COVID-19 policies and tuberculosis services in private health sectors of India, Indonesia, and Nigeria.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges in the field of global health. Nigeria, Indonesia and India are three high tuberculosis (TB) burden countries with large private health sectors. Both TB and the private health sector faced challenges in these countries because of COVID-19.

IBD in the elderly population: Epidemiology, long-term disease course, surgery rates and biological use - data from the Veszprem county cohort between 1977-2020.

Background And Aims: Limited data are available on long-term disease outcomes in elderly-onset (EO) inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) from well-defined population-based cohorts. Our aim was to analyze incidence, disease course, surgery rates and therapeutic strategies of EO IBD in a prospective population-based cohort.

Methods: EO IBD was defined if diagnosis was established at ≥60years of age.

Human Auditory-Motor Networks Show Frequency-Specific Phase-Based Coupling in Resting-State MEG.

Perception and production of music and speech rely on auditory-motor coupling, a mechanism which has been linked to temporally precise oscillatory coupling between auditory and motor regions of the human brain, particularly in the beta frequency band. Recently, brain imaging studies using magnetoencephalography (MEG) have also shown that accurate auditory temporal predictions specifically depend on phase coherence between auditory and motor cortical regions. However, it is not yet clear whether this tight oscillatory phase coupling is an intrinsic feature of the auditory-motor loop, or whether it is only elicited by task demands.

Substantia nigra degeneration in spinocerebellar ataxia 2 and 7 using neuromelanin-sensitive imaging.

Objective: Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA) are neurodegenerative diseases with widespread lesions across the central nervous system. Ataxia and spasticity are usually predominant, but patients may also present with parkinsonism. We aimed to characterize substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) degeneration in SCA2 and 7 using neuromelanin-sensitive imaging.

Disentangling the effect of sex from brain size on brain organization and cognitive functioning.

Neuroanatomical sex differences estimated in neuroimaging studies are confounded by total intracranial volume (TIV) as a major biological factor. Employing a matching approach widely used for causal modeling, we disentangled the effect of TIV from sex to study sex-differentiated brain aging trajectories, their relation to functional networks and cytoarchitectonic classes, brain allometry, and cognition. Using data from the UK Biobank, we created subsamples that removed, maintained, or exaggerated the TIV differences in the original sample.

"I'm trying to figure out who the hell I am": Examining the psychosocial and mental health experience of individuals learning "Not Parent Expected" news from a direct-to-consumer DNA ancestry test.

Background: According to recent estimates, around 30 million people have taken Direct-to-Consumer DNA ancestry tests, typically marketed as a fun, harmless and exciting process of discovery. These tests estimate a user's ethnic ancestry, also matching users with biological relations on their database. This matching can produce a surprising 'not parent expected' discovery, where a user learns that an assumed parent (typically the father) is not a biological parent.

DNA methylation levels may contribute to severe hypertriglyceridemia in multifactorial chylomicronemia syndrome.

Background And Aims: Familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and multifactorial chylomicronemia syndrome (MCS) are the two main causes of severe hypertriglyceridemia (sHTG). FCS is a rare autosomal recessive form of sHTG, whereas MCS is mainly polygenic in nature with both common and rare variants accumulating and leading to sHTG. However, 30 to 50% of MCS patients have no identified genetic cause of sHTG.

Tofacitinib Mitigates the Increased SARS-CoV-2 Infection Susceptibility Caused by an IBD Risk Variant in the PTPN2 Gene.

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, triggered a global pandemic with severe medical and socioeconomic consequences. While fatality rates are higher among the elderly and those with underlying comorbidities, host factors that promote susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe disease are poorly understood. Although individuals with certain autoimmune/inflammatory disorders show increased susceptibility to viral infections, there is incomplete knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility in these diseases.

Emergency department ophthalmoscopy: physician confidence and clinical practices.

Objectives: Fundoscopy is crucial in the emergency department to identify or rule out serious ocular and neurological conditions. Despite its clinical importance, fundoscopy is often omitted due to the technical challenges associated with traditional direct ophthalmoscopy, particularly for non-ophthalmologists. This study examines emergency physicians' practices, confidence levels, and training related to various modalities of fundoscopy including traditional direct ophthalmoscopes, binocular indirect ophthalmoscopes, panoptic ophthalmoscopes, slit lamp fundoscopy and fundus cameras; and explores the potential role of alternative modalities, such as fundus cameras, in Canadian emergency departments.

Machine learning models predicting risk of revision or secondary knee injury after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction demonstrate variable discriminatory and accuracy performance: a systematic review.

Background: To summarize the statistical performance of machine learning in predicting revision, secondary knee injury, or reoperations following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), and to provide a general overview of the statistical performance of these models.

Methods: Three online databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE) were searched from database inception to February 6, 2024, to identify literature on the use of machine learning to predict revision, secondary knee injury (e.g.

Classes of outpatient quality of care among individuals with substance-related disorders, based on a survey and health insurance registry.

Objectives: Improving quality of care for individuals with substance-related disorders (SRD) should be a priority considering SRD are associated with high morbidity. This study aimed to identify classes of individuals with SRD based on their clinical characteristics and the quality of outpatient care they received, and to verify whether better quality of care was associated with other respondent characteristics and more favorable subsequent outcomes.

Methods: Data came from the 2013-14 and 2015-16 Canadian Community Health Survey (N = 42,099), merged with administrative data from Quebec's health insurance registry.

Exploring the challenges in manual wheelchair operation for new users.

This exploratory qualitative study examines the challenges faced by manual wheelchair (MWC) users and their clinicians, with a focus on mobility difficulties in both outdoor and indoor environments, as well as training priorities. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 18 clinicians and 25 MWC users from various rehabilitation centres. The interviews, lasting between 30 and 60 minutes, explored specific aspects of MWC use, including mobility challenges, training needs, and psychological factors.

The Emerging Role of Multimodality Imaging in the Diagnosis and Management of Post Pericardiotomy Syndrome.

Purpose Of Review: This review aims to evaluate current diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for postpericardiotomy syndrome (PPS), with a focus on the evolving role of multimodality imaging, including echocardiography, cardiac computed tomography (CCT), and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). The review also explores the potential benefits of advanced imaging in improving the accuracy and management of PPS.

Recent Findings: PPS, a common complication following cardiac surgery, presents with pleuritic chest pain, fever, and pericardial or pleural effusion.

Facilitators and barriers affecting the implementation of e-health for chronic respiratory diseases in remote settings: a qualitative evidence synthesis.

Background: Chronic respiratory diseases are important causes of disability and mortality globally. Their incidence may be higher in remote locations where healthcare is limited and risk factors, such as smoking and indoor air pollution, are more prevalent. E-health could overcome some healthcare access obstacles in remote locations, but its utilisation has been limited.

ZIC1 is a context-dependent medulloblastoma driver in the rhombic lip.

Transcription factors are frequent cancer driver genes, exhibiting noted specificity based on the precise cell of origin. We demonstrate that ZIC1 exhibits loss-of-function (LOF) somatic events in group 4 (G4) medulloblastoma through recurrent point mutations, subchromosomal deletions and mono-allelic epigenetic repression (60% of G4 medulloblastoma). In contrast, highly similar SHH medulloblastoma exhibits distinct and diametrically opposed gain-of-function mutations and copy number gains (20% of SHH medulloblastoma).

Parental and family presence are essential: A qualitative study of children's lived experiences with family presence in pediatric intensive care.

Objective: To better understand critically ill children's lived experiences with family presence in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Study Design: This qualitative, interpretive phenomenological study is grounded in a Childhood Ethics ontology. We recruited children (aged 6-17 years) admitted to one of four participating Canadian PICUs between November 2021-July 2022 using maximum variation sampling.

Processes and measurements: a framework for understanding neural oscillations in field potentials.

Various neuroscientific theories maintain that brain oscillations are important for neuronal computation, but opposing views claim that these macroscale dynamics are 'exhaust fumes' of more relevant processes. Here, we approach the question of whether oscillations are functional or epiphenomenal by distinguishing between measurements and processes, and by reviewing whether causal or inferentially useful links exist between field potentials, electric fields, and neurobiological events. We introduce a vocabulary for the role of brain signals and their underlying processes, demarcating oscillations as a distinct entity where both processes and measurements can exhibit periodicity.

Preferred labels and language to improve communication about lesions at low risk of progressing to cancer: qualitative interviews with patients and physicians.

Objectives: We explored how to improve communication about low-risk lesions including labels, language and other strategies.

Design: Qualitative description and thematic analysis to examine the transcripts of telephone interviews with patients who had low-risk lesions and physicians; and mapping to Communication Accommodation Theory to interpret themes.

Setting: Canada PARTICIPANTS: 15 patients: 6 (40%) bladder, 5 (33%) prostate and 4 (27%) cervix lesions; and 13 physicians: 7 (54%) cervix, 3 (23%) bladder and 3 (23%) prostate lesions.

EEFSEC deficiency: A selenopathy with early-onset neurodegeneration.

Inborn errors of selenoprotein expression arise from deleterious variants in genes encoding selenoproteins or selenoprotein biosynthetic factors, some of which are associated with neurodegenerative disorders. This study shows that bi-allelic selenocysteine tRNA-specific eukaryotic elongation factor (EEFSEC) variants cause selenoprotein deficiency, leading to progressive neurodegeneration. EEFSEC deficiency, an autosomal recessive disorder, manifests with global developmental delay, progressive spasticity, ataxia, and seizures.