Face and Content Validity of Tympanostomy Tube Simulator With Variable Canal Size.

Simulators allow junior otolaryngology residents to practice the delicate procedure of pressure equalization tube (PET) insertion. However, most simulators lack the ability to mimic the differing anatomic complexities between patients, such as variable external auditory canal (EAC) size. We developed a novel low-cost, medium-fidelity 3-dimensional-printed PET simulator with different EAC sizes to better reflect procedure complexity.

Ketamine Infusion as an Adjunct to Opioid Analgesia in Pediatric Patients with High-Risk Neuroblastoma Undergoing Treatment with Dinutuximab: Adverse Effects and Safety in a Non-ICU Setting.

Introduction: Anti-GD2 immunotherapy has improved outcomes for children with high-risk neuroblastoma (HRNBL). Dinutuximab promotes complement-mediated reaction against disialoganglioside GD2, which is expressed in peripheral nerves and over-expressed in neuroblastoma. Dinutuximab is associated with ≥grade 3 neuropathic pain.

Transdermal electrophysiological recordings of diet-induced small fiber peripheral neuropathy using a needle electrode array in mice and man.

Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes. Proactive treatment options remain limited, which is exacerbated by a lack of sensitive and convenient diagnostics, especially early in disease progression or specifically to assess small fiber neuropathy (SFN), the loss of distal small diameter axons that innervate tissues and organs.

Methods: We designed, fabricated, tested, and validated a first-of-its-kind medical diagnostic device for the functional assessment of transdermal small fiber nerve activity.

The PIKASO trial (Preventing Injured Knees from Osteoarthritis: Severity Outcomes): Rationale and design features for a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Given the high burden and increasing prevalence of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA), identifying clinically beneficial strategies to prevent or delay its onset could improve the quality of life of those at high risk of developing the disease.

Methods: Preventing Injured Knees from OsteoArthritis: Severity Outcomes (PIKASO) is a multicenter blinded, parallel, two-arm randomized controlled trial of 512 individuals aged 18-45 years undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). This study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of a 12-month intervention of oral metformin vs.

NSF NeXUS: A New Model for Accessing the Frontiers of Ultrafast Science.

NSF NeXUS is an open-access user facility that enables observation of electron motion with sub-femtosecond time resolution, angstrom spatial resolution, and element-specific spectral resolution.

Sex and race disparities in emergency department patients with chest pain and a detectable or mildly elevated troponin.

Background: Identifying and eliminating health disparities is a public health priority. The goal of this analysis is to determine whether cardiac testing or outcome disparities exist by race or sex in patients with detectable to mildly elevated serum troponin.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of the CMR-IMPACT trial that randomized patients with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome and a detectable or mildly elevated troponin measure from 4 US hospitals to an early invasive angiography or cardiac MRI strategy.

Evolving Landscape of Parkinson's Disease Research: Challenges and Perspectives.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects movement. It occurs due to a gradual deficit of dopamine-producing brain cells, particularly in the substantia nigra. The precise etiology of PD is not fully understood, but it likely involves a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Pericoronary adipose tissue feature analysis in computed tomography calcium score images in comparison to coronary computed tomography angiography.

Purpose: We investigated the feasibility and advantages of using non-contrast CT calcium score (CTCS) images to assess pericoronary adipose tissue (PCAT) and its association with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). PCAT features from coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) have been shown to be associated with cardiovascular risk but are potentially confounded by iodine. If PCAT in CTCS images can be similarly analyzed, it would avoid this issue and enable its inclusion in formal risk assessment from readily available, low-cost CTCS images.

How Intergenerational Estrangement Matters for Maternal and Adult Children's Health.

Objective: We compare maternal and adult child health outcomes across 1) (i.e., no contact, or low contact and low quality), 2) (i.

Right atrial metastasis after renal cell carcinoma operation: a case report.

Background: Treatment options for patients with high-risk metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC) include immune checkpoint inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), but clinical manifestations and treatment of these patients are rarely reported because patients with cardiac metastases and abrupt circulatory disorders are very rare and there are no precise guidelines to follow. In this study, we analyzed and discussed the clinical characteristics, related characteristics, pathogenesis and treatment strategies of patients with cardiac metastases of kidney cancer, so as to provide reference for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac metastatic tumors.

Case Description: The patient was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma and underwent surgical radical resection, no special treatment was performed after surgery.

FOXR2 in cancer development: emerging player and therapeutic opportunities.

Cancer, a leading cause of global mortality, remains a significant challenge to increasing life expectancy worldwide. Forkhead Box R2 (FOXR2), identified as an oncogene within the FOX gene family, plays a crucial role in developing various endoderm-derived organs. Recent studies have elucidated FOXR2-related pathways and their involvement in both tumor and non-tumor diseases.

Challenges of Engaging Primary Care Providers in Specialized Telementoring Education About Sickle Cell Disease for Sickle Cell Specialists: Results from the Sickle Cell Disease Training and Mentoring Program for Primary Care Providers (STAMP) Project ECHO.

Introduction: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder affecting approximately 100,000 individuals in the U.S. A lack of knowledgeable providers, particularly for adult patients, has led to a significant number of adults without access to high-quality care.

Pro-inflammatory dietary pattern and the risk of female gout: sex-specific findings from three prospective cohort studies.

Objective: We aimed to determine whether a pro-inflammatory dietary pattern (mechanism-based diet) is associated with incident female gout among two large cohorts of US women.

Methods: We prospectively followed 79,104 women from Nurses' Health Study (NHS; 1984-2016) and 93,454 women from NHSII (1991-2017); 45,445 men from Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2016) served as a comparison cohort. Validated food frequency questionnaires were used to calculate Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Pattern (EDIP; food-based index predictive of circulating inflammatory biomarkers) scores every 4-years.

Bayesian Analysis of Censored Linear Mixed-Effects Models for Heavy-Tailed Irregularly Observed Repeated Measures.

The use of mixed-effect models to understand the evolution of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the progression of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been the cornerstone of longitudinal data analysis in recent years. However, data from HIV/AIDS clinical trials have several complexities. Some of the most common recurrences are related to the situation where the HIV viral load can be undetectable, and the measures of the patient can be registered irregularly due to some problems in the data collection.

Observation of Real-Time Spin-Orbit Torque Driven Dynamics in Antiferromagnetic Thin Film.

In the burgeoning field of spintronics, antiferromagnetic materials (AFMs) are attracting significant attention for their potential to enable ultra-fast, energy-efficient devices. Thin films of AFMs are particularly promising for practical applications due to their compatibility with spin-orbit torque (SOT) mechanisms. However, studying these thin films presents challenges, primarily due to the weak signals they produce and the rapid dynamics driven by SOT, that are too fast for conventional electric transport or microwave techniques to capture.

Evaluation of a new technology for terminal sterilization of flexible endoscopes using hydrogen peroxide gas plasma.

In laboratory testing, a novel hydrogen peroxide gas plasma endoscope sterilizer consistently reduced vegetative organisms, but not bacterial spores, to undetectable levels in the presence of high organism load (≥6.5 log) and organic material and salts. These findings highlight the importance of meticulous cleaning of endoscopes prior to sterilization.

Primary Visceral Ewing Sarcoma (Gastric and Bladder) with KIT Expression: A Report of Two Patients and a Differential Diagnostic Approach.

Extra-skeletal Ewing sarcoma is a rare tumor, most commonly occurring in the paravertebral region, extremities, retroperitoneum, and very rarely in visceral locations. We present two primary visceral Ewing sarcomas confirmed at the molecular level: one located in the stomach and the other in the bladder. Both tumors demonstrated strong and diffuse membranous CD99 expression, accompanied by variable KIT immunoreactivity.

Financial Impact of Medicare Payment Reform for E/M Visits on Compensation for Otolaryngologic Procedures in 2023.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently increased payment for evaluation and management (E/M) visits, but did not apply these updates to post-operative global period visits. We investigated the resulting Medicare fee-for-service revenue loss for otolaryngologists. Using publicly available Medicare spending/utilization data, we estimated how much additional payment otolaryngologists would have received in 2023 if CMS had reimbursed global period visits at the same rates as other E/M visits.

Conformational dynamics in specialized CH zinc finger domains enable zinc-responsive gene repression in S. pombe.

Loz1 is a zinc-responsive transcription factor in fission yeast that maintains cellular zinc homeostasis by repressing the expression of genes required for zinc uptake in high zinc conditions. Previous deletion analysis of Loz1 found a region containing two tandem CH zinc-fingers and an upstream "accessory domain" rich in histidine, lysine, and arginine residues to be sufficient for zinc-dependent DNA binding and gene repression. Here we report unexpected biophysical properties of this pair of seemingly classical CH zinc fingers.

Modeling the response to interleukin-21 to inform natural killer cell immunotherapy.

Natural killer (NK) cells are emerging agents for cancer therapy. Several different cytokines are used to generate NK cells for adoptive immunotherapy including interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, IL-15 and IL-18 in solution, and membrane-bound IL-21. These cytokines drive NK cell activation through the integration of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathways, which overlap and synergize, making it challenging to predict optimal cytokine combinations for both proliferation and cytotoxicity.

Extremely early initiation of vasopressors might not decrease short-term mortality for adults with septic shock: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The optimal timing for initiating vasopressor therapy in patients with septic shock remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the impact of early versus late vasopressor initiation on clinical outcomes.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted by searching PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases.

Recruitment Challenges and Strategies in a Technology-Based Intervention for Dementia Caregivers: Descriptive Study.

Background: Researchers have encountered challenges in recruiting unpaid caregivers of people living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias for intervention studies. However, little is known about the reasons for nonparticipation in in-home smart health interventions in community-based settings.

Objective: This study aimed to (1) assess recruitment rates in a smart health technology intervention for caregivers of people living with Alzheimer disease and related dementias and reasons for nonparticipation among them and (2) discuss lessons learned from recruitment challenges and strategies to improve recruitment.