we demonstrate a differential requirement of Rds during rod and cone OS morphogenesis. In the absence of this PR-specific protein, rods do not form OSs and enter apoptosis, whereas cone PRs develop atypical OSs and are viable.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We conducted a study of lipid peroxidation as a marker of age-related free-radical damage in the human larynx--the first study of its kind. A colorimetric assay for malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE) was performed on extracts taken from thyroarytenoid muscle harvested from fresh cadaveric laryngeal specimens. Levels of MDA and 4-HNE were measured by spectrophotometry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Vocal fold paralysis is a common cause of neonatal stridor. Although it is usually classified as idiopathic or iatrogenic in origin, a small subset of patients have a family history of this disorder, indicating a possible genetic cause.

Objective: To identify the genetic locus of the gene that causes familial laryngeal abductor paralysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF