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BACKGROUND There is limited literature on adequacy of prenatal care during pregnancy especially in case of stillbirth. METHODS This retrospective study consisted of 103 patients with stillbirths and 197 patients with live births. The adequacy of prenatal care utilization index (APNCU) was used to determine prenatal care adequacy. [Canadian Task Force classification II-2]. RESULTS Among high-risk patients, the APNCU categories of inadequate (OR:3.81, 95% CI:1.16, 12.57, p

Clinical trial preparedness in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy: Clinical, tissue, and imaging outcome measures 29–30 May 2015, Rochester, New York Rabi Tawil *, George W. Padberg , Dennis W. Shaw , Silvere M. van der Maarel , Stephen J. Tapscott , The FSHD Workshop Participants 1 a Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA b Department of Neurology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands c Department of Radiology, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, USA d Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands e Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA

Background: Effective lifestyle interventions targeting high-risk adults that are both practical for use in ambulatory care settings and scalable at a population management level are needed. Objective: Our aim was to examine the potential effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of delivering an evidence-based Electronic Cardio-Metabolic Program (eCMP) for improving health-related quality of life, improving health behaviors, and reducing cardiometabolic risk factors in ambulatory care high-risk adults. Methods: We conducted a randomized, wait-list controlled trial with 74 adults aged ≥18 years recruited from a large multispecialty health care organization. Inclusion criteria were (1) BMI ≥35 kg/m2 and prediabetes, previous gestational diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome, or (2) BMI ≥30 kg/m2 and type 2 diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease. Participants had a mean age of 59.7 years (SD 11.2), BMI 37.1 kg/m2 (SD 5.4) and were 59.5% female, 82.4% white. Participants were randomized to participate in eCMP immediately (n=37) or 3 months later (n=37). eCMP is a 6-month program utilizing video conferencing, online tools, and pre-recorded didactic videos to deliver evidence-based curricula. Blinded outcome assessments were conducted at 3 and 6 months postbaseline. Data were collected and analyzed between 2014 and 2015. The primary outcome was health-related quality of life. Secondary outcomes included biometric cardiometabolic risk factors (eg, body weight), self-reported diet and physical activity, mental health status, retention, session attendance, and participant satisfaction. Results: Change in quality of life was not significant in both immediate and delayed participants. Both groups significantly lost weight and reduced waist circumference at 6 months, with some cardiometabolic factors trending accordingly. Significant reduction in self-reported anxiety and perceived stress was seen in the immediate intervention group at 6 months. Retention rate was 93% at 3 months and 86% at 6 months post-baseline. Overall eCMP attendance was high with 59.5-83.8% of immediate and delayed intervention participants attending 50% of the virtual stress management and behavioral lifestyle sessions and 37.8-62.2% attending at least 4 out of 7 in-person physical activity sessions. The intervention received high ratings for satisfaction. Conclusions: The technology-assisted eCMP is a feasible and well-accepted intervention and may significantly decrease cardiometabolic risk among high-risk individuals. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02246400; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02246400 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6h6mWWokP) [J Med Internet Res 2016;18(5):e134]

Background: Occlusion of large intracranial arteries is associated with disability and death. In this study we assess whether intra-arterial thrombolysis(IAT) safely enhances efficacy of mechanical thrombectomy. Method: We studied consecutive patients with acute large vessel occlusion. We compared 2 groups:(1) thrombectomy plus IAT and(2) thrombectomy alone (non-IAT). Recanalization was defined by TIMI ≥ 2. Results: Between 12/2007 and 10/2012, 87 patients(age 67±16years) received 88 thrombectomy procedures. The median admission NIHSS was18. Forty six cases were treated IAT. Overall recanalization was 60%. Recanalization was seen more frequently in cases using IAT (72%) compared to non-IAT(48%)( p=0.02 ). IAT tended to associate with fewer numbers of arterial attempts than non-IAT (2.37±1.76 vs. 3.07± 1.98) (p=0.08) but longer procedure duration(119± 53 minutes vs. 90± 55 minutes)( p=0.02 ). The rate of symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation, in-hospital and 3 month mortality rates were not significantly different between IAT and non-IAT(p=0.90, p=0.99 and p=0.72), respectively. Conclusions: During mechanical thrombectomy, IAT is associated with increased recanalization rate and longer procedure duration. Mechanical thrombectomy with concomitant IAT appeared relatively safe.

Non-dystrophic myotonia (NDM) is caused by mutations in muscle chloride and sodium channels. Currently, there is no standardized instrument for documenting symptom frequency and severity in NDM.Subjects used an automated, interactive, telephone-based voice response diary (IVR) to record frequency and severity of stiffness, weakness, pain, and tiredness once a week for 8 weeks, after their baseline visits.We describe the IVR and report data on 76 subjects for a total of 385 person-weeks. Overall there were 5.1 calls per subject. Forty-eight subjects called in 5 or more times, and 14 called in 8 times. Stiffness was both the most frequent and severe symptom. Warm-up and handgrip myotonia were associated with higher severity scores for stiffness.IVR is a convenient technology to allow patient reporting of repeated and real-time symptom frequency and severity, and it is presently being used in a trial of mexiletine in NDM.

Editors' Note: The use of anesthetic drugs in status epilepticus remains controversial. Hocker and Shorvon discuss their concerns about the article “Anesthetic drugs in status epilepticus: Risk or rescue? A 6-year cohort study” and its accompanying editorial. The author Sutter responds. Commenting on “Teaching Neuro Images : ‘Subarachnoid hemorrhage’ from decreased contrast elimination after therapeutic hypothermia,” Rebecca Hurst shares her own experience with pseudo–subarachnoid hemorrhage. —Chafic Karam, MD, and Robert C. Griggs, MD Sutter et al.1 reported that patients treated with anesthesia for control of refractory status epilepticus (SE) have a worse outcome. Association does not mean causality and this association can be explained by the …

Distal myopathies are frequently encountered in the Nordic countries, and are now being increasingly recognized elsewhere. Three new descriptions of distal myopathy phenotypes have been published in the past year. At the same time there has been considerable progress in molecular genetics and in understanding the molecular pathophysiology underlying distal myopathies. Membrane-associated dysferlin, which was the first gene in which mutations were identified, is shown to cause a distal phenotype. The ability to make a molecular diagnosis has increased awareness of dysferlinopathy - Miyoshi myopathy. Since most entities have been linked to specific chromosomal loci, it is likely that other distal myopathies will soon be better recognized by their molecular genetic definitions.

Exposure of Ab-secreting cells to selected hormones, cytokines, and drugs alters the rate of Ig production in vitro. Whether these effects are important clinically is unknown because there are no safe, reproducible, and appropriate techniques for measuring Ig synthesis in vivo. We developed a stable isotope tracer method to measure IgG secretion into plasma. L-[1-13C]Leucine was given as a priming dose followed by a constant i.v. infusion over 8 h. Tracer accrual in IgG, determined by mass spectrometry, was linear from 2 to 8 h of the infusion. The normal rate of IgG synthesis into plasma assessed in 21 healthy subjects was 860 +/- 310 mg/day (mean +/- SD). The synthetic rate measurements were remarkably reproducible (coefficient of variation = 10.5 %). Simultaneous analysis of leucine kinetics allows, for the first time, Ig secretion to be studied in the context of whole body protein economy. IgG secretion into plasma accounts for 0.3% of whole body protein synthesis. Experimental support for a key metabolic assumption, that tracer enrichment in plasma and that at the site of IgG synthesis were similar, came from a comparison of synthetic rates derived from low dose and high dose tracer infusions. Measurement of Ig secretion by tracer incorporation is rapid and reproducible. In contrast to older methods that rely on radioisotope disappearance, the tracer incorporation method is safe for serial measurements in an individual and will be useful for quantitative studies of treatment effects and immune regulation in vivo.