Publications by authors named "Toma J"

A Chance fracture, also known as a "seatbelt fracture," is "an unstable spinal injury that usually occurs at the thoracolumbar junction. Complications of a Chance fracture include spinal cord injury, neurological deficits, and long-term functional impairment if not promptly identified and treated. In this case report, we present the case of a 13-year-old patient who sustained a Chance fracture following a 30-foot vertical fall, an atypical mechanism of injury.

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Purpose: To evaluate the risk of zonular dialysis (ZD) in fellow eye phacoemulsification cataract surgery and to identify risk factors, including prior first eye ZD.

Setting: 8 United Kingdom National Health Service clinical centers.

Design: Retrospective database study.

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Purpose: To compare the visual outcomes, rate of cystoid macular edema (CME), and additional associated complications in eyes that exhibited zonular dialysis (ZD) during phacoemulsification to a reference group of uneventful phacoemulsification eyes.

Methods: A retrospective multicenter comparative database study. We pooled data from 8 United Kingdom sites between 2003 and 2015.

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Purpose: To quantify the risk of posterior capsule rupture (PCR) in fellow-eye phacoemulsification surgery and to determine risk factors.

Methods: We pooled data from 8 United Kingdom sites for patients undergoing bilateral non-simultaneous phacoemulsification. Main outcome measures were the incidence and risk factors of the development of PCR during the fellow-eye phacoemulsification.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study examined and compared intraoperative complications and visual outcomes between combined phacovitrectomy (Phaco-PPV) and stand-alone phacoemulsification surgeries across eight ophthalmology centers in the UK from January 2000 to May 2015.
  • - Results showed that the Phaco-PPV group experienced significantly higher rates of complications like posterior capsule rupture, dropped lens fragments, suprachoroidal hemorrhage, and cystoid macular edema compared to the stand-alone group.
  • - Patients in the Phaco-PPV group also had worse preoperative and postoperative visual acuity, indicating that this combined surgery may be less favorable in terms of visual outcomes.
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Purpose: This study assesses the effectiveness and safety of using Ologen implants (Aeon Astron Europe BV, Leiden, The Netherlands) as an adjunctive therapy in childhood glaucoma surgeries.

Methods: We systematically reviewed the existing literature across various electronic databases to examine the effectiveness and safety of Ologen implants in childhood glaucoma surgeries.

Results: Our analysis encompassed 14 studies on the use of Ologen implants in childhood glaucoma.

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Objective: A significant proportion of patients with advanced heart failure present with dilated left ventricles and functional mitral regurgitation. These patients currently have limited treatment options. The MitraClip device (Abbott) has benefited only patients with smaller left ventricles (end-diastolic dimension <70 mm), whereas those with larger left ventricles did not benefit.

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Article Synopsis
  • iNK T cells (Type I) play a crucial role in the immune system by producing pro-inflammatory cytokines, triggering a systemic immune response.
  • They have a unique semi-invariant T-cell receptor that recognizes specific glycolipid antigens presented by the CD1d protein, which shares similarities with class I MHC proteins.
  • Recent research found that two diacylglycerol-containing glycolipids from Streptococcus pneumoniae, previously thought to activate iNKT cells, actually do not and may have been mistakenly reported due to an impurity in the samples.
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Background: Mouthguard (MG) disinfectant sprays are available for maintaining MG hygiene. The effect of these sprays against is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effect of an MG disinfectant spray against using the modified ISO 22196 standard.

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Introduction: Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) affects most patients with chronic shoulder pain. Dry needling (DN) is a common treatment for MPS, but its temporal pattern and sensory effects remain unknown.

Objectives: We evaluated in a randomized, sham-controlled study the pattern of analgesic efficacy and local sensory changes of a single session of DN for MPS in patients with chronic shoulder pain.

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Objectives: To evaluate the ability of different esthetic archwires to retain oral biofilms in vitro.

Materials And Methods: Seven different brands of coated orthodontic archwires were tested: two epoxy coated, two polytetrafluoroethylene coated, two rhodium coated, and one silver plus polymer coated. Conventional uncoated metallic archwires were used as controls.

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The unfolded protein response (UPR) is activated in pancreatic pathologies and suggested as a target for therapeutic intervention. In this study, we examined activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), a mediator of the UPR that promotes acinar-to-ductal metaplasia (ADM) in response to pancreatic injury. Since ADM is an initial step in the progression to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), we hypothesized that ATF3 is required for initiation and progression of PDAC.

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Introduction: Zolpidem has gained popularity as a pharmaceutical therapy for insomnia, being the most prescribed hypnotic in the United States today. However, it is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Literature regarding zolpidem use in the total knee arthroplasty (TKA) population is limited.

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Background: Pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) is a condition affecting larger joints such as the hip and knee. Little is known regarding the impact of PVNS on total hip arthroplasty (THA). Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine if patients with PVNS of the hip undergoing primary THA experience greater (1) in-hospital lengths of stay (LOS); (2) complications; (3) readmission rates; and (4) costs.

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In an era when the costs of surgical care are becoming increasingly scrutinized, the introduction of new technologies that may improve clinical outcomes can be limited due to economic constraints. Thus, bundled care payment models have emerged to reduce costs, improve outcomes and increase overall value. Since a bundle is a single reimbursement per episode of care that includes the surgical costs, as well as postoperative care and rehabilitation, cost savings are generally achieved through a reduction of services, complications and/or materials used.

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Background: Evidence supports establishing a continuum of care from stroke rehabilitation (SR) to cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRPs). It is not known to what extent people poststroke are being integrated. This study aimed to determine the proportion of CRPs that accept referrals poststroke, barriers/facilitators, and eligibility criteria.

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Peripheral nerves provide a supportive growth environment for developing and regenerating axons and are essential for maintenance and repair of many non-neural tissues. This capacity has largely been ascribed to paracrine factors secreted by nerve-resident Schwann cells. Here, we used single-cell transcriptional profiling to identify ligands made by different injured rodent nerve cell types and have combined this with cell-surface mass spectrometry to computationally model potential paracrine interactions with peripheral neurons.

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The ca. 1.9 Ga Beaverlodge Lake paleosol was studied using redox-sensitive Cr isotopes in order to determine the isotopic response to paleoweathering of a rhyodacite parent rock 500 million years after the Great Oxidation Event.

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Detailed clonal phenotypic/genotypic analyses explored viral-escape mechanisms during maraviroc-based therapy in highly treatment-experienced participants from the MOTIVATE trials. To allow real-time assessment of samples while maintaining a blind trial, the first 267 enrolled participants were selected for evaluation. At failure, plasma samples from 20/50 participants (16/20 maraviroc-treated) with CXCR4-using virus and all 38 (13 maraviroc-treated) with CCR5-tropic virus were evaluated.

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Peripheral innervation plays an important role in regulating tissue repair and regeneration. Here we provide evidence that injured peripheral nerves provide a reservoir of mesenchymal precursor cells that can directly contribute to murine digit tip regeneration and skin repair. In particular, using single-cell RNA sequencing and lineage tracing, we identify transcriptionally distinct mesenchymal cell populations within the control and injured adult nerve, including neural crest-derived cells in the endoneurium with characteristics of mesenchymal precursor cells.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop rapid computational methods for identifying the site of origin of ventricular activation from the 12-lead electrocardiogram.

Background: Catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia in patients with structural heart disease frequently relies on a substrate-based approach, which may use pace mapping guided by body-surface electrocardiography to identify culprit exit sites.

Methods: Patients undergoing ablation of scar-related VT (n = 38) had 12-lead electrocardiograms recorded during pacing at left ventricular endocardial sites (n = 1,012) identified on 3-dimensional electroanatomic maps and registered to a generic left ventricular endocardial surface divided into 16 segments and tessellated into 238 triangles; electrocardiographic data were reduced for each lead to 1 variable, consisting of QRS time integral.

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