Pain and Functional Outcome After Microsurgical Decompression of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Very Short- and Long-Term Postoperative Analysis.

Study Design: Multicenter, prospective observational cohort study.

Objectives: 109 patients with lumbar spine stenosis (LSS) undergoing minimally invasive decompression in 6 different centers (Germany, Italy, USA).

Methods: The demographic, surgical and clinical data was collected.

Awaiting insurance coverage: Medicaid enrollment and post-acute care use after traumatic injury.

Background: Lack of insurance after traumatic injury is associated with decreased use of postacute care and poor outcomes. Insurance linkage programs enroll eligible patients in Medicaid at the time of an unplanned admission. We hypothesized that Medicaid enrollment would be associated with increased use of postacute care, but also with prolonged hospital length of stay (LOS) while awaiting insurance authorization.

Sickle Cell Trait Does Not Cause "Sickle Cell Crisis" Leading to Exertion-Related Death: A Systematic Review.

Globally, an estimated 300 million individuals have sickle cell trait (SCT), the carrier state for sickle cell disease. While sickle cell disease (SCD) is associated with increased morbidity and shortened lifespan, SCT has a lifespan comparable to that of the general population. However, "sickle cell crisis" has been used as a cause of death for decedents with SCT in reports of exertion-related death in athletes, military personnel, and individuals in police custody.

Management of adhesive small bowel obstruction during pregnancy in the United States.

Background: Adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO) is a rare, nonobstetrical abdominal emergency. Optimal management of ASBO during pregnancy remains unknown. This study analyzes management trends and outcomes of pregnant patients with ASBO in the United States.

Liposomal amphotericin B and complement activation-related pseudoallergy (CARPA).

Infusion reactions (tachycardia, hypertension, fever, etc.) associated with liposomal amphotericin B are common. Animal models have found complement activation responsible, yet the pathophysiology has not been evaluated in human patients.

Distribution of early-branching Cyanobacteriia and the potential habitats that gave rise to the earliest oxygenic phototrophs.

The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis in the Cyanobacteria was one of the most transformative events in Earth history, eventually leading to the oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere. However, it is difficult to understand how the earliest Cyanobacteria functioned or evolved on early Earth in part because we do not understand their ecology, including the environments in which they lived. Here, we use a cutting-edge bioinformatics tool to survey nearly 500,000 metagenomes for relatives of the taxa that likely bookended the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis to identify the modern environments in which these organisms live.

Discovery and Development of CFTR Modulators for the Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, which regulates ion and fluid transport across epithelial cells. Mutations lead to complications, with life-limiting lung disease being the most severe manifestation. Traditional treatments focused on managing symptoms, but advances in understanding CF's molecular basis led to small-molecule CFTR modulators.

Deriving the Landauer Principle From the Quantum Shannon Entropy.

We derive an expression to determine the equilibrium probability distribution of a quantum state in contact with a noisy thermal environment that formally separates contributions from quantum and classical forms of probabilistic uncertainty. A statistical mechanical interpretation of this probability distribution enables us to derive an expression for the minimum free energy costs for arbitrary (reversible or irreversible) quantum state changes. Based on this derivation, we demonstrate that─in contrast to classical systems─the free energy required to erase or reset a qubit depends sensitively on both the fidelity of the target state and on the physical properties of the environment, such as the number of quantum bath states, due primarily to the entropic effects of system-bath entanglement.

Risk factors that predict for presence of clinically significant, noncalcified plaque in younger adults.

Objective: Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring may be a useful tool for assessing cardiovascular disease in young adults, particularly in those with risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, or smoking. In this study, we aimed to address the risk factors for developing noncalcified plaque in young adults by assessing total plaque burden.

Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study was conducted among 1026 consecutive patients aged 18-45 years who underwent CAC scoring and coronary computed tomography (CT) angiograms for clinical indications.

Ultrafast Photoflash Synthesis of High-Entropy Oxide Nanoparticles.

High-entropy metal oxides (HEOs) have recently received growing attention for broad energy conversion and storage applications due to their tunable properties. HEOs typically involve the combination of multiple metal cations in a single oxide lattice, thus bringing distinctive structures, controllable elemental composition, and tunable functional properties. Many synthesis methods for HEOs have been reported, such as solid-state reactions and carbon thermal shock methods.

Ventral Rectopexy: An International Expert Panel Consensus and Review of Contemporary Literature.

Background: Ventral rectopexy has become increasingly utilized in the surgical management of rectal prolapse. There is a need for a contemporary evaluation of the role of the procedure and description of its use in clinical practice.

Objective: To create an international consensus on ventral rectopexy.

(pollen beetle) gastrointestinal disease experimentally reproduced in sheep.

Intoxication of sheep and cattle by recently occurred in Uruguay and Argentina in association with severe drought. Although the disease was experimentally reproduced in sheep in the 1970s, there is limited information on clinical and pathologic findings of sheep experimentally intoxicated by this beetle. Here, we described the clinical, gross, and microscopic findings in 3 sheep orally dosed with (treatment group, TG) and in 2 control sheep (control group, CG) dosed with distilled water.

Evolutionary insights into gut acidification: Invertebrate-like mechanisms in the basal vertebrate hagfish.

Acidification is a key component of digestion throughout metazoans. The gut digestive fluid of many invertebrates is acidified by the vesicular-type H+-ATPase (VHA). In contrast, vertebrates generate acidic gut fluids using the gastric H+/K+-ATPase (HKA); an evolutionary innovation linked with the appearance of a true stomach that greatly improves digestion, absorption, and immune function.

Defining Substantial Clinical Benefits of PROMIS Pain Interference and Physical Function in Patients Undergoing Lumbar and Thoracolumbar Spine Surgery.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Objective: This study aims to define Substantial Clinical Benefit (SCB) thresholds for PROMIS physical function (PF) and pain interference (PI) in lumbar or thoracolumbar spine surgery population.

Summary Of Background Data: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are widely used in spine surgery to assess treatment efficacy.

Emergent Carotid Stenting During Thrombectomy in Tandem Occlusions Secondary to Dissection: A STOP-CAD Secondary Study.

The optimal endovascular management of cervical carotid dissection causing tandem occlusion remains uncertain. We investigated the impact of emergent carotid stenting during endovascular treatment (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in patients with tandem occlusion secondary to cervical carotid artery dissection. This was a secondary analysis of patients treated with EVT for AIS due to occlusive carotid artery dissection and tandem occlusion included in the retrospective international Antithrombotic Treatment for Stroke Prevention in Cervical Artery Dissection (STOP-CAD) study.

Trends in Dupilumab-Related Payments to Physicians Across Five Specialties.

Background: Dupilumab was first approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2017 for atopic dermatitis and has since been approved for many other indications. The use of dupilumab has grown, but industry payments to physicians have yet to be explored.

Objective: The study objective is to characterize the change in payments by pharmaceutical companies to physicians for dupilumab-related promotional activities.

Long-term performance and durability of lime-stabilized oil-contaminated soils.

In oil-rich regions, the increasing risk of oil spills on soil is largely attributed to intensified extraction and transportation activities. This situation necessitates a focus on the short-term and long-term strength of contaminated soils. While existing literature primarily evaluates the oil-contaminated soils over short-term periods, typically up to 28 days, it is essential to investigate their long-term performance, extending the evaluation period to 365 days.

Treatment approaches in advanced penile cancer: targeted therapies and immunotherapy.

Penile cancer is a rare genitourinary malignancy which can be treated with surgery or radiation for localized disease, but often requires systemic treatment with chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic disease. With the emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies for specific genomic aberrations in the treatment of over a dozen other cancers, recent studies have sought to identify therapies other than chemotherapy in treating this uncommon cancer. Several ongoing trials involving immune checkpoint inhibitors, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and antibody drug conjugates are attempting to identify additional therapies.