Application of the 2021 AAPOS Guidelines in Clinics with Revision and Validation of SPOT Referral Criteria.

Purpose: This study aims to validate and revise the Spot Vision Screener referral criteria for detecting amblyopia risk factors (ARFs), visually significant refractive error (VSRE), and amblyopia.

Methods: In clinics, we gathered data from children aged 12 months to 7 years. The validity of the cut-off values was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, with cycloplegic retinoscopy serving as a reference.

Evaluating the effectiveness of genicular radiofrequency ablation for chronic knee pain using the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS) global health-physical health domain: Results of a cross-sectional cohort study.

Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of genicular nerve radiofrequency ablation (GNRFA) for chronic knee pain using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Global Health, Physical Health score (PROMIS-GH-PH).

Methods: Patients who underwent GNRFA at a tertiary academic center were identified by CPT code query and contacted for consent. Demographic, clinical, and procedural characteristics were collected from the electronic medical record of participants with baseline PROMIS-GH-PH scores.

Quality of undifferentiated chest pain evaluation and diagnosis guidelines: a systematic review and critical appraisal.

Chest pain is a symptom that is potentially life-threatening and requires quick and accurate evaluations. This article describes the quality of guidelines related to the evaluation and diagnosis of acute, undifferentiated chest pain. After systematically evaluating existing guidelines, we found that there exists a wide variety of quality in these documents.

Left atrial appendage occlusion and radiofrequency ablation in a patient with atrial fibrillation and dextrocardia: a case report.

Background: Dextrocardia is a rare congenital condition, affecting approximately 1 in 10,000-12,000 individuals. When combined with atrial fibrillation (AF), it becomes even rarer. "One-stop" surgery, including combined radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO), has become a common clinical treatment for patients with AF who develop cerebral infarction despite regular oral anticoagulants.

Patterns of Change in Functional Connectivity and Motor Performance Are Different in Youth Recently Recovered from Concussion.

Adolescents who have sustained a concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are prone to repeat injuries which may be related to subtle motor deficits persisting after clinical recovery. Cross-sectional research has found that these deficits are associated with altered functional connectivity among somatomotor, dorsal attention, and default mode networks. However, our understanding of how these brain-behavior relationships change over time after clinical recovery is limited.

Randomized Controlled Trial: Preliminary Investigation of the Impact of High-Intensity Treadmill Gait Training on Recovery Among Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury.

Exercise to treat traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a novel approach that has only become recognized in the past decade. High-intensity gait training (HIGT) has been studied in subjects following stroke; however, little research investigates similar protocols on patients with TBI. The study evaluated HIGT as an intervention for enhancing patient recovery after TBI.

SARS-CoV-2 CoCoPUTs: analyzing GISAID and NCBI data to obtain codon statistics, mutations, and free energy over a multiyear period.

A consistent area of interest since the beginning of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has been the sequence composition of the virus and how it has changed over time. Many resources have been developed for the storage and analysis of SARS-CoV-2 data, such as GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data), NCBI, Nextstrain, and outbreak.info.

Early life adverse environmental, nutrition and infection factors are associated with lower developmental scores in Pakistani children at 5 years: a cohort study.

Background: The effects of multiple early adverse psychosocial and biological factors on child development at preschool age in deprived settings are not fully understood.

Methods: The 'Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development' (MAL-ED) project followed children from eight countries, recording sociodemographic, nutritional, illness, enteroinfection biomarkers and scores for quality of home environment (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME)), development (Bayley) and maternal depression during the first year of life. In the Pakistan cohort, we investigated associations of these early factors with Z-scores (derived from the eight participating countries) of three developmental outcomes at 5 years: Executive Functions (Z-EF), the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale for Intelligence (Z-WPPSI) and the externalising behaviours component of the Strength and Difficulties test (Z-externalising behaviours).

Effects of vitamin D and L-cysteine cosupplementation on circulating bioavailable and total 25-hydroxy-vitamin D, the free/total testosterone ratio and inflammatory biomarkers in healthy vitamin D-deficient African Americans: a placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial.

Background: Subjects with metabolic syndrome and obesity have higher levels of inflammation with depression of the vitamin D (VD) hydroxylase/metabolising genes () required to convert VD consumed in the diet into 25(OH)VD. Compared with total 25(OH)VD levels, measurement of bioavailable 25(OH)VD is a better method to determine the beneficial effect of VD.

Objective: This study investigates whether cosupplementation with VD and L-cysteine (LC), which downregulates inflammation and upregulates VD-regulating genes, provides a better therapeutic benefit than supplementation with VD-alone in African Americans (AA).

Health policy to address disease-related malnutrition: a scoping review.

Background: Health policies promote optimal care, yet policies that address disease-related malnutrition (DRM) are lacking. The purpose of this study was to conduct a scoping review to identify literature on existing and planned policy to address DRM in children or adults and explore the settings, contexts and actors of DRM policy.

Methods: A search strategy comprising DRM and policy keywords was applied to eight databases on 24 February 2023.

Nutrition users' guides: systematic reviews part 1 -structured guide for methodological assessment, interpretation and application of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of non-randomised nutritional epidemiology studies.

Due to the challenges of conducting randomised controlled trials (randomised trials) of dietary interventions, evidence in nutrition often comes from non-randomised (observational) studies of nutritional exposures-called nutritional epidemiology studies. When using systematic reviews of such studies to advise patients or populations on optimal dietary habits, users of the evidence (eg, healthcare professionals such as clinicians, health service and policy workers) should first evaluate the rigour (validity) and utility (applicability) of the systematic review. Issues in making this judgement include whether the review addressed a sensible question; included an exhaustive literature search; was scrupulous in the selection of studies and the collection of data; and presented results in a useful manner.

Primary care providers' perspectives on referrals to the Diabetes Prevention Programme: a qualitative comparative study across varied referral patterns.

Introduction: Despite the effectiveness of Diabetes Prevention Programmes (DPP) in reducing diabetes risk, primary care provider (PCP) referrals remain low, especially among men and racial/ethnic minorities, exacerbating their under-representation in DPPs. Understanding PCPs' perspectives on referrals is crucial for enhancing the intervention's reach and effectiveness.

Research Design And Methods: We conducted a qualitative study to explore PCPs' experiences, perspectives and engagement with DPP referrals, focusing on factors influencing variations in referral rates.

Modern perspective of the Rice Diet for hypertension and other metabolic diseases.

Background: In the early 1940s, before antihypertensive drugs were available, the Rice Diet Programme (RDP) was developed to treat severe hypertension and, later, diabetes and obesity. Despite significant advancements in dietary management for these conditions since then, debates remain regarding the proper guidelines for sodium and macronutrients intakes. The patient care records of RDP offer a unique source of longitudinal examination of a very low sodium (<10 mmol/day), fat, cholesterol and protein diet on blood pressure (BP), other health markers and survival.

Nutrition Users' Guides: RCTs Part 2 - structured guide for interpreting and applying study results from randomised controlled trials on therapy or prevention questions.

This article continues from a prior commentary on evaluating the risk of bias in randomised controlled trials addressing nutritional interventions. Having provided a synopsis of the risk of bias issues, we now address how to understand trial results, including the interpretation of best estimates of effect and the corresponding precision (eg, 95% CIs), as well as the applicability of the evidence to patients based on their unique circumstances (eg, patients' values and preferences when trading off potential desirable and undesirable health outcomes and indicators (eg, cholesterol), and the potential burden and cost of an intervention). Authors can express the estimates of effect for health outcomes and indicators in relative terms (relative risks, relative risk reductions, OR or HRs)-measures that are generally consistent across populations-and absolute terms (risk differences)-measures that are more intuitive to clinicians and patients.

Nutrition users' guides: RCTs part 1 - structured guide for assessing risk of bias in randomised controlled trials that address therapy or prevention questions.

The purpose of this article, part 1 of 2 on randomised controlled trials (RCTs), is to provide readers (eg, clinicians, patients, health service and policy decision-makers) of the nutrition literature structured guidance on interpreting RCTs. Evaluation of a given RCT involves several considerations, including the potential for risk of bias, the assessment of estimates of effect and their corresponding precision, and the applicability of the evidence to one's patient. Risk of bias refers to flaws in the design or conduct of a study that may lead to a deviation from measuring the underlying true effect of an intervention.

Associations of neighbourhood food retail with disability and death in older adults: Cardiovascular Health Study.

Background: A healthier diet is associated with lower chronic disease burden, but the impact of neighbourhood food environments on disability and death in older adults is not known.

Methods: In the Cardiovascular Health Study, a cohort study of adults aged 65+, we calculated study years until death (years of life (YOL)), study years without activities of daily living (ADL) difficulty (years of able life; YoAL) and percent of study years without ADL difficulty (compression of disability). Linear regression quantified associations of food establishments within 5 km of baseline home address (as a z-score) with each outcome, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics.

Obstacles to Early Diagnosis of Gaucher Disease.

Gaucher disease (GD) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder resulting from a deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase caused by biallelic variants in the gene. Patients may present with a wide spectrum of disease manifestations, including hepatosplenomegaly, thrombocytopenia, bone manifestations, and in the case of GD types 2 and 3, neurodegeneration, cognitive delay, and/or oculomotor abnormalities. While there is no treatment for neuronopathic GD, non-neuronopathic manifestations can be efficiently managed with enzyme replacement therapy or substrate reduction therapy.

Characterization of LTBP2 mutation causing mitral valve prolapse.

Aims: Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common valvular disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality, with a strong genetic basis. This study aimed to identify a mutation in a family with MVP and to characterize the valve phenotype in LTBP2 knockout (KO) mice.

Methods And Results: Exome sequencing and segregation analysis were performed on a large family with MVP.

Chronic Kidney Disease Is Associated With Increased All-Cause Mortality Risk Among Older Black Adults.

Background And Objectives: Older patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a higher risk of all-cause mortality than the general population. However, there is limited information available on how CKD relates to all-cause mortality among Black adults in the United States. We aimed to investigate how CKD relates to all-cause mortality risk among older Black adults.

Microbiome and Colorectal Cancer in Humans: A Review of Recent Studies.

The tumor microenvironment has recently been well-studied in various gastrointestinal cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). The gut microbiota, a collection of microorganisms in the human gastrointestinal tract, is one of the microenvironments associated with colon carcinogenesis. It has been challenging to elucidate the mechanisms by which gut microbiota contributes to carcinogenesis and cancer progression due to complex interactions with the host, including its metabolites and immune and inflammatory responses.

Roux-en-Y Intussusception: A Case Report.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is a bariatric surgical procedure commonly performed in adults to treat severe obesity. While RYGB is generally safe, it occasionally leads to rare but significant complications, including intussusception, a form of bowel obstruction caused by the invagination of an intestine segment from the proximal to the adjacent distal portion. We report a case of intussusception in a 74-year-old female patient who underwent RYGB 12 years prior.

Study Protocol for 'PsilOCD: A Pharmacological Challenge Study Evaluating the Effects of the 5-HT2A Agonist Psilocybin on the Neurocognitive and Clinical Correlates of Compulsivity'.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a complex condition marked by persistent distressing thoughts and repetitive behaviours. Despite its prevalence, the mechanisms behind OCD remain elusive, and current treatments are limited. This protocol outlines an investigative study for individuals with OCD, exploring the potential of psilocybin to improve key components of cognition implicated in the disorder.

Ranking Magnetic Colloid Performance for Magnetic Particle Imaging and Magnetic Particle Hyperthermia.

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an emerging modality that can address longstanding technological challenges encountered with magnetic particle hyperthermia (MPH) cancer therapy. MPI is a tracer technology compatible with MPH for which magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) provide signal for MPI and heat for MPH. Identifying whether a specific MNP formulation is suitable for both modalities is essential for clinical implementation.

Assessing the Benefit of a Digital Pain Alert System in a Community Hospital.

Introduction: In the last decade, clinical alert systems were developed for clinical use, including patient deterioration and other urgent clinical situations. However, investigations focusing on digital pain alert systems to assess and manage pain on time in in-hospital patients are scarce. The objective of the study was to assess the implementation of digital pain alerts in the various departments of a community hospital.