Association of neighborhood Child Opportunity Index with visual outcomes in children with unilateral pediatric cataract.

Purpose: To demonstrate the association between neighborhood quality, using the Child Opportunity Index (COI), and the visual outcomes in children with unilateral pediatric cataract.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients ≤18 years of age who presented at Boston Children's Hospital between 2000 and 2022 with unilateral cataracts and underwent cataract extraction. The collected data included patient demographics, residential addresses, the reason for the initial presentation, the age at presentation, the morphology of the cataract, and the final visual acuity.

The Role of Sex and Gender in Acute Kidney Injury - Consensus Statements from the 33 Acute Disease Quality Initiative.

Sex differences exist in acute kidney injury (AKI), and the role that sex and gender play along the AKI care continuum remains unclear. The 33 Acute Disease Quality Initiative meeting evaluated available data on the role of sex and gender in AKI and identified knowledge gaps. Data from experimental models, pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical care, gender, social determinants of health, education, and advocacy were reviewed.

A new Mediterranean Lifestyle Pyramid for children and youth: a critical lifestyle tool for preventing obesity and associated cardiometabolic diseases in a sustainable context.

Cardiovascular risk factors begin in childhood and track into adulthood, increasing the possibility of impaired cardiometabolic health. Adopting healthy dietary patterns can help curb childhood obesity, a worrisome epidemic problem at present. In the era of personalized nutrition, dietary recommendations should be adapted to different stages of life, including children (older than 3 years) and adolescents.

Risk of carcinomas among children and adolescents with birth defects.

Background: Birth defects are associated with childhood cancer, but little is known regarding pediatric carcinomas, a group of especially rare tumors.

Methods: We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for any carcinoma, as well as thyroid, hepatocellular, and renal carcinoma specifically, up to 18 years of age among children with major, non-syndromic anomalies or chromosomal/genetic syndromes, relative to unaffected children.

Results: Our registry-linkage study included nine states and 21,933,476 children between 1990 and 2018: 641,827 with non-syndromic anomalies, and 49,619 with syndromes.

Lysosomal dysfunction and inflammatory sterol metabolism in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Vascular inflammation regulates endothelial pathophenotypes, particularly in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Dysregulated lysosomal activity and cholesterol metabolism activate pathogenic inflammation, but their relevance to PAH is unclear. Nuclear receptor coactivator 7 () deficiency in endothelium produced an oxysterol and bile acid signature through lysosomal dysregulation, promoting endothelial pathophenotypes.

Highly multiplexed spatial transcriptomics in bacteria.

Single-cell decisions made in complex environments underlie many bacterial phenomena. Image-based transcriptomics approaches offer an avenue to study such behaviors, yet these approaches have been hindered by the massive density of bacterial messenger RNA. To overcome this challenge, we combined 1000-fold volumetric expansion with multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH) to create bacterial-MERFISH.

Quality of life disparities among Mexican people with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Higher prevalence and worst outcome have been reported among people with systemic lupus erythematosus with non-European ancestries, with both genetic and socioeconomic variables as contributing factors. In Mexico, studies assessing the inequities related to quality of life for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus patients remain sparse. This study aims to assess the inequities related to quality of life in a cohort of Mexican people with SLE.

Prescriptions (Rx) for Prevention: Clinical Tools for Integrating Environmental Health into Pediatric Clinical Care.

The integration of environmental health (EH) into routine clinical care for children is in its early stages. The vision of pediatric EH is that all clinicians caring for children are aware of and able to help connect families to needed resources to reduce harmful environmental exposures and increase health-enhancing ones. Environmental exposures include air pollution, substandard housing, lead, mercury, pesticides, consumer products chemicals, drinking water contaminants, industrial facility emissions and, increasingly, climate change-related extreme weather and heat events.

Endothelial FOXM1 and Dab2 promote diabetic wound healing.

Diabetes mellitus can cause impaired and delayed wound healing, leading to lower extremity amputations; however, the mechanisms underlying the regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor-dependent (VEGF-dependent) angiogenesis remain unclear. In our study, the molecular underpinnings of endothelial dysfunction in diabetes are investigated, focusing on the roles of disabled-2 (Dab2) and Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) in VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) signaling and endothelial cell function. Bulk RNA-sequencing analysis identified significant downregulation of Dab2 in high-glucose-treated primary mouse skin endothelial cells.

MicroRNA Expression in High-Grade B-Cell Lymphoma With 11q Aberration.

Mature aggressive B-cell lymphomas, such as Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), show variations in microRNA (miRNA) expression. The entity of High-grade B-cell lymphoma with 11q aberration (HGBCL-11q) shares several biological features with both BL and DLBCL but data on its miRNA expression profile are yet scarce. Hence, this study aims to analyze the potential differences in miRNA expression of HGBCL-11q compared to BL and DLBCL.

Economic and equity evaluation of age restrictions on over-the-counter diet pills and muscle-building supplements.

Over-the-counter diet pills and muscle-building supplements are linked to increased eating disorder diagnoses, especially among youth. With limited regulatory oversight, minors may unknowingly consume harmful substances leading to other adverse effects. Massachusetts has proposed restricting sales to individuals under 18 years.

Surgical management of short-segment Hirschsprung disease.

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is the most common congenital motility disorder of the intestine, characterized by the absence of ganglion cells in the myenteric and submucosal plexuses, leading to functional bowel obstruction. Short-segment Hirschsprung disease (SS-HSCR) accounts for the majority of cases, with surgical resection being the cornerstone of treatment. Despite advances in surgical techniques, considerable variability exists in practice regarding the timing of surgery, the choice of technique, and the length of aganglionic rectal cuff to resect.

Harnessing the potential of human induced pluripotent stem cells, functional assays and machine learning for neurodevelopmental disorders.

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) affect 4.7% of the global population and are associated with delays in brain development and a spectrum of impairments that can lead to lifelong disability and even mortality. Identification of biomarkers for accurate diagnosis and medications for effective treatment are lacking, in part due to the historical use of preclinical model systems that do not translate well to the clinic for neurological disorders, such as rodents and heterologous cell lines.

CD45-PET is a robust, non-invasive tool for imaging inflammation.

Imaging inflammation holds immense potential for advancing the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of many conditions. The lack of a specific and sensitive positron emission tomography (PET) probe to detect inflammation is a critical challenge. To bridge this gap, we present CD45-PET imaging, which detects inflammation with exceptional sensitivity and clarity in several preclinical models.

Multiscale footprints reveal the organization of cis-regulatory elements.

Cis-regulatory elements (CREs) control gene expression and are dynamic in their structure and function, reflecting changes in the composition of diverse effector proteins over time. However, methods for measuring the organization of effector proteins at CREs across the genome are limited, hampering efforts to connect CRE structure to their function in cell fate and disease. Here we developed PRINT, a computational method that identifies footprints of DNA-protein interactions from bulk and single-cell chromatin accessibility data across multiple scales of protein size.

RELMβ sets the threshold for microbiome-dependent oral tolerance.

Tolerance to dietary antigens is critical for avoiding deleterious type 2 immune responses resulting in food allergy (FA) and anaphylaxis. However, the mechanisms resulting in both the maintenance and failure of tolerance to food antigens are poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that the goblet-cell-derived resistin-like molecule β (RELMβ) is a critical regulator of oral tolerance.

Quantum-computing-enhanced algorithm unveils potential KRAS inhibitors.

We introduce a quantum-classical generative model for small-molecule design, specifically targeting KRAS inhibitors for cancer therapy. We apply the method to design, select and synthesize 15 proposed molecules that could notably engage with KRAS for cancer therapy, with two holding promise for future development as inhibitors. This work showcases the potential of quantum computing to generate experimentally validated hits that compare favorably against classical models.

Evaluating pulmonary stenosis and regurgitation impact on cardiac strain and strain rate in a porcine model via magnetic resonance feature tracking.

Background: Pulmonary stenosis (PS) is common in congenital heart disease and an integral finding in Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Pulmonary regurgitation (PR) is more commonly found following surgery in repaired TOF. We aimed to evaluate the haemodynamic effects of PS and PR on cardiac physiology in a porcine model using cardiac magnetic resonance-based feature tracking (CMR-FT) deformation imaging.

B-cell infiltration distinguishes mucosal from skin patterns of rejection in facial vascularized composite allografts.

Rejection monitoring in facial vascularized composite allotransplantation (fVCA) traditionally focuses on skin biopsies. However, mucosal rejection frequently presents with more pronounced signs of immune activity. To explore mechanistic differences between skin and mucosal rejection, rejection and non-rejection biopsies from allograft skin and oral mucosa of nine fVCA recipients were retrospectively analyzed using histology, multiplex immunostaining, and gene expression profiling, with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) quantified via mass cytometry (CyTOF).

Genome Wide and Rare Variant Association Studies of Amblyopia in the All of Us Research Program.

Objective: Amblyopia is characterized by decreased visual acuity due to abnormal visual experience during development. It affects approximately three percent of the population and is associated with abnormal development of the visual cortex. Despite treatment, many patients have residual visual acuity deficits.

Use of an enuresis alarm to guide timing of post-void residual volume assessment in infants and medically-complex, non-verbal children.

Objectives: To test the feasibility and efficacy of using an enuresis alarm to guide timing of post-void residual (PVR) measurement in two different cohorts of non-verbal, non-toilet trained pediatric patients.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 15 infants (Group 1) and 15 medically-complex patients (Group 2) to undergo an 8-hour study period that included a 4-hour intervention period with alarm (PVR after alarm trigger) and a 4-hour control period of routine care (PVR when nurses observe wet diapers). The primary endpoint of PVR volume was analyzed using linear regression with volume as the dependent variable and both study period and patient weight as independent variables.