Safety of Same-Day Discharge after Bariatric Surgery: Retrospective 6-Year North American Analysis.

Background: With increasing implementation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols and rising demand for inpatient hospital beds accentuated by COVID-19, there has been interest in same-day discharge (SDD) for bariatric surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the national trends, safety profile, and risk factors for complications of SDD for minimally invasive bariatric surgery.

Study Design: We analyzed the MBSAQIP database from 2016 to 2021 to characterize trends in SDD for minimally invasive bariatric operation.

Quantifying the contribution of smear-negative, culture-positive pulmonary tuberculosis to nosocomial transmission.

Background: Despite current guidelines for tuberculosis (TB) control in health care settings, which focused on smear-positive cases, prevention of nosocomial TB transmission continues to be a challenge. Here, we report the results of the first hospital-wide prospective study applying interferon-gamma release assay to investigate the role of smear-negative, culture-positive index cases in nosocomial TB transmission.

Methods: We prospectively identified cases of culture-confirmed smear-negative pulmonary TB receiving aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) and cases of culture-confirmed smear-positive pulmonary TB admitted at a medical center.

Predicting long-term time to cardiovascular incidents using myocardial perfusion imaging and deep convolutional neural networks.

Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is a clinical tool which can assess the heart's perfusion status, thereby revealing impairments in patients' cardiac function. Within the MPI modality, the acquired three-dimensional signals are typically represented as a sequence of two-dimensional grayscale tomographic images. Here, we proposed an end-to-end survival training approach for processing gray-scale MPI tomograms to generate a risk score which reflects subsequent time to cardiovascular incidents, including cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and non-fatal ischemic stroke (collectively known as Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events; MACE) as well as Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).

Understanding ADC variation by fat content effect using a dual-function MRI phantom.

Background: A dual-function phantom designed to quantify the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in different fat contents (FCs) and glass bead densities (GBDs) to simulate the human tissues has not been documented yet. We propose a dual-function phantom to quantify the FC and to measure the ADC at different FCs and different GBDs.

Methods: A fat-containing diffusion phantom comprised by 30 glass-bead-containing fat-water emulsions consisting of six different FCs (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50%) multiplied by five different GBDs (0, 0.

Dyadic Investigation of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Daily Sleep Health in Patients With Cancer and Their Caregivers.

Objective: Cancer can be a traumatic experience affecting multidimensional aspects of sleep among patients and caregivers. This study examined the differential associations of cancer-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) with various sleep markers in this population.

Methods: Patients newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer ( n = 138, mean age = 56.

Effects of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol on sleep apnea: Insights from a rat model of cardiovascular autonomic dysregulation.

Introduction: The levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in plasma are important risk factors for coronary heart disease. Several reports suggest that elevated plasma cholesterol is associated with cardiac arrhythmias. In a subsequent study investigating LDL cholesterol levels and the frequency of LDL cholesterol measurements, a positive correlation was observed between the severity of sleep apnea and visit-to-visit LDL cholesterol variability.

Association of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors with the incidence of corneal diseases in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors revealed the protective function on various systemic diseases. This study aimed to determine whether the usage of SGLT2 inhibitors associates with incidences of superficial keratopathy and infectious keratitis in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. A retrospective cohort study with the usage of National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan was conducted.

Pharmacokinetic analysis of placental transfer of ritonavir as a component of paxlovid using microdialysis in pregnant rats.

Background: Ritonavir is one of the most potent CYP3A4 inhibitor currently on the market, and is often used together with other antiviral drugs to increase their bioavailability and efficacy. Paxlovid, consisting of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, was approved for the treatment of COVID-19. As previous studies regarding the use of ritonavir during pregnancy were limited to ex-vivo experiments and systemic safety data, to fully explore the detailed pharmacokinetics of ritonavir in pregnant rats' blood and conceptus, an analytical method consisted of multi-microdialysis coupled with UHPLC-MS/MS were developed to analyze the pharmacokinetics of ritonavir, both as a component of Paxlovid and by itself.

The clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine NRICM101 in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of NRICM101 in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Research Design And Methods: We conducted a retrospective study from 20 April 2021 to 8 July 2021, and evaluated the safety and outcomes (mortality, hospital stay, mechanical ventilation, oxygen support, diarrhea, serum potassium) in COVID-19 patients. Propensity score matching at a 1:2 ratio was performed to reduce confounding factors.

Factors Associated With Influenza Vaccination During Pregnancy: A Real-World Evidence-Based Study.

Pregnant women are at increased risk of influenza-related complications. However, the rate of influenza vaccination among pregnant women in Taiwan is low. By analyzing real-world data in this study, we investigated the factors associated with influenza vaccination during pregnancy in Taiwan.

Assessing Patient Perspectives on Pulmonary Telerehabilitation Using Thematic Analysis of Semi-Structured Qualitative Interviews.

The study was aimed at exploring patients' experiences after the completion of a 12-month pulmonary telerehabilitation (PR) program. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 COPD patients. The interviews were analyzed using a thematic approach to identify patterns and themes.

Machine Learning Approaches for Exercise Exertion Level Classification Using Data from Wearable Physiologic Monitors.

This research aimed to develop a model for real-time prediction of aerobic exercise exertion levels. ECG signals were registered during 16-minute cycling exercises. Perceived ratings of exertion (RPE) were collected each minute from the study participants.

Evaluating the applicability of ivabradine in acute heart failure.

Background: While ivabradine has demonstrated benefits in heart rate control and prognosis for chronic heart failure patients, its application in acute decompensated heart failure remains underexplored.

Hypothesis: For patients with acute decompensated heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who are intolerant to β-blockers or unable to further titrate their dosage, the use of ivabradine is hypothesized to be effective and safe is improving outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective, multicenter database analysis included patients with hospitalized decompensated heart failure with a left ventricular ejection fraction of ≤40% from June 1, 2015 to December 31, 2020.

Hesperetin activates CISD2 to attenuate senescence in human keratinocytes from an older person and rejuvenates naturally aged skin in mice.

Background: CDGSH iron-sulfur domain-containing protein 2 (CISD2), a pro-longevity gene, mediates healthspan in mammals. CISD2 is down-regulated during aging. Furthermore, a persistently high level of CISD2 promotes longevity and ameliorates an age-related skin phenotype in transgenic mice.

Glaucoma Animal Models beyond Chronic IOP Increase.

Glaucoma is a complex and multifactorial disease defined as the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons. Besides an elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), other mechanisms play a pivotal role in glaucoma onset and progression. For example, it is known that excitotoxicity, immunological alterations, ischemia, and oxidative stress contribute to the neurodegeneration in glaucoma disease.

Binary Classification with Imbalanced Data.

When the binary response variable contains an excess of zero counts, the data are imbalanced. Imbalanced data cause trouble for binary classification. To simplify the numerical computation to obtain the maximum likelihood estimators of the zero-inflated Bernoulli (ZIBer) model parameters with imbalanced data, an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is proposed to derive the maximum likelihood estimates of the model parameters.

The Association between Default-mode Network Functional Connectivity and Childhood Trauma on the Symptom Load in Male Adults with Methamphetamine Use Disorder.

Objective: : The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) has been shown in previous studies; nevertheless, the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. Childhood trauma is associated with aberrant functional connectivity (FC) within the default-mode network (DMN). Furthermore, within the DMN, FC may contribute to impaired self-awareness in addiction, while cross-network FC is critical for relapse.

Clinical advances in biological therapy for generalized pustular psoriasis: a review.

Introduction: In 2022, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first biologics, intravenous spesolimab, for acute flare of generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP).

Modification in the ascorbate-glutathione cycle leads to a better acclimation to high light in the rose Bengal resistant mutant of Nannochloropsis oceanica.

Understanding how to adapt outdoor cultures of Nannochloropsis oceanica to high light (HL) is vital for boosting productivity. The N. oceanica RB2 mutant, obtained via ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis, was chosen for its tolerance to Rose Bengal (RB), a singlet oxygen (O) generator.

Exercise Exertion Level Prediction Using Data from Wearable Physiologic Monitors.

This study aims to develop machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict exercise exertion levels using physiological parameters collected from wearable devices. Real-time ECG, oxygen saturation, pulse rate, and revolutions per minute (RPM) data were collected at three intensity levels during a 16-minute cycling exercise. Parallel to this, throughout each exercise session, the study subjects' ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were gathered once per minute.