Therapeutic Function of Liraglutide for Mitigation of Blast-Induced Hearing Damage: An Initial Investigation in Animal Model of Chinchilla.

Introduction: Auditory injuries induced by repeated exposures to blasts reduce the operational performance capability and the life quality of military personnel. The treatment for blast-induced progressive hearing damage is lacking. We have recently investigated the therapeutic function of liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, to mitigate blast-induced hearing damage in the animal model of chinchilla, under different blast intensities, wearing earplugs (EPs) or not during blasts, and drug-treatment plan.

A drug-selectable acoustic reporter gene system for human cell ultrasound imaging.

A promising new field of genetically encoded ultrasound contrast agents in the form of gas vesicles has recently emerged, which could extend the specificity of medical ultrasound imaging. However, given the delicate genetic nature of how these genes are integrated and expressed, current methods of producing gas vesicle-expressing mammalian cell lines requires significant cell processing time to establish a clonal/polyclonal line that robustly expresses the gas vesicles sufficiently enough for ultrasound contrast. Here, we describe an inducible and drug-selectable acoustic reporter gene system that can enable gas vesicle expression in mammalian cell lines, which we demonstrate using HEK293T cells.

Critical healthcare for older adults post Hurricane Ian in Florida, United States.

We highlight critical public healthcare inadequacies for older adult populations resulting in fatalities after Hurricane Ian. We summarize whether a fatality was a result of the storm directly, indirectly, or not at all. Massive destruction from Ian eliminated critical life-sustaining health care for the week following the hurricane.

Medicaid Coverage of Guidelines-Based Asthma Care Across 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2021-2022.

Introduction: Asthma affects more than 25 million Americans, including 4.2 million children. The burden of asthma disproportionately affects people enrolled in Medicaid, among other disparate groups.

A Model of High-Speed Endovascular Sonothrombolysis with Vortex Ultrasound-Induced Shear Stress to Treat Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis.

This research aims to demonstrate a novel vortex ultrasound enabled endovascular thrombolysis method designed for treating cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). This is a topic of substantial importance since current treatment modalities for CVST still fail in as many as 20% to 40% of the cases, and the incidence of CVST has increased since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Compared with conventional anticoagulant or thrombolytic drugs, sonothrombolysis has the potential to remarkably shorten the required treatment time owing to the direct clot targeting with acoustic waves.

Perfluorocarbon nanodroplet size, acoustic vaporization, and inertial cavitation affected by lipid shell composition in vitro.

Perfluorocarbon nanodroplets (PFCnDs) are ultrasound contrast agents that phase-transition from liquid nanodroplets to gas microbubbles when activated by laser irradiation or insonated with an ultrasound pulse. The dynamics of PFCnDs can vary drastically depending on the nanodroplet composition, including the lipid shell properties. In this paper, we investigate the effect of varying the ratio of PEGylated to non-PEGylated phospholipids in the outer shell of PFCnDs on the acoustic nanodroplet vaporization (liquid to gas phase transition) and inertial cavitation (rapid collapse of the vaporized nanodroplets) dynamics in vitro when insonated with focused ultrasound.

Mitigation of Hearing Damage After Repeated Blast Exposures in Animal Model of Chinchilla.

High-intensity sound or blast-induced hearing impairment is a common injury for Service members. Epidemiology studies revealed that the blast-induced hearing loss is associated with the traumatic brain injury (TBI), but the mechanisms of the formation and prevention of auditory injuries require further investigation. Liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist, has been reported as a potential treatment strategy for TBI-caused memory deficits; however, there is no study on therapeutics of GLP-1R for blast-induced hearing damage.

A Cross-Sectional Study Investigating Canadian and Australian Adolescents' Perceived Experiences of COVID-19: Gender Differences and Mental Health Implications.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) disease pandemic has been associated with adverse psychological outcomes. This cross-cultural study ( = 1326, 71% female) aimed to investigate Canadian and Australian adolescents' subjective experiences of COVID-19, gender differences, and psychological implications. Mixed-methods analyses were used to examine differences in COVID-19 experiences and mental health outcomes between country and gender in a Canadian ( = 913, 78% female) and an Australian sample ( = 413, 57% female) of adolescents.

Extreme material parameters accessible by active acoustic metamaterials with Willis coupling.

Active acoustic metamaterials incorporate electric circuit elements that input energy into an otherwise passive medium to aptly modulate the effective material properties. Here, we propose an active acoustic metamaterial with Willis coupling to drastically extend the tunability of the effective density and bulk modulus with the accessible parameter range enlarged by at least two orders of magnitude compared to that of a non-Willis metamaterial. Traditional active metamaterial designs are based on local resonances without considering the Willis coupling that limit their accessible effective material parameter range.

Trends in Asthma-Related School Health Policies and Practices in the US States.

Background: Asthma is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. Schools can play an important role in coordinating asthma care. The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of asthma-related school health policies and practices across states and how they have changed over time.

Development of a veterinary emergency open standard competency framework using a competency-based model of medical education.

Objective: To address the shortage of emergency veterinarians, the profession is exploring accelerated training pathways. We sought to contribute to the solution by developing the foundation for an open standard, competency-based veterinary emergency training curriculum for use by any program. We also developed a curricular delivery, tracking, and assessment system to demonstrate how the framework can be integrated into training programs.

Correlation of Patient Activation Measure Level with Patient Characteristics and Type of Vascular Disease.

Background: Patient activation or level of engagement in one's medical care is linked to hospital readmissions and worse outcomes in a number of diseases. Patients with higher levels of activation are typically guiding their care rather than acting as passive observers of care. This study aims to determine if either patient demographics or type of vascular disease can predict patient activation.

"Bad Enough to Cook for Two, Worse for One" - Mixed Method Evaluation of Eating Behavior among Community Dwelling Older Adults.

Food insecurity, life events, and emotional eating can influence dietary patterns. However, their interaction among older adults requires further investigation. This mixed-method, interdisciplinary project included 7 focus groups and a cross-sectional survey ( = 55) to evaluate these factors among older adults (60-102 years of age) living in rural Ohio communities.

A systematic review of digital badges in health care education.

Objectives: A challenge to competency-based medical education is the verification of skill acquisition. Digital badges represent an innovative instruction strategy involving the credentialing of competencies to provide evidence for achievement. Despite increasing interest in digital badges, there has been no synthesis of the health care education literature regarding this credentialing strategy.

Rural Black Pastors: the Influence of Attitudes on the Development of HIV/AIDS Programs.

This exploratory research addressed the question, among rural Mississippi African American Baptist pastors, what is the impact of attitudes toward HIV/AIDS on the development of HIV/AIDS programs in the church? It was hypothesized that empathetic attitudes toward HIV make programming more likely. The study used Froman and Owen's AIDS Attitude Scale (AAS) and a demographic questionnaire, which included a measure that assessed potential program development. A sample of more than 300 African American pastors participated.

Describing nonequilibrium soft matter with mean field game theory.

We demonstrate that combining an emerging approach to game theory with self-consistent mean field theory provides realistic treatments of diblock copolymer phase evolution. We especially examine order-order phase transformations upon quenched temperature change involving hexagonal cylinders, lamellae, and the gyroid. Our findings demonstrate that (i) the game theoretical dynamics produce realistic trajectories for the evolution of the local compositions, (ii) the predicted small-angle scattering follows experimentally observed trends, (iii) nucleation and growth is active when the system is quenched far from the critical point, and (iv) epitaxial growth is manifest.

The revitalization and scale-up of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in Malawi.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) has shown to strengthen health providers' skills in the provision of breastfeeding counselling and support, which have led to improvements in breastfeeding outcomes. In Malawi, where BFHI was introduced in 1993 but later languished due to losses in funding, the Maternal and Child Survival Program supported the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) in the revitalization and scale-up of BFHI in 54 health facilities across all 28 districts of the country. This paper describes the revitalization and scale-up process within the context of an integrated health project; successes, challenges, and lessons learned with BFHI implementation; and the future of BFHI in Malawi.

Physician Burnout in Wisconsin: An Alarming Trend Affecting Physician Wellness.

Wisconsin physicians are experiencing burnout at levels that surpass national benchmarks. The Wisconsin Medical Society (Society), in conjunction with the American Medical Association (AMA), conducted a survey of 1,165 Wisconsin physicians to assess burnout and its contributing factors. The results indicate that primary causes of physician burnout include utilization and interactions with electronic health records (EHR), lack of a supportive practice environment, the loss of autonomy, and poor work/life balance.

TNF overproduction impairs epithelial staphylococcal response in hyper IgE syndrome.

Autosomal dominant hyper IgE syndrome (AD-HIES), or Job's syndrome, is a primary immune deficiency caused by dominant-negative mutations in STAT3. Recurrent Staphylococcus aureus skin abscesses are a defining feature of this syndrome. A widely held hypothesis that defects in peripheral Th17 differentiation confer this susceptibility has never been directly evaluated.

First-in-human topical microbiome transplantation with Roseomonas mucosa for atopic dermatitis.

The underlying pathology of atopic dermatitis (AD) includes impaired skin barrier function, susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus skin infection, immune dysregulation, and cutaneous dysbiosis. Our recent investigation into the potential role of Gram-negative skin bacteria in AD revealed that isolates of one particular commensal, Roseomonas mucosa, collected from healthy volunteers (HVs) improved outcomes in mouse and cell culture models of AD. In contrast, isolates of R.

Jammed Limit of Bijel Structure Formation.

Over the past decade, methods to control microstructure in heterogeneous mixtures by arresting spinodal decomposition via the addition of colloidal particles have led to an entirely new class of bicontinuous materials known as bijels. Herein, we present a new model for the development of these materials that yields to both numerical and analytical evaluation. This model reveals that a single dimensionless parameter that captures both chemical and environmental variables dictates the dynamics and ultimate structure formed in bijels.

A Mitochondrial Biomarker-Based Study of S-Equol in Alzheimer's Disease Subjects: Results of a Single-Arm, Pilot Trial.

Reductions in bioenergetic fluxes, mitochondrial enzyme activities, and mitochondrial number are observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Preclinical work indicates estrogen pathway signaling by either estrogen or selective β estrogen receptor (ERβ) agonists benefits these parameters. To assess whether an ERβ agonist could improve mitochondrial function in actual AD subjects, we administered S-equol (10 mg twice daily) to 15 women with AD and determined the platelet mitochondria cytochrome oxidase (COX) activity before initiating S-equol (lead-in), after two weeks of S-equol (active treatment), and two weeks after stopping S-equol (wash-out).

Eigenvector Centrality is a Metric of Elastomer Modulus, Heterogeneity, and Damage.

We present an application of eigenvector centrality to encode the connectivity of polymer networks resolved at the micro- and meso-scopic length scales. This method captures the relative importance of different nodes within the network structure and provides a route toward the development of a statistical mechanics model that correlates connectivity with mechanical response. This scheme may be informed by analytical and semi-analytical models for the network structure, or through direct experimental examination.

Examining the role of fluctuations in the early stages of homogenous polymer crystallization with simulation and statistical learning.

We propose a relationship between the dynamics in the amorphous and crystalline domains during polymer crystallization: the fluctuations of ordering-rate about a material-specific value in the amorphous phase drive those fluctuations associated with the increase in percent crystallinity. This suggests a differential equation that satisfies the three experimentally observed time regimes for the rate of crystal growth. To test this postulated expression, we applied a suite of statistical learning tools to molecular dynamics simulations to extract the relevant phenomenology.