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Objective The aim of this study is to compare patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) management strategies and outcomes between the Neonatal Research Network of Japan (NRNJ) with proactive functional echocardiography and the Canadian Neonatal Network (CNN) with selective conventional echocardiography practice. Study Design Retrospective analyses examined very low-birth-weight infants admitted to the NRNJ or CNN in 2006 to 2008. Multivariable logistic regression analyses compared a composite outcome indicating a mortality or major morbidity (severe intraventricular hemorrhage, periventricular leukomalacia, severe retinopathy of prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or necrotizing enterocolitis) between networks, according to PDA diagnosis and treatment, and tested the association between PDA treatment and the composite outcome within networks. Results PDA treatment (NRNJ:CNN) with conservative management (8%:16%), indomethacin only (77%:59%), ligation only (1%:13%), or indomethacin and ligation (14%:13%) varied significantly between networks. The composite outcome was lower in NRNJ versus CNN only among infants with PDA (odds ratio: 0.70; 95% confidence interval: 0.62-0.80). Surgical ligation was associated with higher composite outcome only in CNN (odds ratio: 1.79; 95% confidence interval: 1.40-2.28). Conclusion Lower composite mortality/morbidity outcome in Japan versus Canada only among infants with PDA, and association of surgical ligation with higher mortality/ morbidity only in Canada, suggest differential PDAmanagement and ligation processes contribute to outcome variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In the literature, it is still unclear if the decisions for selecting the type of implant crown-retaining system are based on scientific-based research or if the Universities' choices, Implant marketing trends, or finances could have a major influence on the private dentists' decisions., Objectives: Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the crown-retaining system (cement- or screw-retained) used in dental schools and private dental practices., Methods: A 13-item questionnaire was sent to Canadian dental schools (n = 10) and dental offices in London (n = 298), Canada. The questionnaire included demographic questions and questions to reveal the dentists' perspectives on prosthetic implant treatment between the two-retaining systems. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression (p = 0.05)., Results: Twenty-four private dentists and five dental schools responded to the survey - 62.5% of private practitioners and 60% of universities reported using both systems. A trend was observed in using screw-retained systems by dentists who graduated 5-10 years ago. Straumann, Astra, and Nobel Biocare were the private practices and dental schools' preferred implant systems. The use of platform switching for all cases was selected by 54.2% of the private practitioners and 40% of the dental schools. Resin cement was the private practice's preferred cementation method; the dental schools used glass ionomer and zinc phosphate cement. The multinomial logistic regressions showed no statistical difference between the crown-retaining system chosen and the decision factors. The laboratory technician's recommendations and cost influenced the decision-making process for private dentists. For the universities, perio-restorative outcome, implant position, survival rates, institute preferences, and evidence-based research influenced the crown-retaining system's decision-making process.  CONCLUSION: The Canadian dental schools and private practice reported using both screw- and cement-retaining systems. However, there was a difference in the selection criteria as the universities showed a tendency towards a more research-based approach in their decision, while for the private practices, the technicians' recommendations and cost played a major role in the decision process. It was noted that the implant systems preconized by the Universities were observed to be used in private practices., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of Dental Education published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Dental Education Association.)

Purpose: Hospitalized patients with cancer who experience cardiopulmonary arrest have historically low survival rates. This retrospective cohort study describes outcomes of patients at a large Canadian cancer centre who had a "code medical emergency" activated, and the use of pragmatic criteria to identify patients with poor survival following resuscitation., Methods: We included hospitalized patients with cancer who had a "code blue" activated between January 2007 and December 2018. Our primary outcome was intensive care unit (ICU) mortality. We developed pragmatic criteria to identify patients with "poor prognosis" for survival from cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) based on disease status and candidacy for further cancer treatment. We used descriptive statistics to analyze the outcomes of poor prognosis patients., Results: Two hundred and twenty-five patients had a code blue activated. The median age was 61 yr, 52% were male, and 48% had a solid tumour. Overall, 173/225 (77%) patients survived the code blue; 164 were admitted to the ICU, where 49% (81/164) died; 31% survived to hospital discharge; and 16% (n = 27) were alive at one year. One hundred and twenty out of 225 (53%) required chest compressions; spontaneous circulation returned in 61% (73/120), and 12% (14/120) survived to hospital discharge. Patients meeting "poor prognosis" criteria (114, 51%) were more likely to die in the ICU (64% vs 35%; P < 0.001) or in hospital (86% vs 59%; P < 0.001), and more often had goals-of-care discussions prior to the code blue (46% vs 7%; P < 0.001). At one year, only 2% of poor prognosis patients were alive, compared with 24% of patients who did not meet any poor prognosis criteria., Conclusion: Hospitalized patients with cancer requiring CPR have poor hospital and long-term outcomes. The proposed set of pragmatic criteria may be useful to identify patients unlikely to benefit from CPR and life support, to trigger early goals of care discussions, and to avoid potentially goal-discordant interventions., (© 2023. Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the barriers and enablers to the use of web-based applications designed to help manage the personalized needs of older adults and their caregivers post-hip fracture surgery while transitioning from hospital to geriatric rehabilitation to home., Methods: This was a descriptive qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework. The study took place between March 2021 and April 2022 on an orthopaedic unit in a large academic health sciences centre and in a geriatric rehabilitation service in Ontario, Canada. The transcripts were analyzed using a systematic 6-step approach., Results: Interviews were conducted with older adults (n = 10) and with caregivers (n = 8) post-hip fracture surgery. A total of 21 barriers and 24 enablers were identified. The top two barriers were a need for basic computer skills (n = 11, 61.1%) and a preference for direct verbal communication (n = 10, 55.6%). The top two enablers were having no concerns with using web-based applications (n = 12, 66.7%) and having ease of access to information (n = 10, 55.6%)., Conclusion: We described the key barriers and enablers to the use of web-based applications from the perspectives of older adults and their caregivers. These factors will inform further developments of web-based applications aimed at improving the care transition from hospital to geriatric rehabilitation to home post-hip fracture surgery., Competing Interests: Dr Veronique French-Merkley reports grants from Ontario Ministry of Health, during the conduct of the study. The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2022 Backman et al.)

Recent rodent microbiome experiments suggest that besides Akkermansia, Parasutterella sp . are important in type 2 diabetes and obesity development. In the present translational human study, we aimed to characterize Parasutterella in our European cross-sectional FoCus cohort (n = 1,544) followed by validation of the major results in an independent Canadian cohort (n = 438). In addition, we examined Parasutterella abundance in response to a weight loss intervention (n = 55). Parasutterella was positively associated with BMI and type 2 diabetes independently of the reduced microbiome α/β diversity and low-grade inflammation commonly found in obesity. Nutritional analysis revealed a positive association with the dietary intake of carbohydrates but not with fat or protein consumption. Out of 126 serum metabolites differentially detectable by untargeted HPLC-based MS-metabolomics, L-cysteine showed the strongest reduction in subjects with high Parasutterella abundance. This is of interest, since Parasutterella is a known high L-cysteine consumer and L-cysteine is known to improve blood glucose levels in rodents. Furthermore, metabolic network enrichment analysis identified an association of high Parasutterella abundance with the activation of the human fatty acid biosynthesis pathway suggesting a mechanism for body weight gain. This is supported by a significant reduction of the Parasutterella abundance during our weight loss intervention. Together, these data indicate a role for Parasutterella in human type 2 diabetes and obesity, whereby the link to L-cysteine might be relevant in type 2 diabetes development and the link to the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway for body weight gain in response to a carbohydrate-rich diet in obesity development.

Background: Gender distribution within the managing bodies of the Canadian health authorities has not been studied despite their integral role in the health care system. The purpose of this study is to quantify gender differences and to craft a geographic gender analysis of such distribution. Methods: Retrospective data collection of all Canadian health authorities at the provincial, territorial, regional, and first nations levels was conducted. The dependent variable was gender, and other covariates, where applicable, included province/territory, region, leadership position, education (PhD or Master's), honorary degree, and primary occupation. Any member within the executive managing body or board of directors of a Canadian health authority was included, unless their gender could not be determined, in which case they were excluded. Results: Quantitative analysis of the 67 health authorities revealed 1346 individuals with identifiable gender (710 women; 636 men). Thematic distribution showed no significant difference in the gender distribution by provinces/territories (chi square = 14.248; p  = 0.28), by leadership position (chi square = 1.88; p  = 0.75), by education (chi square = 1.85; p  = 0.17), or by primary occupation (chi square = 1.53; p  = 0.46). Conclusion: The overall number of females exceeded that of males and there were no gender disparities. Critical analysis of probable causes was discussed. Further studies should be conducted to examine the policies and programs within the Canadian health authorities that successfully tackle the retention, recruitment, and promotion of females.

Despite rare cancers accounting for 25% of adult tumors 1 , they are difficult to study due to the low disease incidence and geographically dispersed patient populations, which has resulted in significant unmet clinical needs for patients with rare cancers. We assessed whether a patient-partnered research approach using online engagement can overcome these challenges, focusing on angiosarcoma, a sarcoma with an annual incidence of 300 cases in the United States. Here we describe the development of the Angiosarcoma Project (ASCproject), an initiative enabling US and Canadian patients to remotely share their clinical information and biospecimens for research. The project generates and publicly releases clinically annotated genomic data on tumor and germline specimens on an ongoing basis. Over 18 months, 338 patients registered for the ASCproject, which comprises a large proportion of all patients with angiosarcoma. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) of 47 tumors revealed recurrently mutated genes that included KDR, TP53, and PIK3CA. PIK3CA-activating mutations were observed predominantly in primary breast angiosarcoma, which suggested a therapeutic rationale. Angiosarcoma of the head, neck, face and scalp (HNFS) was associated with a high tumor mutation burden (TMB) and a dominant ultraviolet damage mutational signature, which suggested that for the subset of patients with angiosarcoma of HNFS, ultraviolet damage may be a causative factor and that immune checkpoint inhibition may be beneficial. Medical record review revealed that two patients with HNFS angiosarcoma had received off-label therapeutic use of antibody to the programmed death-1 protein (anti-PD-1) and had experienced exceptional responses, which highlights immune checkpoint inhibition as a therapeutic avenue for HNFS angiosarcoma. This patient-partnered approach has catalyzed an opportunity to discover the etiology and potential therapies for patients with angiosarcoma. Collectively, this proof-of-concept study demonstrates that empowering patients to directly participate in research can overcome barriers in rare diseases and can enable discoveries.

Objectives: In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on competency-based medical education (CBME) in Canada and internationally, as can be seen with the implementation of competency-based curriculums for postgraduate medical education (PGME) through the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Currently, no Canada-wide consensus exists on educational competencies relating to diabetes in undergraduate medical education (UGME). Our aim in this study was to develop a list of competencies and objectives for UGME in diabetes using a modified Delphi method., Methods: Representatives involved in the development of the diabetes curriculum at all 17 medical schools across Canada were contacted. A draft list of competencies and objectives was developed by the research team using the existing curriculums at 9 Canadian medical schools and was organized using the CanMEDS framework. A Delphi method was used, with 2 iterations in order to reach consensus., Results: Twelve of 17 medical schools agreed to participate. Of the 12 surveys sent in the first round, 8 responses were received (response rate 66.7%). The revised version was then resent to the 8 respondents and 7 responses were received (response rate 87.5%). A list of 9 competencies and 62 objectives was finalized., Conclusions: A competency-based consensus curriculum for diabetes education for undergraduate medical students was developed using a modified Delphi method. The final consensus syllabus will be disseminated across the country. This curriculum serves as a step in the transition to competency-based UGME and in ensuring that future medical school graduates are proficient in diabetes care., (Copyright © 2019 Canadian Diabetes Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Status epilepticus (SE) is a frequent admission diagnosis to paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and is associated with variable outcomes. We have audited our experience of patients presenting in SE at a Canadian PICU to determine unfavorable outcome variables., Methods: Charts of patients <18 years of age presenting in SE to a tertiary care PICU over a 10-year period were audited. Data were analyzed at three care-points: transport, the emergency department (ED) and the PICU. Patient outcome before PICU discharge was categorized as "favorable" for return to pre-status functioning level or "unfavorable" for new deficit/death. Student's t-test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used for analysis of normal and skewed continuous variables, respectively, and either Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables., Results: 189 patients (54% males) were identified with a median age of 1.9 years. Idiopathic SE had the highest incidence; infectious/vascular etiologies were associated with more unfavorable outcomes. Progression to refractory SE in the ED had a higher incidence of death (p<0.05). Patients with an unfavorable outcome had a higher incidence of apnea during transport (p=0.01), longer hospital stays (p<0.05), need for therapeutic coma (p=0.01), longer duration of therapeutic coma (p<0.05), need for mechanical ventilation (p<0.05), and recurrent or refractory seizures during inpatient stay (p<0.05). Multivariate analysis of unfavorable outcomes of patients in SE presenting to the PICU included renal failure, cerebral edema, apnea during transport, refractory seizures, and recurrent seizures., Conclusions: Refractory seizures in children presenting with SE are associated with worsened outcomes in the PICU.

Objective: To compare trends in coverage of empirically supported and alternative autism treatments in Canadian newspapers during a 10-year period and to examine whether the portrayal of empirically supported and alternative treatments differed., Method: We searched a sample of 10 daily local and national Canadian newspapers using the word autism combined with intervention or treatment in the Proquest Canadian Newsstand and Eureka.cc databases, which yielded a total of 857 articles published between 2004 and 2013. In our subsequent analyses, we only included articles whose main topic was autism and that referred to at least one treatment. We then categorized the 137 remaining articles by treatment and rated whether each treatment category was portrayed in a favourable, unfavourable, or neutral manner., Results: In total, 46% of the articles discussed at least 1 empirically supported treatment, 53% at least 1 alternative treatment, and 12% at least 1 uncategorized treatment. Newspaper articles provided favourable, unfavourable, and neutral portrayals of empirically supported treatments in 75%, 10%, and 16% of cases, respectively. In contrast, alternative treatments were portrayed favourably in 52%, unfavourably in 32%, and neutrally in 16% of cases. Our analyses indicated that empirically supported treatments were portrayed more favourably than alternative treatments (χ(2) = 10.42, df = 2, P = 0.005)., Conclusions: Despite some encouraging trends, our study has shown that researchers and clinicians must continue to clarify misconceptions about autism treatment. Families of people with autism spectrum disorders should be directed toward more reliable and accurate sources of information.

Background and Purpose: Tai Chi (TC) is a form of low to moderate physical activity that has been shown to significantly impact health and functional fitness among older adults; the impact of TC on the health and functional fitness of older adults with arthritis is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a 16-week TC intervention for improving functional fitness and self-reported general health among older adults with arthritis who were born outside Canada and were residing in low-income neighborhoods., Methods: A 16-week intervention was conducted among older adults residing in 1 of 2 specified low-income neighborhoods in Canada. The analysis was limited to those who self-reported having arthritis (n = 102). Participants were encouraged to attend 2 moderate-intensity TC sessions per week for a total of 120 minutes. Functional fitness and health were assessed at baseline and at 16 weeks., Results: Average attendance was 1.1 sessions per week. Functional fitness assessment results indicated that right-hand grip strength (25.6 ± 8.2 to 26.7 ± 7.8 kg), left-hand grip strength (24.9 ± 7.3 to 26.8 ± 7.1 kg), 30-second arm curl (15.6 ± 5.0 to 18.6 ± 5.7 repetitions/30 s), Timed Up-and-Go (7.4 ± 2.6 to 6.9 ± 2.6 s), and 30-second chair stand (12.0 ± 3.9 to 15.4 ± 5.8 s) improved significantly (P < 0.05) from baseline to 16 weeks. Results from the Short Form-36 indicate that physical functioning (73.1 ± 19.9 to 80.3 ± 19.4; P = 0.001), general health (61.5 ± 20.9 to 66.0 ± 20.4; P = 0.03), vitality (61.5 ± 18.9 to 67.5 ± 20.2; P = 0.008), and mental health (74.3 ± 16.5 to 78.5 ± 17.7; P = 0.04) also improved significantly over the intervention period. Improvements in physical health and physical function scores were clinically meaningful., Discussion and Conclusions: Participating in TC for 16 weeks led to significant improvements in functional fitness and components of physical and mental health among older adults with self-reported arthritis. Tai Chi seems to be a valuable mode of physical activity for this population.

Background: The transition from a whole-cell to a 5-component acellular pertussis vaccine provided a unique opportunity to compare the effect that each type of vaccine had on the incidence of pertussis, under routine conditions, among children less than 10 years of age., Methods: Analyses were based on passive surveillance data collected between 1995 and 2005. The incidence of pertussis by year and birth cohort was compiled according to age during the surveillance period. We determined the association between vaccine type (whole-cell, acellular or a combination of both) and the incidence of pertussis using Poisson regression analysis after controlling for age (< 1 year, 1-4 years and 5-9 years) and vaccination history (i.e., partial or complete)., Results: During 7 of the 11 years surveyed, infants (< 1 year of age) had the highest incidence of pertussis. Among children born after 1997, when acellular vaccines were introduced, the rates of pertussis were highest among infants and preschool children (1-4 years of age). Poisson regression analysis revealed that, in the group given either the whole-cell vaccine or a combination of both vaccines, the incidence of pertussis was lower among infants and preschool children than among school-aged children (5-9 years). The reverse was true in the group given only an acellular vaccine, with a higher incidence among infants and preschool children than among school-aged children., Interpretation: These results suggest that current immunization practices may not be adequate in protecting infants and children less than 5 years of age against pertussis. Altering available acellular formulations or adopting immunization practices used in some European countries may increase the clinical effectiveness of routine pertussis vaccination programs among infants and preschool children.

This retrospective review of sexual assault cases seen in an emergency department from 1993 to 1999 examined rates and characteristics of suspected drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA). Overall, 12% of cases were identified as suspected DFSAs. The rate of suspected DFSA in 1999 was more than double that in the preceding six years. As well, compared to other sexual assaults, suspected DFSA cases had a longer time delay in presenting to the hospital, were less likely to involve the police, and had a lower occurrence of both genital and extra-genital injury. The clinical implications of these findings, particularly in terms of toxicology evidence collection, are discussed.