Esophageal Remodeling Correlates With Eating Behaviors in Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

Introduction: There are limited data characterizing eating habits among pediatric patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). We compared eating behaviors in pediatric patients with EoE with healthy controls and assessed the degree of correlation with symptomatology, endoscopic and histologic findings, and esophageal distensibility.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, observational study where subjects consumed 4 food textures (puree, soft solid, chewable, and hard solid) and were scored for eating behaviors including number of chews per bite, sips of fluid per food, and consumption time.

Speech Outcomes and Rates of Secondary Speech Surgery from Childhood to Skeletal Maturity following Modified Furlow Palatoplasty.

Background: This study updates the authors' institutional experience with modified Furlow palatoplasty, evaluating speech outcomes and incidence of secondary speech surgery throughout development and at skeletal maturity.

Methods: Nonsyndromic patients undergoing primary modified Furlow palatoplasty between 1985 and 2005 with postoperative speech evaluations were reviewed retrospectively. Secondary speech surgery and Pittsburgh Weighted Speech Scale (PWSS) scores before secondary speech or orthognathic operations were assessed in the groups aged 5 to 7 years, 8 to 11 years, 12 to 14 years, and older than 15 years and analyzed by Veau cleft type.

Speech Outcomes Following Operative Management of Velopharyngeal Dysfunction (VPD) in Non-Syndromic Post-Palatoplasty Cleft Palate Patients.

Objective: Approximately 30% of patients with a history of repaired cleft palate (CP) go on to suffer from velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD). This study discusses the operative management of VPD and postoperative speech outcomes in a cohort of CP patients.

Setting: An academic tertiary pediatric care center.

Impact of Illustrated Postoperative Instructions on Knowledge and Retention During a Cleft Lip and Palate Surgical Mission.

Objective: To determine the impact of illustrated postoperative instructions on patient-caregiver knowledge and retention.

Design: Prospective study with all participants receiving an educational intervention.

Setting: Pediatric plastic surgical missions in Guatemala City, Guatemala, between 2019 and 2020.

Use of online cultural content for mental health and well-being during COVID-19 restrictions: cross-sectional survey.

Aims And Method: To gain a deeper understanding of the use of online culture and its potential benefits to mental health and well-being, sociodemographic characteristics and self-reported data on usage, perceived mental health benefits and health status were collected in an online cross-sectional survey during COVID-19 restrictions in the UK in June-July 2020.

Results: In total, 1056 people completed the survey. A high proportion of participants reported finding online culture helpful for mental health; all but one of the benefits were associated with regular use and some with age.

Management of velopharyngeal dysfunction in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: A survey of practice patterns.

Objective: To determine demographics and practice patterns of surgeons treating velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS).

Remote Digital Preoperative Assessments for Cleft Lip and Palate May Improve Clinical and Economic Impact in Global Plastic Surgery.

Objective: Reconstructive surgical care can play a vital role in the resource-poor settings of low- and middle-income countries. Telemedicine platforms can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of surgical care. The purpose of this study is to determine whether remote digital video evaluations are reliable in the context of a short-term plastic surgical intervention.

(R)-2-Phenylpyrrolidine Substituted Imidazopyridazines: A New Class of Potent and Selective Pan-TRK Inhibitors.

Deregulated kinase activities of tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) family members have been shown to be associated with tumorigenesis and poor prognosis in a variety of cancer types. In particular, several chromosomal rearrangements involving TRKA have been reported in colorectal, papillary thyroid, glioblastoma, melanoma, and lung tissue that are believed to be the key oncogenic driver in these tumors. By screening the Novartis compound collection, a novel imidazopyridazine TRK inhibitor was identified that served as a launching point for drug optimization.

Targeting Plasmodium PI(4)K to eliminate malaria.

Achieving the goal of malaria elimination will depend on targeting Plasmodium pathways essential across all life stages. Here we identify a lipid kinase, phosphatidylinositol-4-OH kinase (PI(4)K), as the target of imidazopyrazines, a new antimalarial compound class that inhibits the intracellular development of multiple Plasmodium species at each stage of infection in the vertebrate host. Imidazopyrazines demonstrate potent preventive, therapeutic, and transmission-blocking activity in rodent malaria models, are active against blood-stage field isolates of the major human pathogens P.

Mitotic evolution of Plasmodium falciparum shows a stable core genome but recombination in antigen families.

Malaria parasites elude eradication attempts both within the human host and across nations. At the individual level, parasites evade the host immune responses through antigenic variation. At the global level, parasites escape drug pressure through single nucleotide variants and gene copy amplification events conferring drug resistance.

The clinical and economic impact of a sustained program in global plastic surgery: valuing cleft care in resource-poor settings.

Background: The development of surgery in low- and middle-income countries has been limited by a belief that it is too expensive to be sustainable. However, subspecialist surgical care can provide substantial clinical and economic benefits in low-resource settings. The goal of this study is to describe the clinical and economic impact of recurrent short-term plastic surgical trips in low- and middle-income countries.

Selective and specific inhibition of the plasmodium falciparum lysyl-tRNA synthetase by the fungal secondary metabolite cladosporin.

With renewed calls for malaria eradication, next-generation antimalarials need be active against drug-resistant parasites and efficacious against both liver- and blood-stage infections. We screened a natural product library to identify inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum blood- and liver-stage proliferation. Cladosporin, a fungal secondary metabolite whose target and mechanism of action are not known for any species, was identified as having potent, nanomolar, antiparasitic activity against both blood and liver stages.

International efforts in plastic surgery: the Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children's Medical Center and University of Connecticut experience in Ecuador.

Unlabelled: Plastic and reconstructive surgery provide a necessary and essential service to public health efforts in resource-poor regions around the world. Disease processes amenable to plastic surgical treatment significantly contribute to worldwide disability, and it is the poor and underserved who are disproportionately affected.

Methods: We conducted a week-long plastic and reconstructive surgical trip to Latacunga, Ecuador to provide reconstructive surgical services for the underserved in this region.

A chemical genomic analysis of decoquinate, a Plasmodium falciparum cytochrome b inhibitor.

Decoquinate has single-digit nanomolar activity against in vitro blood stage Plasmodium falciparum parasites, the causative agent of human malaria. In vitro evolution of decoquinate-resistant parasites and subsequent comparative genomic analysis to the drug-sensitive parental strain revealed resistance was conferred by two nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms in the gene encoding cytochrome b. The resultant amino acid mutations, A122T and Y126C, reside within helix C in the ubiquinol-binding pocket of cytochrome b, an essential subunit of the cytochrome bc(1) complex.

The maintenance of shore-level size gradients in an intertidal snail (Littorina sitkana).

The size of many intertidal animals varies with tidal height. These size gradients could be produced by growth or survival varying with tidal height, or by animals moving to a preferred tidal level. The body size of the snail, Littorina sitkana, increases steadily with tidal height in rocky high intertidal habitats of British Columbia.