Safety and immunogenicity of an mRNA-1273 vaccine booster in adolescents.

Safety, immunogenicity, and effectiveness of an mRNA-1273 50-μg booster were evaluated in adolescents (12-17 years), with and without pre-booster SARS-CoV-2 infection. Participants who had received the 2-dose mRNA-1273 100-µg primary series in the TeenCOVE trial (NCT04649151) were offered the mRNA-1273 50-μg booster. Primary objectives included safety and inference of effectiveness by establishing noninferiority of neutralizing antibody (nAb) responses after the booster compared with the nAb post-primary series of mRNA-1273 among young adults in COVE (NCT04470427).

Geographic Atrophy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition of multifactorial origin, is a major cause of irreversible vision loss in industrialized countries. The dry late stage of the disease, known as geographic atrophy (GA), is characterized by progressive loss of photoreceptor cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells in the central retina. An estimated 300 000 to 550 000 people in Germany suffer from GA.

Community Perspectives on Optimizing Community Health Volunteer Roles for HIV Prevention Services in Kenya and Uganda.

Community health workers (CHWs) play a significant role in supporting health services delivery in communities with few trained health care providers. There has been limited research on ways to optimize the role of CHWs in HIV prevention service delivery. This study explored CHWs' experiences with offering HIV prevention services [HIV testing and HIV pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP)] during three pilot studies in rural communities in Kenya and Uganda, which aimed to increase biomedical HIV prevention coverage via a structured patient-centered HIV prevention delivery model.

Causal Inference With Observational Data and Unobserved Confounding Variables.

Experiments have long been the gold standard for causal inference in Ecology. As Ecology tackles progressively larger problems, however, we are moving beyond the scales at which randomised controlled experiments are feasible. To answer causal questions at scale, we need to also use observational data -something Ecologists tend to view with great scepticism.

Pitch Types and Their Influence on Elbow Varus Torque and Spin Rate in Professional Baseball Pitchers.

Background: Elbow injuries are prevalent among professional baseball pitchers as nearly 25% undergo ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. Pitch type, ball velocity, and spin rate have been previously hypothesized to influence elbow varus torque and subsequent risk of injury, but existing research is inconclusive.

Purpose: To examine elbow varus torque, cumulative torque, and loading rate within professional pitchers throwing fastball, curveball, change-up, and slider pitches, as well as to identify potential influences of ball spin on the elbow.

A Continuum From Positive to Negative Interactions Drives Plant Species' Performance in a Diverse Community.

With many species interacting in nature, determining which interactions describe community dynamics is nontrivial. By applying a computational modeling approach to an extensive field survey, we assessed the importance of interactions from plants (both inter- and intra-specific), pollinators and insect herbivores on plant performance (i.e.

Clinical outcomes among COVID-19 patients initiated on molnupiravir in Denmark - A national registry study.

Background: Molnupiravir (MOV) is an orally bioavailable ribonucleoside with antiviral activity against all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants. We describe the demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics of non-hospitalized Danish patients treated with MOV and their clinical outcomes following MOV initiation.

Method: Among all adults (>18 years) who received MOV between 16 December 2021 and 30 April 2022 in an outpatient setting in Denmark, we summarized their demographic and clinical characteristics at baseline and post-MOV outcomes using descriptive statistics.

A Descriptive Analysis of the Seasonal Patterns of Bone Stress Injury Incidence in Division I Collegiate Distance Runners.

Background: A bone stress injury (BSI) is a common overuse injury in collegiate athletes, particularly cross-country and track and field runners. Limited work describes the seasonality of BSIs or the differences in rates and anatomic locations of BSIs in collegiate runners.

Purpose: To describe seasonally related trends in anatomic locations of BSIs in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I male and female middle- and long-distance runners.

Effect of gestational age and fetal sex on metabolism of creatine by uteri, placentae, and fetuses of pigs†.

The creatine (Cr) biosynthesis pathway buffers ATP in metabolically active tissues. We investigated whether sex of fetus and day of gestation influence Cr in endometrial and conceptus tissues from gilts on Days 60 and Day 90 (n = 6 gilts/day) of gestation. Uterine and conceptus tissues associated with one male and one female fetus from each gilt were analyzed for creatine, mRNAs, and proteins for Cr biosynthesis.

Return to Sport After Distal Biceps Tendon Repair: A Systematic Review.

Background: Ruptures of the distal biceps tendon (DBT) can affect the range of motion and strength of the elbow, raising concerns for patients seeking to restore normal function and engage in their regular activities, particularly returning to previous levels of sport participation.

Purpose: To characterize and assess the rate and timing of return to sport (RTS) after DBT repair.

Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4.

Pneumococcal and Herpes Zoster Vaccination Rates Among U.S. Veterans With Chronic Inflammatory Disease on Biologic Medications: A Quality Improvement Project.

Introduction: Patients with chronic inflammatory diseases are often treated with pharmacologic therapies that target the immune system and have an increased risk of infection. These risks can be reduced by vaccination against common pathogens. This quality improvement project aimed to increase pneumococcal and herpes zoster vaccination rates in patients with chronic inflammatory disease on biologic immunosuppressive therapy.

Time Is a Tool: Evaluation of a Prolonged Casualty Care Curriculum With a Focus on Temporal Fidelity.

Introduction: In current and anticipated future conflicts, including large-scale combat operations, medical teams are tasked to provide prolonged casualty care (PCC) or extended patient care that occurs when delays in evacuation exceed the team's capabilities. Although the principles of PCC are often taught to military medical providers using simulation, educators rarely dedicate the time to training required to simulate the prolonged nature of these encounters. Therefore, a lack of knowledge exists regarding which aspects of extended care may be lost in an accelerated training scenario.

The Statistical Fragility of Functional Outcomes for Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair With and Without Acromioplasty: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Views surrounding acromioplasty at the time of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (RCR) have shifted dramatically over time. In recent years, various studies have argued against acromioplasty, citing equivocal functional outcomes after arthroscopic RCR with or without acromioplasty.

Purpose: To assess the statistical fragility of functional outcomes after arthroscopic RCR with and without acromioplasty using the reverse continuous fragility index (RCFI).

Return to Sport and Graft Failure Rates After Primary Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction With a Bone-Patellar Tendon-Bone Versus Hamstring Tendon Autograft: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are frequent injuries in athletes that often require surgical reconstruction so that patients may return to their previous levels of performance. While existing data on patient-reported outcomes are similar between bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) and hamstring tendon (HT) autografts, the literature regarding return to sport (RTS), return to previous levels of sport activity, and graft failure rate remains limited.

Purpose: To compare rates of RTS, return to previous activity levels, and graft retears among athletes undergoing primary ACL reconstruction using a BTB versus HT autograft.

Proportions of incommensurate, resonant, and chaotic orbits for torus maps.

This paper focuses on distinguishing classes of dynamical behavior for one- and two-dimensional torus maps, in particular, between orbits that are incommensurate, resonant, periodic, or chaotic. We first consider Arnold's circle map, for which there is a universal power law for the fraction of nonresonant orbits as a function of the amplitude of the nonlinearity. Our methods give a more precise calculation of the coefficients for this power law.

High risk of drug-resistant tuberculosis in IGRA-negative contacts: should preventive treatment be considered?

Purpose: Deciding whether to provide preventive treatment to contacts of individuals with multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis is complex.

Methods: We present the diagnostic pathways, clinical course and outcome of tuberculosis treatment in eight siblings from a single family. Tuberculosis disease was diagnosed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture and molecular detection of M.

Advances in Radiation Oncology in Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Purpose: To review recent advances with radiation therapy (RT) for soft tissue sarcomas (STS).

Recent Findings: Newer data showcases hypofractionated preoperative RT for soft tissue sarcomas treated with surgery to be safe and effective, however, long-term follow up data is pending. Hypofractionated and dose-escalated RT in patients with unresectable STS is also being studied, for which we remain optimistic given advances in RT planning approaches.

Cardiotoxic Effects Following CAR-T Cell Therapy: A Literature Review.

Purpose Of Review: This paper reviewed the current literature on incidence, clinical manifestations, and risk factors of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) cardiotoxicity.

Recent Findings: CAR-T therapy has emerged as a groundbreaking treatment for hematological malignancies since FDA approval in 2017. CAR-T therapy is however associated with a few side effects, among which cardiotoxicity is of significant concern.

Non-canonical Wnt signaling pathway activated NFATC3 promotes GDF15 expression in MASH: prospective analyses of UK biobank proteomic data.

Background: Our previous research demonstrated that growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) exhibited superior predictive capability for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) development with an AUC of 0.86 at 10 years before disease diagnosis. However, the specific pathways and molecular mechanisms associated with GDF15 expression during MASH development remain to be fully investigated in humans.

Optimising Instrumented Mouthguard Data Analysis: Video Synchronisation Using a Cross-correlation Approach.

Purpose: Head acceleration events (HAEs) are a growing concern in contact sports, prompting two rugby governing bodies to mandate instrumented mouthguards (iMGs). This has resulted in an influx of data imposing financial and time constraints. This study presents two computational methods that leverage a dataset of video-coded match events: cross-correlation synchronisation aligns iMG data to a video recording, by providing playback timestamps for each HAE, enabling analysts to locate them in video footage; and post-synchronisation event matching identifies the coded match event (e.

Silymarin: a promising modulator of apoptosis and survival signaling in cancer.

Cancer, one of the deadliest diseases, has remained the epicenter of biological research for more than seven decades. Yet all the efforts for a perfect therapeutic cure come with certain limitations. The use of medicinal plants and their phytochemicals as therapeutics has received much attention in recent years.

Rare cancer survivorship research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2017 to 2023.

Purpose: Rare cancers are defined as those for which there are less than 15 cases per 100,000 in the population annually. While much progress in detection and treatment has been made over the past decade for many rare cancers, less progress has been made in understanding survivorship needs. The objective of this study was to characterize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) cancer survivorship grant portfolio focused on rare cancers and to identify gaps specific to this area of science.

Rapid fabrication and dissolution of pressed Ni/Mg matrix targets for Co production.

Background: Beyond the use of conventional short-lived PET radionuclides, there is a growing interest in tracking larger biomolecules and exploring radiotheranostic applications. One promising option for imaging medium-sized molecules and peptides is ⁵⁵Co (T₁/₂ = 17.5 h, β⁺ = 76%), which enables imaging of new and already established tracers with blood circulation of several hours.