Parent and staff focus groups to address NICU racial inequities: "There's radical optimism in that we're in a different time and we're not doing it alone".

OBJECTIVES: To understand local mechanisms of racial inequities and generate recommendations from community members regarding how to promote racial equity in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). METHODS: In an urban tertiary care NICU, 4 semi-structured in-person focus groups with follow-up audio diaries were conducted with NICU parents and staff from 2022-2023 with support from interpreters, a psychologist, and a family advocate. Researchers coded transcripts independently and thematic analysis was utilized to generate and refine themes. RESULTS: 16 racially diverse and multidisciplinary staff and parents participated, and six themes emerged from the data. Mechanisms of racial inequities included power dynamics, interpersonal and institutional dehumanization, and societal inequities. Recommendations included redistributing power, transforming space and staff to promote humanism, and mitigating harm through peer support and resource allocation. CONCLUSION: Focus groups are a promising strategy to identify interventions to address racial inequities. Future research should focus on intervention implementation and evaluation.

Betamethasone treatment-to-delivery interval, retreatment, and severe intraventricular hemorrhage in infants <28 weeks' gestation.

BACKGROUND: Antenatal corticosteroids decrease the incidence of severe intraventricular hemorrhages (grades 3,4) in preterm infants. It is unclear whether their beneficial effects on intraventricular hemorrhage wane with time (as occurs in neonatal respiratory distress) and if repeat courses can restore this effect. Prior randomized controlled trials of betamethasone retreatment found no benefit on severe intraventricular hemorrhage rates. However, the trials may have included an insufficient number of infants at risk for intraventricular hemorrhage to be able to adequately address this question. Severe intraventricular hemorrhages occur almost exclusively in infants born <28 weeks, whereas only 7% (0%-16%) of the retreatment trials' populations were <28 weeks. OBJECTIVE: To determine if the risk of severe intraventricular hemorrhage in infants delivered <28 weeks increases when the betamethasone treatment-to-delivery interval increases beyond 9 days and to determine if betamethasone retreatment prior to delivery decreases the rate of hemorrhage. STUDY DESIGN: Observational study examining the incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage before (epoch 1) and after (epoch 2) a practice change that encouraged obstetricians to retreat pregnant women still at high risk of delivery before 28 weeks' gestation when >9 days elapsed from the first dose of betamethasone. Multivariable analyses with logistic regression using generalized estimating equations techniques were conducted to examine the rates of intraventricular hemorrhage among 410 infants <28 weeks' gestation who either delivered between 1-9 days (n=290) after the first 2-dose betamethasone course or delivered ≥10 days (and eligible for retreatment) (n=120). RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounding variables, infants who delivered ≥10 days after a single betamethasone course had an increased risk of either severe intraventricular hemorrhage alone or the combined outcome severe intraventricular hemorrhage or death before 4 days (OR (95%CI): 2.8 (1.2, 6.6)) compared with infants who delivered between 1-9 days after betamethasone. Among the 120 infants who delivered ≥10 days after the first dose of betamethasone, 64 (53%) received a second/retreatment course of antenatal betamethasone. The severe intraventricular hemorrhage rate in infants whose mothers received a second/retreatment course of betamethasone was similar to the rate in infants who delivered within 1-9 days and significantly lower than in those who delivered ≥10 days without retreatment (OR (95%CI): 0.10 (0.02, 0.65). Following the change in guidelines, the rate of retreatment in infants who delivered ≥10 days after the first betamethasone course (and before 28 weeks) increased from epoch 1 to epoch 2 (25% to 87%, p<0.001) and the rate of severe intraventricular hemorrhage decreased from 22% to 0% (p<0.001). In contrast, the rate of severe intraventricular hemorrhage in infants who delivered 1-9 days after the initial betamethasone dose (who were not eligible for retreatment) did not change between epochs 1 and 2 (12% and 11%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Although betamethasone's benefits on severe intraventricular hemorrhage appear to wane after the first dose, retreatment with a second course appears to restore its beneficial effects. Encouraging earlier retreatment of women at high risk of delivery before 28 weeks was associated with a lower rate of severe intraventricular hemorrhages among infants delivering <28 weeks.

Resource and Service Use after Discharge Among Infants 22-25 Weeks Estimated Gestational Age at the First High-Risk Infant Follow-Up Visit in California.

OBJECTIVE: To examine resource and service use after discharge among infants born extraordinarily preterm in California who attended high-risk infant follow-up (HRIF) clinic by 12 months corrected age. STUDY DESIGN: We included infants born 2010-2017 between 22 + 0/7 and 25 + 6/7 weeks' gestational age in the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative and California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative-California Children's Services HRIF databases. We evaluated rates of hospitalization, surgeries, medications, equipment, medical service and special service use, and referrals. We examined factors associated with receiving ≥ 2 medical services, and ≥ 1 special service. RESULTS: A total of 3941 of 5284 infants received a HRIF visit by 12 months corrected age. Infants born at earlier gestational ages used more medications, equipment, medical services, and special services and had higher rates of referral to medical and special services at the first HRIF visit. Infants with major morbidity, surgery, caregiver concerns, and mothers with more years of education had higher odds of receiving ≥ 2 medical services. Infants with Black maternal race, younger maternal age, female sex, and discharge from lower level neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) had lower odds of receiving ≥ 2 medical services. Infants with more educated mothers, multiple gestation, major morbidity, surgery, caregiver concerns, and discharge from lower level NICUs had increased odds of receiving a special service. CONCLUSIONS: Infants born extraordinarily preterm have substantial resource use after discharge. High resource utilization was associated with maternal/sociodemographic factors and expected clinical factors. Early functional and service use information is valuable to parents and underscores the need for NICU providers to appropriately prepare and refer families.

Families as partners in neonatal neuro-critical care programs.

Parents of neonates with neurologic conditions face a specific breadth of emotional, logistical, and social challenges, including difficulties coping with prognostic uncertainty, the need to make complex medical decisions, and navigating new hopes and fears. These challenges place parents in a vulnerable position and at risk of developing mental health issues, which can interfere with bonding and caring for their neonate, as well as compromise their neonate's long-term neurodevelopment. To optimize neurologic and developmental outcomes, emerging neonatal neuro-critical care (NNCC) programs must concurrently attend to the unique needs of the developing newborn brain and of his/her parents. This can only be accomplished by embracing a family-centered care environment-one which prioritizes effective parent-clinician communication, longitudinal parent support, and parents as equitable partners in clinical care. NNCC programs offer a multifaceted approach to critical care for neonates at-risk for neurodevelopmental impairments, integrating expertise in neonatology and neurology. This review highlights evidence-based strategies to guide NNCC programs in developing a family-partnered approach to care, including primary staffing models; staff communication, implicit bias, and cultural competency trainings; comprehensive and tailored caregiver training; single-family rooms; flexible visitation policies; colocalized neonatal and maternal care; uniform mental health screenings; follow-up care referrals; and connections to peer support. IMPACT: Parents of neonates with neurologic conditions are at high-risk for experiencing mental health issues, which can adversely impact the parent-neonate relationship and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of their neonates. While guidelines to promote families as partners in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) have been developed, no protocols integrate the unique needs of parents in neonatal neurologic populations. A holistic approach that makes families true partners in the care of their neonate with a neurologic condition in the NICU has the potential to improve mental and physical well-being for both parents and neonates.

Risk of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes Among African-born Black Women in California, 2011-2020.

BACKGROUND: African-born women have a lower risk of preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA) birth compared with United States-born Black women, however variation by country of origin is overlooked. Additionally, the extent that nativity disparities in adverse perinatal outcomes to Black women are explained by individual-level factors remains unclear. METHODS: We conducted a population-based study of nonanomalous singleton live births to United States- and African-born Black women in California from 2011 to 2020 (n = 194,320). We used age-adjusted Poisson regression models to estimate the risk of preterm birth and SGA and reported risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Decomposition using Monte Carlo integration of the g-formula computed the percentage of disparities in adverse outcomes between United States- and African-born women explained by individual-level factors. RESULTS: Eritrean women (RR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.3, 0.5) had the largest differences in risk of preterm birth and Cameroonian women (RR = 0.5; 95% CI = 0.3, 0.6) in SGA birth, compared with United States-born Black women. Ghanaian women had smaller differences in risk of preterm birth (RR = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.7, 1.0) and SGA (RR = 0.9; 95% CI = 0.8, 1.1) compared with United States-born women. Overall, we estimate that absolute differences in socio-demographic and clinical factors contributed to 32% of nativity-based disparities in the risk of preterm birth and 26% of disparities in SGA. CONCLUSIONS: We observed heterogeneity in risk of adverse perinatal outcomes for African- compared with United States-born Black women, suggesting that nativity disparities in adverse perinatal outcomes were not fully explained by differences in individual-level factors.

A protocol for distilling animal body water from biological samples and measuring oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes via cavity ring-down spectroscopy.

The application of stable isotope analysis (SIA) to the fields of ecology and animal biology has rapidly expanded over the past three decades, particularly with regards to water analysis. SIA now provides the opportunity to monitor migration patterns, examine food webs, and assess habitat changes in current and past study systems. While carbon and nitrogen SIA of biological samples have become common, analyses of oxygen or hydrogen are used more sparingly despite their promising utility for tracing water sources and animal metabolism. Common ecological applications of oxygen or hydrogen SIA require injecting enriched isotope tracers. As such, methods for processing and analyzing biological samples are tailored for enriched tracer techniques, which require lower precision than other techniques given the large signal-to-noise ratio of the data. However, instrumentation advancements are creating new opportunities to expand the applications of high-throughput oxygen and hydrogen SIA. To support these applications, we update methods to distill and measure water derived from biological samples with consistent precision equal to, or better than, ± 0.1 ‰ for δ17O, ± 0.3 ‰ for δ18O, ± 1 ‰ for δ2H, ± 2 ‰ for d-excess, and ± 15 per meg for Δ17O.

Development and acceptability of PETS-Now, an electronic point-of-care tool to monitor treatment burden in patients with multiple chronic conditions: a multi-method study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to develop a web-based tool for patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) to communicate concerns about treatment burden to their healthcare providers. METHODS: Patients and providers from primary-care clinics participated. We conducted focus groups to identify content for a prototype clinical tool to screen for treatment burden by reviewing domains and items from a previously validated measure, the Patient Experience with Treatment and Self-management (PETS). Following review of the prototype, a quasi-experimental pilot study determined acceptability of using the tool in clinical practice. The study protocol was modified to accommodate limitations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Fifteen patients with MCC and 18 providers participated in focus groups to review existing PETS content. The pilot tool (named PETS-Now) consisted of eight domains (Living Healthy, Health Costs, Monitoring Health, Medicine, Personal Relationships, Getting Healthcare, Health Information, and Medical Equipment) with each domain represented by a checklist of potential concerns. Administrative burden was minimized by limiting patients to selection of one domain. To test acceptability, 17 primary-care providers first saw 92 patients under standard care (control) conditions followed by another 90 patients using the PETS-Now tool (intervention). Each treatment burden domain was selected at least once by patients in the intervention. No significant differences were observed in overall care quality between patients in the control and intervention conditions with mean care quality rated high in both groups (9.3 and 9.2, respectively, out of 10). There were no differences in provider impressions of patient encounters under the two conditions with providers reporting that patient concerns were addressed in 95% of the visits in both conditions. Most intervention group patients (94%) found that the PETS-Now was easy to use and helped focus the conversation with the provider on their biggest concern (98%). Most providers (81%) felt they had learned something new about the patient from the PETS-Now. CONCLUSION: The PETS-Now holds promise for quickly screening and monitoring treatment burden in people with MCC and may provide information for care planning. While acceptable to patients and clinicians, integration of information into the electronic medical record should be prioritized.

Water restriction increases oxidation of endogenous amino acids in house sparrows (Passer domesticus).

Animals can cope with dehydration in a myriad of ways, both behaviorally and physiologically. The oxidation of protein produces more metabolic water per kilojoule than that of fat or carbohydrate, and it is well established that birds increase protein catabolism in response to high rates of water loss. However, the fate of amino acids mobilized in response to water restriction has not been explicitly determined. While protein catabolism releases bound water, we hypothesized that water-restricted birds would also oxidize the resulting amino acids, producing additional water as a product of oxidative phosphorylation. To test this, we fed captive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) 13C-labeled leucine for 9 weeks to label endogenous proteins. We conducted weekly trials during which we measured the physiological response to water restriction as changes in lean mass, fat mass, metabolism and the enrichment of 13C in exhaled CO2 (δ13Cbreath). If water-restricted birds catabolized proteins and oxidized the resulting amino acids, we expected to simultaneously observe greater lean mass loss and elevated δ13Cbreath relative to control birds. We found that water-restricted birds catabolized more lean tissue and also had enriched δ13Cbreath in response to water restriction, supporting our hypothesis. δ13Cbreath, however, varied with metabolic rate and the length of the water restriction period, suggesting that birds may spare protein when water balance can be achieved using other physiological strategies.

Almond Can Be Infected by Plum Pox Virus-D Isolate Penn4 and Is a Transmission-Competent Host.

Although it is currently eradicated from the United States, Plum pox virus (PPV) poses an ongoing threat to U.S. stone fruit production. Although almond (Prunus dulcis) is known to be largely resistant to PPV, there is conflicting evidence about its potential to serve as an asymptomatic reservoir host for the virus and thus serve as a potential route of entry. Here, we demonstrate that both Tuono and Texas Mission cultivars can be infected by the U.S. isolate PPV Dideron (D) Penn4 and that Tuono is a transmission-competent host, capable of serving as a source of inoculum for aphid transmission of the virus. These findings have important implications for efforts to keep PPV out of the United States and highlight the need for additional research to test the susceptibility of almond to other PPV-D isolates.

Association of Burnout With Primary Care Clinician Perception of Team-Based Scheduling Support.

INTRODUCTION: Primary care clinician burnout is pervasive and detrimental. How components of teamwork and clinic culture might contribute to burnout remains unsettled. OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between primary care clinician perceptions of specific components of teamwork and of organizational culture, and perceived stress and burnout. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey study of primary care clinicians from 5 county health system clinics. Measures: Perceptions of teamwork related to coordination of care, and clinic provision of chronic disease self-management support; values alignment and workplace equity; and demographics. DATA ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics and Spearman's correlations to examine associations, controlling for clinic and examining response variability by clinic. RESULTS: Of 72 clinicians, 64% were female and 32% non-white. About 56% had worked at least 4 years and half worked 5 to 6 half days/week or more in their clinic. Clinicians who reported having someone on the clinician's care team routinely schedule follow-up appointments for patients with complex chronic illnesses reported lower stress and burnout. Those who perceived greater values alignment with their clinic and greater personal and employee equitable treatment had lower stress and burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Teamwork among clinicians and non-clinical staff, a component of teamwork that is not well-considered in current literature, could be an important piece of the puzzle to decrease the persistent and challenging issue of stress and burnout among primary care clinicians.

Eight Domains of Pediatrician Wellness: A Stakeholder Informed Model.

BACKGROUND: Physician wellness is important to health care systems and quality patient care. There has been limited research clarifying the physician wellness construct. We aimed to develop a stakeholder-informed model of pediatrician wellness. METHODS: We performed a group concept mapping (GCM) study to create a model of pediatrician wellness. We followed the four main steps of GCM and recruited pediatricians at multiple sites and on social media. During brainstorming, pediatricians individually responded to a prompt to generate ideas describing the concept of pediatrician wellness. Second, pediatricians sorted the list of brainstormed ideas into conceptually similar groups and rated them on importance. Sorted data were analyzed to create maps showing each idea as a point, with lines around groups of points to create clusters of wellness. Mean importance scores for each cluster were calculated and compared using pattern match. RESULTS: Pediatricians in this study identified eight clusters of wellness: 1) Experiencing belonging and support at work, 2) Alignment in my purpose, my work, and my legacy, 3) Feelings of confidence and fulfillment at work, 4) Skills and mindset for emotional well-being, 5) Harmony in personal, professional, and community life, 6) Time and resources to support holistic sense of self, 7) Work boundaries and flexibility, and 8) Organizational culture of inclusion and trust. There were no significant differences in mean cluster rating score; the highest rated cluster was Harmony in personal, professional and community life (3.62). CONCLUSION: Pediatricians identified eight domains of wellness, spanning professional and personal life, work, and individual factors.

Parent and staff perceptions of racism in a single-center neonatal intensive care unit.

IMPACT: In alignment with previous literature, NICU parents reported experiencing racism and NICU staff reported witnessing racism in the NICU. Our study also uniquely describes personal experiences with racism by staff in the NICU. NICU staff reported witnessing and experiencing racism more often than parents reported. Black staff reported witnessing and experiencing more racism than white staff. Differences in reporting is likely influenced by variations in lived experience, social identities, psychological safety, and levels of awareness. Future studies are necessary to prevent and accurately measure racism in the NICU.

In Utero Exposure to Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination and Offspring Neurodevelopment at 12 and 18 Months.

Importance: Uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among pregnant individuals was hampered by safety concerns around potential risks to unborn children. Data clarifying early neurodevelopmental outcomes of offspring exposed to COVID-19 vaccination in utero are lacking. Objective: To determine whether in utero exposure to maternal COVID-19 vaccination was associated with differences in scores on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, third edition (ASQ-3), at 12 and 18 months of age. Design, Setting, and Participants: This prospective cohort study, Assessing the Safety of Pregnancy During the Coronavirus Pandemic (ASPIRE), enrolled pregnant participants from May 2020 to August 2021; follow-up of children from these pregnancies is ongoing. Participants, which included pregnant individuals and their offspring from all 50 states, self-enrolled online. Study activities were performed remotely. Exposure: In utero exposure of the fetus to maternal COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was compared with those unexposed. Main Outcomes and Measures: Neurodevelopmental scores on validated ASQ-3, completed by birth mothers at 12 and 18 months. A score below the established cutoff in any of 5 subdomains (communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, social skills) constituted an abnormal screen for developmental delay. Results: A total of 2487 pregnant individuals (mean [SD] age, 33.3 [4.2] years) enrolled at less than 10 weeks' gestation and completed research activities, yielding a total of 2261 and 1940 infants aged 12 and 18 months, respectively, with neurodevelopmental assessments. In crude analyses, 471 of 1541 exposed infants (30.6%) screened abnormally for developmental delay at 12 months vs 203 of 720 unexposed infants (28.2%; χ2 = 1.32; P = .25); the corresponding prevalences at 18 months were 262 of 1301 (20.1%) vs 148 of 639 (23.2%), respectively (χ2 = 2.35; P = .13). In multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression models adjusting for maternal age, race, ethnicity, education, income, maternal depression, and anxiety, no difference in risk for abnormal ASQ-3 screens was observed at either time point (12 months: adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 1.14; 95% CI, 0.97-1.33; 18 months: aRR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.72-1.07). Further adjustment for preterm birth and infant sex did not affect results (12 months: aRR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.98-1.36; 18 months: aRR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.71-1.07). Conclusions and Relevance: Results of this cohort study suggest that COVID-19 vaccination was safe during pregnancy from the perspective of infant neurodevelopment to 18 months of age. Additional longer-term research should be conducted to corroborate these findings and buttress clinical guidance with a strong evidence base.

Resuscitation, survival and morbidity of extremely preterm infants in California 2011-2019.

OBJECTIVE: To describe changes over time in resuscitation, survival, and morbidity of extremely preterm infants in California. STUDY DESIGN: This population-based, retrospective cohort study includes infants born ≤28 weeks. Linked birth certificates and hospital discharge records were used to evaluate active resuscitation, survival, and morbidity across two epochs (2011-2014, 2015-2019). RESULTS: Of liveborn infants, 0.6% were born ≤28 weeks. Active resuscitation increased from 16.9% of 22-week infants to 98.1% of 25-week infants and increased over time in 22-, 23-, and 25-week infants (p-value ≤ 0.01). Among resuscitated infants, survival to discharge increased from 33.2% at 22 weeks to 96.1% at 28 weeks. Survival without major morbidity improved over time for 28-week infants (p-value < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Among infants ≤28 weeks, resuscitation and survival increased with gestational age and morbidity decreased. Over time, active resuscitation of periviable infants and morbidity-free survival of 28-week infants increased. These trends may inform counseling around extremely preterm birth.

Neuroprotective therapies in the NICU in preterm infants: present and future (Neonatal Neurocritical Care Series).

The survival of preterm infants has steadily improved thanks to advances in perinatal and neonatal intensive clinical care. The focus is now on finding ways to improve morbidities, especially neurological outcomes. Although antenatal steroids and magnesium for preterm infants have become routine therapies, studies have mainly demonstrated short-term benefits for antenatal steroid therapy but limited evidence for impact on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. Further advances in neuroprotective and neurorestorative therapies, improved neuromonitoring modalities to optimize recruitment in trials, and improved biomarkers to assess the response to treatment are essential. Among the most promising agents, multipotential stem cells, immunomodulation, and anti-inflammatory therapies can improve neural outcomes in preclinical studies and are the subject of considerable ongoing research. In the meantime, bundles of care protecting and nurturing the brain in the neonatal intensive care unit and beyond should be widely implemented in an effort to limit injury and promote neuroplasticity. IMPACT: With improved survival of preterm infants due to improved antenatal and neonatal care, our focus must now be to improve long-term neurological and neurodevelopmental outcomes. This review details the multifactorial pathogenesis of preterm brain injury and neuroprotective strategies in use at present, including antenatal care, seizure management and non-pharmacological NICU care. We discuss treatment strategies that are being evaluated as potential interventions to improve the neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants born prematurely.

Estimating the effect of timing of earned income tax credit refunds on perinatal outcomes: a quasi-experimental study of California births.

BACKGROUND: The largest poverty alleviation program in the US is the earned income tax credit (EITC), providing $60 billion to over 25 million families annually. While research has shown positive impacts of EITC receipt in pregnancy, there is little evidence on whether the timing of receipt may lead to differences in pregnancy outcomes. We used a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design, taking advantage of EITC tax disbursement each spring to examine whether trimester of receipt was associated with perinatal outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a difference-in-differences analysis of California linked birth certificate and hospital discharge records. The sample was drawn from the linked CA birth certificate and discharge records from 2007-2012 (N = 2,740,707). To predict eligibility, we created a probabilistic algorithm in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and applied it to the CA data. Primary outcome measures included preterm birth, small-for-gestational age (SGA), gestational diabetes, and gestational hypertension/preeclampsia. RESULTS: Eligibility for EITC receipt during the third trimester was associated with a lower risk of preterm birth compared with preconception. Eligibility for receipt in the preconception period resulted in improved gestational hypertension and SGA. CONCLUSION: This analysis offers a novel method to impute EITC eligibility using a probabilistic algorithm in a data set with richer sociodemographic information relative to the clinical and administrative data sets from which outcomes are drawn. These results could be used to determine the optimal intervention time point for future income supplementation policies. Future work should examine frequent income supplementation such as the minimum wage or basic income programs.

Intersectionality and COVID-19: Academic Medicine Faculty's Lived Experiences of Well-Being, Workload, and Productivity During the Pandemic.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to utilize an intersectional framework to examine academic faculty's lived experiences during COVID-19. Specifically, we set out to: (1) describe the multiple intersectional identities (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, rank, caregiver status, disability status) represented by the faculty, (2) examine potential disparities in well-being, workload, and productivity linked to these intersectional factors, and (3) identify qualitative themes endorsed by faculty as they relate to lived experiences during COVID-19. Methods: This was a cross-sectional mixed-methods research study. The Center for Women in Medicine and Science (CWIMS) at the University of Minnesota developed and implemented a survey between February-June of 2021 in response to national reports of disparities in the impacts of COVID-19 on faculty with lived experiences from multiple intersections. Results: There were 291 full-time faculty who participated in the study. Quantitative findings indicated that faculty with multiple intersectional identities (e.g., woman+assistant professor+caregiver+underrepresented in medicine) reported greater depression symptoms, work/family conflict, and stress in contrast to faculty with fewer intersectional identities. Furthermore, faculty with more intersectional identities reported higher clinical workloads and service responsibilities and lower productivity with regard to research article submissions, publications, and grant submissions in contrast to faculty with fewer intersectional identities. Qualitative findings supported quantitative findings and broadened understanding of potential underlying reasons. Conclusions: Findings confirm anecdotal evidence that faculty with lived experiences from multiple intersections may be disproportionately experiencing negative outcomes from the pandemic. These findings can inform decisions about how to address these disparities moving into the next several years with regard to promotion and tenure, burnout and well-being, and faculty retention in academic medical settings. Given these findings, it is also important to intentionally plan responses for future public health crises to prevent continued disparities for faculty with multiple intersectional identities.

Assessing for prenatal risk factors associated with infant neurologic morbidity using a multivariate analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the biochemical and demographic profiles of pregnant people with maternal immune activation (MIA) and identify the prenatal characteristics associated with neurologic morbidity in offspring. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study of 602 mother-infant dyads with births between 2009 and 2010 in California. Multivariable logistic regression was used to build a MIA vulnerability profile including mid-pregnancy biochemical markers and maternal demographic characteristics, and its relationship with infant neurologic morbidity was examined. RESULTS: Of the 602 mother-infant dyads, 80 mothers and 61 infants had diagnoses suggestive of MIA and neurologic morbidity, respectively. Our model, including two demographic and seven biochemical characteristics, identified mothers with MIA with good performance (AUC:0.814; 95% CI:0.7-0.8). Three demographic and five inflammatory markers together identified 80% of infants with neurological morbidity (AUC:0.802, 95% CI:0.7-0.8). CONCLUSION: Inflammatory environment in mothers with pre-existing risk factors like obesity, poverty, and prematurity renders offspring more susceptible to neurologic morbidities.

Feeding and developmental outcomes after neonatal seizures-A prospective observational study.

Objective: Among neonates with acute symptomatic seizures, we evaluated whether inability to take full feeds at time of hospital discharge from neonatal seizure admission is associated with worse neurodevelopmental outcomes, after adjusting for relevant clinical variables. Methods: This prospective, 9-center study of the Neonatal Seizure Registry (NSR) assessed characteristics of infants with seizures including: evidence of brainstem injury on MRI, mode of feeding upon discharge, and developmental outcomes at 12, 18, and 24 months. Inability to take oral feeds was identified through review of medical records. Brainstem injury was identified through central review of neonatal MRIs. Developmental outcomes were assessed with the Warner Initial Developmental Evaluation of Adaptive and Functional Skills (WIDEA-FS) at 12, 18, and 24 months corrected age. Results: Among 276 infants, inability to achieve full oral feeds was associated with lower total WIDEA-FS scores (160.2±25.5 for full oral feeds vs. 121.8±42.9 for some/no oral feeds at 24 months, p<0.001). At 12 months, a G-tube was required for 23 of the 49 (47%) infants who did not achieve full oral feeds, compared with 2 of the 221 (1%) who took full feeds at discharge (p<0.001). Conclusions: Inability to take full oral feeds upon hospital discharge is an objective clinical sign that can identify infants with acute symptomatic neonatal seizures who are at high risk for impaired development at 24 months.

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing Populus water use: A literature review.

Poplars (Populus L. spp.) are versatile, productive trees that are used in environmental systems worldwide to provide a variety of benefits. Though poplars are recognized for their elevated water use, summaries of existing data on poplar water use, its influencing factors, and the methodologies used to measure it, are lacking. We sought to 1) summarize the sap flow methodologies used to quantify poplar water use, 2) review sap flow-derived water use data reported in the literature for Populus hybrids and non-hybrids, and 3) assess the effects of different intrinsic factors (plant variables) and extrinsic factors (environmental variables) on poplar water use. We identified 133 articles containing information on the methodologies used to measure poplar sap flow. Of these, the thermal dissipation method was used in a majority (55%) of the studies. Poplar water use data were reported in 51 of the articles, with studies taking place in 13 countries, and representing the time period of 1992-2018. Hybrids were studied in 18 articles and included 17 genotypes, while non-hybrids were studied in 33 articles, and included eight species. Hybrid poplar water use ranged from 0.7 to 11.3 mm day-1, with an overall mean of 2.7 ± 0.3 mm day-1. Non-hybrid water use ranged from 0.2 to 19.5 mm day-1 with an average of 2.8 ± 0.4 mm day-1. Hybrid poplar water use differed significantly among hybrid types, tree age classes, and water availability classes, and non-hybrid water use was significantly different among species, experimental context, and water availability classes. While we focused on poplar water use measured by sap flow methodologies, this review builds the foundation for a comprehensive summary of available poplar water use information that has been reported in the literature. Our results on the factors influencing poplar water use can be used to aid in the decision-making process when designing poplar-based environmental systems such as remediation, bioenergy, and agroforestry systems.