Internal medicine

BACKGROUND: It is well established that individuals with schizophrenia experience deficits in emotional perception that can impact long-term social and occupational functioning. Understanding the factors that impact these impairments is important for targeting interventions to improve recovery. In the general population, compared with males, females tend to show greater perception of emotions. Whether this sex difference persists in schizophrenia is less clear. In contrast to males, females diagnosed with schizophrenia tend to have a higher age of disease onset and better premorbid functioning but do not necessarily have better outcomes...

PURPOSE: The benefit of adjuvant therapy for intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN)-derived pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains unclear because of severely limited evidence. Although biologically distinct entities, adjuvant therapy practices for IPMN-derived PDAC are largely founded on pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia-derived PDAC. We aimed to evaluate the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in IPMN-derived PDAC. METHODS: This international multicenter retrospective cohort study (2005-2018) was conceived at the Verona Evidence-Based Medicine meeting...

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residents must complete twelve months of fundamental skills training prior to beginning PM&R residency. The objective of this study is to determine if characteristics of the first post-graduate year (PGY-1) impact performance on American Board of PM&R (ABPMR) initial certification examinations. A retrospective review was conducted on a deidentified ABPMR database of physicians who completed PM&R residency and took the Part I Examination between 2008 and 2022...

The main purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate football players' recovery status, through hormonal response, in relation to accumulated workload at two comparable time points of the first (T1) and second half (T2) of the competitive season. Moreover, this study investigated athletes' hormonal response to a typical weekly conditioning session (5 days before match: MD-5), at T1 and T2, to detect changes in players' recovery capability over time. Salivary cortisol (sC) and testosterone (sT) of 24 professional players (27...

BACKGROUND: Alexithymia, characterized by difficulty identifying and describing emotions and an externally oriented thinking style, is a personality trait linked to various mental health issues. Despite its recognized importance, research on alexithymia in early childhood is sparse. This study addresses this gap by investigating alexithymia in preschool-aged children and its correlation with psychopathology, along with parental alexithymia. METHODS: Data were analyzed from 174 parents of preschoolers aged 3 to 6, including 27 children in an interdisciplinary intervention program, all of whom attended regular preschools...

Francisella tularensis is a causative agent of the zoonotic disease tularemia, and is highly pathogenic to humans. The pathogenicity of this bacterium is largely attributed to intracellular growth in host cells. Although several bacterial factors important for the intracellular growth have been elucidated, including the type VI secretion system, the host factors involved in the intracellular growth of F. tularensis are largely unknown. To identify the host factors important for F. tularensis infection, 368 compounds were screened for the negative regulation of F...

This paper presents an examination of the relationship between international operations and corporate R&D investment. Using a large sample of Chinese listed firms for the 2009-2022 period and the ordinary least squares method, we find that international operations have a positive effect on corporate R&D investment. The finding remains valid after a battery of robustness tests. Mechanism tests show that international operations increase corporate R&D investment by diversifying product demand instead of increasing firms' international knowledge acquisition...

INTRODUCTION: Prostate cancer is often treated with radical prostatectomy, but surgery can leave patients with side effects. Patients who actively take part in their rehabilitation have been shown to achieve better clinical outcomes. eHealth support has the potential to increase patient activation, but has rarely been evaluated in long-term randomized controlled trials. Therefore, we evaluated the effects on patient activation of eHealth support (electronic Patient Activation in Treatment at Home, ePATH) based on motivational theory...

BACKGROUND: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) often have concomitant long-term conditions that negatively impact their quality of life and the clinical management they receive. The AFFIRMO study aimed to identify the needs, quality performance indicators (QPIs), and outcomes relevant to patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals (HCPs) to improve the care of patients with AF. METHODS: An on-line survey to collect the key needs, QPIs, and outcomes relevant to patients with AF, their caregivers and HCPs, was distributed between May 2022 and January 2023 in five countries (UK, Italy, Denmark, Romania and Spain)...

Meloxicam, a commonly used NSAID, has wide variation in pharmacokinetics between different avian species. The present study hypothesized that meloxicam dosage regimens were similar within, but differ between, groups of avian species with similar feeding habits, habitats, or migratory behaviors. Utilizing the international Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS), drug usage extracts were compiled for meloxicam across eleven major orders of birds. The orders were selected based on their prevalence in zoological collections, wildlife rehabilitation centers, the pet trade, and production environments...

Privilege and marginalization associated with racial background have been posited as contributors to why Black athletes face disparities within their care, treatment, and recovery from sport-related concussion (SRC). However, empirical findings have limited exploration on how disparate outcomes have emerged, and the interaction with systems of biases, power and disenfranchisement. To understand concussion care disparities, a qualitative content analysis was conducted in three phases: [I] identifying salient literature on racial differences for Black athletes with SRC ( N  = 29), [II] qualitative analysis of literature to determine salient topics, themes and patterns within the literature, and [III] constructing a novel ecological-systems framework that encapsulates the 'why' and 'how' related to psychosocial and sociocultural experiences of power, access, and biases for Black athletes...

IMPORTANCE: Adults experiencing homelessness in the US face numerous challenges, including the management of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The extent of a potentially greater risk of adverse health outcomes in the population with CKD experiencing homelessness has not been adequately explored. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between a history of homelessness and the risk of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and death among veterans with incident CKD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study was conducted between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2017...

OBJECTIVES: Side-by-side (SXS) and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are different off-road vehicles (ORVs) but often categorized together in the literature. We hypothesized pediatric upper extremity (UE) fracture patterns and injury severity scores (ISS) differ between ORV types. METHODS: The authors' home-state trauma repository identified 157 pediatric patients aged 0 to 17 years with UE fractures after ORV accidents during 2011-2021. ORV injuries, fracture type, and procedures were identified using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision and 10th Revision coding followed by manual chart review or phone calls...

A growing environmental concern revolves around the widespread use of medicines, particularly antibiotics, which adversely impact water quality and various life forms. The unregulated production and utilization of antibiotics not only affect non-targeted organisms but also exert significant evolutionary pressures, leading to the rapid development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial communities. To address this issue, global studies have been conducted to assess the prevalence and quantities of antibiotics in various environmental components including freshwater, ocean, local sewage, and fish...

BACKGROUND: Health problems associated with shift work and night shift work are gaining increasing public attention. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between night shift work and the hazard of mortality. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 283,579 individuals with paid employment or self-employment aged 37-73 years were included from the UK Biobank with a median follow-up period of 14...

BACKGROUND: Cosmetic tourism is an increasingly common phenomenon, both in Ireland and internationally. Complications associated with procedures performed abroad may manifest after the patient has traveled back to their home country with patients often presenting to local health services. Such complications can be infectious in nature requiring either antimicrobial therapy and/or source control in the form of wound debridement or radiologically guided interventional procedures. METHODS: Patients who had presented to a regional plastic surgery unit between September 2021 and December 2022 with complications related to aesthetic procedures performed outside Ireland were identified in this retrospective-prospective design...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal lung disease characterized by excessive collagen deposition and fibrosis of the lung parenchyma, leading to respiratory failure. The molecular mechanisms underlying IPF pathogenesis remain incompletely understood, hindering the development of effective therapeutic strategies. We have used a network medicine approach to comprehensively analyze molecular interactions and identify novel molecular signatures and potential therapeutics associated with IPF progression...

The management of cardiogenic shock is an ongoing challenge. Despite all efforts and tremendous use of resources, mortality remains high. Whilst reversing the underlying cause, restoring/maintaining organ perfusion and function are cornerstones of management. The presence of comorbidities and preexisting organ dysfunction increases management complexity, aiming to integrate the needs of vital organs in each individual patient. This review provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary literature regarding the definition and classification of cardiogenic shock, its pathophysiology, diagnosis, laboratory evaluation, and monitoring...

I n t r o d u c t i o n: Despite increased awareness of malnutrition and improved nutrition-related policies, there are still cases of deterioration of nutritional status during hospitalisation. NutritionDay is an audit organised by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN), the Medical University of Vienna and the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) to prevent the onset of malnutrition and to improve hospital policies to deal with this problem. The aim of the study was to analyse the results of the audit with regard to factors that may contribute to the deterioration of a patients' nutritional status in hospital setting...

BACKGROUND: Hemodialysis requires reliable, recurrent access to the circulatory system. Central venous tunneled dialysis catheters (TDC) are frequently used for patients receiving hemodialysis as a bridge to permanent vascular access or as a final option. TDC are prone to complications such as infection and dysfunction. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence and predictors of TDC dysfunction in a cohort of chronic hemodialysis patients. METHODS: This single-center, retrospective study was based on data from an electronic database of chronic hemodialysis patients during 5 years of follow-up...