Effect of Vertebral Body Tether Tensioning on Vertebral Body Growth Modulation.

Background: The relationship between tether tension and spinal growth modulation following vertebral body tethering (VBT) has not been studied in growing children.

Aims: This study aims to explore the relationship between vertebral body growth modulation under varying tether tension.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective, multicenter pediatric registry was queried for idiopathic scoliosis patients treated with right-sided VBT, with recorded intraoperative tension (using an ordinal scale of 0-3), and 3D reconstructions from biplanar radiographs at the first erect (FE) and 2-year post-operative visits.

Does the Order of Lumbar Surgery and Total Joint Replacement Impact Total Joint Replacement Outcomes?

For patients requiring both total joint replacement (TJR) and lumbar spine surgery, it is unknown whether surgical order influences TJR outcomes. The authors sought to determine if total knee (TKA) or total hip (THA) arthroplasty outcomes differed between patients who underwent TKA/THA before versus after lumbar surgery. A prospectively collected registry was queried for patients who underwent TKA or THA within 3 years of lumbar spine surgery.

Integrating clinical and molecular approaches to improve survival in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma continues to pose a significant global health burden due to its aggressive nature and poor prognosis, often diagnosed at an advanced stage. This retrospective study by Ren aims to identify long-term survival outcomes and the associated risk factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients, employing Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression models. The study highlights critical prognostic factors such as tumor stage, age, gender, and treatment modality.

Assessing the Causal Association Between COVID-19 and Graves Disease: Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: Graves disease (GD) is an autoimmune thyroid disorder characterized by hyperthyroidism and autoantibodies. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions about its potential relationship with autoimmune diseases like GD.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the causal association between COVID-19 and GD through Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis and assess the impact of COVID-19 on GD.

Guideline-Concordant Antibiotic Use in Children With Community-Acquired Pneumonia.

Background: Despite national guidelines on appropriate antibiotic therapy, there is wide variation in antibiotic decision-making for children with community-acquired pneumonia. This study sought to determine prevalence and factors associated with guideline-concordant antibiotic use in children presenting with pneumonia to the emergency department (ED).

Methods: We enrolled children aged younger than 18 years presenting to the ED at 2 US children's hospitals between September 2017 and May 2019 with clinical and radiographic pneumonia.

Admission Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Is Superior to WBC Count at Predicting the Presence and Severity of Pediatric Musculoskeletal Infection.

Background: Accurately determining the presence and severity of pediatric musculoskeletal infection (MSKI) is crucial for effective triage and treatment. Although the white blood-cell (WBC) count is often used as a marker for MSKI, we hypothesized that the use of the WBC count is limited by age-related variability in children. We proposed that the absolute neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which has less age-related variability, is a more reliable indicator for both diagnosing and assessing the severity of MSKI.

Association of Male Sex With Worse Right Ventricular Function and Survival in Pulmonary Hypertension in the Redefining Pulmonary Hypertension Through Pulmonary Vascular Disease Phenomics Cohort.

Background: Sex-based differences are important in the development and progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension. However, it is not established whether these differences are generalizable to all forms of pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Research Question: What are the sex-based differences in right ventricle (RV) function and transplant-free survival in patients with PH from the Redefining Pulmonary Hypertension Through Pulmonary Vascular Disease Phenomics (PVDOMICS) cohort?

Study Design And Methods: Patients with PH enrolled in the PVDOMICS cohort study underwent right heart catheterization, cardiac MRI, and echocardiography.

Development and Validation of a Diagnostic Algorithm for Down Syndrome Using Birth Certificate and International Classification of Diseases Codes.

Objective: We aimed to develop an algorithm that accurately identifies children with Down syndrome (DS) using administrative data.

Methods: We identified a cohort of children born between 2000 and 2017, enrolled in the Tennessee Medicaid Program (TennCare), who either had DS coded on their birth certificate or had a diagnosis listed using an International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code (suspected DS), and who received care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a comprehensive academic medical center, in the United States. Children with suspected DS were defined as having DS if they had (a) karyotype-confirmed DS indicated on their birth certificate; (b) karyotype-pending DS indicated on their birth certificate (or just DS if test type was not specified) and at least two healthcare encounters for DS during the first 6 years of life; or (c) at least three healthcare encounters for DS, with the first and last encounter separated by at least 30 days, during the first six years of life.

Carnitine consumption and effect of oral supplementation in human pulmonary arterial hypertension: A pilot study.

Carnitine is required to transport fatty acid across the mitochondrial membrane to undergo beta oxidation. In addition to disorders of fatty acid metabolism, a relative carnitine deficiency has been reported in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Here we performed an observational study in which food and supplement consumption were collected in an observation period followed by open label administration of a carnitine supplement to determine feasibility of increasing plasma carnitine levels in humans PAH.

Growth modulation response in vertebral body tethering depends primarily on magnitude of concave vertebral body growth.

Purpose: There is variability in clinical outcomes with vertebral body tethering (VBT) partly due to a limited understanding of the growth modulation (GM) response. We used the largest sample of patients with 3D spine reconstructions to characterize the vertebra and disc morphologic changes that accompany growth modulation during the first two years following VBT.

Methods: A multicenter registry was used to identify idiopathic scoliosis patients who underwent VBT with 2 years of follow-up.

Correction: Linking bacterial enterotoxins and alpha defensin 5 expansion in the Crohn's colitis: A new insight into the etiopathogenetic and differentiation triggers driving colonic inflammatory bowel disease.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

User-Centered Design and Implementation of an Interoperable FHIR Application for Pediatric Pneumonia Prognostication in a Randomized Trial.

Objectives:  To support a pragmatic, electronic health record (EHR)-based randomized controlled trial, we applied user-centered design (UCD) principles, evidence-based risk communication strategies, and interoperable software architecture to design, test, and deploy a prognostic tool for children in emergency departments (EDs) with pneumonia.

Methods:  Risk for severe in-hospital outcomes was estimated using a validated ordinal logistic regression model to classify pneumonia severity. To render the results usable for ED clinicians, we created an integrated SMART on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) web application built for interoperable use in two pediatric EDs using different EHR vendors: Epic and Cerner.

Associations between Smoking and Smoking Cessation during Pregnancy and Newborn Metabolite Concentrations: Findings from PRAMS and INSPIRE Birth Cohorts.

Newborn metabolite perturbations may identify potential biomarkers or mechanisms underlying adverse, smoking-related childhood health outcomes. We assessed associations between third-trimester smoking and newborn metabolite concentrations using the Tennessee Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS, 2009-2019) as the discovery cohort and INSPIRE (2012-2014) as the replication cohort. Children were linked to newborn screening metabolic data (33 metabolites).

Multi-Level Optimization for Data-Driven Camera-LiDAR Calibration in Data Collection Vehicles.

Accurately calibrating camera-LiDAR systems is crucial for achieving effective data fusion, particularly in data collection vehicles. Data-driven calibration methods have gained prominence over target-based methods due to their superior adaptability to diverse environments. However, current data-driven calibration methods are susceptible to suboptimal initialization parameters, which can significantly impact the accuracy and efficiency of the calibration process.

Electronic cigarette use during pregnancy and the risk of adverse birth outcomes: A cross-sectional surveillance study of the US Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) population.

Background: Research on health effects and potential harms of electronic cigarette (EC) use during pregnancy is limited. We sought to determine the risks of pregnancy EC use on pregnancy-related adverse birth outcomes and assess whether quitting ECs reduces the risks.

Methods: Women with singleton live births who participated in the US Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey study 2016-2020 were classified into four mutually exclusive groups, by their use of ECs and combustible cigarettes (CCs) during pregnancy: non-use, EC only use, CC only use, and dual use.

Validation of Childhood Pneumonia Prognostic Models for Use in Emergency Care Settings.

Background: Unwarranted variation in disposition decisions exist among children with pneumonia. We validated three prognostic models for predicting pneumonia severity among children in the emergency department (ED) and hospital.

Methods: We performed a two-center, prospective study of children 6 months to <18 years presenting to the ED with pneumonia from January 2014 to May 2019.

Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multi-center trial of the clinical and biological effects of anti-CD14 treatment in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Background: Severe COVID-19 is associated with innate immunopathology, and CD14, a proximal activator of innate immunity, has been suggested as a potential therapeutic target.

Methods: We conducted the COVID-19 anti-CD14 Treatment Trial (CaTT), a Phase II randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial at 5 US-sites between April 12, 2021 and November 30, 2021 (NCT04391309). Hospitalized adults with COVID-19 requiring supplemental oxygen (<30 LPM) were randomized 1:1 to receive 4 daily doses of intravenous IC14, an anti-CD14 monoclonal antibody, or placebo.

Effect of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist liraglutide, compared to caloric restriction, on appetite, dietary intake, body fat distribution and cardiometabolic biomarkers: A randomized trial in adults with obesity and prediabetes.

Aims: To investigate the hypothesis that weight loss with the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) liraglutide alone would lead to a greater reduction in the proportion of fat to lean tissue mass when compared to caloric restriction (CR) alone, as well as when compared to treatment with sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor, that also enhances GLP-1 activity - to determine the independent effects of each treatment.

Methods: A total of 88 adults with obesity and prediabetes were randomized to 14 weeks of intervention with CR (-390 kcal/d), liraglutide (1.8 mg/d), or the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor sitagliptin (100 mg/d) as a weight-neutral comparator.