The Association of Hearing Loss with Hospitalization.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with hearing loss (HL) are at higher risk for hospitalizations, and may be for readmissions, compared with their hearing peers. The objective of this prospective study was to confirm retrospective studies suggesting that HL increases hospital readmissions, and, if confirmed, possible causes for it. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of English-speaking patients >55 years old admitted to general medical and surgical floors at 2 large hospital systems in southeastern Michigan over a 2-year period was conducted. All patients underwent bedside audiometric testing. HL presence and severity were categorized using World Health Organization pure tone assessment parameters. Readmission rates, Charlson comorbidity index, socio-demographic and medical variables were obtained from Epic EMR databases. OUTCOMES: There were 1247 hospitalized patients enrolled. Of these, 76.8% had documented HL of which 50.5% (630) was mild HL and 26.3% (328) moderate or worse HL. Patients with any HL were older and more likely to be non-Hispanic, white, male, and had less education, lower health literacy, more comorbidities, and more difficulty communicating with their doctor. Readmission rates at 30 and 90-days were similar between HL and hearing groups, after adjusting for HL severity, Charlston index, and numerous potential confounders. CONCLUSION: Patients with HL do not seem to have higher rates of hospital readmissions. We did find high frequency of HL in hospitalized patients along with significant communication difficulties that patients had with their clinicians. These findings have implications for measures to improve patient-physician communication, potentially improving long-term health outcomes.

Health Maintenance in School-Aged Children: Part I. History, Physical Examination, Screening, and Immunizations.

The goals of the health maintenance visit in school-aged children (five to 12 years) are promoting health, detecting disease, and counseling to prevent injury and future health problems. During the visit, the physician should address patient and parent/caregiver concerns and ask about emergency department or hospital care since the last visit; lifestyle habits (diet, physical activity, daily screen time, secondhand smoke exposure, hours of sleep per night, dental care, safety habits); and school performance. Poor school performance may indicate problems such as learning disabilities, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or bullying. Previsit questionnaires and psychosocial screening questionnaires are also useful. When performing a physical examination, the physician should be alert for signs of abuse. Children should be screened for obesity (defined as body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for age and sex), and obese children should be referred for intensive behavioral interventions. Although its recommendations are primarily based on expert opinion, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screening for hypertension annually, vision and hearing problems approximately every two years, and dyslipidemia once between nine and 11 years of age; regular screening for risk factors related to social determinants of health is also recommended. There is insufficient evidence to recommend routine screening for depression before 12 years of age, but depression should be considered in children younger than 12 years presenting with unexplained somatic symptoms, restlessness, separation anxiety, phobias, or hallucinations. Children living in areas with inadequate levels of fluoride in the water supply (0.6 ppm or less) should receive daily fluoride supplements. Age-appropriate immunizations should be given, as well as any catch-up immunizations.

Family Physicians and Provision of Immediate Postpartum Contraception: A CERA Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) support the provision of intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the contraceptive implant to women immediately after childbirth. We aimed to assess perceived training needs and barriers to immediate postpartum contraceptive service delivery among US family physicians. METHODS: We contributed items regarding postpartum contraception to the 2015 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) omnibus survey of a national cohort of family medicine educators. We assessed self-estimated adequacy of training to insert IUDs and implants immediately postpartum, how often these services are provided, and barriers to service provision. RESULTS: Our sample of 409 respondents who provide labor and delivery maternity care was primarily Caucasian (79.9%) and female (56.0%). Significantly fewer respondents felt comfortable counseling about long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), inserting an IUD, and inserting an implant immediately postpartum compared to at 6+ weeks postpartum (all comparisons P<0.001). Fewer respondents felt adequately trained to insert an immediate postpartum IUD (36.4%) than an implant (58.7%; P<0.001). Most respondents had never placed an immediate postpartum IUD (81.17%) or implant (80.1%). Device unavailability was the most commonly cited reason for never having placed an immediate postpartum IUD (67.8%) or implant (71.2%) at one's institution. CONCLUSIONS: As reimbursement for immediate postpartum contraception becomes more common, family physicians are on the front lines to make these services available to patients who desire them. Training is necessary to enable family physicians to provide this evidence-based option to women.

Early initiation of postpartum contraception: does it decrease rapid repeat pregnancy in adolescents?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Rapid repeat adolescent pregnancy is a significant public health concern. An effective and practical means of decreasing unintended second adolescent pregnancies needs to be identified. The objective of this study is to determine if early initiation of contraception, and in particular long acting reversible contraception (LARC), decreases rapid repeat pregnancy among first time adolescent mothers. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Urban teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: 340 first-time adolescent mothers age ≤ 19. INTERVENTIONS: None, study was retrospective. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Repeat pregnancy within 2 years. RESULTS: 340 first time adolescent mothers with a documented follow-up time of 2 years had a repeat pregnancy rate of 35%. Average time from delivery to repeat pregnancy was 9.9 ± 6.4 months. Logistic regression analysis comparing adolescents with and without repeat pregnancy revealed that leaving the hospital postpartum without initiating any contraception was associated with significant increase risk of repeat pregnancy (OR = 2.447, 95% CI 1.326-4.515). Follow-up within 8 weeks postpartum was associated with lower chance of repeat pregnancy (OR = 0.322, 95% CI 0.172-0.603). Initiation of a LARC method (either an intrauterine device or etonogestrel subdermal implant) by 8 weeks postpartum was also associated with decreased chance of rapid repeat pregnancy (OR = 0.118, 95% CI 0.035-0.397). CONCLUSION: Adolescent mothers who initiate a LARC method within 8 weeks of delivery are less likely to have a repeat pregnancy within 2 years than those who choose other methods or no method. First time adolescent mothers should be counseled about this advantage of using LARC.

Oxidative stress and successful antioxidant treatment in models of RYR1-related myopathy.

The skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor is an essential component of the excitation-contraction coupling apparatus. Mutations in RYR1 are associated with several congenital myopathies (termed RYR1-related myopathies) that are the most common non-dystrophic muscle diseases of childhood. Currently, no treatments exist for these disorders. Although the primary pathogenic abnormality involves defective excitation-contraction coupling, other abnormalities likely play a role in disease pathogenesis. In an effort to discover novel pathogenic mechanisms, we analysed two complementary models of RYR1-related myopathies, the relatively relaxed zebrafish and cultured myotubes from patients with RYR1-related myopathies. Expression array analysis in the zebrafish disclosed significant abnormalities in pathways associated with cellular stress. Subsequent studies focused on oxidative stress in relatively relaxed zebrafish and RYR1-related myopathy myotubes and demonstrated increased oxidant activity, the presence of oxidative stress markers, excessive production of oxidants by mitochondria and diminished survival under oxidant conditions. Exposure to the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine reduced oxidative stress and improved survival in the RYR1-related myopathies human myotubes ex vivo and led to significant restoration of aspects of muscle function in the relatively relaxed zebrafish, thereby confirming its efficacy in vivo. We conclude that oxidative stress is an important pathophysiological mechanism in RYR1-related myopathies and that N-acetylcysteine is a successful treatment modality ex vivo and in a vertebrate disease model. We propose that N-acetylcysteine represents the first potential therapeutic strategy for these debilitating muscle diseases.

Roles for endocytosis and low pH in herpes simplex virus entry into HeLa and Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection of many cultured cells, e.g., Vero cells, can be initiated by receptor binding and pH-neutral fusion with the cell surface. Here we report that a major pathway for HSV entry into the HeLa and CHO-K1 cell lines is dependent on endocytosis and exposure to a low pH. Enveloped virions were readily detected in HeLa or receptor-expressing CHO cell vesicles by electron microscopy at <30 min postinfection. As expected, images of virus fusion with the Vero cell surface were prevalent. Treatment with energy depletion or hypertonic medium, which inhibits endocytosis, prevented uptake of HSV from the HeLa and CHO cell surface relative to uptake from the Vero cell surface. Incubation of HeLa and CHO cells with the weak base ammonium chloride or the ionophore monensin, which elevate the low pH of organelles, blocked HSV entry in a dose-dependent manner. Noncytotoxic concentrations of these agents acted at an early step during infection by HSV type 1 and 2 strains. Entry mediated by the HSV receptor HveA, nectin-1, or nectin-2 was also blocked. As analyzed by fluorescence microscopy, lysosomotropic agents such as the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase inhibitor bafilomycin A1 blocked the delivery of virus capsids to the nuclei of the HeLa and CHO cell lines but had no effect on capsid transport in Vero cells. The results suggest that HSV can utilize two distinct entry pathways, depending on the type of cell encountered.