A Rare Pathogenic Masquerader of Pulmonary Disease: A Case Report.

This case report details a 61-year-old male patient with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and significant smoking exposure, who presented with progressive anorexia, weight loss, nocturnal sweating, and worsening respiratory symptoms in early 2024. Imaging revealed bi-apical opacities with cavitation, and sputum cultures identified , a rare nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM). The patient was managed with a multi-drug regimen including azithromycin, rifampin, and ethambutol, targeting symptom relief, radiographic stability, and sputum conversion.

Salmonellosis-Induced Pericarditis and Pericardial Effusion: A Case Report and Literature Review.

While salmonellosis is commonly thought to predominantly impact the gastrointestinal system, bacteremia and localized extraintestinal infections such as meningitis, empyema, and pericarditis can develop, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. Here, we present a case of a 69-year-old with multiple comorbidities, who presented to the emergency department with dyspnea and hemodynamics instability in the form of hypoxia and hypotension and was found to have moderate pericardial effusion without echocardiographic signs of tamponade. The ischemic workup was unrevealing, and further infectious workups, including pericardial tissue biopsy and pericardial fluid culture, showed growth in groups C and D.

Patient Outcomes Following Parasagittal Interlaminar Epidural Steroid Injections for Bilateral Lumbar Radicular Symptoms: Correlation of Contrast Spread With Symptom Relief.

Introduction Bilateral lumbar radicular symptoms are commonly treated with interlaminar epidural steroid injections (ILESIs). The parasagittal approach often results in unilateral contrast spread, which may influence the degree of bilateral symptom relief. This study evaluates whether unilateral contrast spread correlates with symptom improvement in both ipsilateral and contralateral symptoms.

Post-COVID-19 Inflammatory Arthritis Treated With Upadacitinib: A Case Report.

Two patients who developed inflammatory arthritis following COVID-19 infection are presented, characterized by arthralgias, arthritis, and elevated markers of inflammation (C-reactive protein). Both patients had clinically meaningful responses to treatment with upadacitinib, a Janus Kinase inhibitor (JAKi). This case report highlights the efficacy and safety of upadacitinib in the treatment of post-COVID-19 inflammatory arthritis.

Characterization of Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome Undergoing Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy: A Retrospective Study of Nine Years (2014-2022).

Introduction:  Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is the most prevalent sleep-related breathing disorder associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications. Identifying the anatomical sites of airway obstruction is crucial for optimizing treatment, particularly in patients requiring surgical intervention. In recent years, drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) has emerged as a valuable diagnostic tool for evaluating upper airway obstruction in OSAS patients.

Novel Custom 3D-Printed Glenoid in Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty: A Case Report of Bilateral Total Shoulder Arthroplasties.

Glenoid bone loss in the setting of complex reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) poses a challenge to surgeons. The advent of custom-made glenoid implants has allowed for the restoration of glenoid alignment and version in cases of significant defects. We present a novel case of a patient who underwent bilateral rTSAs, one of which was performed with a 3D-printed custom glenoid implant.

Open Reduction and Internal Fixation: An Alternative Approach to Excision of Symptomatic Bipartite Patella.

A 16-year-old patient with no relevant medical history presented with pain superolateral to the patella after a sports-related injury. Subsequent imaging revealed an anatomic bipartite patella with a disrupted fibrocartilaginous junction. Anatomic bipartite patella are normal variants that typically cause minimal to no pain.

A Breathtaking Case of Chemotherapy-Induced Pneumonitis.

Medication-induced pulmonary toxicity is a rare adverse event that may occur with many chemotherapeutic agents, including etoposide. This agent has been found to cause various toxicities, including anaphylaxis, angioedema, hypotension, and pneumonitis. Etoposide is used in chemotherapy regimens for multiple cancers, including germ-cell tumors.

Prehospital Use of Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: A Rapid Review of Implementation Approaches and Outcomes.

This study aimed to evaluate the use of prehospital medication-assisted treatment (MAT) administration by Emergency Medical Services for opioid use disorder (OUD) through a review of literature published between 2014-2024. A search of the NCBI repository using selected keywords returned N=28 results; articles meeting the inclusion criteria (n=13) were reviewed and analyzed. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed using the Chi-squared test and I² statistic.

Dose-dependent Relationship between Alcohol Consumption and the Risks of Hepatitis B Virus-associated Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Meta-analysis and Systematic Review.

Background And Aims: The quantitative effects of alcohol consumption on cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are unknown. This study aimed to establish a dose-dependent model of alcohol consumption on the risks of cirrhosis and HCC.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and four Chinese databases were searched for studies published from their inception to 15 May 2024.

Empowering Citizens Through the Development and Deployment of a Community-Based Environmental Health Reporting Tool.

Community-based participatory research provides communities with an avenue to actively collaborate with environmental researchers. The research aims to gain insight into critical problems of concern to community members while maintaining community autonomy over the research and its outcomes. This article describes the development and implementation of an environmental health communication tool designed to meet the needs of residents of Colfax, Louisiana, a rural community with limited technological access, which is engaging in advocacy with federal and state regulatory agencies to prohibit open burning and open detonation of military and Superfund wastes at a nearby thermal treatment site.

Hidden high-risk states identification from routine urban traffic.

One of the core risk management tasks is to identify hidden high-risk states that may lead to system breakdown, which can provide valuable early warning knowledge. However, due to the high dimensionality and nonlinear interactions embedded in large-scale complex systems like urban traffic, it remains challenging to identify hidden high-risk states from huge system state space where over 99% of possible system states are not yet visited in empirical data. Based on the maximum entropy model, we infer the underlying interaction network from complicated dynamical processes of urban traffic and construct the system energy landscape.

Chylothorax: a rare postoperative complication in paediatric cardiac surgery patients - a 15-year retrospective study from a tertiary care centre in a developing country.

Chylothorax, a postoperative complication of CHD surgery, involves chyle accumulation in the pleural cavity, posing challenges in diagnosis and management. This retrospective study investigates the prevalence, aetiology, management, and outcomes of postoperative chylothorax in paediatric patients undergoing cardiac corrective surgery at a tertiary care centre over 15 years. Medical records of paediatric patients who underwent cardiothoracic surgery at the Children's Heart Center at the American University of Beirut Medical Center between 2007 and 2022 were retrospectively reviewed.

Control of medical digital twins with artificial neural networks.

The objective of precision medicine is to tailor interventions to an individual patient's unique characteristics. A key technology for this purpose involves medical digital twins, computational models of human biology that can be personalized and dynamically updated to incorporate patient-specific data. Certain aspects of human biology, such as the immune system, are not easily captured with physics-based models, such as differential equations.

Bayesian inference informed by parameter subset selection for a minimal PBPK brain model.

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models use a mechanistic approach to delineate the processes of the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of biological substances in various species. These models generally comprise coupled systems of ordinary differential equations involving multiple states and a moderate to a large number of parameters. Such models contain compartments corresponding to various organs or tissues in the body.

Challenges and opportunities in uncertainty quantification for healthcare and biological systems.

Uncertainty quantification (UQ) is an essential aspect of computational modelling and statistical prediction. Multiple applications, including geophysics, climate science and aerospace engineering, incorporate UQ in the development and translation of new technologies. In contrast, the application of UQ to biological and healthcare models is understudied and suffers from several critical knowledge gaps.

Quantification of total uncertainty in the physics-informed reconstruction of CVSim-6 physiology.

When predicting physical phenomena through simulation, quantification of the total uncertainty due to multiple sources is as crucial as making sure the underlying numerical model is accurate. Possible sources include irreducible uncertainty due to noise in the data, uncertainty induced by insufficient data or inadequate parameterization and uncertainty related to the use of misspecified model equations. In addition, recently proposed approaches provide flexible ways to combine information from data with full or partial satisfaction of equations that typically encode physical principles.

A comparison of Gaussian processes and polynomial chaos emulators in the context of haemodynamic pulse-wave propagation modelling.

Computational modelling of the cardiovascular system is a promising future direction for patient-specific healthcare. However, the computational cost of these simulators is a bottleneck for their practical use in clinic for real-time . Emulation can overcome this, yet an extensive investigation into cardiovascular emulators is warranted.

Bayesian Windkessel calibration using optimized zero-dimensional surrogate models.

Bayesian boundary condition (BC) calibration approaches from clinical measurements have successfully quantified inherent uncertainties in cardiovascular fluid dynamics simulations. However, estimating the posterior distribution for all BC parameters in three-dimensional (3D) simulations has been unattainable due to infeasible computational demand. We propose an efficient method to identify Windkessel parameter posteriors: We only evaluate the 3D model once for an initial choice of BCs and use the result to create a highly accurate zero-dimensional (0D) surrogate.

Management of Popliteal Artery Interposition Graft Infection by Extra-anatomic Bypass.

ObjectivesInfection of peripheral interposition grafts is a rare but devastating complication following aneurysm repair. Typically, graft infection necessitates explantation and, if possible, revascularization of the limb. However, treatment complexity varies substantially depending on the location and extent of infection.

Plasma cell-free DNA assay: a diagnostic tool for tuberculosis lymphadenitis.

Background: Bacterial confirmation in suspected tuberculosis lymphadenitis patients is challenging. This study evaluates plasma cell-free DNA as a diagnostic tool for tuberculosis lymphadenitis.

Methods: A quantitative PCR assay targeting IS, IS, and genes was performed on plasma samples.

The Sole Essential Low Molecular Weight Tropomyosin Isoform of Caenorhabditis elegans Is Essential for Pharyngeal Muscle Function.

Tropomyosin is an actin-binding protein that plays roles ranging from regulating muscle contraction to controlling cytokinesis and cell migration. The simple nematode Caenorhabditis elegans provides a useful model for studying the core functions of tropomyosin in an animal, having a relatively simple anatomy and a single tropomyosin gene, lev-11, that produces seven isoforms. Three higher molecular weight isoforms regulate the contraction of body wall and other muscles, but comparatively less is known of the functions of four lower molecular weight isoforms (LEV-11C, E, T, U).

Perspectives on Using Pharmacogenomics to Guide Tobacco Cessation: Survey Results From an American Indian Community.

Pharmacogenomics research has predominantly focused on populations of European ancestry, limiting the application to diverse populations such as American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities. Our community-centric study aims to understand perspectives on utilizing pharmacogenomics to guide tobacco cessation in an AIAN community using a survey with qualitative and quantitative components. We assessed participant (n = 273) tobacco usage and cessation history, pharmacogenomics knowledge, and perceptions of utilizing pharmacogenomics in the context of tobacco cessation.

Lipidomics reveals cell specific changes during pluripotent differentiation to neural and mesodermal lineages.

Due to their self-renewal and differentiation capabilities, pluripotent stem cells hold immense potential for advancing our understanding of human disease and developing cell-based or pharmacological interventions. Realizing this potential, however, requires a thorough understanding of the basal cellular mechanisms which occur during differentiation. Lipids are critical molecules that define the morphological, biochemical, and functional role of cells.