Simple Incisionless Temporary Stabilization: An Adjunct to Lower Blepharoplasty.

Background: Lateral canthal tightening is indicated for patients undergoing lower eyelid blepharoplasty who have preexisting lower eyelid laxity or ectropion. A canthoplasty or canthopexy is indicated at the time of lower blepharoplasty to avoid postoperative complications, such as eyelid retraction or ectropion. Various surgical techniques are described to accomplish this goal, including canthopexy procedures, which usually access the lateral canthal tendon through an upper eyelid blepharoplasty or lateral canthal incision. Objectives: To describe an incisionless technique adjunctive to lower blepharoplasty, which stabilizes the lower eyelid in the week following blepharoplasty. Methods: This operative technique description and retrospective case series includes 15 patients who underwent a simple incisionless temporary stabilization (SITS) during lower eyelid blepharoplasty. The procedures were performed at the same outpatient office-based surgery center and were performed by the author surgeons. Patients were followed from 3 to 6 months postoperatively. Results: The SITS procedure during lower eyelid blepharoplasty successfully maintained a desirable functional and aesthetic eyelid position with minimal complications. One patient reported tearing postoperatively which was determined to be unrelated to the SITS and resolved by the 1-month follow-up visit. No patient had any other complications during the follow-up period. Conclusions: The SITS procedure was successfully utilized in patients with mild-to-moderate lower eyelid laxity and/or a negative vector to prevent postoperative ectropion and eyelid retraction. It is a more favorable alternative to temporary tarsorrhaphy, as it does not obstruct vision during healing and better secures the eyelid. It should not be used in patients with significant lower eyelid laxity that would place the patient at significant risk of ectropion and lower eyelid retraction related to swelling and inappropriate eyelid position during the early postoperative course.

Lichen sclerosus of the eyelid involving the eyelash margin.

Lichen sclerosus is a debilitating and chronic disease that typically affects the anogenital area, although it can also be found on extragenital locations such as the shoulders, neck, trunk, breasts, and arms. Facial involvement is rare, but there have been a few reported cases of extragenital lichen sclerosus affecting the infraorbital area. To our knowledge, there are 7 documented cases of extragenital lichen sclerosus affecting the eyelid in medical literature. This is a novel case and documented report of a patient with extragenital lichen sclerosus located on the eyelid with eyelash margin involvement.

Threat- and reward-related brain circuitry, perceived stress, and anxiety in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal investigation.

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic led to heightened anxiety in adolescents. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) are implicated in response to stress and may contribute to anxiety. The role of threat- and reward-related circuitry in adolescent anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, is not clear. Ninety-nine adolescents underwent resting-state fMRI ∼1 year before the pandemic. Following shelter-in-place orders, adolescents reported their perceived stress and, 1 month later, their anxiety. Generalized multivariate analyses identified BLA and NAcc seed-based whole-brain functional connectivity maps with perceived stress. In the resulting significant clusters, we examined the association between seed-based connectivityand subsequent anxiety. Perceived stress was associated with bilateral BLA and NAcc connectivity across distributed clusters that included prefrontal, limbic, temporal, and cerebellar regions. Several NAcc connectivity clusters located in ventromedial prefrontal, parahippocampal, and temporal cortices were positively associated with anxiety; NAcc connectivity with the inferior frontal gyrus was negatively associated. BLA connectivity was not associated with anxiety. These results underscore the integrative role of the NAcc in responding to acute stressors and its relation to anxiety in adolescents. Elucidating the involvement of subcortical-cortical circuitry in adolescents' capacity to respond adaptively to environmental challenges can inform treatment for anxiety-related disorders.

Examining putamen resting-state connectivity markers of suicide attempt history in depressed adolescents.

Introduction: Suicide is a current leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults. The neurobiological underpinnings of suicide risk in youth, however, remain unclear and a brain-based model is lacking. In adult samples, current models highlight deficient serotonin release as a potential suicide biomarker, and in particular, involvement of serotonergic dysfunction in relation to the putamen and suicidal behavior. Less is known about associations among striatal regions and relative suicidal risk across development. The current study examined putamen connectivity in depressed adolescents with (AT) and without history of a suicide attempt (NAT), specifically using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate patterns in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC). We hypothesized the AT group would exhibit lower striatal RSFC compared to the NAT group, and lower striatal RSFC would associate with greater suicidal ideation severity and/or lethality of attempt. Methods: We examined whole-brain RSFC of six putamen regions in 17 adolescents with depression and NAT (MAge [SD] = 16.4[0.3], 41% male) and 13 with AT (MAge [SD] = 16.2[0.3], 31% male). Results: Only the dorsal rostral striatum showed a statistically significant bilateral between-group difference in RSFC with the superior frontal gyrus and supplementary motor area, with higher RSFC in the group without a suicide attempt compared to those with attempt history (voxel-wise p<.001, cluster-wise p<.01). No significant associations were found between any putamen RSFC patterns and suicidal ideation severity or lethality of attempts among those who had attempted. Discussion: The results align with recent adult literature and have interesting theoretical and clinical implications. A possible interpretation of the results is a mismatch of the serotonin transport to putamen and to the supplementary motor area and the resulting reduced functional connectivity between the two areas in adolescents with attempt history. The obtained results can be used to enhance the diathesis-stress model and the Emotional paiN and social Disconnect (END) model of adolescent suicidality by adding the putamen. We also speculate that connectivity between putamen and the supplementary motor area may in the future be used as a valuable biomarker of treatment efficacy and possibly prediction of treatment outcome.

Socioeconomic Disadvantage Moderates the Association of Systemic Inflammation With Amygdala Volume in Adolescents Over a 2-Year Interval: An Exploratory Study.

BACKGROUND: Research has demonstrated an association between elevated systemic inflammation and changes in brain function. Affective areas of the brain involved in processing threat (e.g., amygdala) and reward (e.g., nucleus accumbens) appear to be sensitive to inflammation. Early-life stress, such as experiencing low socioeconomic status (SES), may also potentiate this association, but relevant evidence has come primarily from cross-sectional studies of brain function. It is unclear whether similar associations are present between early-life stress, inflammation, and brain structure, particularly in typically developing populations. METHODS: We recruited and assessed 50 adolescents (31 females/19 males) from the community (mean [SD] age = 15.5 [1.1] years, range = 13.1-17.5 years) and examined in exploratory analyses whether changes in C-reactive protein (ΔCRP) from blood spots predict changes in gray matter volume (ΔGMV) in the bilateral amygdala and nucleus accumbens over a 2-year period. We also investigated whether experiencing early-life stress, operationalized using a comprehensive composite score of SES disadvantage at the family and neighborhood levels, significantly moderated the association between ΔCRP and ΔGMV. RESULTS: We found that ΔCRP was negatively associated with Δamygdala GMV (i.e., increasing CRP levels were associated with decreasing amygdala volume; ß = -0.84, p = .012). This effect was stronger in youths who experienced greater SES disadvantage (ß = -0.56, p = .025). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that increases in systemic inflammation are associated with reductions in amygdala GMV in adolescents, potentially signaling accelerated maturation, and that these neuroimmune processes are compounded in adolescents who experienced greater SES disadvantage. Our findings are consistent with theoretical frameworks of neuroimmune associations and suggest that they may influence adolescent neurodevelopment.

Characteristics of a transgender and gender-diverse patient population in Utah: Use of electronic health records to advance clinical and health equity research.

Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people, individuals whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, face unique challenges in accessing gender-affirming care and often experience disparities in a variety of health outcomes. Clinical research on TGD health is limited by a lack of standardization on how to best identify these individuals. The objective of this retrospective cohort analysis was to accurately identify and describe TGD adults and their use of gender-affirming care from 2003-2023 in a healthcare system in Utah, United States. International Classification of Disease (ICD)-9 and 10 codes and surgical procedure codes, along with sexual orientation and gender identity data were used to develop a dataset of 4,587 TGD adults. During this time frame, 2,985 adults received gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) and/or gender-affirming surgery (GAS) within one healthcare system. There was no significant difference in race or ethnicity between TGD adults who received GAHT and/or GAS compared to TGD adults who did not receive such care. TGD adults who received GAHT and/or GAS were more likely to have commercial insurance coverage, and adults from rural communities were underrepresented. Patients seeking estradiol-based GAHT tended to be older than those seeking testosterone-based GAHT. The first GAS occurred in 2013, and uptake of GAS have doubled since 2018. This study provides a methodology to identify and examine TGD patients in other health systems and offers insights into emerging trends and access to gender-affirming care.

Protocol for the 2023 CERA General Membership Survey.

Introduction: CERA, the Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM) Educational Research Alliance, represents a unique collaboration between family medicine organizations, conducting annual surveys of distinct groups within family medicine. CERA's mission is to support family medicine educational research. This paper presents the methods and demographic results of the 2023 General Membership Survey. Methods: CERA's call for proposals for the annual General Membership Survey opened from June 2023 to July 2023. We received 16 proposals, and after a peer review process, five topics were accepted. Each author was assigned a research mentor. Because all the accepted proposals targeted physicians, the survey was distributed to select members of the CAFM organizations via SurveyMonkey from November 20, 2023 through December 22, 2023. We used χ2 and Fisher's exact tests for analysis. Results: The final pool size was 3,598. Eight-hundred thirty-three members completed the survey, for a response rate of 23.2% (833/3,598). Demographic data of potential survey respondents were compared with data of actual respondents. There were no significant differences in gender, location and underrepresented in medicine status. Actual survey respondents were slightly older, less likely Asian, and more likely to have a doctor of medicine (MD) or combined doctorate degree compared to potential survey respondents. Conclusion: This paper describes the methods of the 2023 CERA General Membership Survey. The 2023 survey focused on active physicians. The demographics of the survey respondents differed slightly from potential respondents. Authors of the five accepted survey topics are responsible for publishing their study findings.

Family physicians and menstrual care: An analysis of CERA 2023.

BACKGROUND: Menstrual health is an important indicator of overall health and has large impacts on quality of life. Despite number and impact, discussion of menstruation remains largely taboo within health care. Patients and physicians are not engaging in regular, meaningful discussions on menstruation. Family physicians, as primary care providers, can facilitate these important conversations. OBJECTIVES: We sought to understand the profile of menstrual care providing family physicians and assessed physician comfort, knowledge, training, and perceived importance regarding menstrual care. DESIGN/METHODS: This is a cross-sectional analysis of the 2022 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance survey. The survey included actively practicing US physicians who are members of the Council of Academic Family Medicine organizations. Descriptive demographic statistics were calculated; chi-square tests were generated for menstrual care-specific items; logistic regression models were fit to determine the association between receiving formal menstrual care training, importance of physician training in menstrual care, and demographic factors. RESULTS: Eighty-five percent of respondents report frequently providing menstrual care. Participants of younger age, or who had earned their degree more recently, were significantly more likely to provide frequent menstrual care. Respondents who earned their medical degree at an earlier year were significantly more likely to believe that physician training in menstrual care was of limited importance (OR = 1.02, 95% CI = 1.00, 1.03). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that family physicians are providing menstrual care, despite non-uniform training, and recognize its importance to patients. By understanding physician profile and the care they provide, we can work toward comprehensive physician education in menstrual care and providing appropriate menstrual care to patients.

Systematic Review of Bracing After Proximal Hamstring Repair.

Background: Traditionally, postoperative rehabilitation protocols after proximal hamstring repair (PHR) for avulsion of the proximal hamstring tendon from its ischial insertion recommend bracing the hip and/or knee to protect the fixation. However, because of the cumbersome nature of these orthoses, recent studies have investigated outcomes in patients with postoperative protocols that do not include any form of postoperative bracing. Purpose: To synthesize the current body of evidence concerning bracing versus nonbracing postoperative management of PHR. Study Design: Systematic review; level of evidence, 4. Methods: Using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, we conducted a thorough search of the PubMed/Medline, Cochrane, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), and Embase (OVID) databases on March 24, 2023. We analyzed complication rates, reoperation rates, patient satisfaction, return to sport, and patient-reported outcomes of studies that used postoperative bracing versus studies that used no postoperative bracing after PHR with at least 12 months of follow-up. A total of 308 articles were identified after initial search. Results: In total, 25 studies were included in this review: 18 studies (905 patients) on bracing and 7 studies (291 patients) on nonbracing after PHR. The overall complication rate in the braced patients was found to be 10.9%, compared with 12.7% in nonbraced patients. The rate of reoperation due to retear of the proximal hamstring was found to be 0.05% in braced patients and 3.1% in nonbraced patients. Patient-reported outcome measures were found to be higher at the final follow-up in braced versus nonbraced patients, and patient satisfaction was found to be 94.7% in braced studies compared with 88.9% in nonbraced studies. The rate of 12-month return to sport in athletic patients was 88.4% with bracing and 82.7% without bracing. Conclusion: The findings of this review demonstrated lower complication and reoperation rates, higher patient-reported outcome scores, higher patient satisfaction, and a higher rate of return to sport in braced patients compared with nonbraced patients.

Multi-site benchmark classification of major depressive disorder using machine learning on cortical and subcortical measures.

Machine learning (ML) techniques have gained popularity in the neuroimaging field due to their potential for classifying neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the diagnostic predictive power of the existing algorithms has been limited by small sample sizes, lack of representativeness, data leakage, and/or overfitting. Here, we overcome these limitations with the largest multi-site sample size to date (N = 5365) to provide a generalizable ML classification benchmark of major depressive disorder (MDD) using shallow linear and non-linear models. Leveraging brain measures from standardized ENIGMA analysis pipelines in FreeSurfer, we were able to classify MDD versus healthy controls (HC) with a balanced accuracy of around 62%. But after harmonizing the data, e.g., using ComBat, the balanced accuracy dropped to approximately 52%. Accuracy results close to random chance levels were also observed in stratified groups according to age of onset, antidepressant use, number of episodes and sex. Future studies incorporating higher dimensional brain imaging/phenotype features, and/or using more advanced machine and deep learning methods may yield more encouraging prospects.

Protocol for teen inflammation glutamate emotion research (TIGER): Toward predictors of treatment response and clinical course in depressed adolescents.

Adolescent-onset depression is a prevalent and debilitating condition commonly associated with treatment refractory depression and non-response to first-line antidepressants. There are, however, no objective tests to determine who may or may not respond to antidepressants. As depressed adolescents are especially vulnerable to the lifelong consequences of ineffectively-treated depression, it is critical to identify neurobiological predictors of treatment non-response in this population. Here, we describe the scientific rationale and protocol for the Teen Inflammation Glutamate Emotion Research (TIGER) study, a prospective 18-month investigation of 160 depressed adolescents who will be assessed before and after treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. TIGER will be using ultra-high field imaging to test the effects of acute stress and antidepressant treatment on inflammatory and glutamatergic processes hypothesized to underlie depression maintenance. Results from this work will motivate future studies testing alternative therapeutics for depressed adolescents at risk for treatment resistant depression. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05329441.

Exploring sex differences in trajectories of pubertal development and mental health following early adversity.

Despite evidence that early life adversity (ELA) affects mental health in adolescence, we know little about sex differences in how distinct dimensions of adversity affect development and their corresponding effects on mental health. In this three-wave longitudinal study, 209 participants (118 females; ages 9-13 years at baseline) provided objective (salivary hormones, BMI, age of menarche) and subjective (perceived gonadal and adrenal status) measures of puberty and physical development, and reported on levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms at all timepoints. Participants also reported lifetime exposure to three distinct types of ELA: deprivation, threat, and unpredictability. Using generalized additive mixed models, we tested within each sex whether dimensions of adversity were associated with longitudinal changes in measures of pubertal and physical development, and whether these indices of development were associated with trajectories of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. In females, experiences of threat and unpredictability were significantly associated with earlier pubertal timing (e.g., age of menarche) whereas experiences of deprivation were associated with steeper increases in BMI; further, faster pubertal tempo (i.e., steeper increases in pubertal stage) was associated with increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms. In males, however, ELA was not associated with any measures of pubertal or physical development or with symptoms. Together, our results suggest that adverse experiences during early life have sex-selective consequences for pubertal and physical maturation and mental health trajectories in ways that may elucidate why females are at higher risk for mental health difficulties during puberty, particularly following exposure to unpredictable and threatening experiences of adversity.

Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and White Matter Microstructure of the Arcuate Fasciculus and Uncinate Fasciculus in Adolescents.

Background: Neighborhood- or area-level socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with neural alterations across the life span. However, few studies have examined the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on white matter microstructure during adolescence, an important period of development that coincides with increased risk for psychopathology. Methods: In 200 adolescents (ages 13-20 years; 54.5% female, 4% nonbinary) recruited from 2 studies enriched for early adversity and depression, we examined whether neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage derived from census tract data was related to white matter microstructure in several major white matter tracts. We also examined whether depressive symptoms and sex moderated these associations. Results: Greater neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left arcuate fasciculus (ß = -0.24, false discovery rate [FDR]-corrected p = .035) and right uncinate fasciculus (ß = -0.32, FDR-corrected p = .002) above and beyond the effects of family-level socioeconomic status. Depressive symptoms significantly moderated the association between left arcuate fasciculus FA and both neighborhood (ß = 0.17, FDR-corrected p = .026) and unemployment (ß = 0.22, FDR-corrected p = .004) disadvantage such that these associations were only significant in adolescents who reported less severe depression. Sex did not moderate the association between socioeconomic disadvantage and FA in these tracts. Conclusions: Greater neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, particularly poverty and educational attainment levels, was associated with lower FA in the arcuate fasciculus and uncinate fasciculus above and beyond the effects of family-level measures of socioeconomic status. These patterns were only observed in adolescents with low levels of depression, suggesting that we must be cautious about generalizing these findings to youths who struggle with mental health difficulties.

Perceived Impact of Virtual Visits on Access to Care in Family Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Benefits and Challenges.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to the rapid adoption of telemedicine, including virtual visits, to minimize face-to-face contact between clinicians and patients. Family medicine clinics across the nation had to transform how they provided primary care while maintaining the core values of family medicine. The objective of this study was to analyze how family medicine faculty perceived the impact of virtual visits on patient access to care. METHODS: This qualitative study took place in an academic primary care setting. We interviewed clinical faculty who utilized virtual visits about their experiences from June to December 2020. We used qualitative content analysis to evaluate the results of the interviews. RESULTS: The study included a total of 20 participants. The mean age was 43.4 years, and 85% of participants were female. Researchers developed 3 themes, "Logistics of virtual visits," "reigniting the concept of home visits," and "barriers and benefits that affect specific patient populations" that describe how virtual visits have impacted patients' access to care. The results highlight how virtual visits improve access to care by increasing flexibility for patients and providers and provide a new perspective into a patient's home life. Challenges of virtual visits include language barriers, technological issues, and issues unique to vulnerable patient populations. CONCLUSION: Virtual visits can enhance family medicine's ability to provide accessible care, but there are concerns it may worsen health disparities. Further research and quality improvement projects are needed to examine ways to implement innovative care delivery solutions to avoid further exacerbating these disparities.