Meta-analysis of Clinical Microbiome Studies in Urolithiasis Reveal Age, Stone Composition, and Study Location as the Predominant Factors in Urolithiasis-Associated Microbiome Composition.

To determine whether functionally relevant questions associated with the urinary or gut microbiome and urinary stone disease (USD) can be answered from metagenome-wide association studies (MWAS), we performed the most comprehensive meta-analysis of published clinical MWAS in USD to date, using publicly available data published prior to April 2021. Six relevant studies met inclusion criteria. For alpha-diversity, significant differences were noted between USD status, stone composition, sample type, study location, age, diet, and sex.

Genomic surveillance to combat COVID-19: challenges and opportunities.

Although the development and increasingly widespread availability of effective and safe vaccines provides the greatest hope for the future recovery from the increasingly devastating COVID-19 pandemic, there are other preventive efforts that offer an immediate route to decreasing morbidity and mortality. Genomic surveillance is emerging as a vital necessity to achieve effective mitigation and containment. Since SARS-CoV-2 variants have already been detected, it is crucial to obtain reliable evidence about whether they are more contagious, virulent, or more resistant to the available COVID-19 vaccines well before they spread throughout the world.

The Role of Metabolism in Heart Failure and Regeneration.

Heart failure is the leading cause of death worldwide. The inability of the adult mammalian heart to regenerate following injury results in the development of systolic heart failure. Thus, identifying novel approaches toward regenerating the adult heart has enormous therapeutic potential for adult heart failure.

Use of Spinal Cord Stimulators in Patients With Pacemakers or Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators: A Review of Documented Accounts of Interference.

Objectives: To assess the currently available evidence regarding associations between spinal cord stimulator (SCS) lead type, clinical indications for device placement, and interference between SCSs and cardiac pacemakers (CPMs)/implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs).

Study Design: Review of case reports and original research studies assessing the interference between SCS and CPM/ICD.

Materials And Methods: PubMed and Cochrane databases were searched for articles commenting on the interference between SCS and CPM/ICD.

Paramyxovirus replication induces the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway and mesenchymal transition via the IRE1α-XBP1s arm of the unfolded protein response.

The paramyxoviridae, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and murine respirovirus are enveloped, negative-sense RNA viruses that are the etiological agents of vertebrate lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs). We observed that RSV infection in human small airway epithelial cells induced accumulation of glycosylated proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), increased glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate transaminases (GFPT1/2) and accumulation of uridine diphosphate (UDP)--acetylglucosamine, indicating activation of the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP). RSV infection induces rapid formation of spliced X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1s) and processing of activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6).

Hypogonadism induced by surgical stress and brain trauma is reversed by human chorionic gonadotropin in male rats: A potential therapy for surgical and TBI-induced hypogonadism?

Introduction: Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) is an almost universal, yet underappreciated, endocrinological complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The goal of this study was to determine whether the developmental hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) treatment could reverse HH induced by a TBI.

Methods: Plasma samples were collected at post-surgery/post-injury (PSD/PID) days -10, 1, 11, 19 and 29 from male Sprague-Dawley rats (5- to 6-month-old) that had undergone a Sham surgery (craniectomy alone) or CCI injury (craniectomy + bilateral moderate-to-severe CCI injury) and treatment with saline or hCG (400 IU/kg; i.

The impact of vaccination to control COVID-19 burden in the United States: A simulation modeling approach.

Introduction: Vaccination programs aim to control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the relative impacts of vaccine coverage, effectiveness, and capacity in the context of nonpharmaceutical interventions such as mask use and physical distancing on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 are unclear. Our objective was to examine the impact of vaccination on the control of SARS-CoV-2 using our previously developed agent-based simulation model.

Multi-ancestral origin of intestinal tumors: Impact on growth, progression, and drug efficacy.

Background: Data are steadily accruing that demonstrate that intestinal tumors are frequently derived from multiple founding cells, resulting in tumors comprised of distinct ancestral clones that might cooperate or alternatively compete, thereby potentially impacting different phases of the disease process.

Aim: We sought to determine whether tumors with a multi-ancestral architecture involving at least two distinct clones show increased tumor number, growth, progression, or resistance to drug intervention.

Methods: Mice carrying the Min allele of Apc were generated that were mosaic with only a subset of cells in the intestinal epithelium expressing an activated form of PI3K, a key regulatory kinase affecting several important cellular processes.

Physician Perceptions of Disposition Decision-making for Older Adults in the Emergency Department: A Preliminary Analysis.

Disposition decision-making in the emergency department (ED) is critical to patient safety and quality of care. Disposition decision-making has particularly important implications for older adults who comprise a significant portion of ED visits annually and are vulnerable to suboptimal outcomes throughout ED care transitions. We conducted a secondary inductive content analysis of interviews with ED physicians (N= 11) to explore their perceptions of who they involve in disposition decision-making and what information they use to make disposition decisions for older adults.

Detection of the Microvascular Changes of Diabetic Retinopathy Progression Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

Purpose: To investigate microvascular parameters that are related to the severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR) with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).

Methods: In total, 105 eyes from 105 diabetic patients were recruited in this prospective cross-sectional study, including 37 eyes with no clinical signs of DR (NoDR), 43 eyes with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and 25 eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Angiogram images from the parafoveal superficial capillary plexus (SCP), the deep capillary plexus (DCP), and the radial peripapillary capillary plexus were analyzed, and metrics were compared among groups.

Decreasing ICU-associated infection through fluoroquinolone restriction, the FIRST trial: a study protocol.

Introduction: infection (CDI) is one of the most common healthcare-associated infections in the USA, having high incidence in intensive care units (ICU). Antibiotic use increases risk of CDI, with fluoroquinolones (FQs) particularly implicated. In healthcare settings, antibiotic stewardship (AS) and infection control interventions are effective in CDI control, but there is little evidence regarding the most effective AS interventions.

Roles of constitutive and signal-dependent protein phosphatase 2A docking motifs in burst attenuation of the cyclic AMP response element-binding protein.

The cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) is an important regulator of cell growth, metabolism, and synaptic plasticity. CREB is activated through phosphorylation of an evolutionarily conserved Ser residue (S133) within its intrinsically disordered kinase-inducible domain (KID). Phosphorylation of S133 in response to cAMP, Ca, and other stimuli triggers an association of the KID with the KID-interacting (KIX) domain of the CREB-binding protein (CBP), a histone acetyl transferase (HAT) that promotes transcriptional activation.

Quantitative breast density analysis to predict interval and node-positive cancers in pursuit of improved screening protocols: a case-control study.

Background: This study investigates whether quantitative breast density (BD) serves as an imaging biomarker for more intensive breast cancer screening by predicting interval, and node-positive cancers.

Methods: This case-control study of 1204 women aged 47-73 includes 599 cancer cases (302 screen-detected, 297 interval; 239 node-positive, 360 node-negative) and 605 controls. Automated BD software calculated fibroglandular volume (FGV), volumetric breast density (VBD) and density grade (DG).

Liver Transplantation and Development of Diabetes in an Adolescent Male With HNF1B Disease.

Mutations in the hepatocyte nuclear factor-1-beta () gene cause a variety of diseases in different organ systems. Mutations have been described as causing neonatal cholestasis, maturity-onset diabetes of the young (type 5), cortical renal cysts, urogenital abnormalities, liver dysfunction, and atrophy of the pancreas. We describe a male patient who presented with cholestatic liver disease in infancy which progressed by age 14 to end-stage liver disease due to HNF1B disease.

Neurotoxic Effects of Ammonia in a Patient With Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency and Bilateral Brain Abscesses: Case Report.

Brain abscesses are a rare complication of dental procedures. High concentrations of ammonia in brain abscesses may increase vasogenic edema and other brain abscess symptoms. Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) is an x-linked genetic disorder of the urea cycle associated with an increased risk of brain damage due to hyperammonia.

Prioritizing and implementing HPV vaccination quality improvement programs in healthcare systems: the perspective of quality improvement leaders.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination could prevent most of the ~34,000 HPV-attributable cancers diagnosed annually in the US, but uptake remains suboptimal. Healthcare systems are key partners in implementing HPV vaccination quality improvement (QI) programs. To inform future system-level HPV vaccine initiatives, we sought to understand HPV vaccine QI from the perspective of QI program leaders in healthcare systems.

Hepatocellular carcinoma as a complication of Niemann-Pick disease type C1.

Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) is a rare and fatal lysosomal storage disorder characterized by neurodegeneration and hepatic involvement. Mutations in either NPC1 or NPC2, two genes encoding lysosomal proteins, lead to an intracellular accumulation of unesterified cholesterol and sphingolipids in late endosomes/lysosomes. Early cholestatic disease is considered a hallmark of patients with early disease onset.

Peer-to-Peer Support and Changes in Health and Well-being in Older Adults Over Time.

Importance: Literature on peer-to-peer (P2P) programs suggests they improve health and well-being of older adults. Analysis from a previous study showed P2P to be associated with higher rates of hospitalization and no significant differences in rates of emergency department or urgent care visits; however, it is not known whether measures of health and well-being varied by group over time.

Objective: To compare the association between receiving P2P support and secondary outcomes (ie, health status, quality of life, and depressive and anxiety symptoms) with receiving standard community services (SCS) over time.

Trends in infants born at low birthweight and disparities by maternal race and education from 2003 to 2018 in the United States.

Background: Understanding current levels, as well as past and future trends, of the percentage of infants born at low birthweight (LBW) in the United States is imperative to improving the health of our nation. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine recent trends in percentage of LBW, both overall and by maternal race and education subgroups. Studying disparities in percentage of LBW by these subgroups can help to further understand the health needs of the population and can inform policies that can close race and class disparities in poor birth outcomes.

Impaired Binding to Junctophilin-2 and Nanostructural Alteration in CPVT Mutation.

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From Passive Gatekeeper to Quarterback: Evolving Perceptions of Primary Care Among Medical Students in Longitudinal Outpatient Clerkships.

Background: Longitudinal clerkships provide students with meaningful clinical care roles that promote learning and professional development. It remains unclear how longitudinal primary care clerkships inform students' perceptions of primary care.

Objective: To explore perceptions of primary care among medical students enrolled in longitudinal primary care clerkships.

What Matters When It Comes to Trust in One's Physician: Race/Ethnicity, Sociodemographic Factors, and/or Access to and Experiences with Health Care?

Interpersonal trust is linked to therapeutic factors of patient care, including adherence to treatment, continuity with a provider, perceived effectiveness of care, and clinical outcomes. Differences in interpersonal trust across groups may contribute to health disparities. We explored whether differences in interpersonal trust varied across three racial/ethnic groups.