Innovations that helped with accessing and delivering primary care for infants and young children during COVID-19.

Background: For children under age six, regular preventative primary care is needed for administration of vaccinations, surveillance of development, and early diagnosis and intervention for any potential health conditions or developmental delays. The COVID-19 pandemic created many barriers to providing and accessing primary care. While many studies have explored these barriers, it is important to understand how primary care adapted to ensure these crucial early-years appointments were not missed throughout the pandemic.

Use of advanced topic modeling to generate domains for a preference-based index in osteoarthritis.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is an important endpoint when evaluating the effectiveness of interventions in people living with hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA). The aim of this study was to generate domains for a new OA-specific preference-based index of HRQL in people living with hip or knee OA.

Methods: The proposed HRQL index was based on a formative measurement model.

Development of an organizational typology of interprofessional primary care teams in Quebec, Canada: A multivariate analysis.

Background: This study aimed to develop an organizational typology of Interprofessional Primary Care (IPC) teams in Quebec, Canada, by describing their organizational profiles and assessing the association between the characteristics of the populations served and the organizational profiles.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out using a finite mixture model of the 2021 financial monitoring data from the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Quebec. The population consisted of all IPC teams in Quebec (N = 368).

Identifying Abnormal Exertional Breathlessness in COPD: Comparing Modified Medical Research Council and COPD Assessment Test With Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing.

Background: COPD management is guided by the respiratory symptom burden, assessed using the modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale, the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), or both.

Research Question: What are the abilities of mMRC and CAT to detect abnormally high exertional breathlessness on incremental cardiopulmonary cycle exercise testing (CPET) in people with COPD?

Study Design And Methods: Analysis of people ≥ 40 years of age with FEV to FVC ratio of < 0.70 after bronchodilator administration and ≥ 10 pack-years of smoking from the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease study.

Virtual Reality for Pediatric Trauma Education - A Preliminary Face and Content Validation Study.

Purpose: Pediatric trauma education remains expensive and available only to a few providers worldwide. Innovative educational technologies like virtual reality (VR) can be key to decentralizing trauma education. This preliminary validation study evaluates the face and content validity of a VR software designed to enhance pediatric trauma skills.

Genetics and Genomics of Gestational Trophoblastic Disease.

This article focuses on hydatidiform mole (HM), which is the most common form of gestational trophoblastic disease and the most studied at the genomic and genetic levels. We summarize current laboratory methods to diagnose HM, discuss their limitations and advantages, and share the lessons we have learned. We also provide an overview of the history of recurrent HM, their known genetic etiologies, and the mechanisms of their formation.

Recognizing clinical features of primary ciliary dyskinesia in the perinatal period.

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare, motile ciliopathy inherited through mostly autosomal recessive variants that results in chronic ear, sinus, and respiratory disease. Despite neonatal respiratory distress being a common presenting symptom in term infants with PCD, the diagnosis is often delayed due to non-familiarity of neonatal caregivers with phenotypic and diagnostic features of this disease. Organ laterality defects, prenatal cerebral ventriculomegaly, and a family history of suppurative respiratory disease may occur in PCD and should prompt neonatal testing for this condition.

Assessment of Oculomotor Functions as a Biomarker in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion, is a major public health problem, and ambiguity still exists regarding its diagnosis. While functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been identified as a helpful screening tool for concussion, its limited accessibility in clinical or field settings necessitates a more efficient alternative. Oculomotor function deficit is an often-reported pathology in mTBI.

Early rhombic lip Protogenin stem cells in a human-specific neurovascular niche initiate and maintain group 3 medulloblastoma.

We identify a population of Protogenin-positive (PRTG) MYC NESTIN stem cells in the four-week-old human embryonic hindbrain that subsequently localizes to the ventricular zone of the rhombic lip (RL). Oncogenic transformation of early Prtg rhombic lip stem cells initiates group 3 medulloblastoma (Gr3-MB)-like tumors. PRTG stem cells grow adjacent to a human-specific interposed vascular plexus in the RL, a phenotype that is recapitulated in Gr3-MB but not in other types of medulloblastoma.

Dysanapsis Genetic Risk Predicts Lung Function Across the Lifespan.

Dysanapsis refers to a mismatch between airway tree caliber and lung size arising early in life. Dysanapsis assessed by computed tomography (CT) is evident by early adulthood and associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) risk later in life. By examining the genetic factors associated with CT-assessed dysanapsis, we aimed to elucidate its molecular underpinnings and physiological significance across the lifespan.

Exploring oculomotor functions in a pilot study with healthy controls: Insights from eye-tracking and fMRI.

Eye-tracking techniques have gained widespread application in various fields including research on the visual system, neurosciences, psychology, and human-computer interaction, with emerging clinical implications. In this preliminary phase of our study, we introduce a pilot test of innovative virtual reality technology designed for tracking head and eye movements among healthy individuals. This tool was developed to assess the presence of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), given the frequent association of oculomotor function deficits with such injuries.

Deletion of IRE1α in podocytes exacerbates diabetic nephropathy in mice.

Protein misfolding in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of podocytes contributes to the pathogenesis of glomerular diseases. Protein misfolding activates the unfolded protein response (UPR), a compensatory signaling network. We address the role of the UPR and the UPR transducer, inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α), in streptozotocin-induced diabetic nephropathy in mice.

Prevalence of omalizumab-resistant chronic urticaria and real-world effectiveness of dupilumab in patients with omalizumab-refractory chronic urticaria: a single-centre experience.

Chronic urticaria (CU) is characterized by weals (hives) angio-oedema (or both) that last for ≥ 6 weeks, with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) being the most common subtype. Patients with omalizumab-refractory CSU represent an unmet clinical need. In this study, we aimed to assess the prevalence and predictors of omalizumab failure in a large cohort of patients with CU and assess the effectiveness of dupilumab for omalizumab-refractory CU.

Predictors of complication after groin dissection: a single-centre experience.

Background: Inguinal lymphadenectomy (ILND) has historically been associated with substantial morbidity. The objective of this study was to obtain contemporary ILND morbidity rates and to identify potentially preventable risk factors.

Methods: We carried out a retrospective review of medical records for all superficial, deep, and combination groin dissections performed at a single, high-volume academic centre between January 2007 and December 2020.