Effect of an In-Home Palivizumab Administration Program for Children with Medical Complexity.

Background: In-home palivizumab administration programs (PH) have shown promise in reducing RSV-associated infections. These programs may be particularly beneficial for children with medical complexity (CMC) by limiting their exposure to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) from non-RSV-related pathogens during transportation and visits to medical facilities.

Methods: In this prospective study, 41 children with CMC less than 2 years of age were randomized by their health insurance to receive PH or in the clinic (PC) during the RSV season (October 2018-April 2019).

Zoom & WhatsApp Digital Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Enhance Community Engaged Research with Women Immigrants from Mexico.

This article demonstrates how digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) (Zoom/WhatsApp) unexpectedly and counterintuitively proved to be valuable tools for community-engaged health research when, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were integrated into a research study testing a peer support group intervention with female immigrants from Mexico. Because of pandemic restrictions, we changed the study protocol to hold meetings remotely via Zoom rather than in person as originally planned. Because we recognized that this would lack some opportunities for participants to interact and develop relationships, we created a WhatsApp chat for each group.

Comparison of traditional regression modeling vs. AI modeling for the prediction of dental caries: a secondary data analysis.

Introduction: There are substantial gaps in our understanding of dental caries in primary and permanent dentition and various predictors using newer modeling methods such as Machine Learning (ML) algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The objective of this study is to compare the accuracy, precision, and differences between the caries predictive capability of AI vs. traditional multivariable regression techniques.

Prospective study for the early detection of lung carcinoma in patients with HIV infection (GESIDA study 8815).

Introduction: Lung cancer (LC) screening detects tumors early. The prospective GESIDA 8815 study was designed to assess the usefulness of this strategy in HIV + people (PLHIV) by performing a low-radiation computed tomography (CT) scan.

Patients And Methods: 371 heavy smokers patients were included (>20 packs/year), >45 years old and with a CD4+ <200 mm nadir.

Advancing Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring With Human Reflexes.

Human reflexes are simple motor responses that are automatically elicited by various sensory inputs. These reflexes can provide valuable insights into the functioning of the nervous system, particularly the brainstem and spinal cord. Reflexes involving the brainstem, such as the blink reflex, laryngeal adductor reflex, trigeminal hypoglossal reflex, and masseter H reflex, offer immediate information about the cranial-nerve functionality and the overall state of the brainstem.

The blink reflex and its modulation - Part 1: Physiological mechanisms.

The blink reflex (BR) is a protective eye-closure reflex mediated by brainstem circuits. The BR is usually evoked by electrical supraorbital nerve stimulation but can be elicited by a variety of sensory modalities. It has a long history in clinical neurophysiology practice.

Differential impact on motor unit characteristics across severities of adult spinal muscular atrophy.

Objective: To test the hypotheses that decomposition electromyography (dEMG) motor unit action potential (MUAP) amplitude and firing rate are altered in SMA; dEMG parameters are associated with strength and function; dEMG parameters are correlated with traditional electrophysiological assessments.

Methods: Ambulatory and non-ambulatory adults with SMA on nusinersen and healthy controls were enrolled. MUAPs were decomposed from multielectrode surface recordings during 30-s maximum contraction of the abductor digiti minimi (ADM).

Our voices, our lives: Unforeseen stories after the violence and opening the door to becoming whole again.

We are a group of 11 women in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Nine of us are immigrants from Mexico. One of us is from an immigrant household.

Enhancing an AI-Empowered Periodontal CDSS and Comparing with Traditional Perio-risk Assessment Tools.

Periodontal disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent dental diseases. Fortunately, it can be prevented if identified early, especially for high-risk patients. Dental electronic health records (EHRs) could help develop a data-driven personalized prediction model using advanced machine learning development of clinical decision support system (CDSS) as in our Phase I, II AMIA-AI showcase.

Emotional distress and risk of dental caries: Evaluating effect modification by chronic conditions among low-income African American caregivers in Detroit, Michigan.

Background/aim: Limited research has been conducted regarding the association between mental illness and dental caries. We studied the impact of emotional distress on current and new dental caries among low-income African-American caregivers in Detroit, Michigan and if this association was mediated by poor oral hygiene and sugar consumption and modified by a chronic health condition.

Methods: Data came from Detroit Dental Health Project, a prospective cohort study of low-income African American caregivers and their children.

Psychometric evaluation of modified spinal muscular atrophy functional rating scale (SMAFRS) in adult patients using Rasch analysis.

Introduction/aims: The Spinal Muscular Atrophy Functional Rating Scale (SMAFRS) was first developed as a secondary functional outcome measure to detect changes over time in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in clinical trials. Its modified version evaluates 10 activities of daily living. The aim of the study was to analyze modified SMAFRS data using item response theory psychometric models.

Continuous intraoperative neuromonitoring of the recurrent laryngeal nerve by eliciting the laryngeal adductor reflex (LAR-CIONM).

The laryngeal adductor reflex (LAR) is a life-sustaining airway protective mechanism that serves to shield the lower airways from inhaled foreign bodies. Over the past half century, the LAR has been extensively investigated and its dysfunction has been linked to far-ranging pathologies, from dysphagia to sudden infant death syndrome. Over the past 6 years, specific electromyographic waves in the LAR response have been used to devise a methodology for monitoring the vagus and recurrently laryngeal nerves during surgical procedures.

Developing Automated Computer Algorithms to Phenotype Periodontal Disease Diagnoses in Electronic Dental Records.

Objective: Our objective was to phenotype periodontal disease (PD) diagnoses from three different sections (diagnosis codes, clinical notes, and periodontal charting) of the electronic dental records (EDR) by developing two automated computer algorithms.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study using EDR data of patients ( = 27,138) who received care at Temple University Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry from January 1, 2017 to August 31, 2021.

Developing and testing a prediction model for periodontal disease using machine learning and big electronic dental record data.

Despite advances in periodontal disease (PD) research and periodontal treatments, 42% of the US population suffer from periodontitis. PD can be prevented if high-risk patients are identified early to provide preventive care. Prediction models can help assess risk for PD before initiation and progression; nevertheless, utilization of existing PD prediction models is seldom because of their suboptimal performance.

Median nerve somatosensory evoked potential alarm related to head and neck positioning for carotid surgery.

Head positioning in carotid surgery represents an often overlooked but sensitive period in the surgical plan. A 53-year-old male presented a significant decrement in median nerve somatosensory evoked potential (mSEP) following head and neck positioning for carotid pseudoaneurysm repair before skin incision.Neurophysiological monitoring was performed with mSEP and electroencephalography early during the patient's preparation and surgery.

The birth of a Ministry of Public Health in Colombia, 1946-1953: Cold War, invisible government and asymmetrical interdependence.

This article studies the shift from a Ministry of Hygiene in Colombia to a Ministry of Public Health, from 1946 to 1953. This was not only a new name for the ministry, but a transitional process from government policies based on European public hygiene towards institutionalizing the North American model of public health. The process involved negotiations between local government representatives and the Currie Mission, which was sent to Colombia by the Inter-American Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Inter-American Cooperative Health Service.

A Study of a Culturally and Contextually Situated Multimedia Approach to Recruit a Hard-to-Reach Spanish-Speaking Population for a Randomized Control Trial (RCT).

Study designs involving randomization can be difficult to communicate to participants, especially those with low literacy. The literature on strategies to explain research concepts is limited, especially for non-English speakers. We measured the effectiveness of a culturally and contextually situated multimedia approach to recruit a cohort of 60 female Mexican immigrants (FMI) to a randomized control trial (RCT) to reduce social isolation and depression.

Unexpected median SEPs fluctuations during brain cavernous malformation resection with no post-operative deficit.

Median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) may present changes during cavernous malformation (CM) resection unrelated to new post-operative sensory deficits. We performed intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring of median SEPs (m-SEPs) in three patients who underwent CM resection (surgery) near the sensory-motor cortex. The only preoperative clinical manifestations in all patients were seizures.

Methodology for eliciting the brainstem trigeminal-hypoglossal reflex in humans under general anesthesia.

Objective: Brainstem trigeminal-hypoglossal reflexes (THRs), also known as the jaw-tongue reflexes, coordinate the position of the tongue in the mouth in relation to the jaw movement during oromotor behaviors such as mastication, swallowing, vocalization, and breathing. Their use in brainstem surgery however, has never been assessed in spite of its potential benefit possibly due to the lack of a methodology to elicit these reflexes under general anesthesia.

Methods: We proposed a technique to elicit the THRs during total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) consisting on a V3 infrazygomatic train stimulation paradigm and recording from the Styloglossus (31 patients) and the Genioglossus (21 patients) muscles to elicit long latency responses.

Secretion and uptake of copper via a small copper carrier in blood fluid.

Studies with Wilson disease model mice that accumulate excessive copper, due to a dysfunctional ATP7B "copper pump" resulting in decreased biliary excretion, showed that the compensatory increase in urinary copper loss was due to a small copper carrier (∼1 kDa) (SCC). We show here that SCC is also present in the blood plasma of normal and Wilson disease model mice and dogs, as determined by ultrafiltration and size exclusion chromatography (SEC). It is secreted by cultured hepatic and enterocytic cells, as determined by pretreatment with 67Cu nitrilotriacetate (NTA) or nonradioactive 5-10 μM Cu-NTA, and collecting and examining 3 kDa ultrafiltrates of the conditioned media, where a single major copper peak is detected by SEC.