Comment on the 2023 Guidelines for the Management of Patients With Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage can be a devastating disease, with an in-hospital mortality rate of up to 20%. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association 2023 Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Guidelines provide a comprehensive update to the 2012 Guidelines based on a systematic review of the intervening evidence. The guidelines are broad in scope, covering prehospital care, aneurysm treatment modality, medical complications, detection and treatment of delayed cerebral ischemia, and recovery. Here, we comment on salient aspects of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage care, compare these guidelines with the 2023 Neurocritical Care aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage guidelines, and review relevant updates.

Brain death: a clinical overview.

Brain death, also commonly referred to as death by neurologic criteria, has been considered a legal definition of death for decades. Its determination involves many considerations and subtleties. In this review, we discuss the philosophy and history of brain death, its clinical determination, and special considerations. We discuss performance of the main clinical components of the brain death exam: assessment of coma, cranial nerves, motor testing, and apnea testing. We also discuss common ancillary tests, including advantages and pitfalls. Special discussion is given to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, target temperature management, and determination of brain death in pediatric populations. Lastly, we discuss existing controversies and future directions in the field.

Admission Lymphocytopenia is Associated with Urinary Tract Infection and Nosocomial Infections in Hemorrhagic Stroke.

OBJECTIVE: Growing evidence suggests that lymphocytopenia on admission (LOA) is associated with infectious complications and poor outcomes in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Whether LOA preferentially increases the risk for community acquired infections or nosocomial infections is unknown. This study investigates the relationship between LOA and nosocomial infections in a cohort of patients with ICH in a safety-net hospital. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a single center, observational, retrospective study of 213 patients with non-traumatic ICH admitted to the neurocritical care unit between 2008 and 2014. Patients' clinical, demographic, lab and radiologic data were retrieved from institutional electronic medical records. Nosocomial infection was defined as clinical onset 48 h after admission. RESULTS: Prevalence of LOA was 24.8%. Patients with LOA showed significant associations with mechanical ventilation (67.9% versus 49.4%; p= 0.019), higher median ICH score (2 versus 1; p=0.006), nosocomial infection (43.4% versus 28.0%; p=0.038), nosocomial UTI (24.5% versus 8.9%; p=0.003). Adjusting for baseline covariates in a multivariate logistic regression, we observed an association of LOA with nosocomial UTI (OR, 3.66 [95% CI, 1.36-9.88], p=0.010). From the Cox proportional model, patients with LOA had 1.76 times the hazard of developing of nosocomial infection, compared to those without LOA ([95% CI: 1.01, 3.07], p=0.046) and had 3.27 times the hazard of developing nosocomial UTI, compared to those without LOA ([95% CI: 1.39, 7.67], p=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to show that LOA is associated with nosocomial urinary tract infections and significantly shorter times to develop nosocomial infections.

Patterns in Vegetable Consumption: Implications for Tailored School Meal Interventions.

BACKGROUND: Vegetable consumption is a challenging behavioral target; consumption rates are below recommended levels and when interventions produce improvements, increases in vegetable consumption are typically a fraction of the change in fruit consumption. We describe vegetable consumption within Ohio school meals and examine how fruit selection, the more popular item, impacts vegetable consumption. METHODS: Fruit and vegetable waste was collected on 11,250 trays from 17 elementary and 16 middle/high schools, using the quarter-waste visualization method. RESULTS: One in 4 students ate at least a one-fourth of a cup of vegetables with their school lunch. Consumption was the highest (30.8%) in elementary school buildings with a majority of regular priced meals. Fruit selection was associated with vegetable consumption (p < .001). Middle/high school students who consumed a fruit were 88% more likely to consume a vegetable as oppose to waste it (95% CI: 1.45-2.42). Fruit selection was also associated with not selecting a vegetable, but the association was of a lower magnitude (odds ratio 1.32; 95% CI: 1.06-1.64). Trends were similar in elementary schools. CONCLUSIONS: Fruit and vegetable consumption should be approached as 2 distinct behaviors with particular attention given to vegetables. Fruit items can be leveraged, though, as a means to encourage vegetable selection.

Engineering Escherichia coli into a protein delivery system for mammalian cells.

Many Gram-negative pathogens encode type 3 secretion systems, sophisticated nanomachines that deliver proteins directly into the cytoplasm of mammalian cells. These systems present attractive opportunities for therapeutic protein delivery applications; however, their utility has been limited by their inherent pathogenicity. Here, we report the reengineering of a laboratory strain of Escherichia coli with a tunable type 3 secretion system that can efficiently deliver heterologous proteins into mammalian cells, thereby circumventing the need for virulence attenuation. We first introduced a 31 kB region of Shigella flexneri DNA that encodes all of the information needed to form the secretion nanomachine onto a plasmid that can be directly propagated within E. coli or integrated into the E. coli chromosome. To provide flexible control over type 3 secretion and protein delivery, we generated plasmids expressing master regulators of the type 3 system from either constitutive or inducible promoters. We then constructed a Gateway-compatible plasmid library of type 3 secretion sequences to enable rapid screening and identification of sequences that do not perturb function when fused to heterologous protein substrates and optimized their delivery into mammalian cells. Combining these elements, we found that coordinated expression of the type 3 secretion system and modified target protein substrates produces a nonpathogenic strain that expresses, secretes, and delivers heterologous proteins into mammalian cells. This reengineered system thus provides a highly flexible protein delivery platform with potential for future therapeutic applications.

Use of community engagement strategies to increase research participation in practice-based research networks (PBRNs).

PURPOSE: Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) are increasingly encouraged to use community engagement approaches. The extent to which PBRNs engage clinic and community partners in strategies to recruit and retain participants from their local communities (specifically racial/ethnic communities) is the focus of this study. METHODS: The design was a cross-sectional survey of PBRN directors in the United States. Survey respondents indicated whether their research network planned for, implemented, and has capacity for activities that engage clinic and community partners in 7 recommended strategies organized into study phases, called the cycle of trust. The objectives of the national survey were to (1) describe the extent to which PBRNs across the United States routinely implement the strategies recommended for recruiting diverse patient groups and (2) identify factors associated with implementing the recommended strategies. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 63%. Activities that build trust often are used more with clinic partners than with community partners. PBRNs that adopt engagement strategies when working with clinic and community partners have less difficulty in recruiting diverse populations. Multivariate analysis showed that the targeting racial/ethnic communities for study recruitment, Clinical and Translational Science Award affiliation, and planning to use community engagement strategies were independent correlates of PBRN implementation of the recommended strategies. CONCLUSION: PBRNs that successfully engage racial/ethnic communities as research partners use community engagement strategies. New commitments are needed to support PBRN researchers in developing relationships with the communities in which their patients live. Stable PBRN infrastructure funding that appreciates the value of maintaining community engagement between funded studies is critical to the research enterprise that values translating research findings into generalizable care models for patients in the community.

Hirano bodies differentially modulate cell death induced by tau and the amyloid precursor protein intracellular domain.

BACKGROUND: Hirano bodies are actin-rich paracrystalline inclusions found in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and in normal aged individuals. Although studies of post-mortem brain tissue provide clues of etiology, the physiological function of Hirano bodies remains unknown. A cell culture model was utilized to study the interactions of mutant tau proteins, model Hirano bodies, and GSK3ß in human astrocytoma cells. RESULTS: Most tau variants showed co-localization with model Hirano bodies. Cosedimentation assays revealed this interaction may be direct, as recombinant purified forms of tau are all capable of binding F-actin. Model Hirano bodies had no effect or enhanced cell death induced by tau in the absence of amyloid precursor protein intracellular domain (AICD). In the presence of AICD and tau, synergistic cell death was observed in most cases, and model Hirano bodies decreased this synergistic cell death, except for forms of tau that caused significant cell death in the presence of Hirano bodies only. A role for the kinase GSK3ß is suggested by the finding that a dominant negative form of GSK3ß reduces this synergistic cell death. A subset of Hirano bodies in brain tissue of both Alzheimer's disease and normal aged individuals was found to contain tau, with some Hirano bodies in Alzheimer's disease brains containing hyperphosphorylated tau. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate a complex interaction between tau and AICD involving activation of GSK3ß in promoting cell death, and the ability of Hirano bodies to modulate this process.

Cultivating a cycle of trust with diverse communities in practice-based research: a report from PRIME Net.

PURPOSE: Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) are increasingly seen as important vehicles to translate research into practice, although less is known about the process of engaging diverse communities in PBRN research. The objective of this study was to identify strategies for successfully recruiting and retaining diverse racial/ethnic communities into PBRN research studies. METHODS: This collaborative, multisite study engaged 5 of the 8 networks of the PRImary care MultiEthnic Network (PRIME Net) consortium that conducts research with traditionally underrepresented/underserved populations. We used a sequential, qualitative research design. We first conducted 1 key informant interview with each of 24 researchers experienced in recruiting research participants from 5 racial/ethnic communities (African American, Arab/Chaldean, Chinese, Hispanic, and Native American). Subsequently, we conducted 18 focus groups with 172 persons from these communities. RESULTS: Participants' comments indicated that successful recruitment and retention of underrepresented populations in PBRN studies is linked to the overall research process. This process, which we termed the cycle of trust, entailed developing and sustaining relationships of trust during 4 interrelated stages: before the study, during study recruitment, throughout study conduct, and after study completion. Participants identified a set of flexible strategies within each stage and called for close engagement with clinic and community partners. CONCLUSIONS: Our participants suggest that approaches to research that lay a foundation of trust, demonstrate respect for community members, and extend beyond the enrollment and data collection phases are essential to enhance the participation of diverse populations in PBRN research. These findings offer the PBRN community a guide toward achieving this important goal.

Correlates of mothers' perception of their communities' social capital: a community-based study.

Psychosocial issues have been recognized as important factors in children's health for decades. This study documents the relation among several important psychosocial variables (e.g., mothers' depressive symptoms) and a new instrument that assesses parents' perception of their communities' social capital. Mothers were recruited from their children's primary care (PC) pediatricians' offices within the Southwestern Ohio Ambulatory Research Network or from a children's hospital developmental clinic (DC). Mothers completed a questionnaire that included the Social Capital Scale (SCS), Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener (CSHCNS), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Maternal Social Support Index and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Mothers were sorted into three subgroups based on site of recruitment (PC or DC) and results of the CSHCNS. The sample (N = 620) was also sorted into terciles based on SCS scores. Mean SCS was about 73 for each of the three subgroups. Compared to mothers in the highest SCS tercile, mothers in the lowest SCS tercile reported lower education, lower income and higher CES-D median scores. The SCS subscale "sense of belonging" had an inverse correlation with CES-D scores (r = -.248, p < 0.001). Mothers from primary care and sub-specialty clinics had similar perceptions about their communities' social capital. Compared to mothers in the highest one third of SCS scores, mothers in the lowest one third were more likely to report less education and income as well as more depressive symptoms. A decreased sense of belonging in their communities was also correlated with more depressive symptoms. The SCS is a new useful tool for investigators and clinicians who work with children and their families.

Parents' perspectives on their children's health insurance: plight of the underinsured.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and correlates of children's underinsurance within a primary care, practice-based research network. STUDY DESIGN: A survey of 13 practices within the Southwestern Ohio Ambulatory Research Network using the Medical Expenses for Children Survey in 2009 and 2010 yielded a sample of 2972 parents of children >6 months old with health insurance in the previous 12 months. Data were analyzed using bivariate and loglinear model analyses. RESULTS: Of the study children, 17.2% were classified as underinsured because of their inability to pay for ≥ 1 of their pediatrician's recommendations for care in the past 12 months. In addition, 15.5% reported it was harder to get medical care for their child in the past 3 years, and 6.5% indicated that their child's health had suffered. Multivariate analysis reveals complex relationships among the 3 factors related to ability to obtain care and between these factors and sociodemographic and health status factors. Across education and income categories, the underinsured rate ranged from 57% to 93% for parents who reported their child's health had suffered. CONCLUSIONS: One in 6 parents reported that their child was underinsured. A similar percentage reported that it had become more difficult to get needed medical care over the past 3 years. The relationship between the perception that an underinsured child's health has suffered is much stronger for the highest socioeconomic category in this sample than for the other categories; 93% of these families were underinsured in 2009. It is possible that high deductible features of insurance plans contribute to these circumstances.

Mothers with positive or negative depression screens evaluate a maternal resource guide.

INTRODUCTION: Social isolation is common in mothers with high depressive symptoms. This study tested the hypothesis that a maternal resource guide that provided mothers with links to community human service agencies would be deemed more helpful by mothers with positive depression screens (PDS) compared with mothers with negative depression screens (NDS). METHOD: This investigation was a cross-sectional survey study of a convenience sample from a primary care practice-based research network, the Southwestern Ohio Ambulatory Research Network (SOAR-Net). English-speaking mothers who took their child(ren) to SOAR-Net practices were eligible to participate in the study. Data were collected between May 2006 and March 2009. A total of 1048 mothers completed the survey, and 234 mothers refused to participate. RESULTS: Mothers were more likely to report that "This guide is helpful to me" if they were single (odds ratio [OR] = 4.05; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.77-5.94), their child had public health insurance (OR = 3.59; 95% CI: 2.39-5.40), or they had PDS (OR = 3.57; 95% CI: 2.13-5.98). After adjusting for a number of demographic variables, PDS continued to be significantly associated with "This guide is helpful to me" (adjusted OR = 2.68; 95% CI: 1.58-4.56). DISCUSSION: Mothers with PDS were more likely to report that the maternal resource guide would be personally helpful compared with mothers with NDS.

Bexar County's dental safety net for children: an estimate of our capacity and need.

BACKGROUND: It has been well established that poor uninsured children lack access to dental care and have greater dental needs than their insured counterparts. OBJECTIVE: To assess the capacity of the Bexar County dental safety net to treat children. To assess the dental needs of Bexar County children ages 0-18 who are uninsured or are Medicaid or Texas Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) recipients. METHODS: Dental clinics that treat children ages 0-18 and act as the safety net were identified in order to assess their capacity to treat children. Clinic directors were contacted to request data on the number of child patient encounters per clinic for 2005. Data from the census, NHANES and other sources were used to establish an estimate of the dental needs of the uninsured and Medicaid/CHIP children. The dental needs of this population were calculated as maximum possible number of patient encounters per year. RESULTS: The capacity of the current safety net to treat children is 33,537 patient encounters per year. The dental needs of the community are 227,124 patient encounters per year. CONCLUSION: The results of the study suggest that the Bexar County is not prepared to treat the dental needs of the underserved children in San Antonio.

Initiation of and barriers to prenatal care use among low-income women in San Antonio, Texas.

Healthy People 2010 goals set a target of 90% of mothers starting prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. While there are questions about the value of prenatal care (PNC), there is much observational evidence of the benefits of PNC including reduction in maternal, fetal, perinatal, and infant deaths. The objective of this study was to understand barriers to PNC as well as factors that impact early initiation of care among low-income women in San Antonio, Texas. A survey study was conducted among low-income women seeking care at selected public health clinics in San Antonio. Interviews were conducted with 444 women. Study results show that women with social barriers, those who were less educated, who were living alone (i.e. without an adult partner or spouse), or who had not planned their pregnancies were more likely to initiate PNC late in their pregnancies. It was also observed that women who enrolled in the WIC program were more likely to initiate PNC early in their pregnancies. Women who initiated PNC late in pregnancy had the highest odds of reporting service-related barriers to receiving care. However, financial and personal barriers created no significant obstacles to women initiating PNC. The majority of women in this study reported that they were aware of the importance of PNC, knew where to go for care during pregnancy, and were able to pay for care through financial assistance, yet some did not initiate early prenatal care. This clearly establishes that the decision making process regarding PNC is complex. It is important that programs consider the complexity of the decision-making process and the priorities women set during pregnancy in planning interventions, particularly those that target low-income women. This could increase the likelihood that these women will seek PNC early in their pregnancies.

Neighborhood economic conditions, social processes, and self-rated health in low-income neighborhoods in Texas: a multilevel latent variables model.

This paper develops and tests a comprehensive model to explain the relationships of neighborhood economic indicators to multiple dimensions of neighborhood social and physical organization as well as the pathways through which neighborhood social and physical characteristics influence individual health outcomes. We hypothesized that neighborhood poverty would be associated with lower collective efficacy, lower social capital, higher degrees of social and physical disorder, worse social processes pertaining to children such as trust, and higher degrees of fear of crime and racism. Neighborhood social and physical characteristics were hypothesized to mediate the effect of neighborhood poverty on self-rated health, both directly and indirectly through their influence on neighborhood differences in social support and health behaviors, which in turn affect individual health. The results, based on data from low-income neighborhoods in Texas, USA generally supported the model and indicated that the effect of neighborhood impoverishment on health is mediated by social and physical neighborhood characteristics.

Contributions of social context to inequalities in years of life lost to heart disease in Texas, USA.

Several recent articles have pointed to the effect of social context on heart disease mortality after adjusting for individual level indicators. This study investigates the contributions of individual socioeconomic factors (sex, race, and education) and social context at the neighborhood level (wealth, education, social capital, and racial/ethnic composition), and the county level (social inequality, human and social capital, economic and demographic characteristics) on premature cardiovascular mortality. Death certificate information was obtained for all those who died of heart disease in Texas, USA, in 1991. Deaths were geocoded to obtain block-group, census tract, and county social context from the census. Multilevel hierarchical models quantified the contributions of individual characteristics and block-group, tract, and county social context on years of potential life lost to heart disease. Cross-level analyses investigated the interaction between individual and contextual factors. Being female, having more education, and residing in areas with higher median house value were associated with less premature mortality. Although blacks and Hispanics lost more years of life to heart disease than whites, blacks and Hispanics living in tracts with higher own racial/ethnic group density lost fewer years of life than their peers living in less homogenous tracts. At the county level, premature mortality was negatively associated with social capital. The tract and county level variances were statistically significant indicating the importance of social context to premature heart disease mortality. Plausible mechanisms through which these effects operate are explored. Social context at the block-group, tract, and county level played an important role, though a smaller role than individual factors, in explaining years of life lost to heart disease.

Community readiness to prevent intimate partner violence in Bexar County, Texas.

The purpose of this article is to describe the Community Readiness Model implemented by the San Antonio Safe Family Coalition in Bexar County, Texas, a coordinated community response to prevent intimate partner violence. The project used a participatory action process to (a) determine the city's and county's stage of readiness to prevent intimate partner violence; (b) identify differences in the city and county by dividing the area into sectors for the assessment; (c) engage the community in determining the accuracy and usefulness of the results of the assessment; (d) develop targeted strategies to move the city and county to a higher stage of readiness for prevention of intimate partner violence; and (e) evaluate the results of the project.