Trends in Neurosurgeons Signing Medicare Opt-Out Affidavits.

Objective: In recent decades, many physicians have chosen to opt out of Medicare, allowing them to set their own pricing models for their patients. Characterization of Medicare opt-outs has not been thoroughly studied in any surgical specialty, including Neurosurgery. Our study characterizes the factors that may influence a neurosurgeon's decision to opt out of Medicare acceptance and contextualizes them both within the field and across various surgical specialties.

Association between prenatal depressive symptoms and receipt of recommended maternal and infant care postpartum.

Background: Maternal mental health can impact health care access and utilization for both the birthing parent and infant. We examined the association between prenatal depressive symptoms (episodic and chronic) and receipt of the postpartum 6-week visit and infant vaccinations in the first year postpartum.

Methods: Postpartum individuals (N = 672) who attended Expect With Me group prenatal care in Nashville, Tennessee and Detroit, Michigan completed surveys during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, as well as 6- and 12- months postpartum.

Bimekizumab efficacy and safety through 3 years in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis: Long-term results from the BE RADIANT phase 3b trial open-label extension period.

Background: Overexpression of interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-17F significantly influences psoriasis pathology. Until recently, biologics targeting IL-17A alone, like secukinumab, were used to treat psoriasis. Bimekizumab is a monoclonal IgG1 antibody that targets both IL-17A and IL-17F.

Contribution of Nuclear Fragmentation to Dose and RBE in Carbon-Ion Radiotherapy.

Variable relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of carbon radiotherapy may be calculated using several models, including the microdosimetric kinetic model (MKM), stochastic MKM (SMKM), repair-misrepair-fixation (RMF) model, and local effect model I (LEM), which have not been thoroughly compared. In this work, we compared how these four models handle carbon beam fragmentation, providing insight into where model differences arise. Monoenergetic and spread-out Bragg peak carbon beams incident on a water phantom were simulated using Monte Carlo.

The Impact of Optical Undersampling on the Ca Signal Resolution in Ca Imaging of Spontaneous Neuronal Activity.

Background: In neuroscience, Ca imaging is a prevalent technique used to infer neuronal electrical activity, often relying on optical signals recorded at low sampling rates (3 to 30 Hz) across multiple neurons simultaneously. This study investigated whether increasing the sampling rate preserves critical information that may be missed at slower acquisition speeds.

Methods: Primary neuronal cultures were prepared from the cortex of newborn pups.

Optimization of Carrier-Based Dry Powder Inhaler Performance: A Review.

Dry powder inhalers (DPI's) are becoming increasingly popular due to growing interest in pulmonary drug delivery and their performance is the net result of a series of processes carried out during the formulation development and manufacturing process such as excipient selection, blending, milling, filling, and spray drying. To reach the small airways of the deep lung, the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) particles need to have an aerodynamic diameter of 1-5 μm to avoid impaction and particle sedimentation in the upper respiratory tract, and due to this small particle size, the powder becomes highly cohesive resulting in poor flow. Therefore, API is usually blended with a coarse carrier to improve flowability, and due to its large size, it is more fluidizable than the micronized drug.

Hierarchically Structured Stimuli-Responsive Liquid Crystalline Terpolymer-Rhodamine Dye Conjugates.

Optically responsive materials are applied in sensing, actuators, and optical devices. One such class of material is dye-doped liquid crystal polymers that self-assemble into cholesteric mesophases that reflect visible light. We report here the synthesis and characterization of a family of linear and mildly crosslinked terpolymers prepared by the ROMP of norbornene-based monomers.

Effect of Study-Duration and Time of Day on Multichannel Sleep Study Findings in Former Preterm Infants.

Background/objectives: Determine the appropriate duration for multichannel sleep studies in former preterm infants with cardio-respiratory events beyond term equivalent age.

Hypothesis: A sleep study of 10 h will provide equivalent information compared to a 20-h study to detect significant cardio-respiratory abnormalities in this population.

Methods: Single-center retrospective study of 50 infants with 20-h sleep study.

Observational pilot using a Data to Care intervention strategy to promote HCV re-engagement and cure for persons with HIV/HCV co-infection who are out of care.

Background: With Direct Acting Antivirals for Hepatitis C virus (HCV), cure is possible in > 95% including those with HIV/HCV co-infection. Achieving strategic targets for cure requires addressing barriers including suboptimal care engagement. We adapted Data to Care (D2C), a public health strategy designed to identify and link persons out of care (OOC) for HIV, for persons with HIV/HCV co-infection untreated for HCV.

Practice Advisory for Postoperative Pain Management of Cardiac Surgical Patients: A Report by Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists.

Moderate to severe pain after cardiac surgery is relatively common, which increases the risk of postoperative cardiopulmonary complications and delays hospital discharge. Opioids have been useful agents for postoperative pain control after cardiac surgery, but are associated with serious adverse effects. As a result, multimodal analgesia has been adopted widely to decrease reliance on opioids for treating postoperative pain, reduce opioid-related adverse effects, and promote early recovery.

Mechanical thrombectomy in elderly stroke patients with low ASPECTS: insights from STAR.

Background: The elderly population (≥80 years) were underrepresented in recent trials of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for anterior circulation large vessel occlusion acute ischemic stroke (LVO-AIS) with low Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS) (≤5).

Methods: This study analyzed data from a prospectively maintained database of 37 thrombectomy centers. The primary cohort of the study comprised patients with LVO-AIS aged ≥80 who underwent EVT with ASPECTS≤5 from 2013 to 2023.

Gut microbiomes are largely unchanged when exposed to their amphibian host's latitudinally variable upper thermal limit.

Climate change will increase the frequency and severity of temperature extremes. Links between host thermal physiology and their gut microbiota suggest that organisms' responses to future climates may be mediated by their microbiomes, raising the question of how the thermal environment influences the microbiome itself. Vertebrate gut microbiomes influence the physiological plasticity of their hosts via effects on immunity, metabolism, and nutrient uptake.

Long term outcomes post-ICD in Chagas cardiomyopathy and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy: A comparative analysis.

Background: Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM) is a significant cause of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Although, implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD) have been used for all forms of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), studies on ICD efficacy in CCM are scarce.

Objective: The present study aims to compare the long-term outcomes, mortality rates, and the occurrence of tachycardia therapies after ICD implantation in patients with CCM and NICM.

Physicochemical and rheological characterization of plant-based proteins, pectin, and chitin nanofibers for developing high internal phase Pickering emulsions as potential fat alternatives.

This study evaluated the properties of lentil protein, pea protein, quinoa protein, and soy protein as natural nanoparticle stabilizers and their interactions with pectin and chitin nanofiber in preparing high internal phase Pickering emulsions (HIPPEs). The globular plant proteins interact with polysaccharides through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions, transforming the structure into complex morphologies, including fibrous and elliptical shapes. These complex nanoparticles exhibited enhanced thermal decomposition stability, and the HIPPEs constructed by them demonstrated significantly improved apparent viscosity and elastic modulus, with a yield stress of 931.

One hundred thirty-four germ line PU.1 variants and the agammaglobulinemic patients carrying them.

Leukopoiesis is lethally arrested in mice lacking the master transcriptional regulator PU.1. Depending on the animal model, subtotal PU.

Assessing cardiovascular disease risk and social determinants of health: A comparative analysis of five risk estimation instruments using data from the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network.

Background: Accurate assessment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is crucial for effective prevention and resource allocation. However, few CVD risk estimation tools consider social determinants of health (SDoH), despite their known impact on CVD risk. We aimed to estimate 10-year CVD risk in the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network Cohort Study (ECS) across multiple risk estimation instruments and assess the association between SDoH and CVD risk.

Aberrant Insertion of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament on the Lateral Meniscus: A Case Report.

Case: A 16-year-old woman presented with acute on chronic knee pain and instability following a twisting injury. The tibial insertion of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) was nonvisualized on magnetic resonance imaging. A cord-like ACL, originating from the lateral intercondylar notch and inserting smoothly into the anterior horn of the intact lateral meniscus, was found on arthroscopy.

Long-term wage inequality in imperial China: From 202 BCE to 1912 CE.

This paper attempts to describe and explain the long-term evolution of wage inequality in imperial China, covering over two millennia from the Han dynasty to the Qing dynasty (202 BCE-1912 CE). Based on historical government records of official salaries, commodity prices, and agricultural productivity, we convert various forms of salaries to equivalent rice volumes and comparable salary benchmarks. Wage inequality is measured by salary ratios and (partial) Gini coefficients between official and peasant classes as well as within the official class.

Measurement properties of instruments to assess insight in psychosis: A systematic review protocol.

Introduction: Insight in psychosis, defined as a patient's awareness and judgment of their mental illness, is a complex and evolving concept. Historically, the absence of insight was considered a defining characteristic of psychosis, but recent decades have seen the development of structured tools for its assessment. This systematic review aims to critically appraise the measurement properties of instruments used to assess insight in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum, bridging the gap between theoretical conceptualization and clinical practice.