Influenza Antiviral Treatment and Length of Stay.

Background: Antiviral treatment is recommended for hospitalized patients with suspected and confirmed influenza, but evidence is limited among children. We evaluated the effect of antiviral treatment on hospital length of stay (LOS) among children hospitalized with influenza.

Methods: We included children <18 years hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza in the US Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network.

What Surgeons Need to Know About Gender Confirmation Surgery When Providing Care for Transgender Individuals: A Review.

Importance: In 2014, the US Department of Health and Human Services decided that its 1981 exclusion of transsexual surgical treatments from Medicare coverage was based on outdated, incomplete, and biased science and did not reflect current evidence or standards of care, and the exclusion was therefore lifted. As a direct result of this decision, surgeons nationwide are seeing an increase in consultations for surgical therapy to help transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. Although some clinicians may have the technical training for such surgical procedures, in many cases, they may not have a full understanding of the complex and comprehensive care required to provide optimal health care for transgender individuals.

Red blood cells stored for increasing periods produce progressive impairments in nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation.

Background: Clinical outcomes in transfused patients may be affected by the duration of blood storage, possibly due to red blood cell (RBC)-mediated disruption of nitric oxide (NO) signaling, a key regulator of vascular tone and blood flow.

Study Design And Methods: AS-1 RBC units stored up to 42 days were sampled at selected storage times. Samples were added to aortic rings ex vivo, a system where NO-mediated vasodilation could be experimentally controlled.

High-density lipoprotein and transport of cholesterol and triglyceride in blood.

High-density lipoproteins (HDL) contain approximately 25% of the cholesterol and <5% of the triglyceride in the plasma of human blood. However, the dynamic exchange of lipids and lipid-binding proteins is not revealed by simply considering the mass of material at any point in time. HDL are the most complex of lipoprotein species with multiple protein constituents, which facilitate cholesterol secretion from cells, cholesterol esterification in plasma, and transfer of cholesterol to other lipoproteins and to the liver for excretion.

Group B streptococcal disease in nonpregnant adults.

Group B streptococcal (GBS) disease in nonpregnant adults is increasing, particularly in elderly persons and those with significant underlying diseases. Diabetes, neurological impairment, and cirrhosis increase risk for invasive GBS disease. Skin, soft-tissue, and osteoarticular infections, pneumonia, and urosepsis are common presentations.

Angiotensin II and atherosclerosis.

Numerous clinical and laboratory data are now available supporting the hypothesis that the renin-angiotensin system is mechanistically relevant in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The traditional role of the renin-angiotensin system in the context of blood pressure regulation has been modified to incorporate the concept that angiotensin II (Ang II) is a potent proinflammatory agent. In vascular cells, Ang II is a potent stimulus for the generation of reactive oxygen species.