Total Knee Arthroplasty Is Safe and Successful in Patients With Klippel-Trénaunay Syndrome

Background

Klippel-Trénaunay syndrome (KTS) is a severe vascular malformation that can lead to hypertrophic osteoarthritis. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) performed in extremities affected with KTS is challenging given the high-risk vascular considerations and occasionally poor bone quality.

Optimal parameter selection problem with application to the synchronization of delivery cycles in a supply chain with Wiener process

In this paper, we use optimal parameter selection technique to develop two models involving single‐vendor–multiple‐buyer supply chain, which are called the dynamic independent optimization (DIO) model and the dynamic synchronized cycles (DSC) model, respectively. These models are, respectively, similar to the traditional static independent policy model and the traditional static synchronized cycle model, except that the deterministic demands of the buyers in the above two static models are now being replaced by the stochastic demands satisfying a Wiener process, which have more real‐life applications. Similar to the above static synchronized cycles model, the synchronization of the supply chain in our DSC model is also achieved by scheduling the delivery days of the buyers and coordinating them with the vendor's production cycle. Finding the optimal expected system costs of the DIO model and the DSC model involves solving optimal parameter selection problems governed by ordinary differential equations, whose final times are continuous decision variables and discrete decision variables, respectively. Computational methods have been developed for solving these problems. Numerical results show that the coordinated policy is better than the independent optimization policy, in terms of minimizing the expected system cost of the entire supply chain. Sensitivity analysis is performed to test the effect of changing the cost coefficients and the value on the performances of these models, where is the ratio of the total mean demand rate of all the buyers over the vendor's production rate.     

Serum dietary fatty acids and coronary heart disease risk – A nested case-control-study within the CARLA cohort

Background and Aims

Diet is known to play a decisive role in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). One factor believed to decrease lifetime risk of CHD is the consumption of omega-3 fatty acids. Yet, conclusive evidence regarding the potential cardioprotective effects of fatty acids is far from being reached. The present study aimed to provide further evidence on the association of serum fatty acid profiles with CHD risk.

Improving Prenatal Diagnosis of Coarctation of the Aorta

Background

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the association between fetal echocardiographic measurements and the need for intervention (primary coarctation repair, staged coarctation repair, or catheter intervention) in prenatally diagnosed coarctation of the aorta.

Simultaneous glomerular filtration rate determination using inulin,iohexol, and 99mTc-DTPA demonstrates the need for customized measurement protocols

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Non-Invasive Prenatal Fetal Blood Group Genotype and Its Application in the Management of Hemolytic Disease of Fetus and Newborn: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Hemolytic disease of fetus and newborn (HDFN) imposes great healthcare burden being associated with maternal alloimmunization against parental-inherited fetal red blood cell antigens causing fetal anemia or death. Noninvasive prenatal analysis (NIPT) provides safe fetal RHD genotyping for early identification of risk pregnancies and proper management guidance. We aimed to conduct systematic review and meta-analysis on NIPT's beneficial application, in conjunction with quantitative maternal alloantibody analysis, for early diagnosis of pregnancies at risk. Search for relevant articles was done in; PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and Ovid (January 2006April 2020), including only English-written articles reporting reference tests and accuracy data. Nineteen eligible studies were critically appraised. NIPT was estimated highly sensitive/specific for fetal RHD genotyping beyond 11-week gestation. Amplifications from ≥2 exons are optimum to increase accuracy. NIPT permits cost-effectiveness, precious resources sparing, and low emotional stress. Knowledge of parental ethnicity is important for correct NIPT result interpretations and quantitative screening. Cut-off titer ≥8-up-to-32 is relevant for anti-D alloantibodies, while, lower titer is for anti-K. Alloimmunization is influenced by maternal RHD status, gravida status, and history of adverse obstetrics. In conclusion, NIPT allows evidence-based provision of routine anti-D immunoprophylaxis and estimates potential fetal risks for guiding further interventions. Future large-scale studies investigating NIPT's non-RHD genotyping within different ethnic groups and in presence of clinically significant alloantibodies are needed.     

Adherence to antiretroviral treatment and quality of life among transgender women living with HIV/AIDS in São Paulo,Brazil

ABSTRACT

This study focused on factors associated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and quality of life among transgenderwomen in Sao Paulo, Brazil, using univariable and adjusted analysis. Adherence was evaluated with a self-report tool and with HIV viral load (VL) measurement. PROQOL-HIV was used to assess quality of life. 106 TGW with median 41 years old were included; most were white (56%) and had >10 years of education (57%). Median time since HIV/AIDS diagnosis was 10 years. Overall, participants had high T CD4+ counts (median 659 cells/mm³) and most (75%) had undetectable HIV VL. 85% were considered adherent using self-report (95%CI 77-91), whereas 72% (95%CI 62-80) were considered adherent when self-report and undetectable HIV VL were analyzed jointly. Older age was associated with higher ART adherence; each year increase in age was associated with 5% higher odds of adherence (p?=?0.021). Quality of life ranged from good-excellent in 5 of 8 domains. Younger age, lower education, higher time since HIV diagnosis, comorbidities, illicit drugs use and depression were associated with lower PROQOL scores in specific domains in univariable analysis, while depression was also associated with lower total PROQOL score even after adjustment for age, comorbidities and time since HIV diagnosis (p?=?0.048).