Impact of prior hospital mortality versus surgical volume on mortality following surgery for congenital heart disease

ObjectiveOur objective was to assess the relationships of a hospital’s past adjusted in-hospital mortality and surgical volume with future in-hospital mortality after surgery for congenital heart disease.MethodsUsing the Pediatric Health Information Systems database, we (1) calculated hospital surgical volume and standardized mortality ratio (= observed number of deaths/expected number of deaths adjusted for surgery type) for January 2004 through June 2006 for children (0-18 years) after surgery for congenital heart disease at 38 hospitals and (2) assessed the relationship between these values and subsequent mortality during July 2006 through December 2008. We constructed Poisson regression models to estimate risk of mortality, adjusting for age, race, sex, genetic syndrome, insurance type, and surgery type (using the Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery method).ResultsThere were 49,792 hospital encounters during 2004 through 2008 for pediatric patients having surgery for congenital heart disease, with an overall in-hospital mortality of 3.45%. For the 24,112 eligible encounters during July 2006 through December 2008, a hospital’s prior standardized mortality ratio was significantly associated with postoperative in-hospital mortality (P < .0001), and a hospital’s prior surgical volume had only borderline significance (P = .0792). On stratified analysis, past standardized mortality ratio was associated with mortality for both lower- and higher-risk surgical risk categories (P = .0105 and .0015, respectively). Hospital surgical volume was not significantly associated with mortality for lower-risk categories (P = .4122), but it was borderline significant for higher-risk categories (P = .0678).ConclusionsIn this data set, prior hospital surgical volume tended to be associated with improved mortality after higher-risk operations in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease, whereas prior hospital postoperative mortality was significantly associated with mortality across all risk strata of congenital heart surgery

Partner Relationships and Injection Sharing Practices Among Rural Appalachian Women

Background—The role of relationships in initiating and maintaining women’s risk behaviors has been established. However, understanding factors that may underlie partner relationships and women’s risky drug use, particularly in rural contexts, is limited. This study is the first to examine the association between injecting partners and women’s risky injection practices as a function of relationship power perception. Methods—Female participants were recruited from three rural jails in the Appalachian region. Women were randomly selected, provided informed consent, and screened for study eligibility criteria. This cross-sectional analysis focuses on women who inject drugs (WWID) during the year before entering jail (n=199). Main findings—Approximately three-quarters (76%) reported having a recent main male sexual partner with a history of injection drug use (IDU). Although having a risky partner independently increased the likelihood of women reporting shared injection practices, perceptions of relationship power significantly moderated the effect on shared needle (AOR = 0.02 [0.003, 0.23]; p = .001) and shared works (AOR = 0.17 [0.03, 0.95]; p = .04) use. Conclusions—This interaction indicated that for WWID with a recent injecting male partner, greater perception of relationship power was associated with a decreased likelihood of shared injection practices. Implications for clinical assessment and intervention are discussed

The association of wildfire smoke with respiratory and cardiovascular emergency department visits in Colorado in 2012: a case crossover study

In 2012, Colorado experienced one of its worst wildfire seasons of the past decade. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship of local PM2.5 levels, modeled using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry, with emergency department visits and acute hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes during the 2012 Colorado wildfires. Methods: Conditional logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between both continuous and categorical PM2.5 and emergency department visits during the wildfire period, from June 5th to July 6th 2012. Results: For respiratory outcomes, we observed positive relationships between lag 0 PM2.5 and asthma/wheeze (1 h max OR 1.01, 95 % CI (1.00, 1.01) per 10 mu g/m(3)24 h mean OR 1.04 95 % CI (1.02, 1.06) per 5 mu g/m(3)), and COPD (1 h max OR 1.01 95 % CI (1.00, 1.02) per 10 mu g/m(3)24 h mean OR 1.05 95 % CI (1.02, 1.08) per 5 mu g/m(3)). These associations were also positive for 2-day and 3-day moving average lag periods. When PM2.5 was modeled as a categorical variable, bronchitis also showed elevated effect estimates over the referent groups for lag 0 24 h average concentration. Cardiovascular results were consistent with no association. Conclusions: We observed positive associations between PM2.5 from wildfire and respiratory diseases, supporting evidence from previous research that wildfire PM2.5 is an important source for adverse respiratory health outcomes

Very Extended X-ray and H-alpha Emission in M82: Implications for the Superwind Phenomenon

We discuss the properties and implications of a 3.7x0.9 kpc region of spatially-coincident X-ray and H-alpha emission about 11.6 kpc to the north of the galaxy M82 previously discussed by Devine and Bally (1999). The PSPC X-ray spectrum is fit by thermal plasma (kT=0.80+-0.17 keV) absorbed by only the Galactic foreground column density. We evaluate the relationship of the X-ray/H-alpha ridge to the M82 superwind. The main properties of the X-ray emission can all be explained as being due to shock-heating driven as the superwind encounters a massive ionized cloud in the halo of M82. This encounter drives a slow shock into the cloud, which contributes to the excitation of the observed H-alpha emission. At the same time, a fast bow-shock develops in the superwind just upstream of the cloud, and this produces the observed X-ray emission. This interpretation would imply that the superwind has an outflow speed of roughly 800 km/s, consistent with indirect estimates based on its general X-ray properties and the kinematics of the inner kpc-scale region of H-alpha filaments. The gas in the M82 ridge is roughly two orders-of-magnitude hotter than the minimum "escape temperature" at this radius, so this gas will not be retained by M82. (abridged)Comment: 24 pages (latex), 3 figures (2 gif files and one postscript), accepted for publication in Part 1 of The Astrophysical Journa

Lessons from Laparoscopic Liver Surgery: A Nine-Year Case Series

Objective. This series describes a developing experience in laparoscopic liver surgery presenting results from 40 procedures including right hemihepatectomy, left lateral lobectomy, and microwave ablation therapy. Methods. Forty patients undergoing laparoscopic liver surgery between September 1997 and November 2006 were included. The data set includes: operative procedure and duration, intraoperative blood loss, conversion to open operation rates, length of hospital stay, complications, mortality, histology of lesions/resection margins, and disease recurrence. Results. Mean age of patient: 59 years, 17/40 male, 23/40 female, 23/40 of lesions were benign, and 17/40 malignant. Operations included: laparoscopic anatomical resections n = 15, nonanatomical resections n = 11, microwave ablations n = 8 and deroofing of cysts n = 7. Median anaesthetic time: 120 minutes (range 40–240), mean blood loss 78 mL and 1/40 conversions to open. Median resection margins were 10 mm (range 1–14) and median length of stay 3 days (range 1–10). Operative and 30-day mortality were zero with no local disease recurrence. Conclusion. Laparoscopic liver surgery appears safe and effective and is associated with reduced hospital stay. Larger studies are required to confirm it is oncologically sound

Pediatric emergency department visits and ambient Air pollution in the

Estimating the health effects of ambient air pollutant mixtures is necessary to understand the risk of real-life air pollution exposures. Methods: Pediatric Emergency Department (ED) visit records for asthma or wheeze (n = 148,256), bronchitis (n = 84,597), pneumonia (n = 90,063), otitis media (n = 422,268) and upper respiratory tract infection (URI) (n = 744,942) were obtained from Georgia hospitals during 2002-2008. Spatially-contiguous daily concentrations of 11 ambient air pollutants were estimated from CMAQ model simulations that were fused with ground-based measurements. Using a case-crossover study design, odds ratios for 3-day moving average air pollutant concentrations were estimated using conditional logistic regression, matching on ZIP code, day-of-week, month, and year. Results: In multipollutant models, the association of highest magnitude observed for the asthma/wheeze outcome was with "oxidant gases" (O-3, NO2, and SO2)the joint effect estimate for an IQR increase of this mixture was OR: 1.068 (95% CI: 1.040, 1.097). The group of "secondary pollutants" (O-3 and the PM2.5 components SO42 -, NO3-, and NH4+) was strongly associated with bronchitis (OR: 1.090, 95% CI: 1.050, 1.132), pneumonia (OR: 1.085, 95% CI: 1.047, 1.125), and otitis media (OR: 1.059, 95% CI: 1.042, 1.077). ED visits for URI were strongly associated with "oxidant gases," "secondary pollutants," and the " criteria pollutants" (O-3, NO2, CO, SO2, and PM2.5). Conclusions: Short-term exposures to air pollution mixtures were associated with ED visits for several different pediatric respiratory diseases

Absorption-Line Probes of Gas and Dust in Galactic Superwinds

We discuss moderate resolution spectra of the NaD absorption-line in a sample of 32 far-IR-bright starburst galaxies. In 18 cases, the line is produced primarily by interstellar gas, and in 12 of these it is blueshifted by over 100 km/s relative to the galaxy systemic velocity. The absorption-line profiles in these outflow sources span the range from near the galaxy systemic velocity to a maximum blueshift of 400 to 600 km/s. The outflows occur in galaxies systematically viewed more nearly face-on than the others. We therefore argue that the absorbing material consists of ambient interstellar gas accelerated along the minor axis of the galaxy by a hot starburst-driven superwind. The NaD lines are optically-thick, but indirect arguments imply total Hydrogen column densities of N_H = few X 10^{21} cm^{-2}. This implies that the superwind is expelling matter at a rate comparable to the star-formation rate. This outflowing material is very dusty: we find a strong correlation between the depth of the NaD profile and the line-of-sight reddening (E(B-V) = 0.3 to 1 over regions several-to-ten kpc in size). The estimated terminal velocities of superwinds inferred from these data and extant X-ray data are typically 400 to 800 km/s, are independent of the galaxy rotation speed, and are comparable to (substantially exceed) the escape velocities for $L_*$ (dwarf) galaxies. The resulting loss of metals can establish the mass-metallicity relation in spheroids, produce the observed metallicity in the ICM, and enrich a general IGM to 10$^{-1}$ solar metallicity. If the outflowing dust grains survive their journey into the IGM, their effect on observations of cosmologically-distant objects is significant.Comment: 65 pages, including 16 figures. ApJ, in pres

Comparative venom-gland transcriptomics and venom proteomics of four Sidewinder Rattlesnake (\u3ci\u3eCrotalus cerastes\u3c/i\u3e) lineages reveal little differential expression despite individual variation

Changes in gene expression can rapidly influence adaptive traits in the early stages of lineage diversification. Venom is an adaptive trait comprised of numerous toxins used for prey capture and defense. Snake venoms can vary widely between conspecific populations, but the influence of lineage diversification on such compositional differences are unknown. To explore venom differentiation in the early stages of lineage diversification, we used RNA-seq and mass spectrometry to characterize Sidewinder Rattlesnake (Crotalus cerastes) venom. We generated the first venom-gland transcriptomes and complementary venom proteomes for eight individuals collected across the United States and tested for expression differences across life history traits and between subspecific, mitochondrial, and phylotranscriptomic hypotheses. Sidewinder venom was comprised primarily of hemorrhagic toxins, with few cases of differential expression attributable to life history or lineage hypotheses. However, phylotranscriptomic lineage comparisons more than doubled instances of significant expression differences compared to all other factors. Nevertheless, only 6.4% of toxins were differentially expressed overall, suggesting that shallow divergence has not led to major changes in Sidewinder venom composition. Our results demonstrate the need for consensus venom-gland transcriptomes based on multiple individuals and highlight the potential for discrepancies in differential expression between different phylogenetic hypotheses

Use of antihistamine medications during early pregnancy and isolated major malformations

Antihistamines are commonly used during pregnancy. There is little evidence that they have teratogenic effects, but there are knowledge gaps with respect to newer products, as well as the relationship between specific antihistamines and specific birth defects