The Integrative Conjugative Element ICESpyM92 Contributes to Pathogenicity of Emergent Antimicrobial-Resistant Group A Streptococcus.

Antimicrobial resistance-encoding mobile genetic elements (MGEs) may contribute to the disease potential of bacterial pathogens. We previously described the association of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) derived from invasive disease with increasingly frequent antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We hypothesized that a 65-kb AMR-encoding MGE (ICESpyM92), highly conserved among closely related emergent invasive GAS, contributes to GAS disease potential.

Open innovation: the key to advancing brain health.

With the exponential growth in investment attention to brain health-solutions spanning brain wellness to mental health to neurological disorders-tech giants, payers, and biotechnology companies have been making forays into this field to identify technology solutions and pharmaceutical amplifiers. So far, their investments have had mixed results. The concept of open innovation (OI) was first coined by Henry Chesbrough to describe the paradigm by which enterprises allow free flow of ideas, products, and services from the outside to the inside and vice versa in order to remain competitive, particularly in rapidly evolving fields where there is abundant, relevant knowledge outside the traditional walls of the enterprise.

Pediatric skull fracture with injury and thrombosis of the superior sagittal sinus: illustrative case.

Background: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (VST) is a complication of head injury and can be secondary to sinus compression by depressed skull fractures. Fracture elevation is a treatment option for VST secondary to extrinsic compression, but conservative management may also be effective. Venous sinuses can also be lacerated from skull fractures, resulting in epidural or subdural hematomas.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Efficacy of Mindfulness Training in People With Upper Motor Neuron Disorders: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: This systematic review aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on depression, anxiety, fatigue, and health-related quality of life among individuals with upper motor neuron disorders (UMNDs).

Data Sources: PubMed, PsycINFO, Excerpta Medica Database, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature were searched for relevant studies published between January 2001 and June 2021.

Study Selection: Clinical trials published in English evaluating MBIs in adults with the 4 most common UMNDs (multiple sclerosis, brain injury including stroke, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) were included.

Improved MSC Minimal Criteria to Maximize Patient Safety: A Call to Embrace Tissue Factor and Hemocompatibility Assessment of MSC Products.

The number of mesenchymal stromal/stem cell (MSC) therapeutics and types of clinical applications have greatly diversified during the past decade, including rapid growth of poorly regulated "Stem Cell Clinics" offering diverse "Unproven Stem Cell Interventions." This product diversification necessitates a critical evaluation of the reliance on the 2006 MSC minimal criteria to not only define MSC identity but characterize MSC suitability for intravascular administration. While high-quality MSC therapeutics have been safely administered intravascularly in well-controlled clinical trials, repeated case reports of mild-to-more-severe adverse events have been reported.

Medialized Trochanteric Entry Nailing Is a Safe and Effective Method for High-Energy Subtrochanteric Femur Fracture Treatment.

Fixation of subtrochanteric femur fractures using intramedullary nails can provide high rates of osseous union. However, a lateral starting point or a medial trajectory can result in varus alignment, typically seen with trochanteric entry nails. Even with piriformis nails, medial comminution can result in secondary malalignment and varus.

A Systematic Approach to Configuring MetaMap for Optimal Performance.

Background: MetaMap is a valuable tool for processing biomedical texts to identify concepts. Although MetaMap is highly configurative, configuration decisions are not straightforward.

Objective: To develop a systematic, data-driven methodology for configuring MetaMap for optimal performance.

Instagram and Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Surgery: An Analysis of Social Media and Its Relationship to Patient Perception of Surgery.

Background: Multiple studies have utilized social media to evaluate patient-perceived outcomes after surgery. To the authors knowledge, no published studies have evaluated patient-perceived outcomes after ACDF surgery through social media analysis.

Objective: To analyze posts shared on Instagram referencing anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for tone, gender, activities of daily living (ADLs), rehabilitation, incision, pain, neurological injury, complications, and content of post.

Overall Survival in Phase 3 Clinical Trials and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database in Patients With Metastatic Colorectal Cancer, 1986-2016: A Systematic Review.

Importance: Phase 3 trials for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) have been conducted with varying designs and often with surrogate end points for overall survival (OS).

Objectives: To critically examine the factors associated with clinically relevant improvement in OS (defined as ≥2 months) in these trials and to evaluate their association with outcomes reflected in Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry data.

Evidence Review: Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.

The Cost-Effectiveness of a Telemedicine Screening Program for Diabetic Retinopathy in New York City.

Background: A telemedicine screening initiative was implemented by the Montefiore Health System to improve access to eyecare for a multi-ethnic, at-risk population of diabetic patients in a largely underserved urban community in the Bronx, New York. This retrospective, cross-sectional analysis evaluates the societal benefit and financial sustainability of this program by analyzing both cost and revenue generation based on current standard Medicare reimbursement rates.

Methods: Non-mydriatic fundus cameras were placed in collaboration with a vendor in eight outpatient primary care sites throughout the Montefiore Health Care System, and data was collected between June 2014 and July 2016.

Cardiac Segmentation Method Based on Domain Knowledge.

Echocardiography plays an important role in the clinical diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiac function assessment by echocardiography is a crucial process in daily cardiology. However, cardiac segmentation in echocardiography is a challenging task due to shadows and speckle noise.

Caregiver Characteristics of Adults with Acute Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States and Latin America.

Objectives: To compare characteristics of caregivers of adults with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the U.S. and Latin America (Mexico and Colombia).

Genetic basis of cardiovascular aging is at the core of human longevity.

Aging is an archetypical complex process influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Genetic variants impart a gradient of effect sizes, albeit the effect sizes seem to be skewed toward those with small effect sizes. On one end of the spectrum are the rare monogenic premature aging syndromes, such as Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome, whereby single nucleotide changes lead to rapidly progressive premature aging.

UV inactivation of sewage isolated human adenovirus.

Adenoviruses are known to be one of the most resistant viruses to UV disinfection. This study determined the inactivation kinetics of adenovirus freshly isolated from sewage samples, and compared the results with reference adenovirus stocks grown in the laboratory. Human adenoviruses were isolated from sewage samples using the HEK 293 cell line.

An Unusual Presentation of Extracavitary Primary Effusion Lymphoma: Internal Jugular Vein Occlusion, Intractable Symptoms of Intracranial Hypertension, and Prolonged Remission after Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy.

Primary involvement of the skeletal muscle by extracavitary primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is an extremely rare phenomenon. We report an unusual case of PEL involving the jugulodigastric skeletal muscle without serous cavity involvement which resulted in complete occlusion of the ipsilateral proximal internal jugular vein, causing the patient to present with clinical features of intractable throbbing headache, photophobia, acute confusion state, sporadic syncopal attacks, and dyspnea without obvious palpable neck swellings. This led to an initial clinical suspicion, dedicated diagnostic workup, and empiric therapy for acute meningoencephalitis, severe atypical pneumonia, and acute pulmonary embolism.

Anal cytology screening in men who have sex with men with HIV at a university hospital in Bogotá, Colombia.

Background: Risk of anal squamous cell carcinoma (anal cancer) is greater among men who have sex with men (MSM) living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We describe the frequency of and factors associated with abnormal anal cytology results in Colombian MSM living with HIV.

Methods: This retrospective observational cohort study included MSM ≥18 years old living with HIV screened with anal cytology at Hospital Universitario San Ignacio in Bogotá, Colombia between January 2019 and February 2020.

Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta in Penetrating Trauma.

Background: Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) achieves temporary hemorrhage control via aortic occlusion. Existing REBOA literature focuses on blunt trauma without a clearly defined role in penetrating trauma. This study compared clinical/injury data and outcomes after REBOA in penetrating vs blunt trauma.

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies ancestry-specific associations underlying circulating total tau levels.

Circulating total-tau levels can be used as an endophenotype to identify genetic risk factors for tauopathies and related neurological disorders. Here, we confirmed and better characterized the association of the 17q21 MAPT locus with circulating total-tau in 14,721 European participants and identified three novel loci in 953 African American participants (4q31, 5p13, and 6q25) at P < 5 × 10. We additionally detected 14 novel loci at P < 5 × 10, specific to either Europeans or African Americans.

Value in acute care surgery, part 2: Defining and measuring quality outcomes.

The prior article in this series delved into measuring cost in acute care surgery, and this subsequent work explains in detail how quality is measured. Specifically, objective quality is based on outcome measures, both from administrative and clinical registry databases from a multitude of sources. Risk stratification is key in comparing similar populations across diseases and procedures.

Magnetic bioassembly platforms towards the generation of extracellular vesicles from human salivary gland functional organoids for epithelial repair.

Salivary glands (SG) are exocrine organs with secretory units commonly injured by radiotherapy. Bio-engineered organoids and extracellular vesicles (EV) are currently under investigation as potential strategies for SG repair. Herein, three-dimensional (3D) cultures of SG functional organoids (SGo) and human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSC) were generated by magnetic 3D bioassembly (M3DB) platforms.

AI-assisted Method for Efficiently Generating Breast Ultrasound Screening Reports.

Background: Ultrasound is one of the preferred choices for early screening of dense breast cancer. Clinically, doctors have to manually write the screening report, which is time-consuming and laborious, and it is easy to miss and miswrite.

Aim: We proposed a new pipeline to automatically generate AI breast ultrasound screening reports based on ultrasound images, aiming to assist doctors in improving the efficiency of clinical screening and reducing repetitive report writing.