Publications by authors named "Valenti K"

Cervical radicular pain following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a challenging condition, particularly in the presence of hardware complications. This case report discusses the successful use of a cervical interlaminar steroid injection to alleviate radicular pain in a patient who presented with a fractured screw following C6/7 ACDF. The patient's symptoms, treatment plan, and outcome are reviewed, highlighting the success of an interlaminar steroid injection in managing radicular pain until the patient could receive corrective surgery.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates how well electronic health records at UCHealth capture data on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) among older adults aged 55 and over from 2019 to 2022.
  • The analysis found that a staggering majority of SOGI data was missing, with 93% for sexual orientation and 96% for gender identity, leading to only 0.005% of older adults being identifiable as sexual or gender minorities.
  • The authors highlight the importance of improving SOGI data collection to better recognize and meet the healthcare needs of sexual and gender minority older adults, remarking that current estimates suggest they represent 7%-11% of the broader population.
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In goals of care conversations and through the care trajectory, to avoid insensitive or discriminatory care, it is vital clinicians recognize lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ patients' values and wishes. In clinical settings, implicit bias operating within unconscious awareness may challenge the commitment to equitable care, negatively affecting patient outcomes. In this composite case, during a conversation with a social worker/nurse team, a cisgender woman repeatedly expressed her wishes for her female partner to be her decision maker instead of her biological family.

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Purpose: For sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or any other sexual orientation or gender identity (LGBTQ+), the quality of palliative care can depend upon how clinicians view and communicate with this historically minoritized group. Prior literature has demonstrated that SGM patients access care at lower rates, and palliative care clinicians have suggested that SGM patients are more likely to experience discrimination than heterosexual patients. This study examined palliative care clinicians' perspectives and experiences regarding patient communication, care settings, the built environment, and inclusive care for SGM older adults with serious illness.

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Post-cross clamp late allocation (LA) liver allografts are at increased risk for discard for many reasons including logistical complexity. Nearest neighbor propensity score matching was used to match 2 standard allocation (SA) offers to every 1 LA liver offer performed at our center between 2015 and 2021. Propensity scores were based on a logistic regression model including recipient age, recipient sex, graft type (donation after circulatory death vs.

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Underserved Hispanic patients often experience unmet palliative care (PC) needs, particularly those with noncancer diagnoses such as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Most caregivers for Hispanic patients are family relatives who are less likely to use health care and community resources and experience high caregiver burden. We adapted a culturally tailored patient navigator (PN) intervention to provide support and improve PC outcomes for Hispanics with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and their family caregivers (FCGs).

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Objectives: Research with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older widows rarely focuses on familial relationships. Studies on heterosexual spousal bereavement indicate older widows face issues influencing identity but show resilience by maintaining close relationships with adult children and extended family. Though research with older LGB widows suggests similarities around loss and resilience, grief and family engagement are markedly different.

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Donation after circulatory death (DCD) liver transplantation (LT) outcomes have been attributed to multiple variables, including procurement surgeon recovery techniques. Outcomes of 196 DCD LTs at Mayo Clinic Arizona were analyzed based on graft recovery by a surgeon from our center (transplant procurement team [TPT]) versus a local procurement surgeon (non-TPT [NTPT]). A standard recovery technique was used for all TPT livers.

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Background: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) older women have unmet communication needs around palliative and end-of-life care. Past research has found communication differences for LGB women patients. Consequently, older LGB women may experience healthcare communication barriers around advance care planning.

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We examine the end-of-life (EOL) experiences, communications, and grief support during and after their loved one's death of older lesbian, gay, and bisexual women (LGB) ages 60 to 85 who have lost a spouse or partner. Queer gerontology was used as a theoretical framework, and descriptive qualitative analytical methods were used to discern themes. Through semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 16 participants, we identified two main themes: Gathering the Women and Compassionate Care.

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The rapid spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) confronts policy makers with the problem of measuring the effectiveness of containment strategies, balancing public health considerations with the economic costs of social distancing measures. We introduce a modified epidemic model that we name the controlled-SIR model, in which the disease reproduction rate evolves dynamically in response to political and societal reactions. An analytic solution is presented.

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Introduction: Older adults with cancer are at risk of developing depressive symptoms. However, little is known about the prevalence and predictors of depressive symptoms in older adults with cancer.

Materials And Methods: This study examined the prevalence and predictors of depressive symptoms among older adults with cancer in the United States using the data from the 2012 and 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study.

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Understanding end-of-life (EOL) and palliative care continues to grow. However, little attention has been paid to the experiences, preferences, and needs of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) women. While some universal expectations or preferences at EOL exist, this population may not receive adequate or appropriate attention or reporting of unique EOL issues and experiences.

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Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcome differences between patients receiving piperacillin-tazobactam pre- and post-implementation of an extended infusion dosing protocol in a community teaching hospital adult intensive care unit.

Methods: On December 19th, 2011, extended infusion dosing of piperacillin-tazobactam was implemented at St. John's Hospital's intensive and cardiac care units (ICU/CCU) following IRB-approval.

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Study Objective: The study objective is to assess changes in treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) after implementation of recommendations based on national guidelines and local resistance rates.

Methods: This preintervention and postintervention study included patients discharged home from the emergency department (ED) with an uncomplicated UTI at a 439-bed teaching hospital. Emergency department prescribers were educated on how local antimicrobial resistance rates impact UTI practice guidelines.

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The skin aging process, implying oxidative stress, is associated with specific gene expression. Ultraviolet A (UVA) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) both generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) making them relevant in the study of skin cell responses to oxidative stresses. To investigate transcript expression associated with chronological skin aging and its modulation by two oxidative stresses, cDNA micro-arrays, composed of a set of 81 expressed sequence tag (EST) clones, were used to probe the patterns of transcript expression in human fibroblasts of five young (< 21 years-old) and five older (> 50 years-old) healthy females at basal levels and 24 h after exposure to UVA (7 J/cm2) and H(2)O(2) (20 mM).

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While the toxicity of hexavalent chromium is well established, trivalent chromium is an essential nutrient involved in insulin and glucose homeostasis. To study the antioxidant effects of Cr(III)His, cDNA arrays were used to investigate the modulation of gene expression by trivalent chromium histidinate (Cr(III)His) in HaCaT human keratinocytes submitted to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Array was composed by a set of 81 expressed sequences tags (ESTs) essentially represented by antioxidant and DNA repair genes.

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Antioxidant activity of isorhamnetin 3-O neohesperidoside (I3ON), isolated from the leaves of Acacia salicina, was determined by the ability of this compound to inhibit lipid peroxidation and to protect against hydroxyl radical-induced DNA damage in pKS plasmid DNA and Escherichia coli cultures. Antigenotoxic activity was assessed by using the comet assay. The IC(50) value of the inhibitory activity toward lipid peroxidation by I3ON is 0.

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Zearalenone (Zen) is a fusarial mycotoxin commonly found in several food commodities worldwide. It is frequently implicated in reproductive disorders and exerts several genotoxic effects in vivo and in vitro. In response to DNA damage, cells may undergo an intricate network of different pathways including apoptosis.

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The total oligomers flavonoids (TOF), chloroform, petroleum ether and aqueous extracts from Acacia salicina, were investigated for the antioxidative, cytotoxic, antimutagenic and antigenotoxic activities. The viability of K562 cells were affected by all extracts after 48 h exposure. Our results showed that A.

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The ability of three Rhamnus alaternus leaves extracts on antigenotoxic and gene expression level effects was respectively investigated in a bacterial assay system, i.e. the SOS chromotest with Escherichia coli PQ37 and in human K562 lymphoblast cell line.

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In vitro antioxidant and antimutagenic activities of two polyphenols isolated from the fruits of Pistacia lentiscus was assessed. Antioxidant activity was determined by the ability of each compound to scavenge the free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH*), to inhibit xanthine oxidase and to inhibit the lipid peroxidation induced by H(2)O(2) in K562 cell line. Antimutagenic activity was assayed with SOS chromotest using Escherichia coli PQ37 as tester strain and Comet assay using K562 cell line.

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Introduction: To the request of total plasma homocysteine determination in the investigation of vascular disease, diagnosis of homocystinuria in young adult patients with mild phenotype is not so rare.

Exegesis: A 26-year-old man developed embolic cerebral infarction and a 22-year-old woman presented a right renal venous thrombosis one week after delivery. In each case, high concentration of total plasma homocysteine was first found and plasma and urinary amino acids analysis later on directed the diagnosis towards homocystinuria.

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Ageing is a multifactorial process in which reactive oxygen species (ROS) are thought to be implicated. ROS cause oxidative alterations on cell constituents, and damage accumulation can lead to mutations in DNA. Modulation of gene expression during ageing is now quite documented but results are often controversial and/or incomplete.

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