To move electrochemical sensing technology from the laboratory into point‐of‐care (POC)‐based settings, electrochemical platforms must be cost‐effective, portable, and user‐friendly. Here, we present ...the comparison of a near‐field communication (NFC) potentiostat with a traditional potentiostat. The NFC potentiostat is roughly the size of a credit card and is wirelessly powered by a smartphone with a user‐friendly application for electrochemical analysis. The proposed system is portable, affordable, and provides analytical capabilities comparable to traditional benchtop potentiostats. Different redox probes were investigated, including ferricyanide, ruthenium hexamine, and hydroquinone, highlighting the ability of the NFC potentiostat to measure a variety of target analytes. In addition, the NFC potentiostat can perform several electrochemical techniques, such as cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, chronoamperometry and square wave voltammetry. The combination of affordable screen‐printed carbon electrodes (SPCE)s with the portable, inexpensive NFC potentiostat highlights this platform‘s promise towards POC electrochemical sensing applications, particularly for medical diagnostics in rural or low‐income areas.
The medical home likely has a positive effect on outpatient outcomes for children with asthma. However, no information is available regarding the impact of medical home quality on health care ...utilization after hospitalizations. We sought to explore the relationship between medical home quality and readmission risk in children hospitalized for asthma exacerbations.
We enrolled 601 children, aged 1 to 16 years, hospitalized for an acute asthma exacerbation at a single pediatric facility that captures >85% of all asthma admissions in an 8-county area. Caregivers completed the Parent's Perception of Primary Care (P3C), a Likert-based, validated survey. The P3C yields a total score of medical home quality and 6 subscale scores assessing continuity, access, contextual knowledge, comprehensiveness, communication, and coordination. Asthma readmission events were prospectively collected via billing data. Hazards of readmission were calculated by using Cox proportional hazards adjusting for chronic asthma severity and key measures of socioeconomic status.
Overall P3C score was not associated with readmission. Among the subscale comparisons, only children with lowest access had a statistically increased readmission risk compared with children with the best access. Subgroup analysis revealed that children with private insurance and good access had the lowest rates of readmission within a year compared with other combinations of insurance and access.
Among measured aspects of medical home in a cohort of hospitalized children with asthma, having poor access to a medical home was the only measure associated with increased readmission. Improving physician access for children with asthma may lower hospital readmission.
Neonatal transpyloric feeding (TPF) has not been rigorously studied since the 1980s. Our objective was to evaluate early TPF, defined as TPF initiated within the first week after birth, among preterm ...infants in the setting of modern neonatal practice.
A retrospective cohort study was conducted between 2013 and 2017 for all extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants born in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit where early TPF is a common practice. Infants were excluded if they did not receive enteral feeding within the first week after birth or if they died prior to initiation of enteral feeding. The primary outcome was death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). The association between early TPF and the primary outcome was assessed using multivariable logistic regression, with adjustment for gestational age, birth weight, and intubation status.
The study sample included 368 ELBW infants. Twenty-seven percent received early TPF. Death or BPD occurred in 58% of infants who received early TPF compared with 67% of infants who received gastric feeding, adjusted odds ratio 0.6, 95% confidence interval 0.3-0.9. Growth and adverse gastrointestinal outcomes did not differ between the two groups.
Early TPF is associated with reduced risk of death or BPD among ELBW infants. Further investigation in the form of a randomized controlled trial is required to confirm a causal association between early TPF and improved clinical outcomes.
Murine alternatively activated macrophages can exert anti-inflammatory effects. We sought to determine if IL-4-treated human macrophages i.e., hM(IL4) would promote epithelial wound repair and can ...serve as a cell transfer treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Blood monocytes from healthy volunteers and patients with active and inactive IBD were converted to hM(IL4)s. IL-4 treatment of blood-derived macrophages from healthy volunteers and patients with inactive IBD resulted in a characteristic CD206
CCL18
CD14
phenotype (RNA-seq revealed IL-4 affected expression of 996 genes). Conditioned media from freshly generated or cryopreserved hM(IL4)s promoted epithelial wound healing in part by TGF, and reduced cytokine-driven loss of epithelial barrier function in vitro. Systemic delivery of hM(IL4) to dinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (DNBS)-treated
mice significantly reduced disease. These findings from in vitro and in vivo analyses provide proof-of-concept support for the development of autologous M(IL4) transfer as a cellular immunotherapy for IBD.
AIMS: While a foundation of basic cardiorespiratory fitness is beneficial for coping with the physiological demands of dance training and performance, the extent to which cardiorespiratory fitness ...levels are related to performance ability is not all-together clear. This study aimed
to directly compare aerobic capacity (VO2peak) and anaerobic threshold (AT) to an aesthetic competence measure (ACM) in student contemporary dancers. METHODS: Participants were 18 contemporary dance students and all undertook a one-off treadmill test to volitional exhaustion in the week leading
up to a performance to determine VO2peak and AT. In the same week, a final rehearsal for the performance was filmed to allow retrospective analysis of specific performance competence. RESULTS: Mean VO2peak values of 47.67 ± 5.84 ml/kg/min and AT values of 43.18 ± 7.72 ml/kg/min
(90.68 ± 11.87 %VO2peak) were recorded, and the mean total ACM score was 52.67 ± 8.74. No significant correlations were found between cardiorespiratory fitness variables and ACM scores. Regression analyses revealed experience level to be the only significant predictor of total
ACM score (p<0.05, R2=0.12, SEE=11.91). CONCLUSIONS: The range of choreography used for assessment may limit the present study; nevertheless, as level of experience did significantly predict ACM total score, it is suggested that vocational dance training may be developing the performance
and technical skills of students but not sufficiently developing their physical conditioning.
Background:
Surgical treatment options of discoid lateral meniscus in pediatric patients consist of saucerization with or without meniscal repair, meniscocapular stabilization, and, less often, ...subtotal meniscectomy.
Purpose:
To describe a large, prospectively collected multicenter cohort of discoid menisci undergoing surgical intervention, and further investigate corresponding treatment of discoid menisci.
Study Design:
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
Methods:
A multicenter quality improvement registry (16 institutions, 26 surgeons), Sports Cohort Outcomes Registry, was queried. Patient characteristics, discoid type, presence and type of intrasubstance meniscal tear, peripheral rim instability, repair technique, and partial meniscectomy/debridement beyond saucerization were reviewed. Discoid meniscus characteristics were compared between age groups (<14 and >14 years old), based on receiver operating characteristic curve, and discoid morphology (complete and incomplete).
Results:
In total, 274 patients were identified (mean age, 12.4 years; range, 3-18 years), of whom 55.6% had complete discoid. Meniscal repairs were performed in 55.1% of patients. Overall, 48.5% of patients had rim instability and 36.8% had >1 location of peripheral rim instability. Of the patients, 21.5% underwent meniscal debridement beyond saucerization, with 8.4% undergoing a subtotal meniscectomy. Patients <14 years of age were more likely to have a complete discoid meniscus (P < .001), peripheral rim instability (P = .005), and longitudinal tears (P = .015) and require a meniscal repair (P < .001). Patients ≥14 years of age were more likely to have a radial/oblique tear (P = .015) and require additional debridement beyond the physiologic rim (P = .003). Overall, 70% of patients <14 years of age were found to have a complete discoid meniscus necessitating saucerization, and >50% in this young age group required peripheral stabilization/repair.
Conclusion:
To preserve physiological “normal” meniscus, a repair may be indicated in >50% of patients <14 years of age but occurred in <50% of those >14 years. Additional resection beyond the physiological rim may be needed in 15% of younger patients and 30% of those aged >14 years.
Abstract
Embryonic development is dependent on the maternal supply of proteins through the oocyte, including factors setting up the adequate epigenetic patterning of the zygotic genome. We previously ...reported that one such factor is the epigenetic repressor SMCHD1, whose maternal supply controls autosomal imprinted expression in mouse preimplantation embryos and mid-gestation placenta. In mouse preimplantation embryos, X chromosome inactivation is also an imprinted process. Combining genomics and imaging, we show that maternal SMCHD1 is required not only for the imprinted expression of
Xist
in preimplantation embryos, but also for the efficient silencing of the inactive X in both the preimplantation embryo and mid-gestation placenta. These results expand the role of SMCHD1 in enforcing the silencing of Polycomb targets. The inability of zygotic SMCHD1 to fully restore imprinted X inactivation further points to maternal SMCHD1’s role in setting up the appropriate chromatin environment during preimplantation development, a critical window of epigenetic remodelling.
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