Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the main functional index of kidney health and disease. Currently, no methods are available to directly measure tubular mass and function. Here, we report a serendipitous finding that the in vitro cell viability dye resazurin can be used in mice as an exogenous sensor of tubular function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfect Control Hosp Epidemiol
December 2024
A daily prompt to offer vaccination to inpatients awaiting transfer to rehabilitation resulted in increased SARS-CoV-2 (OR 5.64, 95% CI 3.3-10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Late-life air pollution exposure is associated with an increased risk for dementia, with this effect exacerbated among apolipoprotein E-4 (ApoE-4) carriers. However, whether midlife occupational exposures likewise influence dementia outcomes, and varies as a function of ApoE-4 status is unknown.
Methods: Using data from 3814 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), we employed weighted logistic regression to evaluate associations between midlife occupational respiratory exposures and late-life air pollution on all-cause dementia risk, stratified by ApoE-4 status.
Introduction: Sodium phenylbutyrate and taurursodiol (PB and TURSO) is hypothesized to mitigate endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, two of many mechanisms implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology.
Methods: The first-in-indication phase 2a PEGASUS trial was designed to gain insight into PB and TURSO effects on mechanistic targets of engagement and disease biology in AD. The primary clinical efficacy outcome was a global statistical test combining three endpoints relevant to disease trajectory (cognition [Mild/Moderate Alzheimer's Disease Composite Score], function [Functional Activities Questionnaire], and total hippocampal volume on magnetic resonance imaging).
Objective: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the students' choice of activities and perception of a cocurricular program (CCP). Attitude and skill development and areas for program improvement were also assessed.
Methods: Data were evaluated from 2 sources: a student survey administered to all Doctor of Pharmacy students to determine student perceptions of the CCP and barriers to success and student activity reporting data from postexperience submissions to evaluate the CCP.
The gold standard for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) genetic diagnostic procedures was published in 2012. With the increasing complexity of the genetics of FSHD1 and 2, the increase of genetic testing centers, and the start of clinical trials for FSHD, it is crucial to provide an update on our knowledge of the genetic features of the FSHD loci and renew the international consensus on the molecular testing recommendations. To this end, members of the FSHD European Trial Network summarized the evidence presented during the 2022 ENMC meeting on Genetic diagnosis, clinical outcome measures, and biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Healthcare and support workers play a pivotal role in delivering quality services and support to people seeking sanctuary who have experienced poor physical and mental health linked to previous trauma, relocation and loss of freedoms. However, they often encounter various challenges in their daily work, ranging from communication barriers to resource constraints. This qualitative study seeks to delve into the perspectives of healthcare and support workers' experience of workarounds, employed to overcome barriers to providing care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWildfire smoke (WFS) is a mixture of respirable particulate matter, environmental gases, and other hazardous pollutants that originate from the unplanned burning of arid vegetation during wildfires. The increasing size and frequency of recent wildfires has escalated public and occupational health concerns regarding WFS inhalation, by either individuals living nearby and downstream an active fire or wildland firefighters and other workers that face unavoidable exposure because of their profession. In this review, we first synthesize current evidence from environmental, controlled, and interventional human exposure studies, to highlight positive associations between WFS inhalation and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) are rare disorders often seen in highly specialized services or tertiary centres. We aimed to assess if cohort characteristics depend on the origin of the referral catchment areas serviced by our centre (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol
February 2024
Asymptomatic screening for SARS-CoV-2 is recommended in healthcare settings during periods of increased incidence, yet studies in rehabilitation settings are lacking. Routine weekly post-admission asymptomatic testing in a rehabilitation facility offered marginal gain beyond syndromic and targeted unit testing and was not associated with a reduced risk of healthcare-associated COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe E4 variant of APOE strongly predisposes individuals to late-onset Alzheimer's disease. We demonstrate that in response to lipogenesis, apolipoprotein E (APOE) in astrocytes can avoid translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen and traffic to lipid droplets (LDs) via membrane bridges at ER-LD contacts. APOE knockdown promotes fewer, larger LDs after a fatty acid pulse, which contain more unsaturated triglyceride after fatty acid pulse-chase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClassical target-based drug screening is low-throughput, largely subjective, and costly. Phenotypic screening based on in vitro models is increasingly being used to identify candidate compounds that modulate complex cell/tissue functions. Chronic inflammatory nociception, and subsequent chronic pain conditions, affect peripheral sensory neuron activity (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the need to improve the safety of the environments where we care for older adults in Canada. After providing assistance during the first wave, many Ontario hospitals formally partnered with local congregate care homes in a "hub and spoke" model during second pandemic wave onward. The objective of this article is to describe the implementation and longitudinal outcomes of residents in one hub and spoke model composed of a hospital partnered with 18 congregate care homes including four long-term care and 14 retirement or other congregate care homes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The EVITE Immunity study investigated the effects of shielding Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) people during the COVID-19 pandemic on health outcomes and healthcare costs in Wales, United Kingdom, to help prepare for future pandemics. Shielding was intended to protect those at highest risk of serious harm from COVID-19. We report the cost of implementing shielding in Wales.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies on gamma radiation-induced injury have long been focused on hematopoietic, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular systems, yet little is known about the effects of gamma radiation on the function of human cortical tissue. The challenge in studying radiation-induced cortical injury is, in part, due to a lack of human tissue models and physiologically relevant readouts. Here, a physiologically relevant 3D collagen-based cortical tissue model (CTM) is developed for studying the functional response of human iPSC-derived neurons and astrocytes to a sub-lethal radiation exposure (5 Gy).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In resource-limited countries, access to specialized health care services such as dermatology is limited. Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) offer innovative solutions to address this challenge. However, the implementation of CDSSs is commonly associated with unique challenges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Recently, there have been calls to action to address curricular expansion, including modifying standards, using curricular analytics, and optimizing interdisciplinary collaboration, all of which focus on program-level changes. The primary objective of this study was to describe how the process of backward design can be used as a strategy to reduce curricular expansion at the individual course level while maintaining student performance and decreasing student and coordinator stress.
Methods: Backward design was applied to a large, interdisciplinary, team-taught pharmacotherapy course to identify opportunities to reduce content volume and align assessment content with course objectives.
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Council of Faculties commissioned a task force during the 2021-2022 academic year to examine the problem of curricular overload. As a result of this task force and the Academy-wide discussions around curricular overload, a consensus has formed around the significance of defining and addressing this challenge. Many institutions have begun work on identifying solutions to curricular overload.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Shielding aimed to protect those predicted to be at highest risk from COVID-19 and was uniquely implemented in the UK during the first year of the pandemic from March 2020. As the first stage in the EVITE Immunity evaluation (Effects of shielding for vulnerable people during COVID-19 pandemic on health outcomes, costs and immunity, including those with cancer:quasi-experimental evaluation), we generated a logic model to describe the programme theory underlying the shielding intervention.
Design And Participants: We reviewed published documentation on shielding to develop an initial draft of the logic model.
Objective: Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) can be monophasic or relapsing, with early relapse being a feature. However, the relevance of early relapse on longer-term relapse risk is unknown. Here, we investigate whether early relapses increase longer-term relapse risk in patients with MOGAD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA modest but significant number of military personnel sustained injuries during deployments resulting in an altered-appearance (e.g., limb loss and/or scarring).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Prior research suggests a link between menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) use, memory function, and diabetes risk. The menopausal transition is a modifiable period to enhance long-term health and cognitive outcomes, although studies have been limited by short follow-up periods precluding a solid understanding of the lasting effects of MHT use on cognition.
Objective: We examined the effects of midlife MHT use on subsequent diabetes incidence and late life memory performance in a large, same-aged, population-based cohort.
There is a need to optimize SARS-CoV-2 vaccination rates amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) to protect staff and patients from healthcare-associated COVID-19 infection. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations implemented vaccine mandates for HCWs. Whether or not a traditional quality improvement approach can achieve high-rates of COVID-19 vaccination is not known.
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