Advances and Challenges in the Diagnosis of Leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis remains a significant public health challenge, particularly in endemic regions with limited resources. Traditional diagnostic methods, including microscopy, culture, and serology, though widely utilized, often suffer from limitations such as variable  sensitivity, time delays, and the need for specialized infrastructure. Some of these limitations have been addressed with the emergence of molecular diagnostic techniques.

Genetic and Clinical-epidemiologic Profile of hRSV in Pediatric Patients in Southern Brazil: A Four-year Hospital Surveillance Study.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) infections primarily cause acute respiratory illness and pediatric hospitalizations. We examined the hRSV molecular epidemiology in a pediatric cohort over a 4-year period and described the interrelationship with clinical data.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2014 to 2017 on children with acute respiratory illness.

Intranasal influenza-vectored vaccine expressing pneumococcal surface protein A protects against Influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae infections.

Streptococcus pneumoniae and influenza A virus (IAV) are significant agents of pneumonia cases and severe respiratory infections globally. Secondary bacterial infections, particularly by Streptococcus pneumoniae, are common in IAV-infected individuals, leading to critical outcomes. Despite reducing mortality, pneumococcal vaccines have high production costs and are serotype specific.

On integrative analysis of multi-level gene expression data in Kidney cancer subgrouping.

Kidney cancer is one of the most dangerous cancer mainly targeting men. In 2020, around 430, 000 people were diagnosed with this disease worldwide. It can be divided into three prime subgroups such as kidney renal cell carcinoma (KIRC), kidney renal papilliary cell carcinoma (KIRP) and kidney chromophobe (KICH).

Electronic Health Record Alert to Promote Adoption of Limited Transthoracic Echocardiograms in Primary Care and Cardiology Clinics: A Mixed Methods Evaluation.

Background: A limited transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) can be an appropriate, lower-cost substitute for a full TTE. We assessed the impact of an electronic health record alternative alert promoting the adoption of limited TTEs on the ordering practices of cardiology clinicians and primary care providers and captured their perspectives on the initiative.

Methods: The alert was deployed in a cardiology clinic and 4 primary care clinics at an academic medical center.

Inferior Clinical Outcomes Following Endoscopic Proximal Hamstring Repair in Patients With Chronic Degenerative Tears Despite the Use of Dermal Allograft Augmentation.

Purpose: To compare clinical outcomes in patients undergoing endoscopic proximal hamstring repair with and without dermal allograft augmentation.

Methods: A retrospective review of prospectively collected data was performed on patients undergoing endoscopic proximal hamstring repair (PHR) and proximal hamstring repair with dermal allograft augmentation (PHR-A) by a single surgeon between 2016 and 2023. Augmentation was utilized for cases of chronic degenerative tears (≥6 weeks from the time of initial injury) where hamstring tissue quality was deemed poor intraoperatively.

A novel, robust, and portable platform for magnetoencephalography using optically-pumped magnetometers.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) measures brain function via assessment of magnetic fields generated by neural currents. Conventional MEG uses superconducting sensors, which place significant limitations on performance, practicality, and deployment; however, the field has been revolutionised in recent years by the introduction of optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs). OPMs enable measurement of the MEG signal without cryogenics, and consequently the conception of "OPM-MEG" systems which ostensibly allow increased sensitivity and resolution, lifespan compliance, free subject movement, and lower cost.

Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation treatment for major depressive disorder: a fully remote phase 2 randomized sham-controlled trial.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been proposed as a new treatment in major depressive disorder (MDD). This is a fully remote, multisite, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized superiority trial of 10-week home-based tDCS in MDD. Participants were 18 years or older, with MDD in current depressive episode of at least moderate severity as measured using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (mean = 19.

Shotgun Analysis of Gut Microbiota with Body Composition and Lipid Characteristics in Crohn's Disease.

Alterations to intestinal microbiota are assumed to occur in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study aims to analyze the association of fecal microbiota composition, body composition, and lipid characteristics in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). In our cross-sectional study, patients with CD were enrolled and blood and fecal samples were collected.

A Computer Vision Approach toward Verifying CFD Models of Stirred Tank Reactors.

Mixing is one of the most important nonchemical considerations in the design of scalable processes. While noninvasive imaging approaches to deliver a quantifiable understanding of mixing dynamics are well-known, the use of imaging to verify computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models remains in its infancy. Herein, we use colorimetric reactions and our kinetic imaging software, , to explore (i) the correlation of imaging kinetics with pH probe measurements, (ii) feed point sensitivity for Villermaux-Dushman-type competing parallel reactions, and (iii) the use of experimental imaging kinetic data to qualitatively assess CFD models.

Contraception use and changes in young women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Objective: To evaluate contraception use and change among young women with early breast cancer.

Design: Secondary analysis of a cluster randomized trial.

Setting: Multi-institutional.

Privacy-preserving large language models for structured medical information retrieval.

Most clinical information is encoded as free text, not accessible for quantitative analysis. This study presents an open-source pipeline using the local large language model (LLM) "Llama 2" to extract quantitative information from clinical text and evaluates its performance in identifying features of decompensated liver cirrhosis. The LLM identified five key clinical features in a zero- and one-shot manner from 500 patient medical histories in the MIMIC IV dataset.

Standardized Data Elements for Patients With Acute Pulmonary Embolism: A Consensus Report From the Pulmonary Embolism Research Collaborative.

Recent advances in therapy and the promulgation of multidisciplinary pulmonary embolism teams show great promise to improve management and outcomes of acute pulmonary embolism (PE). However, the absence of randomized evidence and lack of consensus leads to tremendous variations in treatment and compromises the wide implementation of new innovations. Moreover, the changing landscape of health care, where quality, cost, and accountability are increasingly relevant, dictates that a broad spectrum of outcomes of care must be routinely monitored to fully capture the impact of modern PE treatment.

Effectiveness, implementation settings, and research priorities of telemedicine-delivered interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review.

This systematic review aims to examine evidence on telemedicine-delivered interventions for autistic children and adolescents, considering diverse approaches, settings, and modalities used to address core symptoms and co-occurring conditions. A comprehensive search strategy consulted PubMed and PsycInfo databases from inception to March 2023. PROSPERO registration: CRD42023404111.

Cluster-Based White Matter Signatures and the Risk of Dementia, Stroke, and Mortality in Community-Dwelling Adults.

Background And Objectives: Markers of white matter (WM) injury on brain MRI are important indicators of brain health. Different patterns of WM atrophy, WM hyperintensities (WMHs), and microstructural integrity could reflect distinct pathologies and disease risks, but large-scale imaging studies investigating WM signatures are lacking. This study aims to identify distinct WM signatures using brain MRI in community-dwelling adults, determine underlying risk factor profiles, and assess risks of dementia, stroke, and mortality associated with each signature.

An Opioid-Sparing Pain Protocol of Intravenous and Oral Ketorolac Reduces Opioid Consumption and Pain Levels After Arthroscopic Meniscus Surgery: A Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The primary purpose was to compare ketorolac to oxycodone-acetaminophen with respect to pain and opioid consumption after arthroscopic meniscus surgery. The secondary purpose was to compare short-term functional outcomes between the 2 protocols.

Methods: A power analysis demonstrated that 43 patients were required.

Alzheimer's disease genetic risk and changes in brain atrophy and white matter hyperintensities in cognitively unimpaired adults.

Reduced brain volumes and more prominent white matter hyperintensities on MRI scans are commonly observed among older adults without cognitive impairment. However, it remains unclear whether rates of change in these measures among cognitively normal adults differ as a function of genetic risk for late-onset Alzheimer's disease, including -ɛ4, -ɛ2 and Alzheimer's disease polygenic risk scores (AD-PRS), and whether these relationships are influenced by other variables. This longitudinal study examined the trajectories of regional brain volumes and white matter hyperintensities in relationship to genotypes ( = 1541) and AD-PRS ( = 1093) in a harmonized dataset of middle-aged and older individuals with normal cognition at baseline (mean baseline age = 66 years, SD = 9.

Comparable Pain Levels and Functional Outcomes With and Without the Use of Dermal Allograft Augmentation in Endoscopic Gluteus Medius Repair.

Purpose: To compare retrospectively the clinical outcomes of patients undergoing endoscopic gluteal tendon repair with and without the use of dermal allograft augmentation.

Methods: A retrospective review of prospectively collected data, single-surgeon cohort study was performed on all patients undergoing endoscopic gluteus medius repair (GMR) and GMR with augmentation (GMR-A) between April 2017 and April 2022. Dermal allograft augmentation was used in cases where intraoperative gluteus tissue quality was poor.

Mass Spectrometry-Based Protein Footprinting Defines the Binding Pocket of Crotonylated H3K14 in the PHD1 Domain of BAF45D within the BAF Chromatin Remodeling Complex.

The BRG-/BRM-associated factor (BAF) chromatin remodeling complex is a central actor in transcription. One mechanism by which BAF affects gene expression is via its various histone mark readers, including double plant homeodomains (DPF), located in the BAF45D subunit. DPF domains recognize lysine acetyl and acylations, including crotonylation, localized at promoters and enhancers.

Uncovering patterns of inhaler technique and reliever use: the value of objective, personalized data from a digital inhaler.

Electronic inhalers provide information about patterns of routine inhaler use. During a 12-week study, 360 asthma patients using albuterol Digihaler generated 53,083 inhaler events that were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 41,528 (78%) of the recorded inhalation events were suitable for flow analysis (having a PIF ≥ 18 L/min and <120 L/min).