Disparities in diabetes management among medicaid recipients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD): Evidence from five U.S. states.

Background: Diabetes is one of the most common chronic conditions among adults. Little is known about the quality of diabetes care received by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Objective: To determine the extent to which the diabetes care needs are met for a population with both IDD and diabetes who are solely insured by Medicaid in five states (Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and South Carolina).

Associations between Verbal Learning Slope and Neuroimaging Markers across the Cognitive Aging Spectrum.

A symptom of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a flat learning profile. Learning slope calculation methods vary, and the optimal method for capturing neuroanatomical changes associated with MCI and early AD pathology is unclear. This study cross-sectionally compared four different learning slope measures from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (simple slope, regression-based slope, two-slope method, peak slope) to structural neuroimaging markers of early AD neurodegeneration (hippocampal volume, cortical thickness in parahippocampal gyrus, precuneus, and lateral prefrontal cortex) across the cognitive aging spectrum [normal control (NC); (n=198; age=76±5), MCI (n=370; age=75±7), and AD (n=171; age=76±7)] in ADNI.

Fetuses of Mothers with Thyroid Disease May Be at Higher Risk of Developing Supraventricular Tachycardia.

Objective: Fetal tachyarrhythmias complicate 0.5% of pregnancies, with high morbidity and mortality. We hypothesized that maternal factors may predispose to fetal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT).

Longitudinal differences in aerobic capacity between children with sickle cell anemia and matched controls.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare longitudinal trajectories of maximal aerobic capacity in children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and matched healthy controls, and explore whether these trajectories were associated with selected physiologic variables.

Procedure: Children with SCA (n = 33) and healthy controls (n = 30) matched at baseline for race, sex, Tanner stage, height, and weight completed three consecutive annual fitness assessments (VO2peak ). Data were compared between the groups at each time point and within groups over time.

Adverse vascular risk is related to cognitive decline in older adults.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and related risk factors are associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). This association is less well-defined in normal cognition (NC) or prodromal AD (mild cognitive impairment, MCI).

Objective: Cross-sectionally and longitudinally relate a vascular risk index to cognitive outcomes among elders free of clinical dementia.

Subjective memory complaint only relates to verbal episodic memory performance in mild cognitive impairment.

Background: A cognitive concern from the patient, informant, or clinician is required for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI); however, the cognitive and neuroanatomical correlates of complaint are poorly understood.

Objective: We assessed how self-complaint relates to cognitive and neuroimaging measures in older adults with MCI.

Method: MCI participants were drawn from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and dichotomized into two groups based on the presence of self-reported memory complaint (no complaint n = 191, 77 ± 7 years; complaint n = 206, 73 ± 8 years).

Evaluation of post-contrast myocardial t1 in duchenne muscular dystrophy using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

The objective of the study was to perform a retrospective pilot study to evaluate the potential of myocardial T1 in assessment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) cardiomyopathy. Early identification of DMD cardiac disease, particularly myocardial fibrosis, would allow earlier therapy, potentially improving outcomes. Shortened myocardial T1 measured by cardiac MRI (CMR) is a measure of cardiac fibrosis that may be detected before late gadolinium enhancement (LGE).

Inclusion of an informant yields strong associations between cognitive complaint and longitudinal cognitive outcomes in non-demented elders.

Background: The relation between the source of cognitive complaint and objective cognitive performance is not well understood.

Objective: Examine self and informant cognitive complaint as predictors of objective cognitive and functional trajectory in non-demented elders.

Methods: Participants from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center had a baseline diagnosis of normal cognition (NC; n = 6133, 72±8 years, 68% female) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 3010, 74±8 years, 55% female).

Clinical predictors of autoimmune and severe atopic disease in pediatric heart transplant recipients.

Autoimmune and allergic diseases cause morbidity and diminished quality of life in pediatric organ transplant recipients. We hypothesize that younger age at transplantation and immunosuppression regimen play a role in the development of immune-mediated disease following heart transplant. A single institution retrospective review identified all patients undergoing heart transplant at ≤18 yr of age from 1987 to 2010 who survived ≥1 yr.

Outcomes following infliximab therapy for pediatric patients hospitalized with refractory colitis-predominant IBD.

Objectives: Although randomized trials demonstrated the efficacy of infliximab for both pediatric Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), few patients in these studies exhibited colitis requiring hospitalization. The aims of this study were to determine the rate of subsequent infliximab failure and dose escalation in pediatric patients who started taking infliximab during hospitalization for colitis-predominant IBD, and to identify potential predictors of these endpoints.

Methods: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study of patients admitted from 2005 to 2010 with Crohn colitis, UC, or IBD-unspecified (IBD-U) and initiated on infliximab.

Adherence of randomized trials within children's surgical specialties published during 2000 to 2009 to standard reporting guidelines.

Background: Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are uncommon in pediatric surgical specialties and the quality of reporting is unknown. Our primary purpose was to analyze published surgical RCTs involving children to measure adherence to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines.

Study Design: Published RCTs from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2009 were reviewed.

The source of cognitive complaints predicts diagnostic conversion differentially among nondemented older adults.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare whether different sources of cognitive complaint (i.e., subjective and informant) predict diagnostic conversion in nondemented older adults.

Blood pressure and cognition among older adults: a meta-analysis.

Hypertension has adverse effects on cognition, can alter cerebral vasculature integrity, and is associated with the pathogenesis of dementia. Using meta-analysis, we correlated blood pressure to multiple cognitive domains among older adults free of clinical stroke and dementia. We identified 230 studies indexed in PubMed and PsycINFO relating blood pressure and cognition.

Role of a respiratory viral panel in the clinical management of pediatric inpatients.

Background: Respiratory viral panels (RVPs) able to detect multiple pathogens are increasingly used in the management of pediatric inpatients. Despite this, few studies have examined whether the results of these tests are associated with clinically significant changes in medical management.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we identified pediatric inpatients between August 2009 and December 2010 for whom an RVP was ordered within 24 hours of admission to a large, tertiary-care children's hospital.

Human rhinovirus C: Age, season, and lower respiratory illness over the past 3 decades.

Background: Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) cause common colds, and the recently discovered HRV-C is increasingly associated with lower respiratory illness among populations such as children and asthmatic patients.

Objective: To determine how HRV-C is associated with respiratory illness and to evaluate changes in prevalence and species over 2 decades.

Methods: A prospective study of children younger than 5 years was performed at the Vanderbilt Vaccine Clinic over a 21-year period.