The assessment of cervical foraminal area on oblique radiographs as compared to computed tomography

Cervical oblique radiographs are often obtained to evaluate the patency of the intervertebral foramina. Previous work has demonstrated that computed tomography(CT), particularly oblique reconstructions of the spine, allows for the accurate measurement of foramina1 dimensions. Although oblique radiographs are routinely ordered by practitioners for this reason, there are currently no studies that have directly compared these measurements to those derived from CT scans. The purpose of this study was to establish any correlation between the dimensions of cervical foramina assessed from oblique radiographs to those observed on CT scans. Radiographs of four fresh-frozen cadaveric cervical spine specimens were obtained at an angle of 50 degrees. Using digital measurement tools, the foramina1 height, width and cross-sectional area were calculated at each level between C2-C3 and C7-T1. CT scans were subsequently performed so that these values could also be acquired from 50 degree oblique reconstructions. Statistical analyses revealed excellent inter-observer reliabilities for radiographs and CT scans (ICC 0.91 and 0.99 for height, 0.90 and 0.97 for width, and 0.84 and 0.92 for area). For the two imaging modalities, the Pearson correlation coefficients for height, width, and area were 0.439, 0.871, and 0.899; which corresponds to a moderate correlation for height and strong correlations for width and area. The only significant differences (p\u3c0.05) between CT and radiograph measurements were for height at the C6/C7 and C7/T1, for width at the C5/6, and for area at the C2/3. Based on these findings, we believe that oblique radiographs provide reasonably accurate estimates of intervertebral foraminal dimensions for the initial evaluation of the cervical spine

Nutrition Screening and Assessment in Hospitalized Patients

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141744/1/ncp0483.pd

Minicurso sobre Plásticos: conscientização a respeito de sua utilização

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A Guide for Certifying Agencies: MGL 258F Certification for Victims of Violent Crime and Human Trafficking

This guide provides information to certifying agencies about the new law, M.G.L. 258F Certification for Victims of Violent Crime and Human Trafficking, which went into effect on July 1, 2021. The law provides victims of violent crime and human trafficking equal access to justice throughout the Commonwealth and establishes transparent and consistent processes for victims seeking certifications from law enforcement agencies

South Carolina health professions data book

This publication by the Office of Healthcare Workforce Analysis and Planning provides information about both the health status of the population in South Carolina and the number of healthcare professionals actively practicing across the state

Pregnancy and low back pain

Back pain is ubiquitous in today’s society and is particularly common during pregnancy. There are multiple factors contributing to these symptoms during pregnancy including pelvic changes as well as alterations to loading. Potential imaging modalities are limited during pregnancy due to the desire to limit ionizing radiation exposure to the fetus. Treatments are generally conservative, exercise-based interventions and alternative modalities may also be considered. Low back pain associated with pregnancy does generally resolve postpartum

Genetic determinants of telomere length from 109,122 ancestrally diverse whole-genome sequences in TOPMed

Genetic studies on telomere length are important for understanding age-related diseases. Prior GWAS for leukocyte TL have been limited to European and Asian populations. Here, we report the first sequencing-based association study for TL across ancestrally-diverse individuals (European, African, Asian and Hispanic/Latino) from the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. We used whole genome sequencing (WGS) of whole blood for variant genotype calling and the bioinformatic estimation of telomere length in n=109,122 individuals. We identified 59 sentinel variants (p-value OBFC1indicated the independent signals colocalized with cell-type specific eQTLs for OBFC1 (STN1). Using a multi-variant gene-based approach, we identified two genes newly implicated in telomere length, DCLRE1B (SNM1B) and PARN. In PheWAS, we demonstrated our TL polygenic trait scores (PTS) were associated with increased risk of cancer-related phenotypes

Study protocol for the multicentre cohorts of Zika virus infection in pregnant women, infants, and acute clinical cases in Latin America and the Caribbean: The ZIKAlliance consortium

Background: The European Commission (EC) Horizon 2020 (H2020)-funded ZIKAlliance Consortium designed a multicentre study including pregnant women (PW), children (CH) and natural history (NH) cohorts. Clinical sites were selected over a wide geographic range within Latin America and the Caribbean, taking into account the dynamic course of the ZIKV epidemic. Methods: Recruitment to the PW cohort will take place in antenatal care clinics. PW will be enrolled regardless of symptoms and followed over the course of pregnancy, approximately every 4 weeks. PW will be revisited at delivery (or after miscarriage/abortion) to assess birth outcomes, including microcephaly and other congenital abnormalities according to the evolving definition of congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). After birth, children will be followed for 2 years in the CH cohort. Follow-up visits are scheduled at ages 1-3, 4-6, 12, and 24 months to assess neurocognitive and developmental milestones. In addition, a NH cohort for the characterization of symptomatic rash/fever illness was designed, including follow-up to capture persisting health problems. Blood, urine, and other biological materials will be collected, and tested for ZIKV and other relevant arboviral diseases (dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever) using RT-PCR or serological methods. A virtual, decentralized biobank will be created. Reciprocal clinical monitoring has been established between partner sites. Substudies of ZIKV seroprevalence, transmissio

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types