Vanishing twins, selection , and infant mortality in the United States.

Background And Objectives: Research to identify fetal predictors of infant mortality among singletons born in the United States (US) concludes that poorly understood and unmeasured "confounders" produce a spurious association between fetal size and infant death. We argue that these confounders include Vanishing Twin Syndrome (VTS)-the clinical manifestation of selection against frail male twins . We test our argument in 276 monthly conception cohorts conceived in the US from January 1995 through December 2017.

Intravesical vancomycin for the treatment of Corynebacterium cystitis and struvite bladder stones: A case report.

Urologic patients with anatomic abnormalities can be particularly susceptible to urinary tract infections (UTI). UTI with urease-producing bacteria can promote struvite urinary calculi and pose unique treatment problems. There is potential for rapid stone growth and bacterial eradication can be difficult secondary to urothelial or stone colonization.

Can an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-Based Smartphone App Help Individuals with Mental Health Disorders Quit Smoking?

Background: Individuals with mental health disorders face major barriers in accessing smoking cessation care, often due to the stigmas associated with mental disorders and addiction. Consequently, accessible population-based smoking cessation interventions are needed for this vulnerable group.

Objective: This secondary analysis utilized data from a 12-month randomized trial to examine whether an acceptance and commitment therapy-based app (iCanQuit) demonstrated greater efficacy, engagement, and satisfaction compared to a United States (US) Clinical Practice Guidelines-based app (QuitGuide) in helping adults with mental health disorders quit smoking.

Arthroscopic Bone Grafting of Deep Acetabular Cysts in Hip Preservation Surgery: A Matched Case-Control Study.

Background: Acetabular subchondral cysts are commonly identified signs of joint degeneration and arthritis. This pathology is generally considered a relative contraindication for hip preservation surgery.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of arthroscopic bone grafting for the treatment of acetabular subchondral cysts.

Exploring the association between emergency hospital services and homicide incidents in Pennsylvania.

Homicide is a significant measure of quality of life and serves as a reference point for a comparison between neighborhoods. Despite its unique relevance to homicide, the role of medical resources, specifically emergency hospital services, has been underexplored in the literature. This study addresses this gap by examining the relationship between emergency hospital availability and homicide rates across counties in Pennsylvania, using advanced spatiotemporal modeling techniques.

Children betrayed: The unseen victims of domestic violence and how law enforcement can better protect them.

Domestic violence is a commonplace and serious societal problem with vast public health and economic consequences. Childhood exposure to domestic violence can blight children's biological and social development. Often, local police departments are first responders to domestic violence.

Evaluating dimensionality reduction of comorbidities for predictive modeling in individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1.

Objective: Dimensionality reduction techniques aim to enhance the performance of machine learning (ML) models by reducing noise and mitigating overfitting. We sought to compare the effect of different dimensionality reduction methods for comorbidity features extracted from electronic health records (EHRs) on the performance of ML models for predicting the development of various sub-phenotypes in children with Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1).

Materials And Methods: EHR-derived data from pediatric subjects with a confirmed clinical diagnosis of NF1 were used to create 10 unique comorbidities code-derived feature sets by incorporating dimensionality reduction techniques using raw International Classification of Diseases codes, Clinical Classifications Software Refined, and Phecode mapping schemes.

Patient-Centered Discharge and Postoperative Length of Hospital Stay in Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Background This study aimed to identify factors affecting the length of hospital stay (LOS) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I or II, with a focus on patient-dependent determination of discharge. The goal was to explore strategies to shorten LOS. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 398 patients (494 knees) who underwent primary TKA.

An integrated theoretical study on natural alkaloids as SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors: a step toward discovery of potential drug candidates with anti-COVID-19 activity.

: in the twenty-first century, the emergence of COVID-19 as a highly transmissible pandemic disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 posed a significant threat to humanity. : the disease spreads through small respiratory droplets, necessitating the use of various compounds for treatment, with alkaloids being recognized as particularly crucial owing to their diverse pharmaceutical properties. : in this study, a dataset comprising 100 natural alkaloids obtained from the literature was transformed into 2D chemical structures using Chem Draw 19.

1,2,3-Triazole-tethered fluoroquinolone analogues with antibacterial potential: synthesis and cytotoxicity investigations.

The antibacterial efficacy of some newly developed bis- and C3-carboxylic moieties of fluoroquinolone-linked triazole conjugates was studied. Twenty compounds from two different series of triazoles were synthesized using click chemistry and evaluated for their antibacterial activity against a Gram-positive strain, (ATCC29212), and its clinical isolate and a Gram-negative bacterial strain, (ATCC25922), and its clinical isolate. Among the compounds, 7, 9a, 9d, 9i, 10(a-d), and 10i showed excellent activity with MIC values of up to 6.

Comparative evaluation of specimen type and processing conditions for studying oyster microbiomes.

Metagenomic sequencing is increasingly being employed to understand the assemblage and dynamics of the oyster microbiome. Specimen collection and processing steps can impact the resultant microbiome composition and introduce bias. To investigate this systematically, a total of 54 farmed oysters were collected from Chesapeake Bay between May and September 2019.

Comparison of the efficacy of LTCBDE and LCBDE for common bile duct stones: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The choice of surgical methods for common bile duct stones (CBDS) is controversial. The aim of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic transcystic common bile duct exploration (LTCBDE) and laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE).

Methods: Relevant literature published before March 30, 2023 in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane was searched to screen studies comparing LTCBDE and LCBDE.

Computational structure-based design of antiviral peptides as potential protein-protein interaction inhibitors of rabies virus phosphoprotein and human LC8.

Rabies is a serious zoonotic disease caused by the rabies virus (RABV). Despite the successful development of vaccines and efforts made in drug discovery, rabies is incurable. Therefore, development of novel drugs is of interest to the scientific community.

Evolving perspectives in dental marketing: A study of Jordanian dentists' attitudes towards advertising and practice promotion.

Advertising for dental services in Jordan is subject to regulation. Dental professionals must obtain approval from their respective councils before initiating any advertising campaigns to ensure compliance with ethical and professional standards. Although the dental advertising landscape in Jordan has made considerable progress, research on dentists' perspectives regarding advertising in the country remains limited.

ENHANCING TRANSCRANIAL FOCUSED ULTRASOUND TREATMENT PLANNING WITH SYNTHETIC CT FROM ULTRA-SHORT ECHO TIME (UTE) MRI: A MULTI-TASK DEEP LEARNING APPROACH.

Utilizing a multi-task deep learning framework, this study generated synthetic CT (sCT) images from a limited dataset of Ultrashort echo time (UTE) MRI for transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) planning. A 3D Transformer U-Net was employed to produce sCT images that closely replicated actual CT scans, demonstrated by an average Dice coefficient of 0.868 for morphological accuracy.

Effect of long and short half-life PDE5 inhibitors on HbA1c levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors, owing to their mechanism of action, have been gaining recognition as a potential case of drug repurposing and combination therapy for diabetes treatment. We aimed to examine the effect of long and short half-life PDE5 inhibitors have on Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in people with elevated HbA1c (>6%) to assess mean difference in HbA1c levels from baseline versus controls after any PDE5 inhibitor intervention of ≥4 weeks, excluding multiple interventions.

Biologic therapies targeting type 2 cytokines are effective at improving asthma symptoms and control-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Allergic asthma is a highly prevalent chronic inflammatory disease driven by aeroallergen exposure. In severe asthma, the current standard of care does not fully control disease symptoms, indicating an unmet clinical need. Biologic therapies targeting cytokines IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 have been shown to provide benefits to asthmatic patients over currently existing asthma treatments.

Chinese patent medicine tongxinluo capsule as a supplement to treat chronic coronary syndromes: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Chronic coronary syndromes (CCS) is a common clinical condition that increases the risk of cardiovascular events at any time. Tongxinluo capsules (TXL) are widely used in China for treating CCS.

Objectives: To systematically evaluate the therapeutic effects and safety of adding TXL to Western medical treatment (WM) for CCS.

Analgesic Efficacy of Gabapentin in Patients Undergoing Carpal Tunnel Release Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trials.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) results from median nerve compression and may lead to significant pain. Surgical management through release is the gold standard approach for severe CTS patients. Gabapentin is used as an analgesic drug, but data on its postoperative effects on pain assessment and safety measures are unclear.

Homology modeling and thermostability enhancement of PETase via hydrophobic interactions.

The quest for sustainable solutions to plastic pollution has driven research into plastic-degrading enzymes, offering promising avenues for polymer recycling applications. However, enzymes derived from natural sources often exhibit suboptimal thermostability, hindering their industrial viability. Protein engineering techniques have emerged as a powerful approach to enhance the desired properties of these biocatalysts.

U.S. State-Level Containment Policies Not Associated with Food Insecurity Changes During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multi-level Analysis.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between United States (US) containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic and household food insecurity.

Design: To investigate these relationships, we developed a framework linking COVID-related containment policies with different domains of food security, then used multilevel random effects models to examine associations between state-level containment policies and household food security. Our framework depicts theorized linkages between stringency policies and five domains of food security (availability, physical access, economic access, acceptability in meeting preferences, and agency, which includes both self-efficacy and infrastructure).

The effect of oral methadone on the QTc interval in cancer pain patients.

Introduction: The QTc prolongation effect of methadone has been extensively studied at higher doses commonly used in opioid dependence maintenance therapy, but evidence remains limited regarding its impact at the lower doses typically prescribed for cancer pain. This study aims to evaluate the effect of oral methadone on QTc intervals in cancer pain patients.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on adult patients initiated on oral methadone therapy for cancer.

High-dimensional multiple imputation (HDMI) for partially observed confounders including natural language processing-derived auxiliary covariates.

Multiple imputation (MI) models can be improved with auxiliary covariates (AC), but their performance in high-dimensional data remains unclear. We aimed to develop and compare high-dimensional MI (HDMI) methods using structured and natural language processing (NLP)-derived AC in studies with partially observed confounders. We conducted a plasmode simulation with acute kidney injury as outcome and simulated 100 cohorts with a null treatment effect, incorporating creatinine labs, atrial fibrillation (AFib), and other investigator-derived confounders in the outcome generation.