Understanding Perceptions of Hepatitis C and Its Management Among People with Experience of Incarceration in Quebec, Canada: A Qualitative Study Guided by the Common Sense Self-Regulation Model.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) disproportionately affects certain sub-populations, including people with experience of incarceration (PWEI). Little is known about how perceptions of HCV and treatment have changed despite simplifications in testing and treatment in carceral settings. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with people living with or having a history of HCV infection released from Quebec provincial prison.

Electroencephalography (EEG) for Neurological Prognostication in Post-Anoxic Coma Following Cardiac Arrest and Its Relationship to Outcome.

Background/objectives: Cardiac arrest may cause significant hypoxic-ischemic injury leading to coma, seizures, myoclonic jerks, or status epilepticus. Mortality is high, but accurate prognostication is challenging. A multimodal approach is employed, in which electroencephalography (EEG) forms a key part with several recognised patterns of prognostic significance.

Informational Needs of Lung Cancer Patients and Caregivers.

The provision of information is critical to the care and support for cancer patients. Relevant information leads to lower anxiety, increased patient control and involvement in decision-making, greater satisfaction, and improved coping skills. To identify the unique needs of lung cancer patients and their caregivers (LPCs), a needs assessment was conducted.

Paranoia, Functioning, and the Moderating Effect of Well-Being in a Community Sample of Adolescents.

Introduction: Paranoid ideation is a relatively common experience in adolescence, yet it has not been well-explored in relation to psychological well-being and functioning in general population samples of youth. The current study aimed to investigate the relations between paranoia (operationalized as "persecutory ideation"), well-being, and two domains of functioning, social (e.g.

A transgender medicine curriculum for Internal Medicine residents at a single academic institution.

Background: Transgender or gender diverse patients present with health care needs as it relates to gender-affirming care, psychosocial support, and medication access. Considering this, medical education strategies should be implemented to train the next generation of Internal Medicine physicians in this area.

Methods: We adopted Kern's six step approach to curriculum design to create and implement an educational curriculum for teaching Internal Medicine residents about transgender patients at a single academic institution in Canada (Kern et al, Curriculum Development for Medical Education, 2009).

Identification and validation the predictive biomarkers based on risk-adjusted control chart in gemcitabine with or without erlotinib for pancreatic cancer therapy.

Background: In a randomized clinical controlled trial (PA.3) conducted by the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, the effects of gemcitabine combined with the targeted drug erlotinib (GEM-E) gemcitabine alone (GEM) on patients with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic pancreatic cancer were studied. This trial statistically demonstrated that the GEM-E combination therapy moderately improves overall survival (OS) of patients.

The association between neighbourhood marginalization and SARS-CoV-2 outcomes in patients presenting to emergency departments.

Objective: Social and economic marginalizations have been associated with inferior health outcomes in Canada. Our objective was to describe the relationship between neighbourhood marginalization and COVID-19 outcomes among patients presenting to Canadian emergency departments (ED).

Methods: We conducted an observational study among consecutive COVID-19 patients recruited from 47 hospitals participating in the Canadian COVID-19 ED Rapid Response Network (CCEDRRN) between March 3, 2020, and July 24, 2022.

Polygenic score distribution differences across European ancestry populations: implications for breast cancer risk prediction.

Background: The 313-variant polygenic risk score (PRS) provides a promising tool for clinical breast cancer risk prediction. However, evaluation of the PRS across different European populations which could influence risk estimation has not been performed.

Methods: We explored the distribution of PRS across European populations using genotype data from 94,072 females without breast cancer diagnosis, of European-ancestry from 21 countries participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) and 223,316 females without breast cancer diagnosis from the UK Biobank.

Allergic rhinitis.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common disorder that is strongly linked to asthma and conjunctivitis. Classic symptoms include nasal congestion, nasal itch, rhinorrhea and sneezing. A thorough history, physical examination and assessment of allergen sensitization are important for establishing the diagnosis of AR.

Higher Versus Lower Protein Delivery in Critically Ill Patients: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: Recent multicenter trials suggest that higher protein delivery may result in worse outcomes in critically ill patients, but uncertainty remains. An updated Bayesian meta-analysis of recent evidence was conducted to estimate the probabilities of beneficial and harmful treatment effects.

Data Sources: An updated systematic search was performed in three databases until September 4, 2024.

Heterozygous UBR5 variants result in a neurodevelopmental syndrome with developmental delay, autism, and intellectual disability.

E3 ubiquitin ligases have been linked to developmental diseases including autism, Angelman syndrome (UBE3A), and Johanson-Blizzard syndrome (JBS) (UBR1). Here, we report variants in the E3 ligase UBR5 in 29 individuals presenting with a neurodevelopmental syndrome that includes developmental delay, autism, intellectual disability, epilepsy, movement disorders, and/or genital anomalies. Their phenotype is distinct from JBS due to the absence of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and the presence of autism, epilepsy, and, in some probands, a movement disorder.

Divergent brain solute clearance in rat models of cerebral amyloid angiopathy and Alzheimer's disease.

Brain waste clearance from the interstitial fluid environment is challenging to measure, which has contributed to controversy regarding the significance of glymphatic transport impairment for neurodegenerative processes. Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) with cerebrospinal fluid administration of Gd-tagged tracers is often used to assess glymphatic system function. We previously quantified glymphatic transport from DCE-MRI data utilizing regularized optimal mass transport (rOMT) analysis, however, information specific to glymphatic clearance was not directly derived.

Next generation brain health: transforming global research and public health to promote prevention of dementia and reduce its risk in young adult populations.

Efforts to prevent dementia can benefit from precision interventions delivered to the right population at the right time; that is, when the potential to reduce risk is the highest. Young adults (aged 18-39 years) are a neglected population in dementia research and policy making despite being highly exposed to several known modifiable risk factors. The risk and protective factors that have the biggest effect on dementia outcomes in young adulthood, and how these associations differ across regions and groups, still remain unclear.

The association of combinations of social factors and SARs-CoV-2 infection: A retrospective population-based cohort study in Ontario, 2020-2021.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated health inequities worldwide. While several studies have examined the impact of individual social factors on COVID infection, our objective was to examine how interactions of social factors were associated with the risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the first two years of the pandemic.

Study Design And Setting: We conducted an observational cohort study using linked health administrative data for Ontarians tested for SARS-CoV-2 between January 1st, 2020, and December 31st, 2021.

Glycerol-3-phosphate contributes to the increase in FGF23 production in chronic kidney disease.

Why fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) levels increase markedly in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unknown. Recently, we found that phosphate stimulates renal production of glycerol-3-phosphate (G-3-P), which circulates to the bone to trigger FGF23 production. To assess the impact of G-3-P on FGF23 production in CKD, we compared the effect of adenine-induced CKD in mice deficient in glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 (Gpd1), an enzyme that synthesizes G-3-P, along with wild-type littermates.

Associations between mental health conditions in pregnancy and maternal socioeconomic status: a population-based retrospective cohort study in Ontario, Canada.

Background: The World Health Organization has recognized maternal mental illness as an emerging issue. Previous studies have indicated that maternal mental illness is associated with socioeconomic status (SES). However, there is a lack of research concerning the mental health of pregnant people with low SES in Ontario, Canada.

PTSD Coach as an early mobile intervention to improve cancer-related anxiety and psychosocial oncology uptake in patients newly diagnosed with head and neck cancer: pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: This pilot study aimed to provide supportive evidence for the feasibility of conducting a full-scale intervention trial with patients newly diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC). This included assessing the acceptability and potential usefulness of the PTSD Coach mobile app as an early self-management intervention that gives information about anxiety symptoms, offers self-assessment of symptoms with feedback, tools to self-manage anxiety, and connects to support.

Methods: A three-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted.

Safety and Efficacy of Intravenous Thrombolysis by Infarct Type in Patients with No Visible Occlusion: A Secondary Analysis of the AcT Trial.

Background: About 25% of patients with acute ischemic stroke have lacunar infarct on follow-up imaging. In this secondary analysis from the AcT (Alteplase Compared With Tenecteplase) trial, we assessed if there is variation in safety or efficacy of intravenous thrombolysis by infarct type in patients with no visible occlusion. We also determined if this effect differed between tenecteplase and alteplase.

De novo variants disrupt an LDB1-regulated transcriptional network in congenital ventriculomegaly.

Congenital hydrocephalus (CH), characterized by cerebral ventriculomegaly (CV), is among the most common and least understood pediatric neurosurgical disorders. We have identified in the largest-assembled CV cohort (>2,697 parent-proband trios) an exome-wide significant enrichment of protein-altering de novo variants (DNVs) in LDB1 (p = 1.11 x 10-15).

External Validation of Brief Resolved Unexplained Events Prediction Rules for Serious Underlying Diagnosis.

Importance: The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) higher-risk criteria for brief resolved unexplained events (BRUE) have a low positive predictive value (4.8%) and misclassify most infants as higher risk (>90%). New BRUE prediction rules from a US cohort of 3283 infants showed improved discrimination; however, these rules have not been validated in an external cohort.

A phylogenetic assessment of HIV-1 transmission trends among people who inject drugs from Coastal and Nairobi, Kenya.

Although recent modeling suggests that needle-syringe programs (NSPs) have reduced parenteral HIV transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Kenya, the prevalence in this population remains high (∼14-20%, compared to ∼4% in the larger population). Reducing transmission or acquisition requires understanding historic and modern transmission trends, but the relationship between the PWID HIV-1 sub-epidemic and the general epidemic in Kenya is not well understood. We incorporated 303 new (2018-21) HIV-1 sequences from PWID and their sexual and injecting partners with 2666 previously published Kenyan HIV-1 sequences to quantify relative rates and direction of HIV-1 transmissions involving PWID from the coast and Nairobi regions of Kenya.

Referral patterns for common surgical procedures in Ontario: a cross-sectional population-level study.

Background: Little is known about the existing structure and function of referral networks in the prevalent referral system for specialized surgical care in Canada, which is based on direct physician referral to specialists in a largely unmanaged referral marketplace. Our objective was to describe and analyze the referral networks of referring physicians and surgeons for common surgical procedures in Ontario, to better understand potential barriers to single-entry models.

Methods: We analyzed referral networks for patients between referring physicians and surgeons for 9 common scheduled surgical procedures from 2016 to 2019 using administrative data sources in Ontario.

Factors Associated With Early Computed Tomography Imaging in Children Hospitalized With Severe Orbital Infections.

Objective: We identified factors associated with computed tomographic (CT) imaging within 24 hours of emergency department (ED) presentation in hospitalized children with severe orbital infections.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter retrospective cohort study was conducted that included children aged 2 months to 18 years between 2009 and 2018 who were admitted to the hospital with severe orbital infections, including periorbital and orbital cellulitis. Multivariable modified Poisson regression was used to identify possible factors associated with receiving a CT scan within 24 hours of ED presentation.

Liberal or Restrictive Transfusion Strategy in Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Background: The effect of a liberal red-cell transfusion strategy as compared with a restrictive strategy in patients during the critical care period after an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is unclear.

Methods: We randomly assigned critically ill adults with acute aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and anemia to a liberal strategy (mandatory transfusion at a hemoglobin level of ≤10 g per deciliter) or a restrictive strategy (optional transfusion at a hemoglobin level of ≤8 g per deciliter). The primary outcome was an unfavorable neurologic outcome, defined as a score of 4 or higher on the modified Rankin scale (range, 0 to 6, with higher scores indicating greater disability) at 12 months.