Lung Point in a Case of Bronchoscopy Lung Volume Reduction: Consider Its Mimics Before Inserting the Tube.

Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is used to evaluate many clinical scenarios. Chest POCUS has been integrated as a part of a clinical protocol to assess patients with lung pathology 1. The ability to detect pneumothorax using chest POCUS has been shown to be superior to chest radiography, with specificity reported to be as high as 100% when a lung point sign is identified.

A Real-Time Approach for Assessing Rodent Engagement in a Nose-Poking Go/No-Go Behavioral Task Using ArUco Markers.

Behavioral neuroscience requires precise and unbiased methods for animal behavior assessment to elucidate complex brain-behavior interactions. Traditional manual scoring methods are often labor-intensive and can be prone to error, necessitating advances in automated techniques. Recent innovations in computer vision have led to both marker- and markerless-based tracking systems.

Cell-specific spatial profiling of targeted protein expression to characterize the impact of intracortical microelectrode implantation on neuronal health.

Intracortical microelectrode arrays (MEAs) can record neuronal activity and advance brain-computer interface (BCI) devices. Implantation of the invasive MEA kills local neurons, which has been documented using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Neuronal nuclear protein (NeuN), a protein that lines the nuclei of exclusively neuronal cells, has been used as a marker for neuronal health and survival for decades in neuroscience and neural engineering.

Ergonomics in bronchoscopy.

Purpose Of Review: This study examines ergonomic considerations in bronchoscopic procedures, surveying existing research, injury rates, contributing factors, and practical ergonomic controls.

Recent Findings: The field of ergonomics examines the relationship between workers and their workplace to enhance productivity and minimize injuries. Bronchoscopists may face ergonomic hazards due to extended periods of maintaining fixed positions, repetitive actions, and the design of both tools and procedure spaces.

Osteoclastic ATP6AP2 maintains β-catenin levels to prevent hyper-osteoclastic activation and trabecular bone-loss.

Osteoclast (OC) formation and bone resorption are regulated by several factors, including V-ATPase, Wnt/β-catenin, and RANKL/RANK signaling. ATP6AP2, also known as the prorenin receptor (PRR), is an accessory subunit of V-ATPase and a regulator of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. While the V-ATPase subunit ATP6AP1 is essential for OC formation and function, the role of ATP6AP2 in OC-lineage cells is less clear.

Clinical outcomes and emergence of resistance of infections treated with ceftolozane-tazobactam versus ceftazidime-avibactam.

Few studies compare outcomes of patients with difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR) infections treated with ceftolozane-tazobactam versus ceftazidime-avibactam. A multicenter prospective study was conducted of unique patients with DTR infections from 2018 to 2023 receiving >72 h of ceftolozane-tazobactam or ceftazidime-avibactam, with confirmation that the isolate was susceptible to the agent administered by broth microdilution. Inverse probability weighting (IPW) incorporating propensity scores was utilized to ensure balanced baseline characteristics.

CLOVER (CLOstridium difficile Vaccine Efficacy tRial) Study: A Phase 3, Randomized Trial Investigating the Efficacy and Safety of a Detoxified Toxin A/B Vaccine in Adults 50 Years and Older at Increased Risk of Clostridioides difficile Infection.

Background: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) causes substantial mortality and healthcare burden. We assessed the detoxified toxin-A/B PF-06425090 vaccine for primary CDI prevention.

Methods: This phase 3 observer-blinded study randomized (1:1) ≥50-year-olds at increased CDI risk (N = 17 535) to receive 3 PF-06425090 or placebo doses (0, 1, and 6 months).

VPS35 or retromer as a potential target for neurodegenerative disorders: barriers to progress.

Introduction: Vacuolar Protein Sorting 35 (VPS35) is pivotal in the retromer complex, governing transmembrane protein trafficking within cells, and its dysfunction is implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. A missense mutation, Asp620Asn (D620N), specifically ties to familial late-onset Parkinson's, while reduced VPS35 levels are observed in Alzheimer's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and tauopathies. VPS35's absence in certain neurons during development can initiate neurodegeneration, highlighting its necessity for neural health.

Infectious Diseases Society of America 2024 Guidance on the Treatment of Antimicrobial-Resistant Gram-Negative Infections.

Background: The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is committed to providing up-to-date guidance on the treatment of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections. This guidance document focuses on infections caused by extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E), AmpC β- lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (AmpC-E), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), Pseudomonas aeruginosa with difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR P. aeruginosa), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

Comprehensive proteomic analysis of the differential expression of 62 proteins following intracortical microelectrode implantation.

Intracortical microelectrodes (IMEs) are devices designed to be implanted into the cerebral cortex for various neuroscience and neuro-engineering applications. A critical feature of IMEs is their ability to detect neural activity from individual neurons. Currently, IMEs are limited by chronic failure, largely considered to be caused by the prolonged neuroinflammatory response to the implanted devices.

Molecular Epidemiology of Colonization in Families With Infants.

Background: Community-associated infection is a major public health hazard to adults and older children. Infants frequently excrete toxigenic asymptomatically in their stool, but their importance as a community reservoir of is uncertain.

Methods: Families of healthy infants were recruited at the baby's 4-month well child visit and were followed longitudinally until the baby was approximately 9 months old.

Implanted Pulse Generators in Lower Extremity Neuroprostheses: A 25-Year Review.

Objectives: Neuroprosthetic devices can improve quality of life by providing an alternative option for motor function lost after spinal cord injury, stroke, and other central nervous system disorders. The objective of this study is to analyze the outcomes of implanted pulse generators that our research group installed in volunteers with paralysis to assist with lower extremity function over a 25-year period, specifically, to determine survival rates and common modes of malfunction, reasons for removal or revision, and precipitating factors or external events that may have adversely influenced device performance.

Materials And Methods: Our implantable receiver-stimulator (IRS-8) and implantable stimulator-telemeter (IST-12 and IST-16) device histories were retrospectively reviewed through surgical notes, regulatory documentation, and manufacturing records from 1996 to 2021.

Flexible multifunctional titania nanotube array platform for biological interfacing.

Abstract: The current work presents a novel flexible multifunctional platform for biological interface applications. The use of titania nanotube arrays (TNAs) as a multifunctional material is explored for soft-tissue interface applications. biocompatibility of TNAs to brain-derived cells was first examined by culturing microglia cells-the resident immune cells of the central nervous system on the surface of TNAs.

Wireless and Catheter-Free Bladder Pressure and Volume Sensor.

Continuous monitoring of bladder activity during normal daily activities would improve clinical diagnostics and understanding of the mechanisms underlying bladder function, or help validate how differing neuromodulation strategies affect the bladder. This work describes a urological monitor of conscious activity (UroMOCA). The UroMOCA included a pressure sensor, urine impedance-sensing electrodes, and wireless battery recharge and data transmission circuitry.

The Time Is Now: Leveraging the Affective Domain in PT Education and Clinical Practice.

Background And Purpose: The traditional domains of learning are cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. These parallel the habits of head, hand, and heart as the foundations for knowing, doing, and being in health professions education. Physical therapy education is deeply rooted in a cognitive (head) and psychomotor (hand) taxonomy despite the mission, vision, and values of the profession that embody the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) requiring competence in the affective (heart) domain.

Depletion of complement factor 3 delays the neuroinflammatory response to intracortical microelectrodes.

The neuroinflammatory response to intracortical microelectrodes (IMEs) used with brain-machine interfacing (BMI) applications is regarded as the primary contributor to poor chronic performance. Recent developments in high-plex gene expression technologies have allowed for an evolution in the investigation of individual proteins or genes to be able to identify specific pathways of upregulated genes that may contribute to the neuroinflammatory response. Several key pathways that are upregulated following IME implantation are involved with the complement system.

Peripheral nerve blocks of wrist and finger flexors can increase hand opening in chronic hemiparetic stroke.

Introduction: Hand opening is reduced by abnormal wrist and finger flexor activity in many individuals with stroke. This flexor activity also limits hand opening produced by functional electrical stimulation (FES) of finger and wrist extensor muscles. Recent advances in electrical nerve block technologies have the potential to mitigate this abnormal flexor behavior, but the actual impact of nerve block on hand opening in stroke has not yet been investigated.

In Vivo Characterization of Intracortical Probes with Focused Ion Beam-Etched Nanopatterned Topographies.

(1) Background: Intracortical microelectrodes (IMEs) are an important part of interfacing with the central nervous system (CNS) and recording neural signals. However, recording electrodes have shown a characteristic steady decline in recording performance owing to chronic neuroinflammation. The topography of implanted devices has been explored to mimic the nanoscale three-dimensional architecture of the extracellular matrix.

Higher Vitamin D Levels before Methotrexate Therapy Initiation Are Associated with Lower Subsequent Mortality in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

(1) Vitamin D deficiency is associated with mortality in the general population and has been observed in one rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort. Here, we investigate the relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels before methotrexate (MTX) therapy initiation in patients with RA and the subsequent all-cause mortality in a national Veterans Affairs (VA) cohort. (2) This is a retrospective study on RA patients time-oriented around the initial MTX prescription and 25(OH)D levels before starting MTX.

Reactive Amine Functionalized Microelectrode Arrays Provide Short-Term Benefit but Long-Term Detriment to Recording Performance.

Intracortical microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are used for recording neural signals. However, indwelling devices result in chronic neuroinflammation, which leads to decreased recording performance through degradation of the device and surrounding tissue. Coating the MEAs with bioactive molecules is being explored to mitigate neuroinflammation.

Physiological and perceptual responses to acute arm cranking with blood flow restriction.

Introduction: Lower-body aerobic exercise with blood flow restriction (BFR) offers a unique approach for stimulating improvements in muscular function and aerobic capacity. While there are more than 40 reports documenting acute and chronic responses to lower-body aerobic exercise with BFR, responses to upper-body aerobic exercise with BFR are not clearly established.

Purpose: We evaluated acute physiological and perceptual responses to arm cranking with and without BFR.

Cytomegalovirus Infection Facilitates the Costimulation of CD57+CD28- CD8 T Cells in HIV Infection and Atherosclerosis via the CD2-LFA-3 Axis.

CD8 T cells are emerging as important mediators in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Immune activation may play a particular role in people with HIV (PWH) who are at an increased risk of CVD, even after controlling for known CVD risk factors. Latent CMV infection is associated with increased CVD risk for both PWH and people without HIV, and human CMV-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells are enriched for an immunosenescent phenotype.