Identifying Predictors of Prolonged Levothyroxine Dose Adjustment After Thyroidectomy.

Background: Levothyroxine (LT4) is one of the most prescribed drugs in the United States; however, many patients started on LT4 after thyroidectomy suffer from symptoms of hyper- or hypo-thyroidism before achieving euthyroidism. This study aims to describe the time required for dose adjustment before achieving euthyroidism and identify predictors of prolonged dose adjustment (PDA+) after thyroidectomy.

Methods: This is a single institution retrospective cohort study of patients who achieved euthyroidism with LT4 therapy between 2008 and 2017 after total or completion thyroidectomy for benign disease.

Identification and Characterization of a Phase-Variable Element That Regulates the Autotransporter UpaE in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Uropathogenic (UPEC) is the most common etiologic agent of uncomplicated urinary tract infection (UTI). An important mechanism of gene regulation in UPEC is phase variation that involves inversion of a promoter-containing DNA element via enzymatic activity of tyrosine recombinases, resulting in biphasic, ON or OFF expression of target genes. The UPEC reference strain CFT073 has five tyrosine site-specific recombinases that function at two previously characterized promoter inversion systems, and Three of the five recombinases are located proximally to their cognate target elements, which is typical of promoter inversion systems.