Eukaryotic composition across seasons and social groups in the gut microbiota of wild baboons.

Background: Animals coexist with complex microbiota, including bacteria, viruses, and eukaryotes (e.g., fungi, protists, and helminths).

Chest Wall Injury Society recommendations for long-term follow-up after nonoperatively and operatively managed traumatic rib and sternal fractures.

Therapeutic/Care Management; Level IV.

A yeast-based oral therapeutic delivers immune checkpoint inhibitors to reduce intestinal tumor burden.

Engineered probiotics are an emerging platform for in situ delivery of therapeutics to the gut. Herein, we developed an orally administered, yeast-based therapeutic delivery system to deliver next-generation immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) proteins directly to gastrointestinal tumors. We engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae var.

Characterizing the propagation evolution of optical vortex lattices in astigmatic transformations of frequency-doubled laser modes.

We develop a wave representation to characterize the propagation evolution of vortex lattice beams, which are produced through a frequency-doubling process of various high-order laser modes, followed by mode conversion. Their phase fields and phase gradients are further analyzed to verify the topological charge for each isolated vortex, as well as the symmetry and net charges of the vortex lattices. In the experiment, we demonstrate the generation of frequency-doubled high-order modes by utilizing an off-center pumped solid-state laser combined with intracavity second-harmonic generation.

In the shoes of junior doctors: a qualitative exploration of job performance using the job-demands resources model.

Background: This qualitative study aimed to explore the factors affecting job performance amongst junior doctors working for public healthcare institutions in Singapore. Within these institutions, junior doctors experience challenges with maintaining a balance in job demands and resources, leading to strain. Exploring the lived experiences of these junior doctors is essential when reviewing workplace and organizational factors that contribute to stress on an individual level, providing valuable insights to address these challenges effectively.

Low Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Levels During Maintenance Phase Are Associated With Treatment Failure in Children With Crohn's Disease.

Background: Higher drug levels and combination therapy with low-dose oral methotrexate (LD-MTX) may reduce anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) treatment failure in pediatric Crohn's disease. We sought to (1) evaluate whether combination therapy with LD-MTX was associated with higher anti-TNF levels, (2) evaluate associations between anti-TNF levels and subsequent treatment failure, and (3) explore the effect of combination therapy on maintenance of remission among patients with therapeutic drug levels (>5 µg/mL for infliximab and >7.5 µg/mL for adalimumab).

Trends in Industry Payments to Dermatologists: A 5-Year Analysis of Open Payments Data (2017-2021).

Financial relationships between dermatologists and industry are prevalent and may have implications for patient care. To analyze reported industry payments made to dermatologists, we performed a retrospective analysis of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments database (OPD) from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2021. During this 5-year period, a total of $278 million in industry payments were made to dermatologists.

Proteomic Characterization of Transfusable Blood Components: Fresh Frozen Plasma, Cryoprecipitate, and Derived Extracellular Vesicles via Data-Independent Mass Spectrometry.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a heterogeneous collection of particles that play a crucial role in cell-to-cell communication, primarily due to their ability to transport molecules, such as proteins. Thus, profiling EV-associated proteins offers insight into their biological effects. EVs can be isolated from various biological fluids, including donor blood components such as cryoprecipitate and fresh frozen plasma (FFP).

Re-evaluating the relationship between female social bonds and infant survival in wild baboons.

Over the past few decades studies have provided strong evidence that the robust links between the social environment, health, and survival found in humans also extend to non-human social animals. A number of these studies emphasize the early life origins of these effects. For example, in several social mammals, more socially engaged mothers have infants with higher rates of survival compared to less socially engaged mothers, suggesting that positive maternal social relationships causally improve offspring survival.

Travel Time to Treating Center is Associated With Diagnostic Delay in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background & Aims: Delayed diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) leads to prolonged symptoms and worse long-term outcomes. We sought to evaluate whether race, ethnicity, disease type, and social factors are associated with delayed diagnosis of pediatric IBD.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of newly diagnosed pediatric patients with IBD at 22 United States sites from 2019 to 2022.

Glycaemic control and microvascular complications among paediatric type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Hong Kong at 2 years after diagnosis.

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is becoming increasingly common among children and adolescents worldwide, including those in Hong Kong. This study analysed the characteristics and prevalence of microvascular complications among paediatric T2DM patients in Hong Kong at diagnosis and 2 years after diagnosis.

Methods: All patients aged <18 years who had been diagnosed with DM at public hospitals in Hong Kong were recruited into the Hong Kong Childhood Diabetes Registry.

Putting Traits Associated with Effective Medical Leadership into Action: Support for a Faculty Development Strategy.

Leadership development is essential to the well-being of medical organizations, but leadership concepts do not easily translate into skills or actions. The Mayo Leadership Behavior Index (Leader Index), a validated instrument describing eight leadership traits associated with constituent well-being, can serve as a guide. The authors analyzed narratives from a qualitative study of senior medical leaders describing successful leadership behaviors to see how the tenets of the Leader Index can be applied.

Social and environmental predictors of gut microbiome age in wild baboons.

Mammalian gut microbiomes are highly dynamic communities that shape and are shaped by host aging, including age-related changes to host immunity, metabolism, and behavior. As such, gut microbial composition may provide valuable information on host biological age. Here we test this idea by creating a microbiome-based age predictor using 13,563 gut microbial profiles from 479 wild baboons collected over 14 years.

Performance of Large Language Models in Patient Complaint Resolution: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background: Patient complaints are a perennial challenge faced by health care institutions globally, requiring extensive time and effort from health care workers. Despite these efforts, patient dissatisfaction remains high. Recent studies on the use of large language models (LLMs) such as the GPT models developed by OpenAI in the health care sector have shown great promise, with the ability to provide more detailed and empathetic responses as compared to physicians.

Use of a large language model with instruction-tuning for reliable clinical frailty scoring.

Background: Frailty is an important predictor of health outcomes, characterized by increased vulnerability due to physiological decline. The Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) is commonly used for frailty assessment but may be influenced by rater bias. Use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly Large Language Models (LLMs) offers a promising method for efficient and reliable frailty scoring.

Effects of red blood cell transfusion on patients undergoing cardiac surgery in Queensland - a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Packed red blood cell (pRBC) transfusion is a relatively safe and mainstay treatment commonly used in cardiac surgical patients. However, there is limited evidence on clinical effects of transfusing blood nearing end-of shelf life that has undergone biochemical changes during storage.

Objective: To investigate evidence of associations between morbidity/mortality and transfusion of blood near end of shelf-life (> 35 days) in cardiac surgical patients.