Billing

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to discover the prevalence of school nutrition state legislation and to identify the correlates of enactment. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: An online legislative database, Legiscan, was used to collect bills related to school nutrition from the US from 2010 to 2019. Bills were coded and compiled into a study database with state-level dietary variables (obesity prevalence, fruit, and vegetable intake, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption), community variables (percent White, poverty), and bill-characteristic variables (party affiliation in legislature, strength of language, party of governor, school gardens, vegetable intake, and other salient variables)...

BACKGROUND: Nearly half of adults have hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Mitochondrial hyperacetylation is linked to hypertension, but the role of acetylation of specific proteins is not clear. We hypothesized that acetylation of mitochondrial CypD (cyclophilin D) at K166 contributes to endothelial dysfunction and hypertension. METHODS: To test this hypothesis, we studied CypD acetylation in patients with essential hypertension, defined a pathogenic role of CypD acetylation in deacetylation mimetic CypD-K166R mutant mice and endothelial-specific GCN5L1 (general control of amino acid synthesis 5 like 1)-deficient mice using an Ang II (angiotensin II) model of hypertension...

Colors are well studied in bird plumage but not in other integumentary structures. In particular, iridescent colors from structures other than plumage are undescribed in birds. Here, we show that a multilayer of keratin and lipids is sufficient to produce the iridescent bill of Spermophaga haematina . Furthermore, that the male bill is presented to the female under different angles during display provides support for the hypothesis that iridescence evolved in response to sexual selection. This is the first report of an iridescent bill, and only the second instance of iridescence in birds in which melanosomes are not involved...

BACKGROUND: Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) are a major global contributor to morbidity and mortality. In 2020-21, non-pharmaceutical interventions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic reduced not only the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, but also the transmission of other LRI pathogens. Tracking LRI incidence and mortality, as well as the pathogens responsible, can guide health-system responses and funding priorities to reduce future burden. We present estimates from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 of the burden of non-COVID-19 LRIs and corresponding aetiologies from 1990 to 2021, inclusive of pandemic effects on the incidence and mortality of select respiratory viruses, globally, regionally, and for 204 countries and territories...

BACKGROUND: Anti-malarial drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum is a major public health problem in malaria-endemic regions. Although various technical improvements in sequencing methods have been introduced to identify SNPs, the conventional approach with current tools does not discriminate mixed infections, and thus can be improved for more sensitive surveillance of anti-malarial resistance to better inform control strategies. METHODS: We developed a computational approach for deconvolution of chromatograms generated by standard Sanger sequencing of PCR amplicons in order to quantify molecular marker variants of anti-malarial drug resistance genes [Plasmodium falciparum dihydropteorate synthase (Pfdhps) and P...

BACKGROUND: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a common procedure following which postoperative visits are important to optimize outcomes. The associated global billing period includes the 90 postoperative days (or approximately 13 weeks), during which professional billing is included with the surgery itself. The current study assessed clinical practice patterns relative to the global billing period. METHODS: Using the PearlDiver M91Ortho dataset, the incidence and timing of Evaluation and Management (E&M) codes in the 26 weeks following THA were assessed...

In this work, the <mml:math xmlns:mml="https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>Crystal</mml:mi></mml:mrow> </mml:math>  code, developed previously by the authors to find "holes" as well as legitimate transition states in existing potential energy surface (PES) functions [JPC Lett. 11, 6468 (2020)], is retooled to perform on-the-fly "direct dynamics"-type PES explorations, as well as automatic construction of new PES functions. In all of these contexts, the chief advantage of <mml:math xmlns:mml="https://www...

BACKGROUND:  The National Dental Commission Bill of 2023 introduced the National Exit Test (NExT) as a common final examination for all dental graduates in India, granting them the license to practice. This study evaluated dental undergraduates' awareness and perceptions of the newly proposed NExT. METHODS:  A self-administered questionnaire in English comprising 23 close-ended questions was used to assess the awareness and perception of the students. A pilot study was conducted to determine the sample size, and 510 students were selected using a simple random sampling technique...

BACKGROUND: In this longitudinal study, we aimed to determine factors influencing survival outcomes among patients with stroke over a 12-month period. The investigation sought to uncover influential determinants to enhance the precision of prognostic assessments and inform targeted interventions for individuals affected by strokes. METHODS: Employing a longitudinal study design, participants were observed for 12 months from baseline, censoring survivors at the endpoint...

This paper proposes a new method for short-term electric load forecasting using a Ridgelet Neural Network (RNN) combined with a wavelet transform and optimized by a Self-Adapted (SA) Kho-Kho algorithm (SAKhoKho). The aim of this method is to improve the accuracy and reliability of electric load forecasting, which is essential for the planning and operation of competitive electrical networks. The proposed method uses the Wavelet Transform (WT) to decompose the load data into different frequency components and applies the RNN to each component separately...

BACKGROUND: Opioid overdose was declared a public health emergency in the United States, but much of the focus has been on adults. Child and adolescent exposure and access to unused prescription-opioid medications is a big concern. More research is needed on the trend of pediatric (age 0-17) prescription-opioid overdose emergency department (ED) visits in the United States, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic year. METHODS: This retrospective epidemiological study used the 2008-2020 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample to provide a national estimate of ED visits related to prescription-opioid overdose...

Forests, critical components of global ecosystems, face unprecedented challenges due to climate change. This study investigates the influence of functional diversity-as a component of biodiversity-to enhance long-term biomass of European forests in the context of changing climatic conditions. Using the next-generation flexible trait-based vegetation model, LPJmL-FIT, we explored the impact of functional diversity on long-term forest biomass under three different climate change scenarios (video abstract: https://www...

BACKGROUND: Though financial hardship is a well-documented adverse effect of standard-of-care cancer treatment, little is known about out-of-pocket costs and their impact on patients participating in cancer clinical trials. This study explored the financial effects of cancer clinical trial participation. METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis used survey data collected in December 2022 and May 2023 from individuals with cancer previously served by Patient Advocate Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing social needs navigation and financial assistance to US adults with a chronic illness...

Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) was legalised federally in Canada after the Supreme Court decision in Carter v Canada (Attorney General) [2015] 1 SCR 331. The federal legislative framework for MAiD was established via Bill C-14 in 2016. Caregivers and patients were central to Carter and subsequent litigation and advocacy, which resulted in amendments to the law via Bill C-7 in 2021. Research has primarily focused on the impacts of regulation on caregivers and patients. This qualitative study investigates how caregivers and patients influence law reform and the operation of MAiD practice in Canada (ie, behave as 'regulatory actors'), using Black's definition of regulation...

BACKGROUND: There is limited evidence on recent trends in childhood growth trajectories in Low-/middle-income countries. We investigated how age-trajectories for height and Body Mass Index (BMI) have changed among Brazilian children born in two different time periods after 2000. METHODS: We used a population-based cohort (part of the "Cohort of 100-Million Brazilians") created by the linkage of three Brazilian administrative databases: the Cadastro Único of the Federal Government, the National System of Live Births and the National Nutritional and Food Surveillance System...

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) protects dopaminergic neurons in various models of Parkinson's disease (PD). Cell-based GDNF gene delivery mitigates neurodegeneration and improves both motor and non-motor functions in PD mice. As PD is a chronic condition, this study aims to investigate the long-lasting benefits of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-based macrophage/microglia-mediated CNS GDNF (MMC-GDNF) delivery in an MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) mouse model. The results indicate that GDNF treatment effectively ameliorated MPTP-induced motor deficits for up to 12 months, which coincided with the protection of nigral dopaminergic neurons and their striatal terminals...

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PURPOSE: In end-of-life cancer care, 10-20% of bereaved family members experience adverse mental health effects, including prolonged grief disorder. Despite great efforts, evidence-based recommendations to support their grieving process and well-being are often not successfully adopted into routine clinical care. This study identified facilitators and barriers using implementation science methodology. METHODS: 81 registered nurses working in cancer care from four hospitals and three home care services in Switzerland assessed their current family support practices in end-of-life care and bereavement care...

Natural language processing is an exciting and emerging field in health care that can transform the field of orthopaedics. It can aid in the process of automated clinical data analysis, changing the way we extract data for various purposes including research and registry formation, diagnosis, and medical billing. This scoping review will look at the various applications of NLP in orthopaedics. Specific examples of NLP applications include identification of essential data elements from surgical and imaging reports, patient feedback analysis, and use of AI conversational agents for patient engagement...

What does it mean that hospitals in Haiti have become widespread sites of "kidnapping" for mothers and babies? In at least 46 countries, including Haiti, indebted patients are extralegally held prisoner in hospitals until family members, kin, outside groups, or charities pay their outstanding bills. The majority of those detained globally are women following complicated births. This article introduces and situates the global problem of "hospital detention" as it is practiced in Haiti, tying it to transnational architectures that target Black reproduction in global health...