Impact of Stewardship Interventions on Antiretroviral Medication Errors in an Urban Medical Center: A 3-Year, Multiphase Study.

Background: There is a high prevalence of HIV infection in Newark, New Jersey, with University Hospital admitting approximately 600 HIV-infected patients per year. Medication errors involving antiretroviral therapy (ART) could significantly affect treatment outcomes. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of various stewardship interventions in reducing the prevalence of prescribing errors involving ART.

Medication errors with antituberculosis therapy in an inpatient, academic setting: forgotten but not gone.

What Is Known And Objective: Tuberculosis, an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has significant public health implications. Despite the decreasing prevalence of tuberculosis cases and the availability of well-established treatment guidelines, errors with antituberculosis medications remain a concern as clinician experience with the infection has waned and the goal of eradicating tuberculosis has remained unfulfilled. Whereas inappropriate use of other anti-infective classes has been extensively studied, the evaluation of medication errors associated with antituberculosis therapy has been limited to a small number of studies conducted more than two decades ago.

A Child With Dyserythropoietic Anemia and Megakaryocyte Dysplasia Due to a Novel 5'UTR GATA1s Splice Mutation.

We describe a child with dyserythropoietic anemia, thrombocytosis, functional platelet defect, and megakaryocyte dysplasia. We show that (i) this constellation of hematopoietic abnormalities was due to a germline mutation within the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of globin transcription factor 1 (GATA1); (ii) the mutation impaired a 5'UTR GATA1 splicing site, with promoted production of the shortened GATA1 isoform lacking the N-terminus; and (iii) expression of the GATA1 N-terminus is restricted to erythroblasts and megakaryocytes in normal marrow, consistent with the patient's abnormal erythropoiesis and megakaryopoiesis. Our findings provide insights into the clinically relevant in vivo function of the N-terminal domain of GATA1 in human hematopoiesis.

High utilization of inpatient detoxification: predictors among US veterans.

Background: Readmissions are among the most problematic and expensive problems in the treatment of substance use disorders.

Objective: To evaluate the characteristics associated with four or more inpatient medically managed detoxification admissions in FY 2012, when all had post-discharge appointments within 7 days.

Methods: A retrospective case control study.

Cost-Effectiveness of Meningococcal Vaccination Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in New York City.

Background: To control an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recommended vaccination of all HIV-infected MSM and at-risk HIV-uninfected MSM in October 2012.

Methods: A decision-analytic model estimated the cost-effectiveness of meningococcal vaccination compared with no vaccination. Model inputs, including IMD incidence of 20.

Sparse Zero-Sum Games as Stable Functional Feature Selection.

In large-scale systems biology applications, features are structured in hidden functional categories whose predictive power is identical. Feature selection, therefore, can lead not only to a problem with a reduced dimensionality, but also reveal some knowledge on functional classes of variables. In this contribution, we propose a framework based on a sparse zero-sum game which performs a stable functional feature selection.

Community-Based Outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup C Infection in Men who Have Sex with Men, New York City, New York, USA, 2010-2013.

In September 2012, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene identified an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C invasive meningococcal disease among men who have sex with men (MSM). Twenty-two case-patients and 7 deaths were identified during August 2010-February 2013. During this period, 7 cases in non-MSM were diagnosed.

Summary of the DREAM8 Parameter Estimation Challenge: Toward Parameter Identification for Whole-Cell Models.

Whole-cell models that explicitly represent all cellular components at the molecular level have the potential to predict phenotype from genotype. However, even for simple bacteria, whole-cell models will contain thousands of parameters, many of which are poorly characterized or unknown. New algorithms are needed to estimate these parameters and enable researchers to build increasingly comprehensive models.

Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Following the Introduction of 13-Valent Conjugate Vaccine in Children in New York City From 2007 to 2012.

Importance: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is a leading cause of pneumonia, meningitis, and bacteremia in children. In March 2010, a 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was introduced to the routine childhood immunization schedule. The PCV13 contains 6 serotypes not included in the previously recommended 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, including serotype 19A, the predominant cause of IPD prior to the introduction of PCV13.

Adolescent vaccine co-administration and coverage in New York City: 2007-2013.

Objectives: To investigate adolescent vaccination in New York City, we assessed tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap), meningococcal conjugate (MCV4), and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake, vaccine co-administration, and catch-up coverage over time.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Citywide Immunization Registry, a population-based immunization information system, to measure vaccine uptake and co-administration, defined as a Tdap vaccination visit where MCV4 or HPV vaccine was co-administered, among 11-year-olds. Catch-up vaccinations were evaluated through 2013 for adolescents born 1996 to 2000, by birth cohort.

Dietary patterns differently associate with inflammation and gut microbiota in overweight and obese subjects.

Background: Associations between dietary patterns, metabolic and inflammatory markers and gut microbiota are yet to be elucidated.

Objectives: We aimed to characterize dietary patterns in overweight and obese subjects and evaluate the different dietary patterns in relation to metabolic and inflammatory variables as well as gut microbiota.

Design: Dietary patterns, plasma and adipose tissue markers, and gut microbiota were evaluated in a group of 45 overweight and obese subjects (6 men and 39 women).

The niche reduction approach: an opportunity for optimal control of infectious diseases in low-income countries?

Background: During the last century, WHO led public health interventions that resulted in spectacular achievements such as the worldwide eradication of smallpox and the elimination of malaria from the Western world. However, besides major successes achieved worldwide in infectious diseases control, most elimination/control programs remain frustrating in many tropical countries where specific biological and socio-economical features prevented implementation of disease control over broad spatial and temporal scales. Emblematic examples include malaria, yellow fever, measles and HIV.

Genome-wide characterization of light-regulated genes in Neurospora crassa.

The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa responds to light in complex ways. To thoroughly study the transcriptional response of this organism to light, RNA-seq was used to analyze capped and polyadenylated mRNA prepared from mycelium grown for 24 hr in the dark and then exposed to light for 0 (control) 15, 60, 120, and 240 min. More than three-quarters of all defined protein coding genes (79%) were expressed in these cells.

Immunization information systems to increase vaccination rates: a community guide systematic review.

Context: Immunizations are the most effective way to reduce incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. Immunization information systems (IISs) are confidential, population-based, computerized databases that record all vaccination doses administered by participating providers to people residing within a given geopolitical area. They facilitate consolidation of vaccination histories for use by health care providers in determining appropriate client vaccinations.

Distribution of pandemic influenza vaccine and reporting of doses administered, New York, New York, USA.

In 2009, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene delivered influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (pH1N1) vaccine to health care providers, who were required to report all administered doses to the Citywide Immunization Registry. Using data from this registry and a provider survey, we estimated the number of all pH1N1 vaccine doses administered. Of 2.

Outbreak of measles among persons with prior evidence of immunity, New York City, 2011.

Background: Measles was eliminated in the United States through high vaccination coverage and a public health system able to rapidly respond to measles. Measles may occur among vaccinated individuals, but secondary transmission from such individuals has not been documented.

Methods: Suspected patients and contacts exposed during a measles outbreak in New York City in 2011 were investigated.

Association of adipose tissue and liver fibrosis with tissue stiffness in morbid obesity: links with diabetes and BMI loss after gastric bypass.

Context: Liver and white adipose tissue (WAT) develop inflammation and fibrosis.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the bioclinical relevance of WAT fibrosis in morbid obesity and diabetes and the relationships with tissue stiffness measured using a novel device.

Design And Setting: Observational and longitudinal studies were conducted in a hospital nutrition department.

Mumps vaccine effectiveness and risk factors for disease in households during an outbreak in New York City.

Background And Objectives: Mumps outbreaks have been reported among vaccinated populations, and declining mumps vaccine effectiveness (VE) has been suggested as one possible cause. During a large mumps outbreak in New York City, we assessed: (1) VE of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR) against mumps and (2) risk factors for acquiring mumps in households.

Methods: Cases of mumps were investigated using standard methods.

Reaching children never previously vaccinated for influenza through a school-located vaccination program.

Objectives: We determined the success of the school-located vaccination (SLV) program, implemented in 2009 in New York City to deliver pandemic influenza A (H1N1) monovalent vaccine (pH1N1), versus provider offices in reaching children who had never previously received influenza vaccine.

Methods: We compared the immunization history of children vaccinated in school versus provider offices. We included records in the Citywide Immunization Registry with pH1N1 administered between October 2009 and March 2010 to elementary school-aged children.

Insulin resistance and inflammation predict kinetic body weight changes in response to dietary weight loss and maintenance in overweight and obese subjects by using a Bayesian network approach.

Background: The ability to identify obese subjects who will lose weight in response to energy restriction is an important strategy in obesity treatment.

Objective: We aimed to identify obese subjects who would lose weight and maintain weight loss through 6 wk of energy restriction and 6 wk of weight maintenance.

Design: Fifty obese or overweight subjects underwent a 6-wk energy-restricted, high-protein diet followed by another 6 wk of weight maintenance.

Dietary intervention impact on gut microbial gene richness.

Complex gene-environment interactions are considered important in the development of obesity. The composition of the gut microbiota can determine the efficacy of energy harvest from food and changes in dietary composition have been associated with changes in the composition of gut microbial populations. The capacity to explore microbiota composition was markedly improved by the development of metagenomic approaches, which have already allowed production of the first human gut microbial gene catalogue and stratifying individuals by their gut genomic profile into different enterotypes, but the analyses were carried out mainly in non-intervention settings.

Richness of human gut microbiome correlates with metabolic markers.

We are facing a global metabolic health crisis provoked by an obesity epidemic. Here we report the human gut microbial composition in a population sample of 123 non-obese and 169 obese Danish individuals. We find two groups of individuals that differ by the number of gut microbial genes and thus gut bacterial richness.

Reconstruction and validation of a genome-scale metabolic model for the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa using FARM.

The filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa played a central role in the development of twentieth-century genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology, and continues to serve as a model organism for eukaryotic biology. Here, we have reconstructed a genome-scale model of its metabolism. This model consists of 836 metabolic genes, 257 pathways, 6 cellular compartments, and is supported by extensive manual curation of 491 literature citations.

Noninvasive diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis disease based on clinical decision support system.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a hepatic disease associated with metabolic syndrome. NAFLD covers a spectrum of liver disease from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis. NASH is a disease evolving under the influence of various stimuli still poorly understood.