Publications by authors named "Catherine Forster"

Mice have been used as a valuable model of understanding pathophysiological mechanisms of urinary tract infection for almost six decades. Mice offer many advantages including genetic manipulation to test the role of genes and mechanisms, the availability of germ-free mice, and similarities to humans in innate immune defenses and the strain-dependent presence of vesicoureteral reflux. However, like with humans, the mouse bladder urine above the urinary sphincter has generally been assumed to be sterile.

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Introduction: Serum creatinine (SCr) is used to diagnose acute kidney injury (AKI) but has limited utility to distinguish volume depletion from tubular injury. Urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) distinguishes these causes of elevated SCr.

Methods: We tested a novel point-of-care (POC) dipstick to measure uNGAL at presentation at the emergency medical services department (EMSD) in a tertiary care hospital in Puducherry, India.

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Background: In medicine, professional experiences and work environment can impact physician satisfaction and well-being. Little is known about these experiences in pediatric hospital medicine.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine self-reported factors associated with professional experience, career development, and career satisfaction, and to compare aspects of these domains between men and women.

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Objective: In children with urinary tract anomalies, febrile urinary tract infections (UTIs) are associated with increased risks of sepsis, hospitalization, and kidney injury. However, the best treatment strategies are unknown. We aimed to describe antibiotic treatment practices and outcomes for UTIs in children with urinary tract anomalies and evaluate whether variability in UTI treatment exists between hospitals.

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  • The study investigates the link between fall risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs) and fall rates among generally healthy older adults living in the community, an area that has not been thoroughly researched before.
  • It observes 2,157 participants aged 70 and older over three years to evaluate how FRID use (both single and multiple) correlates with total falls, injurious falls, and recurrent falls.
  • Results indicate that a significant portion of participants using FRIDs experienced a higher incidence of falls during the study period, underscoring the potential risks of these medications in older adults.
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The changing field of academic medicine presents unique challenges for physician-scientists, who intricately weave the complexities of research and patient care. These challenges have significantly lengthened the time needed for scientific discoveries to be applied in clinical practice. In response to these escalating demands, the training trajectory for physician-scientists has notably expanded over recent decades.

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Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common infection in patients with neurogenic bladder. Diagnosis is fraught with challenges since there is no globally accepted definition for UTI and symptoms can vary widely. Due to the increased risk of morbidity, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the risk of UTI, diagnostic criteria, and to treat aggressively when UTI is confirmed.

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Objective: To characterize factors that influence the decision to treat suspected pediatric bacterial tracheostomy-associated respiratory infections (bTRAINs; e.g., pneumonia, tracheitis).

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  • The study investigates the effectiveness of urinalysis (UA) in diagnosing urinary tract infections (UTIs) in children with spina bifida, who are often overdiagnosed with UTIs.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 974 visits of 319 children from 2016 to 2021, finding that pyuria had the highest sensitivity, while nitrites were the most specific for diagnosing symptomatic UTIs.
  • Overall, the findings indicate that UA parameters have moderate sensitivity or specificity but show poor overall accuracy in diagnosing symptomatic UTIs in this population.
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Objectives: Gender-based disparities in salary exist in multiple fields of medicine. However, there is limited data examining gender inequities in salary in pediatric hospital medicine (PHM). Our primary objective was to assess whether gender-based salary differences exist in PHM.

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Unlabelled: In medicine, difficulty integrating work and home can lead to decreased job satisfaction, diminished well-being, and increased turnover. Understanding the experience of pediatric hospitalists can provide insights into building a stable, long-term workforce. We aim to examine gender differences in work-life balance and parental leave for physicians practicing Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

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  • Children with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) and neurogenic bladder (NGB) are more susceptible to treatment failure for urinary tract infections (UTIs) compared to those with normal anatomy, but research on this is limited.
  • A study analyzed 482 children aged 0 to 17 presenting with UTIs to emergency departments between 2017 and 2018 and found a 6% rate of treatment failure.
  • The duration of antibiotic treatment was similar for both those who experienced treatment failure and those who did not, highlighting the need for more extensive studies to explore the effects of bacteremia on treatment outcomes.
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Objectives: Readmission to the PICU is associated with worse outcomes, but factors associated with PICU readmission within the same hospitalization remain unclear. We sought to describe the prevalence of, and identify factors associated with, early PICU readmission.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of PICU admissions for patients aged 0 to 26 years in 48 tertiary care children's hospitals between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2019 in the Pediatric Health Information System.

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This special volume of The Anatomical Record honors the life-long commitment to anatomy and paleontology by Professor Peter Dodson (Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania). Peter's legacy is not only rooted in his own research interests, but also in the wealth of former students he mentored over his career, many of whom have made their own new contributions to the fields of anatomy and paleontology through original scientific investigation. Within these 18 scientific papers, which cover multiple taxa, multiple continents, and multiple methodologies, each of the contributors brought to this volume their own unique work that can be traced back to some form of inspiration by the honoree.

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Introduction: The pediatric urinary microbiome (urobiome) has been studied in the context of healthy children and children with genitourinary pathologies including neuropathic bladder, urinary tract infection (UTI) and nephrolithiasis. Little is known about the urobiome of children with bladder and bowel dysfunction (BBD), a condition that is an established risk factor of UTI. We hypothesized that the symptoms of a child with BBD may be related to urobiome composition.

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Objective: To compare the accuracy of urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and leukocyte esterase (LE) for the diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI) in children.

Study Design: We performed a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis of studies that examined urine NGAL as a marker of UTI in children <18 years of age. We created a standardized definition of UTI and applied it to all included children.

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Background: The evaluation of febrile infants ≤60 days of age is often guided by established protocols. However, structural racism and physicians' implicit bias may affect how such clinical guidelines are applied.

Objective: To determine the association between self-identified race, insurance type, ZIP code-based median household income (MHI) and receiving a guideline-concordant lumbar puncture (GCLP) in febrile infants.

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We name and describe a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Creteceous Kirkwood Formation, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. This dinosaur is one of only two ornithopod dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous of southern Africa, and is unique in being represented primarily by hatchling to young juvenile individuals as demonstrated by bone histological analysis. All of the juvenile material of this new taxon comes from a single, laterally-restricted bonebed and specimens were primarily recovered as partial to complete single elements, although rare articulated materials and one partial skeleton were found.

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Objectives: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common diagnosis within the pediatric emergency department (ED). Because of the necessary delay in obtaining urine culture results, clinicians must decide whether to prescribe antibiotics for a suspected UTI before urine culture results. The primary objective of this study was to identify the proportion of children given empiric antibiotics who subsequently did not meet consensus definition of an UTI.

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The dental system of ceratopsids is among the most specialized structure in Dinosauria by the presence of tooth batteries and high-angled wear surfaces. However, the origin of this unique dental system is poorly understood due to a lack of relevant knowledge in early-diverging ceratopsians. Here, we study the dental system of three earliest-diverging Chinese ceratopsians: and from the early Late Jurassic of Xinjiang and from the Late Jurassic of Liaoning Province.

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Objective: Our specific aim was to assess the gender distribution of aspects of scholarly productivity and professional standing for pediatric hospital medicine over a 5-year period. We also evaluated for correlation between the makeup of editorial boards, conference planning committees, and chosen content.

Methods: We reviewed scholarly publications, presentations, editorial boards, planning committees, awardees, and society leadership in pediatric hospital medicine from 2015 to 2019 and determined gender using published methods to assess for differences between observed proportions of women authors and presenters and the proportion of women in the field.

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