Publications by authors named "Tom A"

Gender-affirming surgery is essential for transgender individuals seeking alignment between their physical appearance and gender identity. Metoidioplasty is a masculinizing option for those assigned female at birth and often includes vaginectomy, urethral lengthening, scrotoplasty, creation of a neophallus, and testicular prostheses, typically implanted during a second-stage procedure. We describe a 39-year-old transgender man who initially underwent a laparoscopic hysterectomy, metoidioplasty, and tubularized plate urethral lengthening 19 months earlier.

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Inflammation is a physiological condition that when unattended causes serious health concerns over the long term. Several phytocompounds have emerged as promising sources of anti-inflammatory agents. is a traditional medicine for inflammatory and toxicity insults; however, this has not been scientifically confirmed.

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Introduction: The complexity of managing patients with end-stage kidney disease on hemodialysis underscores the importance of implementing quality improvement (QI) initiatives to enhance patient safety and prioritize patient-centered care. To address this, we established a QI committee at our tertiary academic center focusing on evidence-based practices, patient-centered approaches, and cost efficiency. To facilitate the seamless implementation of QI initiatives, we leveraged the capabilities of our electronic medical record (EMR) system.

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Sensing and quantification of gas at low concentrations is of paramount importance, especially with highly flammable and explosive gases such as hydrogen. Standard gas sensing setups have a limit of measuring ultra-low concentrations of few parts per billion unless the external gas cylinders are changed to ones with low concentrations. In this work, we describe a home-built resistance based gas sensing setup that can sense across a wide concentration range, from parts per billion to parts per million, accurately.

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Maternal Parathyroid Hormone-related Protein (PTHrP) is involved in the placental transport of calcium. Autonomous overproduction of PTHrP is a rare cause of hypercalcemia in pregnancy. Prior cases of PTHrP-induced hypercalcemia in pregnancy have been managed with either dopamine agonists, fetal delivery, termination of pregnancy, or mastectomy.

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Malaria is an intracellular protozoan parasitic disease caused by Plasmodium species with significant morbidity and mortality in endemic regions. The complex lifecycle of the parasite and the emergence of drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum have hampered the efficacy of current anti-malarial agents. To circumvent this situation, the present study attempts to demonstrate the blood-stage anti-plasmodial action of 26 hybrid compounds containing the three privileged bioactive scaffolds (sulfonamide, chalcone, and nitro group) with synergistic and multitarget action.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze how erythropoietin is used in patients with end-stage renal disease and how factors like body weight and sex affect their response.
  • A total of 120 patients were reviewed, with different dosing regimens for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, and results showed that the once-weekly dose was significantly more effective than the others.
  • Higher body mass index (BMI) was linked to better responses to the therapy, while no significant difference was found between sexes regarding their response to treatment.
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Increased urbanization and population lead to increased consumption of manufactured goods. This ultimately results in increased production of waste. Identifying its composition is crucial for planning an effective solid waste management strategy.

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Background: Open bite is a common orthodontic malocclusion that can have functional and aesthetic implications. Traditional orthodontic treatments have been used to correct open bites, but the effectiveness of Invisalign, a clear aligner therapy, in open bite correction remains a topic of interest.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on a cohort of 50 patients with open bites who underwent Invisalign treatment.

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Introduction: With low COVID-19 vaccination coverage, non-pharmaceutical interventions were critical to mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in Sudan. We explored changes in social contact patterns, risk perception, attitudes, and practices toward protective measures during an evolving COVID-19 outbreak in six illustrative communities in Sudan.

Methods: This qualitative study took place in six communities in five Sudanese states using focus group discussions with community members and non-participant structured observations in public spaces between March 2021 and April 2021.

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To produce a qualitative description of the impact of moral injury on medical providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A convergent mixed-methods study design was used to explore experiences of health care workers during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed the Moral Injury Symptom Scale-HP (MISS-HP) and a 60-minute interview, in which they described their work experiences from March 2020 through January 2021.

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The usage and disposal of highly abundant single-use and multilayered plastics contribute to significant ecological problems. The thermochemical recovery of these plastics to useful products and chemicals provides opportunity for positive economic and environmental impacts. Most previous research use idealised and unrepresentative feedstocks.

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Leishmaniasis transmission cycles are maintained and sustained in nature by the complex crosstalk of the Leishmania parasite, sandfly vector, and the mammalian hosts (human, as well as zoonotic reservoirs). Regardless of the vast research on human host-parasite interaction, there persists a substantial knowledge gap on the parasite's development and modulation in the vector component. This review focuses on some of the intriguing aspects of the Leishmania-sandfly interface, beginning with the uptake of the intracellular amastigotes from an infected host to the development of the parasite within the sandfly's alimentary canal, followed by the transmission of infective metacyclic stages to another potential host.

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Plant secondary metabolites are important sources of biologically active compounds with wide pharmacological potentials. Among the different classes, the chalcones form integral pharmacologically active agents. Natural chalcones and bis-chalcones exhibit high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in various experiments.

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Background: Internet addiction is an emergent health hazard among adolescents, especially after COVID19. Parenting factors in a family environment specifically, have potential roles in either causing excessive internet usage, or in protecting teenagers from internet addiction.

Aim: The aim of the study was to understand factors in parent-adolescent relationship that determine low and excessive internet usage.

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Background: Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are immune-modulating medications used to treat conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, COVID-19, ulcerative colitis, atopic dermatitis, myelofibrosis, and polycythemia Vera. However, these medications have been associated with higher incidence of deep vein thrombosis. The objective of this study was to investigate potential safety signals for DVT associated with JAK inhibitors using disproportionality analysis from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database.

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ZnO is a widely studied gas sensor material and is used in many commercial sensor devices. However, selectivity towards any particular gas remains an issue due to lack of complete knowledge of the gas sensing mechanism of oxide surfaces. In this paper, we have studied the frequency dependent gas sensor response of ZnO nanoparticles of a diameter of nearly 30 nm.

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Current therapeutic strategies for treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) have failed to alleviate liver fibrosis, which is a devastating feature leading to hepatic dysfunction. Here, we integrated single-nucleus transcriptomics and epigenomics to characterize all major liver cell types during NASH development in mice and humans. The bifurcation of hepatocyte trajectory with NASH progression was conserved between mice and humans.

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Extravasation of chemotherapeutic agents from a peripheral cannula is a known problem, and to prevent that, oncology units use central vein access with indwelling catheters such as port-a-cath or Hickman catheter. The intrapleural extravasation of chemotherapeutic agents is a rare event. We describe a 9-year-old girl with newly diagnosed Ewing's sarcoma of the left upper humerus receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy through a newly inserted port-a-cath device.

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Background: Port-a-cath is a type of indwelling central venous catheter used to manage pediatric patients who require long-term intravenous therapy.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to improve the care and maintenance of port-a-cath among the nursing staff by introducing a care bundle.

Materials And Methods: Pretraining and posttraining designs using PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluated oral health practices and the prevalence of dental caries and periodontal disease in the transgender community in Belagavi.
  • A sample of 180 participants showed a high prevalence of dental caries (72.2%) and periodontal disease (92.2%), with significant relationships found between oral hygiene practices and dental health.
  • The findings suggest that improving oral hygiene and health promotion is crucial for the transgender population and may guide dentists in better serving this community.
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Objectives: Because physicians' decisions drive health care costs and quality, there is growing interest in applying behavioral economics approaches, including behavioral nudges, to influence physicians' decisions. This paper investigates adoption of behavioral nudges by health system-affiliated physician organizations (POs), types of nudges being used, PO leader perceptions of nudge effectiveness, and implementation challenges.

Study Design: Mixed-methods study design (PO leader survey followed by in-depth qualitative interviews).

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