Evaluating Differences in Whole Blood,Serum, and Urine Screening Tests for Zika Virus,Puerto Rico,USA, 2016

We evaluated nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) for Zika virus on whole-blood specimens compared with NAAT on serum and urine specimens among asymptomatic pregnant women during the 2015–2016 Puerto Rico Zika outbreak. Using NAAT, more infections were detected in serum and urine than in whole blood specimens.     

The Impact of Dental Insurance and Medical Insurance on Dental Care Utilization During Pregnancy

Maternal and Child Health Journal - To measure the association between dental and medical insurance with the receipt of dental cleaning during pregnancy. We analyzed Pregnancy Risk Assessment...     

The role of external ventricular drainage for the management of posterior cranial fossa tumours: a systematic review

Neurosurgical Review - Posterior cranial fossa tumours frequently develop hydrocephalus as first presentation in up to 80% of paediatric patients and 21.4% of adults, although it resolves after...     

Transorbital endoscopic approaches to the skull base: a systematic literature review and anatomical description

Neurosurgical Review - Transorbital endoscopic approaches are increasing in popularity as they provide corridors to reach various areas of the ventral skull base through the orbit. They can be used...     

Components of the Gut Microbiome That Influence Bone Tissue-Level Strength

Modifications to the constituents of the gut microbiome influence bone density and tissue-level strength, but the specific microbial components that influence tissue-level strength in bone are not known. Here, we selectively modify constituents of the gut microbiota using narrow-spectrum antibiotics to identify components of the microbiome associated with changes in bone mechanical and material properties. Male C57BL/6J mice (4 weeks) were divided into seven groups (n = 7–10/group) and had taxa within the gut microbiome removed through dosing with: (i) ampicillin; (ii) neomycin; (iii) vancomycin; (iv) metronidazole; (v) a cocktail of all four antibiotics together (with zero-calorie sweetener to ensure intake); (vi) zero-calorie sweetener only; or (vii) no additive (untreated) for 12 weeks. Individual antibiotics remove only some taxa from the gut, while the cocktail of all four removes almost all microbes. After accounting for differences in geometry, whole bone strength was reduced in animals with gut microbiome modified by neomycin (−28%, p = 0.002) and was increased in the group in which the gut microbiome was altered by sweetener alone (+39%, p < 0.001). Analysis of the fecal microbiota detected seven lower-ranked taxa differentially abundant in animals with impaired tissue-level strength and 14 differentially abundant taxa associated with increased tissue-level strength. Histological and serum markers of bone turnover and trabecular bone volume per tissue volume (BV/TV) did not differ among groups. These findings demonstrate that modifications to the taxonomic components of the gut microbiome have the potential to decrease or increase tissue-level strength of bone independent of bone quantity and without noticeable changes in bone turnover. © 2021 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).     

Social–Emotional Profiles of PTSD,Complex PTSD,and Borderline Personality Disorder Among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Young Adults: A Latent Class Analysis

The debate around the construct validity of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) has begun to examine whether CPTSD diverges from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when it co‐occurs with the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The present study (a) examined the construct validity of CPTSD through a latent class analysis of a non–treatment‐seeking sample of young trauma‐exposed adults and (b) characterized each class in terms of trauma characteristics, social emotions (e.g., shame, guilt, blame), and interpersonal functioning. A total of 23 dichotomized survey items were chosen to represent the symptoms of PTSD, CPTSD, and BPD and administered to 197 trauma‐exposed participants. Fit statistics compared models with 2–4 latent classes. The four‐class model showed the best fit statistics and clinical interpretability. Classes included a “high PTSD+CPTSD+BPD” class, characterized by high‐level endorsement of all symptoms for the three diagnoses; a “moderate PTSD+CPTSD+BPD” class, characterized by endorsement of some symptoms across all three diagnoses; a “PTSD” class, characterized by endorsement of the ICD‐11 PTSD criteria; and a “healthy” class, characterized by low symptom endorsement overall. Pairwise comparisons showed individuals in the high PTSD+CPTSD+BPD class to have the highest levels of psychological distress, traumatic event history, adverse childhood experiences, and PTSD symptoms. Shame was the only social emotion to significantly differ between the classes, p = .002, η² = .16. The findings diverge from the literature, indicating an overlap of PTSD, CPTSD, and BPD symptoms in a non–treatment‐seeking community sample. Further, shame may be a central emotion that differentiates between presentation severities following trauma exposure.