Overall and late mortality among 24 459 survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer in Alberta, Canada: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors are at an increased risk of premature mortality due to their cancer and its treatment. Herein, we aimed to quantify the excess risks of mortality among AYA cancer survivors and identify target populations for intervention.

Methods: The Alberta AYA Cancer Survivor Study is a retrospective, population-based cohort of individuals diagnosed with a first primary neoplasm at age 15-39 years in Alberta, Canada, between 1983 and 2017.

A survey of resource allocation among canadian cardiac surgery programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic significantly impacted the lives of patients and healthcare professionals globally. With rapid spread and severe illness, a great deal of healthcare resources including personal, funding, and hospital beds were dedicated to fight the pandemic.

Objectives: This survey looks to characterize how resources were allocated among Canadian cardiac surgery programs, and how this impacted patient care and outcomes.

Associations between vaping during pregnancy and perinatal outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Despite numerous studies linking prenatal vaping to adverse perinatal outcomes, a systematic assessment for critical comparison remains absent. To investigate these associations, we conducted a systematic search of studies assessing perinatal outcomes in mothers and/or neonates exposed to vaping during pregnancy compared to those in women without prenatal vaping exposure through MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PROSPERO, and Google Scholar until July 5, 2024. We performed inverse-variance random-effects meta-analyses for maternal and neonatal outcomes of 23 studies with a total of 924,376 participants with 7552 reporting vaping-only use during pregnancy.

Ecological Momentary Assessment for Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa and Their Parents/Caregivers in Family-Based Treatment.

Introduction: Studies have shown that early weight gain in family-based treatment (FBT) predicts treatment response in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN); however, research examining factors associated with early weight gain in FBT is limited. This study tested the feasibility and acceptability of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in early FBT, particularly to capture momentary data on family climate during mealtimes.

Methods: Using multiple methods, quantitative (EMA) and qualitative (interviews) data were collected in the first 4 weeks of FBT.

Built environment change for injury prevention: insights from public health professionals across public health units in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Road-related injuries and deaths are among the most significant and avoidable public health problems in Canada. Modifications to the built environment (BE) can reduce injury rates for vulnerable road users (VRUs) and other priority populations who experience disproportionate risk. This paper highlights public health professionals' experiences working in injury prevention across Ontario public health units (PHUs) navigating barriers and facilitators to BE change.

ZIC1 is a context-dependent medulloblastoma driver in the rhombic lip.

Transcription factors are frequent cancer driver genes, exhibiting noted specificity based on the precise cell of origin. We demonstrate that ZIC1 exhibits loss-of-function (LOF) somatic events in group 4 (G4) medulloblastoma through recurrent point mutations, subchromosomal deletions and mono-allelic epigenetic repression (60% of G4 medulloblastoma). In contrast, highly similar SHH medulloblastoma exhibits distinct and diametrically opposed gain-of-function mutations and copy number gains (20% of SHH medulloblastoma).

Parental and family presence are essential: A qualitative study of children's lived experiences with family presence in pediatric intensive care.

Objective: To better understand critically ill children's lived experiences with family presence in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

Study Design: This qualitative, interpretive phenomenological study is grounded in a Childhood Ethics ontology. We recruited children (aged 6-17 years) admitted to one of four participating Canadian PICUs between November 2021-July 2022 using maximum variation sampling.

Preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate to predict cardiac events in major noncardiac surgery: a secondary analysis of two large international studies.

Background: Optimised use of kidney function information might improve cardiac risk prediction in noncardiac surgery.

Methods: In 35,815 patients from the VISION cohort study and 9219 patients from the POISE-2 trial who were ≥45 yr old and underwent nonurgent inpatient noncardiac surgery, we examined (by age and sex) the association between continuous nonlinear preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and the composite of myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery, nonfatal cardiac arrest, or death owing to a cardiac cause within 30 days after surgery. We estimated contributions of predictive information, C-statistic, and net benefit from eGFR and other common patient and surgical characteristics to large multivariable models.

Statistical principles in neurointervention part 2. Multivariable analysis: generalized linear models, modification, confounding, and mediation.

This two part series on statistical principles in neurointervention offers a comprehensive foundation for neurointerventionalists to engage with both fundamental and advanced statistical principles. This series aims to equip neurointerventionalists with essential statistical knowledge for critically reviewing literature and conducting methodologically sound research. Part one of this series covered fundamental concepts such as frequentism, study types, data types, summarization, visualization, hypothesis testing, and univariable analysis.

Statistical principles in neurointervention part 1: basic principles, descriptive statistics and univariable analysis.

Neurointervention has seen significant advancements in recent decades with the adoption of myriad new technologies and techniques. Initially reliant on case reports and small case series, we now benefit from multicenter studies and randomized trials that can provide robust practice-changing evidencea and often employ sophisticated statistical methods. This two-part series on statistical principles in neurointervention aims to equip neurointerventionalists with essential statistical knowledge for critically reviewing literature and conducting methodologically sound research.

EEFSEC deficiency: A selenopathy with early-onset neurodegeneration.

Inborn errors of selenoprotein expression arise from deleterious variants in genes encoding selenoproteins or selenoprotein biosynthetic factors, some of which are associated with neurodegenerative disorders. This study shows that bi-allelic selenocysteine tRNA-specific eukaryotic elongation factor (EEFSEC) variants cause selenoprotein deficiency, leading to progressive neurodegeneration. EEFSEC deficiency, an autosomal recessive disorder, manifests with global developmental delay, progressive spasticity, ataxia, and seizures.

The gap between surgeon goal and achieved sagittal alignment in adult cervical spine deformity surgery.

Objective: Malalignment following cervical spine deformity (CSD) surgery can negatively impact outcomes and increase complications. Despite the growing ability to plan alignment, it remains unclear whether preoperative goals are achieved with surgery. The objective of this study was to assess how good surgeons are at achieving their preoperative goal alignment following CSD surgery.

Validating a Case Definition for Transgender Adults Using Administrative Data.

Importance: Administrative health data serve as promising data sources to study transgender health at a population level in the absence of self-reported gender identity.

Objective: To develop and validate case definitions identifying transgender adults in administrative data compared with the reference standard of self-reported gender identity in a universal health care setting.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this cohort study conducted in Alberta, Canada, data from provincial administrative health data sources including inpatient hospitalizations, emergency department encounters, primary care visits, prescription drug dispensations, and the provincial health insurance registry were linked and used to develop 15 case definitions (9 for transgender women and 6 for transgender men).

Emergency department trends for inguinal hernia and gallbladder disease before and after COVID-19 scheduled surgery interruptions: lessons for hospital capacity management.

Objectives: Postponing scheduled surgeries may alleviate emergency department (ED) crowding by increasing inpatient beds for ED patients but the impact of such measures are unclear. We determined if scheduled surgery cancellations for inguinal hernia and gallbladder disease during the coronavirus pandemic affected ED presentations, hospitalizations, and complications.

Methods: This database review included Albertans ≥ 18 with ED presentations for inguinal hernia and gallbladder disease from March 1, 2018 to May 31, 2022.

Visceral Pain in Preterm Infants with Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Underlying Mechanisms and Implications for Treatment.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a relatively rare but very severe gastrointestinal disease primarily affecting very preterm infants. NEC is characterized by excessive inflammation and ischemia in the intestines, and is associated with prolonged, severe visceral pain. Despite its recognition as a highly painful disease, current pain management for NEC is often inadequate, and research on optimal analgesic therapy for these patients is lacking.

The economic burden of diabetes in spinal fusion surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: This study aimed at comparing the costs of spinal fusion surgery between patients with and without diabetes.

Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search of four databases was conducted. A meta-analysis was performed on comparative studies examining diabetic versus non-diabetic adults undergoing cervical/lumbar fusion in terms of cost.

Detecting somatic variants in purified brain DNA obtained from surgically implanted depth electrodes in epilepsy.

Objective: Somatic variants causing epilepsy are challenging to detect, as they are only present in a subset of brain cells (e.g., mosaic), resulting in low variant allele frequencies.

Antibiotic therapy for treating overactive bladder is not supported by clinical evidence.

A number of reports have suggested that the use of prolonged antibiotic treatment could be an effective therapy for patients with overactive bladder (OAB); however, this approach is contrary to existing recommendations regarding the prolonged non-specific use of antibiotics. The existing evidence in this area seems to be circumstantial and anecdotal but, despite this limitation, the use of long-term antibiotic therapy for OAB seems to be increasing. Review and synthesis of the existing evidence for use of antibiotic therapy in patients with OAB identify few studies - just seven papers and four conference proceedings - which are heterogeneous in their design, inclusion and exclusion criteria, treatment regimen employed, approach to the use of antimuscarinic medications, follow-up protocols, and measured outcomes.

Combined endurance and resistance exercise training in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a randomized controlled trial.

Endurance exercise training (ET) is an effective treatment in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but the efficacy of resistance training in this patient population has been only scarcely evaluated. In this multicenter, randomized trial, we evaluated the effects of combined endurance and resistance training over 12 months in patients with HFpEF. The primary endpoint was a modified Packer score, including all-cause mortality, hospitalizations classified as potentially related to heart failure or exercise and changes in peak oxygen consumption ( ), diastolic function (E/e'), New York Heart Association (NYHA) class and global self-assessment (GSA).

Single-cell RNA sequencing identifies CXADR as a fate determinant of the placental exchange surface.

The placenta is the critical interface between mother and fetus, and consequently, placental dysfunction underlies many pregnancy complications. Placental formation requires an adequate expansion of trophoblast stem and progenitor cells followed by finely tuned lineage specification events. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing of mouse trophoblast stem cells during the earliest phases of differentiation, we identify gatekeepers of the stem cell state, notably Nicol1, and uncover unsuspected trajectories of cell lineage diversification as well as regulators of lineage entry points.

MAVS: The Next STING in Cancers and Other Diseases.

The mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) is a pivotal adaptor in the antiviral innate immune signaling pathway and plays a crucial role in the activation of antiviral defences. This comprehensive review delves into the multifaceted functions of MAVS, spanning from its integral role in the RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) pathway to its emerging roles in tumor biology and autoimmune diseases. We discuss the structural and functional aspects of MAVS, its activation mechanisms, and the intricate regulatory networks that govern its activity.

A multimodal neuroimaging study of cerebrovascular regulation: Protocols and insights of combining electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, transcranial Doppler ultrasound, and physiological parameters.

The current paper describes the creation of a simultaneous trimodal neuroimaging protocol. The authors detail their methodological design for a subsequent large-scale study, demonstrate the ability to obtain the expected physiologically induced responses across cerebrovascular domains, and describe the pitfalls experienced when developing this approach. Approach: Electroencephalography (EEG), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) were combined to provide an assessment of neuronal activity, microvascular oxygenation, and upstream artery velocity, respectively.

Cardiac fibroblast BAG3 regulates TGFBR2 signaling and fibrosis in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Loss of Bcl2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) is associated with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). BAG3 regulates sarcomere protein turnover in cardiomyocytes; however, the function of BAG3 in other cardiac cell types is understudied. In this study, we used an isogenic pair of BAG3-knockout and wild-type human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to interrogate the role of BAG3 in hiPSC-derived cardiac fibroblasts (CFs).