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Trials in children with chronic kidney disease do not consistently report outcomes that are critically important to patients and caregivers. This can diminish the relevance and reliability of evidence for decision making, limiting the implementation of results into practice and policy. As part of the Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology—Children and Adolescents (SONG-Kids) initiative, we convened 2 consensus workshops in San Diego, California (7 patients, 24 caregivers, 43 health professionals) and Melbourne, Australia (7 patients, 23 caregivers, 49 health professionals). This report summarizes the discussions on the identification and implementation of the SONG-Kids core outcomes set. Four themes were identified; survival and life participation are common high priority goals, capturing the whole child and family, ensuring broad relevance across the patient journey, and requiring feasible and valid measures. Stakeholders supported the inclusion of mortality, infection, life participation, and kidney function as the core outcomes domains for children with chronic kidney disease.

Elite and semielite athletes commonly experience mental health concerns and disorders. Compared with men athletes, women athletes are at greater risk of a range of psychological stressors that contribute to health concerns and mental health disorders, which can impact their career satisfaction and longevity. In order to address and improve the mental health of women athletes, it is necessary to simultaneously tackle the gender specific psychosocial stressors that contribute to mental health outcomes. This narrative review examines the gender-specific stressors that affect mental health and well-being in women athletes, some of which are modifiable. Psychosocial stressors identified include exposure to violence, be it psychological, physical or sexual in nature, which can result in a myriad of acute and long-lasting symptoms; and inequities as reflected in pay disparities, under-representation in the media, fewer opportunities in leadership positions and implications associated with family planning and motherhood. Strategies to promote mental health in women athletes should be considered, and where possible, should proactively address gender-specific stressors likely to influence mental health in order to maximise positive outcomes in women athletes.

Mutations in SETD2 are among the most prevalent drivers of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We identified a novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in SETD2, E902Q, within a subset of RCC patients, which manifests as both an inherited or tumor-associated somatic mutation. To determine if the SNP is biologically functional, we used CRISPR-based genome editing to generate the orthologous mutation within the Drosophila melanogaster Set2gene. In Drosophila, the homologous amino acid substitution, E741Q, reduces H3K36me3 levels comparable to Set2knockdown, and this loss is rescued by reintroduction of a wild-type Set2transgene. We similarly uncovered significant defects in spindle morphogenesis, consistent with the established role of SETD2in methylating α-Tubulin during mitosis to regulate microtubule dynamics and maintain genome stability. These data indicate the Set2E741QSNP affects both histone methylation and spindle integrity. Moreover, this work further suggests the SETD2 E902QSNP may hold clinical relevance.A novel mutation in the tumor suppressor SETD2 identified from renal cell carcinoma patients compromises epigenetic modification and mitotic fidelity when introduced in Drosophila, hinting at clinical relevance.

The recent final rule on Medicaid managed care establishes the minimum medical loss ratio (MLR) requirement for Medicaid managed care and contains several provisions to strengthen delivery and payment reforms and improve efficiency and quality of care. Accordingly, this research examines the quality of Medicaid managed care and the effect of MLR and efficiency. The results show that, medical services efficiency has an insignificant (but negative) effect on the quality of care, which indicates that there may be room to improve medical services efficiency without significantly reducing the quality of care. The MLR does have a significantly positive effect on the aggregate quality ratings, however the magnitude of this effect is very small. This indicates that a minimum MLR requirement of 80% or 85% does not make a large difference on quality ratings.

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Medicare faces significant financial challenges because of rising health care costs. In response, Medicare reform efforts have been testing various payment and service delivery models, including accountable care organizations (ACOs), aiming to reduce expenditures while preserving or enhancing the coordination of quality care. The idea behind ACOs is to form an organizational network to coordinate all care for Medicare beneficiaries and in so doing, at least theoretically, improve quality of care and hopefully reduce medical costs. The purpose of this research is to apply Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess the potential savings of Medicare obtainable through optimally efficient implementation of ACOs and Medicare Advantage plans. DEA comparisons across plans achieve this purpose by identifying which Medicare plans operate relatively more efficiently and which are inefficient, and additionally, for inefficient plans, the DEA analysis generates target levels of “inputs” and “outputs” required to bring the plan into efficient operation. Knowing sources of inefficiency can also provide insights into Medicare reform, such as Medicare privatization and innovation models. Our results show that Medicare Advantage plans are more efficient in reducing health expenditures but incur higher administrative costs. Health expenditure savings can also be achievable by promoting government-sponsored managed Medicare such as ACOs. Finally, compared to the profit efficiency of Medicaid managed care plans, Medicare Advantage should have the potential for more Medicare market penetration from the supply (insurer) side.

Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) is a common problem with a reported incidence of between 5 and 27 per 100,000 individuals per year, but some estimates are as high as 160 per 100,000. This discrepancy, and likely underreporting, due to patients with rapid improvement not presenting for evaluation and treatment. For example, aural fullness is a common presenting symptom which is easy to attribute to other conditions. It is important to consider an ISSNHL in any patient presenting with aural fullness because early diagnosis and treatment improves the prognosis for hearing recovery.

Wear of total knee replacement continues to be a significant factor influencing the clinical longevity of implants. Historically, failure due to delamination and fatigue directed design towards more conforming inserts to reduce contact stress. As new generations of more oxidatively stable polyethylene have been developed, more flexibility in bearing design has been introduced. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of insert conformity on the wear performance of a fixed bearing total knee replacement through experimental simulation. Two geometries of insert were studied under standard gait conditions. There was a significant reduction in wear with reducing implant conformity. This study has demonstrated that bearing conformity has a significant impact on the wear performance of a fixed bearing total knee replacement, providing opportunities to improve clinical performance through enhanced material and design selection.

Addiction has long been characterized by diminished executive function, control, and impulsivity management. In particular, these deficits often manifest themselves as impairments in reversal learning, delay discounting, and response inhibition. Understanding the neurobiological substrates of these behavioral deficits is of paramount importance to our understanding of addiction. Within the cycle of addiction, periods during and after withdrawal represent a particularly difficult point of intervention in that the negative physical symptoms associated with drug removal and drug craving increase the likelihood that the patient will relapse and return to drug use in order to abate these symptoms. Moreover, it is often during this time that drug induced deficits in executive function hinder the ability of the patient to refrain from drug use. Thus, it is necessary to understand the physiological and behavioral changes associated with withdrawal and drug craving—largely manifesting as deficits in executive control—to develop more effective treatment strategies. In this review, we address the long-term impact that drugs of abuse have on the behavioral and neural correlates that give rise to executive control as measured by reversal learning, delay discounting, and stop-signal tasks, focusing particularly on our work using rats as a model system.

Confronting Uncomfortable Truth About Inequity in Schools: A Leadership Rubric for Action By Carmella S. Franco, Maria G. Ott and Darline P. Robles, Corwin, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2023, 144 pp. with index, $39.95 softcover Now What? Confronting Uncomfortable Truth About Inequity in Schools: A Leadership Rubric for Action is the second book written by three experienced educators: Carmella S. Franco, a search consultant for Hazard Young Attea & Associates; Maria G. Ott, chair in education administration at the University of Southern California; and Darline P. Robles, associate dean of the Office of Equity and Community Engagement, University of Southern California. [Extracted from the article]