Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Spectrophotometric properties of CoPhyLab’s dust mixtures

Objective: In the framework of the Cometary Physics Laboratory (CoPhyLab) and its sublimation experiments of cometary surface analogues under simulated space conditions, we characterize the properties of intimate mixtures of juniper charcoal and SiO2 chosen as a dust analogue (Lethuillier et al. 2022). We present the details of these investigations for the spectrophotometric properties of the samples. Methods: We measured these properties using a hyperspectral imager and a radio-goniometer. From the samples’ spectra, we evaluated reflectance ratios and spectral slopes. From the measured phase curves, we inverted a photometric model for all samples. Complementary characterizations were obtained using a pycnometer, a scanning electron microscope and an organic elemental analyser. Results: We report the first values for the apparent porosity, elemental composition, and VIS-NIR spectrophotometric properties for juniper charcoal, as well as for intimate mixtures of this charcoal with the SiO2. We find that the juniper charcoal drives the spectrophotometric properties of the intimate mixtures and that its strong absorbance is consistent with its elemental composition. We find that SiO2 particles form large and compact agglomerates in every mixture imaged with the electron microscope, and its spectrophotometric properties are affected by such features and their particle-size distribution. We compare our results to the current literature on comets and other small Solar system bodies and find that most of the characterized properties of the dust analogue are comparable to some extent with the spacecraft-visited cometary nuclei, as well as to Centaurs, Trojans, and the bluest TNOs

Reliability of the cervical vertebrae maturation (CVM) method

OBJECTIVE To assess the reliability of the cervical vertebrae maturation method (CVM). BACKGROUND Skeletal maturity estimation can influence the manner and time of orthodontic treatment. The CVM method evaluates skeletal growth on the basis of the changes in the morphology of cervical vertebrae C2, C3, C4 during growth. These vertebrae are visible on a lateral cephalogram, so the method does not require an additional radiograph. METHODS In this website based study, 10 orthodontists with a long clinical practice (3 routinely using the method - "Routine user - RU" and 7 with less experience in the CVM method - "Non-Routine user - nonRU") rated twice cervical vertebrae maturation with the CVM method on 50 cropped scans of lateral cephalograms of children in circumpubertal age (for boys: 11.5 to 15.5 years; for girls: 10 to 14 years). Kappa statistics (with lower limits of 95% confidence intervals (CI)) and proportion of complete agreement on staging was used to evaluate intra- and inter-assessor agreement. RESULTS The mean weighted kappa for intra-assessor agreement was 0.44 (range: 0.30-0.64; range of lower limits of 95% CI: 0.12-0.48) and for inter-assessor agreement was 0.28 (range: -0.01-0.58; range of lower limits of 95% CI: -0.14-0.42). The mean proportion of identical scores assigned by the same assessor was 55.2 %(range: 44-74 %) and for different pairs of assessors was 42 % (range: 16-68 %). CONCLUSIONS The reliability of the CVM method is questionable and if orthodontic treatment should be initiated relative to the maximum growth, the use of additional biologic indicators should be considered (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 24)

Nasolabial appearance after two palatoplasty types in cleft lip and palate.

BACKGROUND Facial appearance is important for normal psychosocial development in children with cleft lip and palate (CLP). There is conflicting evidence on how deficient maxillary growth may affect nasolabial esthetics. METHODS We retrospectively investigated nasolabial appearance in two groups, the Langenback (35 children; mean age 11.1 years; range: 7.9-13.6) and Vomerplasty (58 children; mean age 10.8 years; range: 7.8-14), who received unilateral CLP surgery by the same surgeon. The hard palate repair technique differed between the two groups. In the Langenback group, palatal bone on the non-cleft side only was left denuded, inducing scar formation and inhibiting maxillary growth. In the Vomerplasty group, a vomerplasty with tight closure of the soft tissues on the palate was applied. Thirteen lay judges rated nasolabial esthetics on photographs using a modified Asher-McDade's index. RESULTS Nasolabial esthetics in both groups was comparable (p > 0.1 for each nasolabial component). Inferior view was judged as the least esthetic component and demonstrated mean scores 3.18 (SD = 0.63) and 3.13 (SD = 0.47) in the Langenback and Vomerplasty groups, respectively. Mean scores for other components were from 2.52 (SD = 0.63) to 2.81 (SD = 0.62). Regression analysis showed that vomerplasty is related with slight improvement in the nasal profile only (coefficient B = -0.287; p = 0.043; R(2 ) = 0.096). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that the use of vomerplasty instead of the Langenbeck technique is weakly associated with the nasolabial appearance among pre-adolescent patients with UCLP