A summative evaluation of an EMS partnership aimed at reducing ED length of stay

Technology-Based Interventions to Increase Point-of-Care HIV Testing and Linkage to Care Among Youth in the US: A Systematic Review

HIV testing rates remain low among youth ages 13–24 in the US, with only 55% of HIV-positive youth aware of their serostatus. We conducted a systematic review to assess the utility of technology-based interventions to increase point-of-care youth HIV testing and linkage to care. We searched PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane CENTRAL for randomized controlled trials of technology-based interventions aimed at increasing point-of-care youth HIV testing, published between 2008 and 2020. All identified citations were independently screened for inclusion by two authors, and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for Randomized Controlled Trials was used to assess the quality of included studies. Three studies met all inclusion criteria. Two interventions were effective in increasing HIV testing, while one was effective at linkage to care. Technology-based interventions have the potential to increase youth HIV testing in clinical settings and facilitate linkage to care, possibly reducing undiagnosed HIV among adolescents and emerging adults.

Mild traumatic brain injury results in extensive neuronal degeneration in the cerebral cortex

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) leads to long-term cognitive and emotional difficulties and behavioral disturbances, but the diagnosis and treatment of mTBI have historically been hampered by a lack of evidence-based correlates of these clinical manifestations. Unlike moderate and severe TBI, mTBI does not show significant tissue lesions or cavities in the cortex. Moreover, neuroimaging by magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography is usually negative, suggesting that the damage is beyond the resolution of current structure-based scanning technologies. Therefore, we investigated the morphologies of spared neurons in the mouse cortex after mTBI in a controlled cortical impact injury model. Our results indicate that, although mTBI caused only a mild extent of cell death, it led to extensive dendrite degeneration and synapse reduction in the cortex in this model. This study sheds light on the neuropathologic consequences of mTBI in humans and suggests that neurodegeneration may be a novel target for developing diagnostic methods and therapeutic approaches for mTBI.