Noninvasive identification of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (INFORM MASH): a retrospective cohort and disease modeling study.

Background: Using common clinical parameters, we aimed to noninvasively identify and predict metabolic dysfunction - associated steatohepatitis (MASH)/MASH with clinically significant fibrosis.

Research Design And Methods: Patients aged ≥ 18 with electronic health record (EHR) documented liver function tests and liver biopsies between 2016-2021 were retrospectively identified from the Geisinger Health System Research Liver Registry. MASH cases were confirmed using the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) activity score.

Immunogenicity, safety, and efficacy of the vaccine H56:IC31 in reducing the rate of tuberculosis disease recurrence in HIV-negative adults successfully treated for drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 2b trial.

Background: People with tuberculosis who complete treatment remain at risk of recurrent disease. The vaccine H56:IC31 has been shown to be safe and immunogenic in phase 1 and 2 studies, but whether it can reduce the risk of tuberculosis recurrence is unknown.

Methods: In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 2b trial in South Africa (five clinical trial sites) and Tanzania (one clinical trial site), we enrolled participants aged 18-60 years, without HIV, who had completed more than 5 months (22 weeks) of treatment for drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis.

Manipulating cybersickness in virtual reality-based neurofeedback and its effects on training performance.

. Virtual reality (VR) serves as a modern and powerful tool to enrich neurofeedback (NF) and brain-computer interface (BCI) applications as well as to achieve higher user motivation and adherence to training. However, between 20%-80% of all the users develop symptoms of cybersickness (CS), namely nausea, oculomotor problems or disorientation during VR interaction, which influence user performance and behavior in VR.

Bariatric surgery significantly reduces progression from prediabetes to diabetes compared with the general population: 15-year single-institution data.

Background: There is a paucity of literature on the impact for bariatric surgery on the progression from prediabetes (PDM) to type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Objectives: To evaluate the progression from PDM to T2DM in bariatric surgery compared with a nonsurgical cohort.

Setting: Single academic institution, Center of Bariatric Excellence.

Antibiogram Surveillance to Determine Appropriate Initial Empiric Antibiotic Therapy for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia.

Our protocolized empiric antibiotic therapy for early (≤7 d) ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and late (>7 d) VAP based on our local antibiogram leads to inappropriate empiric antibiotic therapy (IEAT) approximately 15% of the time. We reviewed our trauma intensive care unit (TICU) antibiogram to determine if sensitivity patterns were changing and warranted protocol adjustments. We hypothesized there would be no change in IEAT over time.

Asexual versus sexual women: a test-retest study on differences in brain activity.

Asexuality has a prevalence of approximately 1% in the population and should not be confused with hypoactive sexual desire disorder as defined in the DSM-5. Asexuality is characterized by minimal to no sexual attraction to others. The neural correlates of asexuality remain largely unknown, and the test-retest reliability of sexually induced brain activity is still elusive.

MicroRNAs in serum and tissue can differentiate splenic hemangiosarcoma from other splenic masses in dogs.

Splenic masses are common in dogs and vary dramatically in their clinical behavior. Clinically, and even with histology, it can be challenging to differentiate between benign and malignant splenic masses. Hemangiosarcoma (HSA), the most common malignancy of the spleen, is a very aggressive tumor with a poor prognosis.

EEG theta and alpha oscillations during tactical decision-making: An examination of the neural efficiency hypothesis in volleyball.

According to the neural efficiency hypothesis (NEH), individuals with higher expertise in a domain use their brain more efficiently when processing domain-specific tasks and show more efficient brain activity than individuals with lower expertise. In this study 64 participants with differing levels of volleyball expertise were recruited to investigate the NEH by means of a volleyball-specific tactical decision-making task. The participants, which were allocated to three different expertise groups (based on prior volleyball experience), saw videos of setting situations of real volleyball matches and were asked to predict the outcome of these situations.

UK Patient Access to Low-Protein Prescription Foods in Phenylketonuria (PKU): An Uneasy Path.

Background: Special low-protein foods are essential in the dietary treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU). In the UK, these are available on prescription through the General Practitioners (GPs) and distributed via nutritional home delivery companies or pharmacies.

Methods: A 58-item online non-validated semi-structured questionnaire was emailed to British Inherited Metabolic Disease Group (BIMDG) dietitians and dietetic support workers (DSW)/administrators working in PKU to ascertain the main system issues and errors with the supply of low-protein prescription foods (LPPF).

Spatial proteomics identifies a CRTC-dependent viral signaling pathway that stimulates production of interleukin-11.

Appropriate cellular recognition of viruses is essential for the generation of an effective innate and adaptive immune response. Viral sensors and their downstream signaling components thus provide a crucial first line of host defense. Many of them exhibit subcellular relocalization upon activation, resulting in the expression of interferon and antiviral genes.

Patients with neurological or psychiatric complications of COVID-19 have worse long-term functional outcomes: COVID-CNS-A multicentre case-control study.

It is established that patients hospitalised with COVID-19 often have ongoing morbidity affecting activity of daily living (ADL), employment, and mental health. However, little is known about the relative outcomes in patients with COVID-19 neurological or psychiatric complications. We conducted a UK multicentre case-control study of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 (controls) and those who developed COVID-19 associated acute neurological or psychiatric complications (cases).

The structure of executive functions in athletes: A latent variable approach.

The role of executive function (EF) in expert sport performance has become a popular topic in sport and exercise psychology research. Research in this area often adopts the unity/diversity framework of EF (i.e.

Comparison of Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms Causing Early Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Three Geographically Distinct Trauma Intensive Care Units.

It is unclear why differences in patient location change organisms causing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). We investigated VAP organisms in three geographically separate trauma intensive care units (TICUs). A retrospective review of organisms causing VAP (bronchoalveolar lavage [BAL] performed ≤7 d after admission and growing ≥10 cfu/mL) in three geographically separate TICUs was conducted.

Evaluation of Machine Learning/Molecular Mechanics End-State Corrections with Mechanical Embedding to Calculate Relative Protein-Ligand Binding Free Energies.

The development of machine-learning (ML) potentials offers significant accuracy improvements compared to molecular mechanics (MM) because of the inclusion of quantum-mechanical effects in molecular interactions. However, ML simulations are several times more computationally demanding than MM simulations, so there is a trade-off between speed and accuracy. One possible compromise are hybrid machine learning/molecular mechanics (ML/MM) approaches with mechanical embedding that treat the intramolecular interactions of the ligand at the ML level and the protein-ligand interactions at the MM level.

Plasma microRNA signatures predict prognosis in canine osteosarcoma patients.

Appendicular central osteosarcoma (OSA) is a common and highly aggressive tumour in dogs. Metastatic disease to the lungs is common and even with chemotherapy the prognosis is generally poor. However, few cases survive well beyond reported median survival times.

Interpersonal Continuity of Care May Help Delay Progression to Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: The association between interpersonal continuity of care (CoC) and progression from the prediabetic state to Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) remains unknown.

Aim: To evaluate the association between interpersonal CoC and the progression to T2D among persons with prediabetes.

Design And Setting: A retrospective cohort study using electronic health record (EHR) data from 6620 patients at Geisinger, a large rural health care system in Danville, PA.

TOURISM study (Treatment Outcomes in UteRIne SarcoMa): a 10-year retrospective evaluation of practice in the UK.

Background: Although rare, uterine sarcomas account for a high proportion of uterine cancer mortality. Treatment options and robust trial data are limited.

Objectives: The TOURISM study (Treatment Outcomes in UteRIne SarcoMa) is a UK-wide study by the National Oncology Trainees Collaborative for Healthcare Research which aimed to characterise this patient cohort.

Association of rurality and decreased continuity of care prior to a diagnosis of prediabetes.

Purpose: To assess trends in continuity of care (COC) by geographic context (i.e., rural vs urban) among a cohort of persons with prediabetes prior to and after diagnosis of prediabetes.

Patient-matched tumours, plasma, and cell lines reveal tumour microenvironment- and cell culture-specific microRNAs.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that are present in all cell types and bodily fluids and are commonly dysregulated in cancer. miRNAs in cancer have been studied by measuring levels in cell lines, tumour tissues, and in circulation; however, no study has specifically investigated miRNA expression in patient-matched samples across all three sample types. Canine osteosarcoma is a well-established spontaneously occurring model of human osteosarcoma for which matched samples are available.

Short report on a 6-week at-home exergaming intervention to improve balance in children with developmental coordination disorder.

Background: Previous studies have evidenced balance training for improving postural control in children with DCD, however none have examined how neuromuscular mechanisms controlling balance might be improved with training.

Aims: To assess the neuromuscular control of balance before and after training in children with DCD.

Methods And Procedures: Eleven children with DCD completed a six-week, game-based intervention to train balance, and lower-limb and core strength.

When most fMRI connectivity cannot be detected: Insights from time course reliability.

The level of correlation between two phenomena is limited by the accuracy at which these phenomena are measured. Despite numerous group reliability studies, the strength of the fMRI connectivity that can be detected given the within-subject time course reliability remains elusive. Moreover, it is unclear how within-subject time course reliability limits the robust detection of connectivity on the group level.

Liberal or Restrictive Transfusion Strategy in Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Background: The effect of a liberal red-cell transfusion strategy as compared with a restrictive strategy in patients during the critical care period after an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is unclear.

Methods: We randomly assigned critically ill adults with acute aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and anemia to a liberal strategy (mandatory transfusion at a hemoglobin level of ≤10 g per deciliter) or a restrictive strategy (optional transfusion at a hemoglobin level of ≤8 g per deciliter). The primary outcome was an unfavorable neurologic outcome, defined as a score of 4 or higher on the modified Rankin scale (range, 0 to 6, with higher scores indicating greater disability), at 12 months.

Comparing models that integrate obstetric care and WIC on improved program enrollment during pregnancy: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Low-income, rural pregnant women are at disproportionate risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes as well as future cardiovascular risk. Currently, less than half of eligible women enroll in the Women, Infants, and Children's (WIC) Program. This study aims to evaluate whether integrating clinical care and social care may advance health equity and reduce health disparities by directly linking women receiving obstetric care to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for WIC and/or a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist (RDN).

Longitudinal Study of Transcriptomic Changes Occurring over Six Weeks of CHOP Treatment in Canine Lymphoma Identifies Prognostic Subtypes.

The majority of canine lymphoma patients treated with the standard of care, the CHOP chemotherapy protocol, initially achieve remission but eventually relapse with a multi-drug-resistant phenotype. This study assesses gene expression profiles of canine lymphoma tumor cell populations using RNA-Seq data from 15 matched patient samples taken prior to treatment and again six weeks into treatment with CHOP. Two distinct clusters were present in the t-SNE dimensionality reduction of the gene expression profiles.