Practice developments supporting change implementation in Wellington,New Zealand (NZ) for ‘continuity of care when transitioning complex preterm infants from NICU to home’

The discussion paper will focus on continuity of care relating to previous NZ research, specifically to transitioning complex preterm infants from NICU to home based on parent experiences, and on the practice developments that have occurred, to ensure optimal health outcomes. Previous NZ research discovered parent desire a consistent service delivery for the entire transition journey from NICU and at home.An informative and comprehensive opportunity has occurred for reflective professional practice, evaluation, development and implementation which have transpired in positive change through innovative practice developments and support change implementation in Wellington, NZ. This has resulted in the articulation of a model of care that has both embraced and integrated parental desires for a continuity of care process for complex preterm infants. This has been achieved by having the same Discharge Facilitator/Key Case Manager present within the NICU and external to the NICU for Home-based infants for the entire transition journey.The paper will focus and emphasis additional practice development changes and furthermore, will present a real purpose, for other countries to learn of such practice developments that have exemplified a celebratory success for families of Wellington, NZ.     

Association of Ongoing Cerebral Oxygen Extraction During Deep Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest With Postoperative Brain Injury

1. Download : Download high-res image (215KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

The Impact of Left Atrial Reduction During Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation

The left atrial Reduction group revealed decreased risk of overall stroke compared to the left atrial Preservation group, adjusted by inverse probability of treatment weighting. Which implicates that reduction of left atrial wall during surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation may reduce the risk of stroke in patients with left atrial anteroposterior diameter ≥50 mm. Schematic illustration of left atrial reduction plasty, and IPTW-adjusted Kaplan-Meier survival plot for stroke comparing 2 groups are included in the graphical abstract. SVC, Superior vena cava; LAA, Left atrial appendage; PVs, Pulmonary veins; MV, Mitral valve; LA, Left atrium; IPTW, Inverse probability of treatment weighting.

1. Download : Download high-res image (260KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Associations of residential greenspace exposure and fetal growth across four areas in Spain

An accumulating body of evidence has associated exposure to greenspace with improved birth outcomes, including higher birth weight and lower risk of low birth weight; however, evidence on such association with in-utero fetal growth is scarce. We explored the influence of maternal exposure to residential greenspace and fetal growth in four INMA (Infancia y Medio Ambiente) Spanish birth cohorts (2003–2008), with 2,465 participants. Residential greenspace was characterised by the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) average across 100 m, 300 m, and 500 m buffers around the residence. Repeated ultrasound measurements of the abdominal circumference (AC), biparietal diameter (BPD), femur length (FL), and estimated fetal weight (EFW) were used. We created customised-generalised least squares models to evaluate associations of residential greenspace exposure on each fetal growth parameter, controlled for the relevant confounders. There were associations between the 500 m buffer and BPD, FL, and AC. We also found associations in the 300 m buffer and FL and AC. The associations in the 100 m buffer were null. Estimates were higher among participants with lower socioeconomic status. Mediation analyses found that air pollution might explain 15–37% of our associations. Mediation by physical activity was not observed. Greenspace exposure may be beneficial for fetal growth.     

On the possibility of photodynamic inactivation of tracheobronchial tree pathogenic microbiota using methylene blue (in vitro study)

BackgroundThe treatment of patients after mechanical ventilation of lungs suffering from a multi-species infection of the tracheobronchial tree can be complicated.. The situation is aggravated in patients with post-intubation tracheal stenosis, where infection plays a leading pathogenetic role in damage to the tracheal wall. As a result of such a pathological process, cicatricial stenosis of the trachea of purulent-inflammatory infectious genesis or infected tracheal stenosis (ITS) may occur.MethodsIn this work, we studied the possibility of photodynamic inactivation of pathogenic microbiota typical for patients with ITS using methylene blue (MB) as a photosensitizer.Results13 clinical isolates of 8 species of bacteria from 9 patients were susceptible to photodynamic inactivation with MB. 30 μM of MB at a light irradiation dose of 25 J/cm² and incubation with MB for 15 min allows to completely inactivate bacteria found in the tracheobronchial secretions of patients with ITS.ConclusionsMB retains its optico-physical properties in the range of 3–30 μM and provides effective inactivation of isolated Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including multi- and pan-resistant to antibiotics.     

The CC ligand chemokine family members CCL17/CCL22 predict the survival and response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is considered an immunosuppressive malignancy. Cross-talk between cancer cells and immune cells is modulated in part by CC ligand (CCL) chemokines, having a major effect on tumor progression. However, the predictive value and function of CCL family members in HNSCC have not been elucidated. Here, the predictive value of CCL members in cancer prognosis and Immune checkpoint blockade therapy response was investigated. CCL17 and CCL22 were screened as the key CCL chemokines in HNSCC through co-expression analysis. Further, the correlation between CCL17/CCL22 expression and cancer immune infiltration were evaluated based on TIMER and were validated by a set of scRNA-seq data. Moreover, the expression level of CCL17/CCL22 we evaluated to predict the response to Immune checkpoint blockade therapy in a panel of cancer types by using the TIDE database. Results indicated that CCL17/CCL22 had a high co-expression correlation and had a marginally statistical significance with the overall survival in HNSCC patients (P value = 0.057 and 0.055, respectively). Our findings showed high expression of CCL17/CCL22 was positively correlated with CD4⁺ T cell infiltration levels in HNSCCs and activate mTORC1 signaling pathway in CD4⁺ T cells. Further analysis from TIDE showed the high expression of CCL17/CCL22 might predict favorable responses to immune checkpoint blockade therapy in HNSCC patients. These findings provide an insight into the predictive roles of CCL17/CCL22 in HNSCC.