Clinical outcomes of a digital musculoskeletal women's pelvic health program: an observational, longitudinal study with comparison group.

Background: Chronic pelvic pain is a common yet undertreated condition that significantly impacts quality of life for women worldwide. Digital exercise therapy designed to target pelvic pain can improve symptomology while reducing time and cost-related barriers to in-person clinical care.

Methods: This longitudinal, observational study of a digital women's pelvic health program examined pelvic pain, anxiety, and depression at 4 and 12 weeks in female adults experiencing chronic pelvic pain.

Meeting report of the seventh annual Tri-Service Microbiome Consortium Symposium.

The Tri-Service Microbiome Consortium (TSMC) was founded to enhance collaboration, coordination, and communication of microbiome research among DoD organizations and to facilitate resource, material and information sharing among consortium members, which includes collaborators in academia and industry. The 2023 annual symposium was a hybrid meeting held in Washington DC on 26-27 September 2023 concurrent with the virtual attendance, with oral and poster presentations and discussions centered on microbiome-related topics within five broad thematic areas: 1) Environmental Microbiome Characterization; 2) Microbiome Analysis; 3) Human Microbiome Characterization; 4) Microbiome Engineering; and 5) In Vitro and In Vivo Microbiome Models. Collectively, the symposium provided an update on the scope of current DoD and DoD-affiliated microbiome research efforts and fostered collaborative opportunities.

Genomic signatures of cold adaptation in the family Colwelliaceae.

Psychrophily is a phenotype describing microbial growth at low temperatures; elucidating the biomolecular and genomic adaptations necessary for survival in the cold is important for understanding life in extreme environments on Earth and in outer space. We used comparative genomics and temperature growth experiments of bacteria from the family Colwelliaceae to identify genomic factors correlated with optimal growth temperature (OGT). A phylogenomic analysis of 67 public and 39 newly sequenced strains revealed three main clades of Colwelliaceae.

A Multimodal System for Lipid A Structural Analysis from a Single Colony.

Structural elucidation of Gram-negative bacterial lipid A traditionally requires chemical extraction followed by tandem MS data in the negative ion mode. Previously, we reported FLAT and FLAT as methods to rapidly determine the structure of lipid A without chromatographic techniques. In this work, we extend the capability and effectiveness of these techniques to elucidate the chemical structure in a de novo manner by including the use of positive ion mode (FLAT and FLAT) spectral approaches.

Psychosocial outcomes of children born via embryo donation.

Study Question: What are parents' perceptions of their relationships with and the psychosocial adjustments of their children who are born via embryo donation?

Summary Answer: Families created through embryo donation have well-adjusted parent-child relationships and reassuring child psychosocial outcomes.

What Is Known Already: Embryo donation is an effective and growing form of third-party reproduction, but there is limited research in this field. Prior studies suggest that families created through gamete donation function well regarding parent-child relationship quality and child behavioral and socioemotional adjustment.

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The field of nuclear medicine is entering a new era of gamma-camera technology. Solid-state SPECT/CT systems will gradually replace the thallium-activated sodium-iodide NaI(Tl) systems. This digital technology allows drastic improvements in image quality, radiotracer dose reduction, and procedure efficiency.

The Impact of Digital Mental Health Services on Loneliness and Mental Health: Results from a Prospective, Observational Study.

Background: Loneliness has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and negatively impacts mental health. This study examined relationships between loneliness and mental health among adults using a digital mental health platform.

Methods: A purposive sample of 919 participants (97% response rate) who were newly enrolled in the platform completed a survey on loneliness, depression, anxiety, well-being, stress, social support, and comorbidities at baseline and 3 months.

Structure Determination of Lipid A with Multiple Glycosylation Sites by Tandem MS of Lithium-Adducted Negative Ions.

FLAT is a tandem mass spectrometric technique that can be used to rapidly generate spectral information applicable for structural elucidation of lipids like lipid A from Gram-negative bacterial species from a single bacterial colony. In this study, we extend the scope and capability of FLAT by tandem MS fragmentation of lithium-adducted molecular lipid A anions and fragments (FLAT) that provides additional structural and diagnostic data from FLAT samples allowing for the discrimination of terminal phosphate modifications in a variety of pathogenic and environmental species. Using FLAT, we elucidated the lipid A structure from several bacterial species, including novel structures from arctic bacterioplankton of the and genera that favor 4-amino-4-deoxy-l-arabinopyranose (Ara4N) modification at the 1-phosphate position and that demonstrate double glycosylation with Ara4N at the 1 and 4' phosphate positions simultaneously.

EPIREGULIN creates a developmental niche for spatially organized human intestinal enteroids.

Epithelial organoids derived from intestinal tissue, called enteroids, recapitulate many aspects of the organ in vitro and can be used for biological discovery, personalized medicine, and drug development. Here, we interrogated the cell signaling environment within the developing human intestine to identify niche cues that may be important for epithelial development and homeostasis. We identified an EGF family member, EPIREGULIN (EREG), which is robustly expressed in the developing human crypt.

Securing the Chain of Custody and Integrity of Data in a Global North-South Partnership to Monitor the Quality of Essential Medicines.

Substandard and falsified (SF) pharmaceuticals account for an estimated 10% of the pharmaceutical supply chain in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where a lack of regulatory and laboratory resources limits the ability to conduct effective post-market surveillance and allows SF products to penetrate the supply chain. The Distributed Pharmaceutical Analysis Laboratory (DPAL) was established in 2014 to expand testing of pharmaceutical dosage forms sourced from LMICs; DPAL is an alliance of academic institutions throughout the United States and abroad that provides high-quality, validated chemical analysis of pharmaceutical dosage forms sourced from partners in LMICs. Results from analysis are reported to relevant regulatory agencies and are used to inform purchasing decisions made by in-country stakeholders.

Pharmacist-Assisted Varenicline Tobacco Cessation Treatment for Veterans.

Background: Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to provide tobacco cessation interventions given their medication expertise and accessibility to the public. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of management of varenicline by clinical pharmacy specialists (CPSs) compared with other clinicians.

Methods: This retrospective chart review included patients with a varenicline prescription between July 1, 2019, and July 31, 2020.

Impact of Online Group Psychoeducation and Support Sessions on Receptivity Towards Digital Mental Health Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study.

While social distancing was crucial to slow the COVID-19 virus, it also contributed to social isolation and emotional strain. This pilot study evaluated the impact of stand-alone psychoeducational group sessions designed to build social connectedness and space for people to learn about mental health during the pandemic. The study examined if offering the stand-alone group sessions increased uptake of and receptivity to additional mental health services.

Association of Standardized Radiology Reporting and Management of Abdominal CT and MRI With Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer.

Background & Aims: Follow-up of abdominal computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings suspicious for pancreatic cancer may be delayed if documentation is unclear. We evaluated whether standardized reporting and follow-up of imaging results reduced time to diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Methods: We used a quasi-experimental stepped-wedge cluster design to evaluate the effectiveness of newly implemented radiology reporting system.

Perspective: Young Workers at Higher Risk for Carcinogen Exposures.

Young workers, those under the age of 25, are considered a vulnerable working population, primarily due to their increased risk of injury. In this study we investigate if young workers may also be at an increased risk for occupational exposure to carcinogens. Using the 2006 and 2016 Canadian Census of Population and previously obtained CAREX Canada data, this study aimed to identify sectors and occupations that have high proportions of young workers and where potential exists for exposure to known and suspected carcinogens.

Effects of a Digital Diabetes Prevention Program: An RCT.

Introduction: In light of the need to expand the reach and access of clinically proven digital Diabetes Prevention Programs (d-DPPs) and the need for rigorous evidence of effectiveness, the purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a digital Diabetes Prevention Program for improving weight, HbA1c, and cardiovascular risk factors among people with prediabetes compared to enhanced standard care plus waitlist control.

Study Design: This was a single-blind RCT among participants at risk of developing type 2 diabetes and included 12 months of follow-up.

Setting/participants: A total of 599 volunteer patients with prediabetes were recruited primarily through electronic medical records and primary care practices.

Iterative data-driven forecasting of the transmission and management of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 using social interventions at the county-level.

The control of the initial outbreak and spread of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 via the application of population-wide non-pharmaceutical mitigation measures have led to remarkable successes in dampening the pandemic globally. However, with countries beginning to ease or lift these measures fully to restart activities, concern is growing regarding the impacts that such reopening of societies could have on the subsequent transmission of the virus. While mathematical models of COVID-19 transmission have played important roles in evaluating the impacts of these measures for curbing virus transmission, a key need is for models that are able to effectively capture the effects of the spatial and social heterogeneities that drive the epidemic dynamics observed at the local community level.

Implementation of a Constipation Action Plan for Patients Discharged From a Pediatric Hospitalist Service.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a pharmacist-led constipation action plan on the rate of health care utilization.

Methods: We conducted a prospective research study of patients 2 to 18 years of age admitted to a pediatric hospitalist service for constipation. A study pharmacist developed a patient-specific constipation action plan for each enrolled patient.

Psychometric assessment of the Brief Weight-Loss-Related Behavior Self-Efficacy Survey in adults with prediabetes.

Self-efficacy is a commonly examined cognitive determinant of behavior change in weight-loss trials, but there has been little uniformity in its measurement. To address this, a recently developed survey captures self-efficacy as it relates to three behavioral domains of interest to weight-loss interventionists: physical activity (PA), healthful eating, and weight loss. The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Brief Weight-Loss-Related Behavior Self-Efficacy Scales in a large sample ( = 599) of adults with prediabetes.

Development of a Fast Organic Extraction-Precipitation Method for Improved Purification of Elastin-Like Polypeptides That Is Independent of Sequence and Molecular Weight.

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELP), an increasingly popular tag for protein purification, commonly rely upon inverse transition cycling (ITC) to exploit their lower critical solution temperature characteristics for purification. While considerably faster than chromatography, ITC is still time consuming and often fails to remove host cell contaminants to an acceptable level for in vivo experiments. Here, we present a rapid purification workflow for ELP of broadly varying molecular weight and sequence using a polar organic solvent extraction and precipitation strategy.

Effects of Health Behavior Interventions on Psychosocial Outcomes and Cortisol Regulation Among Chronically Stressed Midlife and Older Adults.

Background: Altered cortisol dynamics have been associated with increased risk for chronic health problems among midlife and older adults (≥ 45 years of age). Yet, studies investigating the impact of health behavior interventions on cortisol activity in this age group are limited.

Objective And Methods: The current study examined whether 48 midlife and older adults (50% family caregivers, 69% women) randomized to one of four telephone-based health behavior interventions (stress management (SM), exercise (EX), nutrition (NUT), or exercise plus nutrition (EX+NUT)) showed improvements in their perceived stress, mood, and cortisol dynamics at 4 months post-intervention.

Implementation of photographic triage in a paediatric dental, orthodontic, and maxillofacial department during COVID-19.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, limitations were placed on face-to-face encounters in dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) in order to promote physical distancing and reduce viral propagation. To facilitate continued assessment of dental, orthodontic, and maxillofacial emergencies, a photographic triage system was initiated at Alder Hey Children's Hospital (AHCH). We will discuss the benefits this system offers at a patient, clinician, departmental, and NHS service level.