Health and Economic Outcomes of Offering Buprenorphine in Homeless Shelters in Massachusetts.

Importance: Overdose is the leading cause of death among people experiencing homelessness (PEH), but engagement in medication treatment is low in this population. Shelter-based buprenorphine may be a strategy for increasing initiation and retention on lifesaving medications.

Objective: To estimate clinical outcomes and conduct an economic analysis of statewide shelter-based opioid treatment in Massachusetts.

Burial workers' perceptions of community resistance and support systems during an Ebola outbreak in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: a qualitative study.

Background: Community Health Workers (CHWs) provide vital services during disease outbreaks. Appropriate burials of those who died from an infectious disease outbreak is a critical CHW function to prevent infection and disease spread. During the 2018 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Beni Town, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, we sought to understand the levels of understanding, trust, and cooperation of the community in response to the outbreak, the barriers burial workers faced in their health work and its impact on local burial workers and other CHWs.

Systematic review: Development of a person-centered care framework within the context of HIV treatment settings in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objectives: Person-centred care (PCC) meets the needs of individuals by increasing convenience, providing supportive and culturally appropriate services to diverse populations, and engaging families, communities, and stakeholders in planning and provision of care. While the evidence demonstrates that PCC approaches can lead to clinical improvements across the HIV care continuum, it is not yet well defined in the context of HIV service delivery.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted to define PCC practices for HIV treatment services in health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa.

When cardiac surgery comes to its limits: a case report of pericardial mesothelioma invading the myocardium.

Background: Primary pericardial mesothelioma (PPM) is a rare form of highly aggressive cancer. Many patients are diagnosed only at an advanced stage. Therefore, the overall survival rate is poor with a median survival of 3 months.

Evaluation of 3-5 months' add-on therapy with montelukast in patients with non-controlled asthma in Austria: the STAR open-label, real-world, observational study.

Objective: To assess the current state of asthma management in Austria and evaluate improvement of symptoms and quality of life (QoL) in asthma patients by adding the controller substance montelukast to existing therapy.

Research Design And Methods: Office-based pneumologists across Austria were invited to participate in an open-label, multicenter observational study. Male and female patients aged from 12-50 years with mild or moderate persistent asthma according to GINA guidelines and FEV(1) > 70% predicted were included if they were on concurrent asthma treatment, but still had persistent symptoms and reduced quality of life.

[The effect of one year outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation on patients with COPD].

Background: The aim of our study was to determine the effect of one year of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on functional parameters and exacerbation rates in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: A total of 100 patients were enrolled in a multidisciplinary PR program. PR included endurance, resistance and respiratory muscle training.

Laser induced photoreceptor damage and recovery in the high numerical aperture eye of the garter snake.

The garter snake provides a unique model for in-vivo imaging of photoreceptor damage induced by laser retinal exposure. Laser thermal/mechanical retinal injury induced alterations in photoreceptor structure and leukocyte cellular behavior. Photoreceptors turned white, lost mode structure, and swelled; leukocyte activity was observed in the vicinity of photoreceptor cells.

Steroidal and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medications can improve photoreceptor survival after laser retinal photocoagulation.

Objective: To determine whether methylprednisolone or indomethacin can enhance photoreceptor survival after laser retinal injury in an animal model.

Design: Experimental study.

Participants: Twenty rhesus monkeys.

Gender-related differences in symptoms of patients with suspected breathing disorders in sleep: a clinical population study using the sleep disorders questionnaire.

Background: Gender-related differences in the symptom profile of patients with suspected sleep disordered breathing (SDB) may be one explanation of the clinical underrecognition of SDB in women.

Study Objectives: The aim of this study was to prospectively assess gender-related differences in presenting symptoms in a clinical sample of patients with suspected sleep disordered breathing.

Design: Administration of the Sleep Disorders Questionnaire prior to clinical and polysomnographic evaluation.

Evaluation of inspiratory muscle function in a healthy austrian population--practical aspects.

Background: There is no clear evidence whether inspiratory muscle strength (Pi(max)) is closely linked to inspiratory muscle endurance (T(lim)). Moreover, normal values of T(lim), measured by flow-resistive loads, have not been established.

Objectives: We tried to find answers to the following questions: Is it possible to establish normative values of T(lim) when using flow-dependent, resistive loads? Are Pi(max) and Borg scale values predictors of T(lim)? Are anthropometric and spirometric data closely related to T(lim)? Is it really necessary to measure T(lim) in addition to Pi(max) when evaluating inspiratory muscle function?

Methods: Sixty-eight healthy Austrian volunteers between 17 and 75 years of age and with a sedentary lifestyle participated in our study.

Adjustable maintenance dosing with budesonide/formoterol or budesonide: double-blind study.

Adjustable maintenance dosing with either budesonide/formoterol or budesonide was compared in asthma patients. This double-blind trial randomized 133 patients (mean forced expiratory volume in 1s 66% predicted) to receive 2 inhalations twice daily of budesonide/formoterol 160/4.5 microg (640/18 microg/day) or budesonide 320 microg (1280 microg/day) for 4 weeks.

[COPD-rehabilitation].

Rehabilitation of COPD-patients is an important part of the therapeutic management. The effects of endurance- and resistance-training as well as respiratory muscle-training are evident. Smoking cessation therapy is standardized, effective and cheap, and is the prerequisite of a successful COPD management.

Spontaneous bilateral diaphragmatic paralysis: a rare cause of respiratory failure.

Bilateral diaphragmatic paralysis (BDP) can occur in the course of motor neuron disease, myopathy, or from mechanical damage or the use of "ice slush" during cardiac surgery. BDP has been observed during and after infections, associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and mediastinal tumors, or may have idiopathic etiology. It is a serious and life-threatening condition.

Laser-induced macular holes demonstrate impaired choroidal perfusion.

Purpose: To evaluate choroidal perfusion following creation of a laser-induced macular hole in a nonhuman primate model.

Methods: Six rhesus monkeys underwent macular exposures delivered by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The lesions were evaluated with fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography using scanning laser ophthalmoscopy.

Effect of source intensity on ability to fixate: implications for laser safety.

During long-term viewing of a continuous light source, head and eye movements affect the distribution of energy deposited in the retina. Previous studies of eye movements during a fixation task provided data used for revising the safety limits for long-term viewing of such sources. These studies have been continued to determine the effect of source brightness on the nature of fixational eye movements.

Smoking habits of office-based general practitioners and internists in Austria and their smoking cessation efforts.

Tobacco smoking is the major cause of lung disease. This study aimed to determine: 1) the prevalence of tobacco smoking among office-based physicians; 2) their readiness to inquire about their patients' smoking habits and, if need be, to motivate them to stop smoking; 3) whether non-smoking doctors advise their patients more frequently to stop smoking than their smoker colleagues do. A self-designed questionnaire on a post card was sent to 7674 office-based general practitioners (GPs) and internists.

2 Years' experience with inspiratory muscle training in patients with neuromuscular disorders.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to assess the long-term effects of specific inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in patients with neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) who have various degrees of respiratory impairment.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-seven patients with NMDs (Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, 18 patients; spinal muscular atrophy, 9 patients) underwent 24 months of IMT. Patients were divided into three groups according to their vital capacity (VC) values.

[Toxocara and bronchial hyperreactivity--results of a seroprevalence study].

For more than 30 years the ascarid Toxocara canis, a parasite of the dog, has been considered a possible cause of allergic-pulmonal irritations (i.e. asthma bronchial) in man.

Effects of high peak power microwaves on the retina of the rhesus monkey.

We studied the retinal effects of 1.25 GHz high peak power microwaves in Rhesus monkeys. Preexposure fundus photographs, retinal angiograms, and electroretinograms (ERG) were obtained to screen for normal ocular structure and function and, after exposure, as endpoints of the study.

On the use of schematic eye models to estimate retinal image quality.

The optical performance of the eyes of nine vertebrate species was evaluated using optical system design techniques and schematic eye models. Essential features of eyes, including the modulation transfer function (MTF) and the MTF cutoff frequency are related to the numerical aperture of the eyes. Superior resolution for in vivo imaging of photoreceptors may be achieved by dilating the iris pupil of an eye, minimizing coherence, and using short wavelength illumination.

Feedback-controlled negative pressure ventilation in patients with stable severe hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: In recent studies, the efficacy of intermittent rest of the inspiratory muscles as an option of treating patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has become questionable.

Objective: The aim of our study was to analyze the effects of feedback-controlled intermittent negative pressure ventilation (INPV) on stable, but severely hypercapnic COPD patients.

Methods: 21 clinically stable, hypercapnic patients with severe COPD underwent INPV with chest shells for 3 weeks, 6 h a day.

Dose-dependent effects of inspiratory muscle training in neuromuscular disorders.

The goal of this study was to show whether a correlation exists between the intensity of specific respiratory muscle training and the improvement of strength and endurance in inspiratory musculature in patients with neuromuscular disorders (NMD). Sixteen patients with NMD (13 with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and 3 with spinal muscular atrophy) performed inspiratory muscle training (IMT) at home with a special training apparatus for 9 months. Maximal inspiratory mouth pressure (PI(MAX)) and 12s-maximum voluntary ventilation (12s-MVV) test served as parameters for inspiratory muscle strength and endurance, respectively.

An eye movement technique for correlating fixational target eye movements with location on the retinal image.

Recent investigation demonstrate that ocular motility in eyes with retinal pathology may show a lower propensity to visit such areas of the retina as compared to non-pathological retinal sites. While current ophthalmic instruments with the ability to image both the retina and visual function test target placement on the retina have provided this observation, the ability to quantify in real time these images as an eye movement measurement is presently lacking and the objective of this paper. A Rodenstock confocal scanning ophthalmoscope (CSLO) was used to image the retina during the performance of a visual fixation task.