Seminars

BACKGROUND: Delirium is an acute and fluctuating disturbance of cognition and is a common occurrence in critically ill patients. It is a manifestation of an acute brain dysfunction often attributed to higher survival rates and a subsequently aging population. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) treatment and survival often contributes towards development of delirium, and lack of or inappropriate management can translate into the development of long-term psychological effects that last even after discharge...

Advances in fetal brain neuroimaging, especially fetal neurosonography and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allow safe and accurate anatomical assessments of fetal brain structures that serve as a foundation for prenatal diagnosis and counseling regarding fetal brain anomalies. Fetal neurosonography strategically assesses fetal brain anomalies suspected by screening ultrasound. Fetal brain MRI has unique technological features that overcome the anatomical limits of smaller fetal brain size and the unpredictable variable of intrauterine motion artifact...

Over 75% of surviving extremely preterm infants do not have major neurodevelopmental disabilities; however, more than half face difficulties with communication, coordination, attention, learning, social, and executive function abilities. These "minor" challenges can have a negative impact on educational and social outcomes, resulting in physical, behavioral, and social health problems in adulthood. We will review assessment tools for social-emotional and adaptive functional skills in early childhood as these determine family and early childhood supports...

The Curing Coma Campaign (CCC) and its contributing collaborators identified multiple key areas of knowledge and research gaps in coma and disorders of consciousness (DoC). This step was a crucial effort and essential to prioritize future educational and research efforts. These key areas include defining categories of DoC, assessing DoC using multimodal approach (e.g., behavioral assessment tools, advanced neuroimaging studies), discussing optimal clinical trials' design and exploring computational models to conduct clinical trials in patients with DoC, and establishing common data elements to standardize data collection...

Interstitial lung disorders are a group of respiratory diseases characterized by interstitial compartment infiltration, varying degrees of infiltration, and fibrosis, with or without small airway involvement. Although some are idiopathic (e.g., idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, and sarcoidosis), the great majority have an underlying etiology, such as systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD, also called Connective Tissue Diseases or CTD), inhalational exposure to organic matter, medications, and rarely, genetic disorders...

The burden of neurological disease disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries, where the lowest number of neurologists are located. Building local training opportunities in resource-limited settings is a foundational step to enhancing the neurological workforce and improving access to neurological care in these regions. In this article, we describe the development and growth of the first neurology residency program in East Africa, which was established in 2006 at Zewditu Memorial Hospital and the Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Noteworthy in Cardiothoracic Surgery 2023 summarizes a few of the most high-impact trials and provocative trends in cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation this past year. Transplantation using organs procured from donation after circulatory death (DCD) continues to increase, and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons released recommendations on best practices in 2023. We review a summary of data on the impact of DCD on heart and lung transplantation. There has been increased interest in extracorporeal life support (ECLS), particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, and we review the results of the highly discussed ECLS-SHOCK trial, which randomized patients in cardiogenic shock with planned revascularization to ECLS vs usual care...

OBJECTIVES: To quantify the frequency and clinical implications of systemic sclerosis (SSc)-associated left ventricular function (LV) impairment. METHODS: Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study participants meeting ACR/EULAR criteria for SSc with ≥1 echocardiographic LVEF measurement were included. Overt LV dysfunction was indicated by reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and subclinical LV dysfunction was measured using impaired LV global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS>-16 %)...

BACKGROUND: Bioadhesion is the ability of materials to adhere to biological surfaces. Bioadhesives are substances which induce or promote bioadhesion. The internal application of bioadhesives is gaining popularity in recent years and is being increasingly utilized in vitreoretinal surgeries. The aim of this review is to discuss the various bioadhesives and their applications in vitreoretinal surgeries. METHODS: PubMed, Google Scholar, ePub and Cochrane library database were used for literature selection...

PURPOSE: The prevalence of dry eye disease (DED) is rising among visual display terminal (VDT) users, a trend that correlates with the growing use of digital devices. The prevalence of VDT-associated DED is reported based on dry eye questionnaires; however, VDT's impact on tear film parameters is less understood. METHODS: A review of published literature on both the alterations in tear film observed in VDT users and the impact of various interventions on their tear film...

INTRODUCTION: Integrating climate change and health into a medical school curriculum is critical for future physicians who will manage health crises caused by a rapidly changing climate. Although medical schools have increasingly included climate change in the curriculum, there remains a need to address the link between the climate crisis, environmental justice, and historical policies that shape environmental health disparities in local communities. METHODS: In academic years 2021-2022 (AY22) and 2022-2023 (AY23), second-year medical students participated in a 2...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Persistent fetal vasculature (PFV) is a complex congenital ocular condition, characterized by the incomplete regression of the embryonic hyaloid system. It encompasses a spectrum of abnormalities, affecting various ocular structures and presenting a range of fetal hyaloid remnants. Despite its long-standing recognition, the full extent of PFV's manifestations continues to evolve, unveiling novel findings, primarily driven by advancements in clinical experience and imaging techniques...

Microscopes, more than any other instrument, reflect advances in clinical medicine over the past several hundred years. As the primary tool of the pathologist, they were, and continue to be, a key connector between the bedside and basic sciences. One specific example is the science of clinical dermatology, which relies on clinical-pathologic correlation to make a definitive diagnosis. The microscopes used by pathologists, however, are more than scientific artifacts. Many antique microscopes are hand-crafted works of art...

Selective intra-arterial radiotherapy (SIRT) is a technique which has evolved over the past 30 years. In present this is primarily used to treat primary and secondary tumors in the liver. The technique normally depends on the delivery of a therapeutic radiopharmaceutical or radiolabeled particulate via a radiologically placed intra-arterial catheter in the hepatic artery. This is because most of these tumors have a single arterial blood supply but normal hepatocytes are supplied by both the hepatic artery and portal vein...

Connective tissue disease-related interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) is a frequent and serious complication of CTD, leading to high morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, its pathogenesis remains poorly understood; however, one intriguing contributing factor may be the microbiome of the mouth and lungs. The oral microbiome, which is a major source of the lung microbiome through recurrent microaspiration, is altered in ILD patients. Moreover, in recent years, several lines of evidence suggest that changes in the oral and lung microbiota modulate the pulmonary immune response and thus may play a role in the pathogenesis of ILDs, including CTD-ILD...

This was a retrospective study that aimed to provide a first estimate of the prevalence of developmental language disorder (DLD) in Mexico, where there is currently a lack of epidemiological data on this disorder. Children aged 4;0 to 6;11 years in the cities of Mexico, Queretaro, and Monterrey were classified into two groups: those with DLD ( N  = 46) and those with typical language development ( N  = 497). The diagnosis of DLD was based on standardized norm-referenced assessment and language sample analyses...

The remarkable ascent of entrepreneurship witnessed as a scientific field over the last 4 decades has been made possible by entrepreneurship's ability to absorb theories, paradigms, and methods from other fields such as economics, psychology, sociology, geography, and even biology. The respectability of entrepreneurship as an academic discipline is now evidenced by many other fields starting to borrow from the entrepreneurship view. In the present paper, seven examples are given from this "pay back" development...

BACKGROUND: The concept of "total pain" plays an important role in palliative care; it means that pain is not solely experienced on a physical level, but also within a psychological, social and spiritual dimension. Understanding what spirituality entails, however, is a challenge for health care professionals, as is screening for the spiritual needs of patients. OBJECTIVE: This is a novel, interprofessional approach in teaching undergraduate medical students about spiritual care in the format of a seminar...