Longitudinal trends in uptake of hormonal long-acting reversible contraception devices throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: an Australian population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated restrictions and disruptions to health services, impacted the accessibility of hormonal long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) devices within Australia. Here, we explore longitudinal patterns of dispensing of the contraceptive implant and hormonal intrauterine devices (IUDs) within Australia, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Population-based cohort study; analysis of 10% random sample of national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme dispensing data, for females aged 15-49 years dispensed a hormonal LARC device between February 2017 and November 2021. RESULTS: Interrupted time-series analysis demonstrated overall that there were no significant differences in monthly dispensing rates of hormonal LARC following the Australian onset of the pandemic in April 2020, with no subsequent change in the trend. However, when stratified by LARC type, a significant increase was evident during the pandemic period (April 2020-November 2021) in the rate of hormonal IUD dispensing per month (0.20 per 10 000 95% CI 0.01 to 0.38)), compared with a decrease for the implant (-0.08 per 10 000 (95% CI -0.16 to 0.01)). Increases in hormonal IUD dispensing during the pandemic were most pronounced for those aged 20-24 years, new users, those without a Commonwealth concession card, and in the State of Victoria. CONCLUSIONS: Within Australia in the defined pandemic period, access to hormonal LARC devices was not negatively impacted. Rather a significant increase in dispensing of hormonal IUDs was evident.

Breaking barriers in trauma research: A narrative review of opportunities to leverage veterinary trauma for accelerated translation to clinical solutions for pets and people.

Trauma is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in humans and companion animals. Recent efforts in procedural development, training, quality systems, data collection, and research have positively impacted patient outcomes; however, significant unmet need still exists. Coordinated efforts by collaborative, translational, multidisciplinary teams to advance trauma care and improve outcomes have the potential to benefit both human and veterinary patient populations. Strategic use of veterinary clinical trials informed by expertise along the research spectrum (i.e., benchtop discovery, applied science and engineering, large laboratory animal models, clinical veterinary studies, and human randomized trials) can lead to increased therapeutic options for animals while accelerating and enhancing translation by providing early data to reduce the cost and the risk of failed human clinical trials. Active topics of collaboration across the translational continuum include advancements in resuscitation (including austere environments), acute traumatic coagulopathy, trauma-induced coagulopathy, traumatic brain injury, systems biology, and trauma immunology. Mechanisms to improve funding and support innovative team science approaches to current problems in trauma care can accelerate needed, sustainable, and impactful progress in the field. This review article summarizes our current understanding of veterinary and human trauma, thereby identifying knowledge gaps and opportunities for collaborative, translational research to improve multispecies outcomes. This translational trauma group of MDs, PhDs, and DVMs posit that a common understanding of injury patterns and resulting cellular dysregulation in humans and companion animals has the potential to accelerate translation of research findings into clinical solutions.

Impact of Transfer Learning Using Local Data on Performance of a Deep Learning Model for Screening Mammography.

Purpose To investigate the issues of generalizability and replication of deep learning models by assessing performance of a screening mammography deep learning system developed at New York University (NYU) on a local Australian dataset. Materials and Methods In this retrospective study, all individuals with biopsy or surgical pathology-proven lesions and age-matched controls were identified from a South Australian public mammography screening program (January 2010 to December 2016). The primary outcome was deep learning system performance-measured with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC)-in classifying invasive breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ (n = 425) versus no malignancy (n = 490) or benign lesions (n = 44). The NYU system, including models without (NYU1) and with (NYU2) heatmaps, was tested in its original form, after training from scratch (without transfer learning), and after retraining with transfer learning. Results The local test set comprised 959 individuals (mean age, 62.5 years ± 8.5 [SD]; all female). The original AUCs for the NYU1 and NYU2 models were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.84) and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.88, 0.89), respectively. When NYU1 and NYU2 were applied in their original form to the local test set, the AUCs were 0.76 (95% CI: 0.73, 0.79) and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.87), respectively. After local training without transfer learning, the AUCs were 0.66 (95% CI: 0.62, 0.69) and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.88). After retraining with transfer learning, the AUCs were 0.82 (95% CI: 0.80, 0.85) and 0.86 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.88). Conclusion A deep learning system developed using a U.S. dataset showed reduced performance when applied "out of the box" to an Australian dataset. Local retraining with transfer learning using available model weights improved model performance. Keywords: Screening Mammography, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Deep Learning Algorithms, Breast Cancer Supplemental material is available for this article. © RSNA, 2024 See also commentary by Cadrin-Chênevert in this issue.

Tissue oxygen saturation is positively correlated with oxygen delivery and cardiac output in a canine hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation model.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) correlates with oxygen delivery (DO2) and/or cardiac output (CO) in a canine hemorrhagic shock model. ANIMALS: 8 healthy purpose-bred dogs. METHODS: Dogs were anesthetized, and hemorrhagic shock was induced by withdrawing up to 60% of total blood volume, targeting a mean arterial pressure (MAP) of 40 mm Hg. The withdrawn blood was returned to the patient in 2 equal aliquots. Data was collected at 4 time points: 10 minutes after MAP was stabilized under anesthesia (time point [TP]-1), 10 minutes after up to 60% of blood volume was removed to target a MAP of 40 mm Hg (TP2), 10 minutes after the return of 50% of shed blood (TP3), and 10 minutes after the return of the remaining 50% of shed blood (TP4). Total blood volume withdrawn, StO2, CO, heart rate, and MAP were recorded, and DO2 was calculated at each TP. RESULTS: Mean StO2 significantly decreased between TP1 (77.8% [± 9.54]) and TP2 (44.8% [± 19.5]; P < .001 vs TP1). Mean StO2 increased to 63.1% (± 9.85) at TP3, but remained significantly lower compared to TP1 (P = .002). There was no difference between mean StO2 at TP4 (82.5% [± 12.6]) versus TP1 (P = .466). StO2 has a strong, positive correlation to both CO (r = 0.80; P < .001) and DO2 (r = 0.75; P < .001). CLINICAL RELEVANCE: A decrease in StO2 may be used in conjunction with physical examination findings and diagnostic parameters to support a diagnosis of shock. The return of shed blood was correlated with increases in StO2, DO2, and CO, suggesting that StO2 may be used as a marker of adequate resuscitation.

Medicine utilization studies in Australian individual-level dispensing data: A blinded, multi-center replicated analysis.

PURPOSE: Medicine dispensing data require extensive preparation when used for research and decisions during this process may lead to results that do not replicate between independent studies. We conducted an experiment to examine the impact of these decisions on results of a study measuring discontinuation, intensification, and switching in a cohort of patients initiating metformin. METHODS: Four Australian sites independently developed a HARmonized Protocol template to Enhance Reproducibility (HARPER) protocol and executed their analyses using the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme 10% sample dataset. Each site calculated cohort size and demographics and measured treatment events including discontinuation, switch to another diabetes medicine, and intensification (addition of another diabetes medicine). Time to event and hazard ratios for associations between cohort characteristics and each event were also calculated. Concordance was assessed by measuring deviations from the calculated median of each value across the sites. RESULTS: Good agreement was found across sites for the number of initiators (median: 53 127, range: 51 848-55 273), gender (56.9% female, range: 56.8%-57.1%) and age group. Each site employed different methods for estimating days supply and used different operational definitions for the treatment events. Consequently, poor agreement was found for incidence of discontinuation (median 55%, range: 34%-67%), switching (median 3.5%, range: 1%-7%), intensification (median 8%, range: 5%-12%), time to event estimates and hazard ratios. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in analytical decisions when deriving exposure from dispensing data affect replicability. Detailed analytical protocols, such as HARPER, are critical for transparency of operational definitions and interpretations of key study parameters.

Surgical interventions and outcome in a population of canine trauma patients.

OBJECTIVE: To determine signalment, injury type, trauma severity score, and outcome of canine trauma patients undergoing surgical (emergency room [ER] or operating room [OR]) and nonsurgical treatment in addition to time to surgery, specialty services involved, and cost in the OR surgery population. DESIGN: Retrospective evaluation of medical record and hospital trauma registry data on canine trauma cases. SETTING: University teaching hospital. ANIMALS: One thousand six hundred and thirty dogs presenting for traumatic injury between May 2017 and July 2020. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Demographics and outcome were compared for canine trauma patients undergoing OR surgery (12.8%, 208/1630), ER surgery (39.1%, 637/1630), or no surgical intervention (48.2%, 785/1630). Among the 2 surgical groups, 98.9% (836/845) survived to discharge compared with 92.2% (724/785) of the nonsurgical group (P < 0.0001). The OR surgical group had significantly higher median Animal Trauma Triage scores (2 vs 1, P < 0.0001) and median days in hospital (2 vs < 1, P < 0.0001) compared with the other groups. For the OR surgical cohort, electronic medical records were reviewed to determine the specialty surgery service involved, time to and duration of anesthesia and surgery, and visit cost. The most common surgery services involved were orthopedics (45.2%, 94/208) and general surgery (26.9%, 56/208). Neurology and general surgery cases required the longest median length of stay in hospital, and ophthalmology and dentistry cases required the shortest. The median cost of visit was highest in neurology ($10,032) and lowest in ophthalmology ($2305) and dentistry ($2404). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical intervention in canine trauma patients appears to be associated with higher survival rates, and among the surgery groups, mortality was highest in the ER and general surgery groups. OR surgical intervention, in particular general surgery and neurology, was associated with increased length of hospitalization, increased cost, and higher Animal Trauma Triage scores.