Cingulate cortex facilitates auditory perception under challenging listening conditions.

Unlabelled: We often exert greater cognitive resources (i.e., listening effort) to understand speech under challenging acoustic conditions.

Fitting and validation of an agent-based model for COVID-19 case forecasting in workplaces and universities.

COVID-19 forecasting models have been critical in guiding decision-making on surveillance testing, social distancing, and vaccination requirements. Beyond influencing public health policies, an accurate COVID-19 forecasting model can impact community spread by enabling employers and university leaders to adapt worksite policies and practices to contain or mitigate outbreaks. While many such models have been developed for COVID-19 forecasting at the national, state, county, or city level, only a few models have been developed for workplaces and universities.

Increases in hydraulic conductance and solute permeability in a mouse model of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm.

Large elastic arteries, such as the aorta, contain concentric layers of elastic laminae composed mainly of the extracellular matrix protein elastin. The structure of the elastic laminae could affect transmural mass transport and contribute to aortic disease progression. We studied the effects of a genetic mutation (Lox, referred to as MU) in mice associated with ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) on the mass transport and elastic laminae structure.

The validation of culturally appropriate scales to assess the family health climate in a multi-ethnic Asian population.

Background: The Family Health Climate (FHC) is a family environment attribute postulated to influence the health behaviors of family members. It can be measured by domain scales for physical activity (FHC-PA) and nutrition (FHC-NU), which have been validated and used to identify health climate patterns in families in Western populations. To extend the use of the scales to Asian settings, this study aimed to adapt and validate the instruments for use in the multi-ethnic population of Singapore, accounting for language and cultural differences.

A Career Life-Cycle Perspective on Women's Health and Safety: Insights From the Defense Health Board Report on Military Women's Health.

Objective: Women's health has demanded more attention from employers as women integrated into the workforce. Traditionally male-dominant fields and occupations require special attention to workplace design, physical standards for entry, employment practices, equipment, and health monitoring. This editorial summarizes the Defense Health Board's (DHB) review of Active Duty Women's Health and its recommendations grounded in a woman's career life-cycle.

A holistic approach for suppression of COVID-19 spread in workplaces and universities.

As society has moved past the initial phase of the COVID-19 crisis that relied on broad-spectrum shutdowns as a stopgap method, industries and institutions have faced the daunting question of how to return to a stabilized state of activities and more fully reopen the economy. A core problem is how to return people to their workplaces and educational institutions in a manner that is safe, ethical, grounded in science, and takes into account the unique factors and needs of each organization and community. In this paper, we introduce an epidemiological model (the "Community-Workplace" model) that accounts for SARS-CoV-2 transmission within the workplace, within the surrounding community, and between them.

Mobilizing the U.S. Military's TRICARE Program for Value-Based Care: A Report From the Defense Health Board.

The U.S. Military Health System spends about $50 billion annually to provide care to 9.

Renal perfusion imaging by MRI.

Renal perfusion can be quantitatively assessed by multiple magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, including dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE), arterial spin labeling (ASL), and diffusion-weighted imaging with intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) analysis. In this review we summarize the advances in the field of renal-perfusion MRI over the past 5 years. The review starts with a brief introduction of relevant MRI methods, followed by a discussion of recent technical developments.

Intracellular retention of mutant lysyl oxidase leads to aortic dilation in response to increased hemodynamic stress.

Heterozygous missense mutations in lysyl oxidase (LOX) are associated with thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. To assess how LOX mutations modify protein function and lead to aortic disease, we studied the factors that influence the onset and progression of vascular aneurysms in mice bearing a Lox mutation (p.M292R) linked to aortic dilation in humans.

Continuous prospectively navigated multi-echo GRE for improved BOLD imaging of the kidneys.

The objective of this study is to develop improved methods for renal blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) imaging. T2* mapping of the kidneys, or renal BOLD imaging, may depict renal oxygen levels and may be valuable as a noninvasive means of following the progression of renal disease. Current renal BOLD data is limited by imaging in a single breath hold, which results in low resolution and low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Sampling arterial input function (AIF) from peripheral arteries: Comparison of a temporospatial-feature based method against conventional manual method.

It is often difficult to accurately localize small arteries in images of peripheral organs, and even more so with vascular abnormality vasculatures, including collateral arteries, in peripheral artery disease (PAD). This poses a challenge for manually sampling arterial input function (AIF) in quantifying dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI data of peripheral organs. In this study, we designed a multi-step screening approach that utilizes both the temporal and spatial information of the dynamic images, and is presumably suitable for localizing small and unpredictable peripheral arteries.

Enhancing Value of MRI: A Call for Action.

As national healthcare spending has spiraled out of control, payment reform that moves from volume to value-based payment has been introduced as a practical solution. Under alternative value-based payment models, physicians and clinical teams must deliver the best care possible at a lower cost. Medical imaging has changed the way we diagnose disease, evaluate severity, assess treatment effects, and provide biological insights for the pathophysiology of many diseases.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Noncontrast MR Angiography Protocols at 3T for the Detection and Characterization of Lower Extremity Peripheral Arterial Disease.

Purpose: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of established non-gadolinium (Gd)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography protocols with Gd-enhanced MR angiography at 3T for evaluating lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Materials And Methods: From February 2014 to 2015, 20 patients with PAD and intermittent claudication (16 men; age range, 51-76 y; Fontaine stage II) underwent 3-station (abdominopelvic, thigh, and calf) non-Gd MR angiography and bolus-chase Gd MR angiography protocols performed at 3T (Siemens Tim Trio), including quiescent-interval single-shot (QISS) MR angiography for all 3 stations and a combination of quadruple inversion recovery (QIR) MR angiography for the abdominopelvic station and electrocardiogram-gated fast spin echo (ECG-FSE) MR angiography for the extremities. Two radiologists independently evaluated vessel segments for vascular stenosis, diagnosis confidence, graft presence, and Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) II classification for each station.

Patient reported outcomes - experiences with implementation in a University Health Care setting.

Aim: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) have traditionally been implemented through a manual process of paper and pencil with little standardization throughout a Healthcare System. Each practice has asked patients specific questions to understand the patient's health as it pertains to their specialty. These data were rarely shared and there has not been a comparison of patient's health across different specialty domains.

Financial Analysis of Pediatric Resident Physician Primary Care Longitudinal Outpatient Experience.

Objective: To determine whether residency training represents a net positive or negative cost to academic medical centers, we analyzed the cost of a residency program and clinical productivity of residents and faculty in an outpatient primary care practice with or without residents.

Methods: Patient volume and revenue data (Current Procedural Terminology codes) from an academic primary care general pediatric clinic were evaluated for faculty clinics (faculty only) and resident teaching clinics (longitudinal outpatient experience [LOE]) with 1 to 4 residents per faculty. A detailed cost per resident was determined using a departmental financial model that included salary, benefits, faculty and administrative staff effort, nonpersonnel costs, and institutional graduate medical education support.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Fibrotic Kidney.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used for many years for anatomic evaluation of the kidney. Recently developed methods attempt to go beyond anatomy to give information about the health and function of the kidneys. Several methods, including diffusion-weighted MRI, renal blood oxygen level-dependent MRI, renal MR elastography, and renal susceptibility imaging, show promise for providing unique insight into kidney function and severity of fibrosis.

Fibulin-4 is essential for maintaining arterial wall integrity in conduit but not muscular arteries.

Homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in fibulin-4 () lead to autosomal recessive cutis laxa type 1B (ARCL1B), a multisystem disorder characterized by significant cardiovascular abnormalities, including abnormal elastin assembly, arterial tortuosity, and aortic aneurysms. We sought to determine the consequences of a human disease-causing mutation in (E57K) on the cardiovascular system and vascular elastic fibers in a mouse model of ARCL1B. mice were hypertensive and developed arterial elongation, tortuosity, and ascending aortic aneurysms.

Dissecting Costs of CT Study: Application of TDABC (Time-driven Activity-based Costing) in a Tertiary Academic Center.

Rationale And Objectives: The lack of understanding of the real costs (not charge) of delivering healthcare services poses tremendous challenges in the containment of healthcare costs. In this study, we applied an established cost accounting method, the time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC), to assess the costs of performing an abdomen and pelvis computed tomography (AP CT) in an academic radiology department and identified opportunities for improved efficiency in the delivery of this service.

Materials And Methods: The study was exempt from an institutional review board approval.