Linking Symptom Inventories using Semantic Textual Similarity

An extensive library of symptom inventories has been developed over time to measure clinical symptoms, but this variety has led to several long standing issues. Most notably, results drawn from different settings and studies are not comparable, which limits reproducibility. Here, we present an artificial intelligence (AI) approach using semantic textual similarity (STS) to link symptoms and scores across previously incongruous symptom inventories. We tested the ability of four pre-trained STS models to screen thousands of symptom description pairs for related content - a challenging task typically requiring expert panels. Models were tasked to predict symptom severity across four different inventories for 6,607 participants drawn from 16 international data sources. The STS approach achieved 74.8% accuracy across five tasks, outperforming other models tested. This work suggests that incorporating contextual, semantic information can assist expert decision-making processes, yielding gains for both general and disease-specific clinical assessment

15-epi-lipoxin A4 reduces the mortality of prematurely born pups in a mouse model of infection-induced preterm birth

Preterm birth remains the leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity worldwide. There are currently few effective therapies and therefore an urgent need for novel treatments. Although there is much focus on trying to alter gestation of delivery, the primary aim of preterm birth prevention therapies should be to reduce prematurity related mortality and morbidity. Given the link between intrauterine infection and inflammation and preterm labour (PTL), we hypothesized that administration of lipoxins, key anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution mediators, could be a useful novel treatment for PTL. Using a mouse model of infection-induced PTL, we investigated whether 15-epi-lipoxin A(4) could delay lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced PTL and reduce pup mortality. On D17 of gestation mice (n = 9–12) were pretreated with vehicle or 15-epi-lipoxin A(4) prior to intrauterine administration of LPS or PBS. Although pretreatment with 15-epi-lipoxin A(4) did not delay LPS-induced PTL, there was a significant reduction in the mortality amongst prematurely delivered pups (defined as delivery within 36 h of surgery) in mice treated with 15-epi-lipoxin A(4) prior to LPS treatment, compared with those receiving LPS alone (P < 0.05). Quantitative real-time (QRT)-PCR analysis of utero-placental tissues harvested 6 h post-treatment demonstrated that 15-epi-lipoxin A(4) treatment increased Ptgs2 expression in the uterus, placenta and fetal membranes (P < 0.05) and decreased 15-Hpgd expression (P < 0.05) in the placenta and uterus, suggesting that 15-epi-lipoxin A(4) may regulate the local production and activity of prostaglandins. These data suggest that augmenting lipoxin levels could be a useful novel therapeutic option in the treatment of PTL, protecting the fetus from the adverse effects of infection-induced preterm birth

Faithful chaperones

This review describes the properties of some rare eukaryotic chaperones that each assist in the folding of only one target protein. In particular, we describe (1) the tubulin cofactors, (2) p47, which assists in the folding of collagen, (3) α-hemoglobin stabilizing protein (AHSP), (4) the adenovirus L4-100 K protein, which is a chaperone of the major structural viral protein, hexon, and (5) HYPK, the huntingtin-interacting protein. These various-sized proteins (102–1,190 amino acids long) are all involved in the folding of oligomeric polypeptides but are otherwise functionally unique, as they each assist only one particular client. This raises a question regarding the biosynthetic cost of the high-level production of such chaperones. As the clients of faithful chaperones are all abundant proteins that are essential cellular or viral components, it is conceivable that this necessary metabolic expenditure withstood evolutionary pressure to minimize biosynthetic costs. Nevertheless, the complexity of the folding pathways in which these chaperones are involved results in error-prone processes. Several human disorders associated with these chaperones are discussed

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

A Deeper Kind of Righteousness: Do We Follow Jesus or the Bible?

Jesus called His disciples to be salt and light in teh world. He tells them to do this by putting on display a kind of righteousness vastly different from the traditional religion of their day. He calls us to do the same today

A Deeper Kind of Righteousness: Bright Salt

Jesus called His disciples to be salt and light in teh world. He tells them to do this by putting on display a kind of righteousness vastly different from the traditional religion of their day. He calls us to do the same today