Associations Between Eating, Mobility, and Toileting Functional Dependence and COVID-19 Symptoms.

Objectives: The first goal of this study was to explore associations between functional dependence levels during activities of daily living (eg, functional mobility, eating, and toileting) before COVID-19 and presence of COVID-19 symptoms (eg, fever, dehydration, lethargy, and shortness of breath) during illness. The second goal of this study was to explore associations between presence of specific COVID-19 symptoms and level of functional decline from before to after illness.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

The effect of trunk and shank position on the hip-to-knee moment ratio in a bilateral squat.

Objectives: The effect of knee position on joint moments during squats has been studied; however, the effect of trunk angle has been less well investigated. This study evaluated the effect of both trunk and knee sagittal plane position on the distribution of moments between the hip and knee extensors during the bilateral squat.

Design: Observational study.

Predictive Ability of Pressure-Corrected Arterial Stiffness Indices: Comparison of Pulse Wave Velocity, Cardio-Ankle Vascular Index (CAVI), and CAVI0.

Background: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is blood pressure (BP) dependent, leading to the development of the BP-corrected metrics cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) and CAVI0. We aimed to assess risk prediction by heart-to-ankle PWV (haPWV), CAVI, and CAVI0 in a US population.

Methods: We included 154 subjects (94.

Impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

COPD often coexists with HFpEF, but its impact on cardiovascular structure and function in HFpEF is incompletely understood. We aimed to compare cardiovascular phenotypes in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF), or both. We studied 159 subjects with COPD alone (n = 48), HFpEF alone (n = 79) and HFpEF + COPD (n = 32).

Effect of Sickle Cell Anemia Therapies on the Natural History of Growth and Puberty Patterns.

As pediatric patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) have impaired growth and puberty patterns, we studied the effect of disease-modifying therapies on growth and puberty patterns for patients with SCA receiving hydroxyurea (HU), transfusions, or no therapy. We performed a retrospective study of children with SCA in whom anthropometric measurements and therapy type were recorded. Penalized smoothing splines were fitted to estimate growth curves and growth velocity, and linear mixed models were used to examine differences across treatment groups.

Primary membranous nephropathy: comprehensive review and historical perspective.

Membranous nephropathy (MN) is the most common cause of nephrotic syndrome in non-diabetic Caucasian adults over 40 years of age. It has an estimated incidence of 8-10 cases per 1 million. Fifty per cent of patients diagnosed with primary MN continue to have nephrotic syndrome and 30% of patients may progress to end-stage renal disease over 10 years.

Red blood cell transfusion therapy for sickle cell patients with frequent painful events.

Background: Recurrent pain events or chronic pain are among the most common complications of sickle cell disease. Despite attempts to maximize adherence to and dosing of hydroxyurea, some patients continue to suffer from pain. Our institution developed a program to initiate chronic red blood cell transfusions for one year in patients clinically deemed to have high healthcare utilization from sickle cell pain, despite being prescribed hydroxyurea.

Outcomes in Mild to Moderate Isolated Thrombocytopenia.

Objectives: Incidental isolated mild to moderate thrombocytopenia is a frequent laboratory finding prompting a referral to pediatric hematology-oncology. We tested the hypothesis that patients with isolated asymptomatic mild thrombocytopenia would not progress to require an intervention from a pediatric hematologist-oncologist.

Methods: This is a 5-year retrospective review of 113 patients referred to pediatric hematology-oncology for isolated thrombocytopenia.

An activity canyon characterization of the pharmacological topography.

Background: Highly chemically similar drugs usually possess similar biological activities, but sometimes, small changes in chemistry can result in a large difference in biological effects. Chemically similar drug pairs that show extreme deviations in activity represent distinctive drug interactions having important implications. These associations between chemical and biological similarity are studied as discontinuities in activity landscapes.

Correlation Between Stereoacuity and Experimentally Induced Graded Monocular and Binocular Astigmatism.

Introduction: Stereopsis, the highest grade of binocular single vision, is affected by various factors, such as mis-alignment of visual axes, refractive errors especially anisometropia and astigmatism, both of which may result in amblyopia. There are very few studies in literature regarding the relationship between stereoacuity and refractive errors, especially astigmatism.

Aim: The present study was conducted to determine the correlation between stereoacuity and experimentally induced graded astigmatism in emmetropes.

Periorbital Dirofilariasis: A Rare Case from Western India.

Dirofilariasis is a zoonotic disease caused commonly by Dirofilaria repens and Dirofilaria immitus. The definitive hosts are domestic dogs and cats. Human beings are accidental dead end hosts, and acquire infestation through mosquito bites.

A Case of Lingual Thyroid Presenting with Severe Hematemesis in Pregnancy.

Lingual thyroid is a rare anomaly with symptoms such as upper airway obstruction, dysphagia, or hypothyroidism. However, bleeding is a very rare manifestation. This report describes a case of lingual thyroid in women with 28 weeks of amenorrhea and hematemesis, and its course of diagnosis and treatment.

Pseudoaneurysm of anomalous cystic artery due to calculous cholecystitis.

Pseudoaneurysm of the cystic artery is a rare cause of haemobilia resulting from either an inflammatory process in the abdomen or abdominal trauma. We report a case of a patient with chronic calculous cholecystitis associated with a pseudoaneurysm arising from an anomalous cystic artery who presented with haemobilia. The patient was managed successfully with multimodality treatment that included angioembolisation of the pseudoaneurysm and stenting of the common bile duct to relieve jaundice followed by elective open cholecystectomy.

Bilateral optic nerve aplasia: a rare isolated central nervous system anomaly.

Optic nerve (ON) aplasia is a rare developmental anomaly comprising of absence of the ON, ganglion cells and the central retinal vessels. It is usually accompanied by a variety of central nervous system (CNS) malformations. We report an extremely rare case of bilateral true ON aplasia occurring as an isolated CNS anomaly.

A Clinical Study of Subtype-based Prevalence of Dry Eye.

Introduction: Dry Eye is a multifactorial disease of the tearfilm and the ocular surface which may be due to reduced tear production or excessive tear evaporation resulting in discomfort, visual disturbance, and tear film instability with a potential damage to the ocular surface. Various population-based studies have been done to find out the prevalence and the magnitude of the problem. Women Health Study reported prevalence of 7.

Galactomannan testing in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid facilitates the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with hematologic malignancies and stem cell transplant recipients.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a major cause of mortality in patients with stem cell transplants and hematologic malignancies. Timely diagnosis of IPA improves survival but is difficult to make. We evaluated the effectiveness of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) galactomannan (GM) in diagnosing IPA in these populations by retrospectively reviewing records of 67 consecutive patients, in whom 89 BAL GM tests were performed.

Clinical experience with a new removable tracheobronchial stent in the management of airway complications after lung transplantation.

Background: Airway complications are among the most challenging problems after lung transplantation. This article describes the use of a new tracheobronchial stent that can be placed and removed easily by flexible bronchoscopy.

Methods: A retrospective review was done of 24 consecutive patients requiring tracheobronchial stent placement after lung transplantation.

Ileal polyposis as manifestation of neurofibromatosis syndrome.

A 13-year-old girl presented with features of intestinal obstruction. At surgery, the terminal 25 cm of ileum, which was resected along with the right colon, showed plexiform neurofibromatosis of the serosa and mesentery, hyperplastic submucosal and myenteric nerve plexuses and proliferation of neural tissue in the lamina propria, which manifested as diffuse polyposis of the ileal mucosa. The patient had a single inconspicuous external neurofibroma and a few café-au-lait spots on the back.