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Maternal depression in the prenatal and postpartum periods is an important concern for women, infants, and families. Military family life may create some unique stressors, including operational deployment of an active duty husband, which increase perinatal depression challenges for women. This study examined depression screening scores, based on a modified Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale, among women receiving obstetric care at a military hospital serving a Navy and Marine Corps community. Among 3,882 surveys collected between 2007 and 2009 from women at various points in their prenatal or postpartum care, the proportion with scores indicative of high risk for clinical depression was relatively low at 4.6%. However, scores were significantly higher at the initial obstetric visit among women who reported their husband as currently deployed, and scores were significantly higher at the postpartum visit among women who reported their husband as currently deployed or planning to deploy. These results underscore the importance of evaluating all aspects of the military family life experience when providing perinatal care to women in military families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To achieve hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination targets, simplified care engaging people who inject drugs is required. We evaluated whether fingerstick HCV RNA point-of-care testing (PoCT) increased the proportion of clients attending a supervised injecting facility who were tested for hepatitis C., Methods: Prospective single-arm study with recruitment between 9 November 2020 and 28 January 2021 and follow-up to 31 July 2021. Clients attending the supervised injecting facility were offered HCV RNA testing using the Xpert® HCV Viral Load Fingerstick (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA) PoCT. Participants with a positive HCV RNA test were prescribed direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy. The primary endpoint was the proportion of clients who engaged in HCV RNA PoCT, compared to a historical comparator group when venepuncture-based hepatitis C testing was standard of care., Results: Among 1618 clients who attended the supervised injecting facility during the study period, 228 (14%) engaged in PoCT. This was significantly higher than that observed in the historical comparator group (61/1,775, 3%; p < 0.001). Sixty-five (28%) participants were HCV RNA positive, with 40/65 (62%) receiving their result on the same day as testing. Sixty-one (94%) HCV RNA positive participants were commenced on DAA therapy; 14/61 (23%) started treatment on the same day as diagnosis. There was no difference in the proportion of HCV RNA positive participants commenced on treatment with DAA therapy when compared to the historical comparator group (61/65, 94% vs 22/26, 85%; p = 0.153). However, the median time to treatment initiation was significantly shorter in the PoCT cohort (2 days (IQR 1-20) vs 41 days (IQR 22-76), p < 0.001). Among participants who commenced treatment and had complete follow-up data available, 27/36 (75%) achieved hepatitis C cure., Conclusions: HCV RNA PoCT led to a significantly higher proportion of clients attending a supervised injecting facility engaging in hepatitis C testing, whilst also reducing the time to treatment initiation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: MM has received honoraria for speaking duties for Gilead Sciences. MS has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie and consultant fees from Gilead Sciences for activities unrelated to this work. MH has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie. JSD's institution has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie, and honoraria for speaking from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie. AP has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie, and honoraria for speaking duties from Gilead Sciences. RJW has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences. JAH has received honoraria for speaking duties from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie, as well as investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences, AbbVie, Cook Medical, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. AJT has received consulting fees from Gilead, Abbvie, Roche, BMS, Merck, Immunocore, Janssen, Assembly Biosciences, Arbutus, Eisai, Ipsen and Bayer, speaker fees from Gilead Sciences, and investigator-initiated grants from Gilead Sciences., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

An elastic biopolymer, resilin possesses exceptional qualities such as high stretchability and resilience. Such attributes are utilized in nature by many species for mechanical energy storage to facilitate movement. The properties of resilin are attributed to the balanced combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments. To mimic the properties of resilin, we developed a hydrogel system composed of hydrophilic acrylic acid (AAc) and methacrylamide (MAM) chains and hydrophobic poly(propylene glycol diacrylate) (PPGDA) chains. The gel was produced through free-radical polymerization in 0.8 M NaCl solutions using KPS as an initiator. In these gels, AAc and MAM can form hydrogen bonds, whereas the association between PPGDA chains can lead to hydrophobic domains. The PPGDA concentration affects the level of hydrogen bonding and gel mechanical properties. Tensile experiments revealed that the elastic modulus increased with a higher PPGDA concentration. Retraction experiments demonstrated increased velocity and acceleration when released from a stretched state with increasing PPGDA concentration. Swelling and deswelling of gels in saline solutions led to a change in mechanical properties and retraction behavior. This study shows that the stretchability and resilience of these hydrogels can be adjusted by changing the concentration of hydrophobic components.

Currently, mortality and morbidity rates for preweaning calves in the US dairy industry are high, with the major cause being digestive disorders and respiratory diseases. One of the most important management practices that can reduce calf mortalities and morbidities is the feeding of colostrum, provided its quantity, quality, and cleanliness, and timing of feeding are according to recommendations. However, other management practices similar to transportation, can also compromise calf health and production performance. When preweaning calves are transported, stressors similar to physical restraint, commingling, dehydration, bruising, and pain may lead to an inflammatory response and immunosuppression, which has been seen in older cattle, and could increase susceptibility to digestive disorders and respiratory diseases. One strategy that could potentially reduce transport-related negative outcomes is the pretransport administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as meloxicam. This review provides a brief background on preweaning mortality and morbidity, colostrum management, transport-related stress, use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in transported calves, and highlights some of the current knowledge gaps., (© 2023, The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. and Fass Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of testing and treating people who inject drugs at a supervised injecting facility for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting, Participants: People who inject drugs who attended the Melbourne supervised injecting facility, 30 June 2018 - 30 June 2020., Main Outcome Measures: Proportion of people tested for hepatitis C; proportions of people positive for anti-HCV antibody and HCV RNA, and of eligible people prescribed direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment; sustained virological response twelve weeks or more after treatment completion., Results: Of 4649 people who attended the supervised injecting facility during 2018-20, 321 were tested for hepatitis C (7%); 279 were anti-HCV antibody-positive (87%), of whom 143 (51%) were also HCV RNA-positive. Sixty-four of 321 had previously been treated for hepatitis C (20%), 21 had clinically identified cirrhosis (7%), eight had hepatitis B infections (2%), and four had human immunodeficiency virus infections (1%). In multivariate analyses, people tested for hepatitis C were more likely than untested clients to report psychiatric illness (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 9.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.26-12.8), not have a fixed address (aOR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.18-2.14), and to report significant alcohol use (aOR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.06-2.32). The median number of injecting facility visits was larger for those tested for hepatitis C (101; interquartile range [IQR], 31-236) than for those not tested (20; IQR, 3-90). DAA treatment was prescribed for 126 of 143 HCV RNA-positive clients (88%); 41 of 54 with complete follow-up data were cured (76%)., Conclusions: People who attend supervised injecting facilities can be tested and treated for hepatitis C on site. Models that provide streamlined, convenient hepatitis C care promote engagement with treatment in a group in which the prevalence of hepatitis C is high., (© 2023 The Authors. Medical Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AMPCo Pty Ltd.)

Purpose: Assessing fluid output for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit is essential to understanding fluid and electrolyte balance. Wet diaper weights are used as standard practice to quantify fluid output; yet, diaper changes are intrusive and physiologically distressing. Less frequent diaper changes may have physiologic benefits but could alter diaper weights following extended intervals., Methods: This pilot study examined the impact of initial diaper fluid volume, incubator air temperature and humidity, and diaper brand on wet diaper weight over time. Baseline fluid volume was instilled, and then diapers were placed in a neonatal incubator. Wet diaper weight was assessed longitudinally to determine changes in fluid volume over time. A factorial design with repeated measures (baseline, 3 hours, and 6 hours) was used to explore the effects of diaper brand (brand 1 vs brand 2), baseline fluid volume (3 mL vs 5 mL), and incubator temperature (28°C vs 36°C) and humidity (40% vs 80%) on the trajectory of weight in 80 diapers., Results: Wet diaper weight was significantly reduced over 6 hours ( P < .005). However, wet diaper weight increased in 80% humidity, but decreased in the 40% humidity over time ( P < .0001). Baseline fluid volume, incubator temperature, and diaper brand did not influence wet diaper weight over time (all P > .05)., Implications: Understanding environmental factors that influence the trajectory of wet diaper weight may support clinicians in optimizing the interval for neonatal diaper changes to balance the impact of intrusive care with need to understand fluid volume loss., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 by The National Association of Neonatal Nurses.)

Background: Escherichia coli is one of the most common causes of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs); multidrug resistance reduces available options for antibiotic treatment. We examined factors associated with the spread of multidrug-resistant E. coli phenotypes responsible for device- and procedure-related HAIs from acute care hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities, using isolate and antimicrobial susceptibility data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network during 2013-2017., Methods: We used multivariable logistic regression to examine associations between co-resistant phenotypes, patient and healthcare facility characteristics, and time. We also examined the geographic distribution of co-resistant phenotypes each year by state and by hospital referral region to identify hot spots., Results: A total of 96 672 E. coli isolates were included. Patient median age was 62 years, and 60% were female; more than half (54%) were reported from catheter-associated urinary tract infections. From 2013 to 2017, 35% of the isolates were nonsusceptible to fluoroquinolones (FQs), 17% to extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs), and 13% to both ESCs and FQs. The proportion of isolates co-resistant to ESCs and FQs was higher in 2017 (14%) than in 2013 (11%) (P < .0001); overall prevalence and increases were heterogeneously distributed across healthcare referral regions. Co-resistance to FQs and ESCs was independently associated with male sex, central line-associated bloodstream infections, long-term acute care hospitals, and the 2016-2017 (vs 2013-2014) reporting period., Conclusions: Multidrug resistance among E. coli causing device- and procedure-related HAIs has increased in the United States. FQ and ESC co-resistant strains appear to be spreading heterogeneously across hospital referral regions., (Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2020.)