Clinical improvement after intraarticular and intraosseous injections of platelet rich plasma combined with hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis. Case series

INTRODUCTION

knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is known as the most common form of osteoarthrosis with a 6% prevalence in people over 30 years old, and more than 40% in the population over 70 years old. The use of PRP led to diverse results and this disparity can be attributed to the dissimilar methods of PRP preparation. This study aims to assess the functional effects of intraosseous (IO) and intraarticular (IA) injections of platelet rich plasma (PRP) followed by IA injections of hyaluronic acid (HA).

OBJECTIVES

this study aimed to assess the functional effects of intraosseous (IO) and intraarticular (IA) injections of platelet rich plasma (PRP) followed by IA injections of hyaluronic acid (HA), administered 3 and 4 weeks after the initiation of treatment in 33 patients with grade II-III (Ahlback scale) knee osteoarthritis (KOA).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

retrospectively, 33 patients were assessed using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) osteoarthritis index and visual analogue scale (VAS) score. They were followed-up for 12.92 months on average. Patients were divided into three groups based on age and four groups based on the follow-up period.

RESULTS

the pre-operative mean of the WOMAC index was 44.35 ± 20.20 and the post-operative mean was 22.81 ± 17.25 (p < 0.001). The pre-operative and post-operative mean of the VAS scores were 5.79 ± 2.01 and 2.41 ± 1.43 (p < 0.001), respectively. The largest improvement in WOMAC (from 42.86 to 13.69) was observed in the youngest patients (44 to 55 years old) and the largest reduction in VAS (from 6.89 to 2.22) was seen in patients aged 56 to 70 years.

CONCLUSION

the combination of IO and IA plasma rich in growth factor (PRGF) treatment with the IA-HA treatment yielded excellent results, diminishing pain and improving motor functionality in patients with KOA.

Academic Achievement of Latino/a Students Who Began College before Age 18 at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

There has been growth in Early College High Schools, and other similar programs, to improve racial/ethnic minority and first-generation students' access to higher education. As a result, there has been an increase in nontraditionally aged students (e.g., students under 18) in higher education. Despite increases in students under 18 attending universities, little is known about these students' academic achievement and experiences. This mixed method study addresses that limitation by using institutional and interview data from one Hispanic Serving Institution to examine the academic achievement and college experiences of young Latino/a student's (i.e., beginning college before the age of 18). Generalized estimating equations were used to compare the academic performance of Latino/as <18 to Latino/a students ages 18-24, and interviews were conducted with a subset of the students to understand the results. Quantitative results indicate that young students outperformed students who are 18-24 years of age in terms of GPA over three semesters in college. Interviews showed that participating in high school programs designed for college bound students; an openness to seek help; and avoidance of high-risk behaviors were possible explanations behind the academic success of young Latino/as.

IMPACT OF OPEN ENROLLMENT IN COURSE-BASED UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCES WITH AT-RISK STUDENT POPULATIONS

Participation in authentic research activities, particularly mentored undergraduate research experiences, at the University of Texas at El Paso has long been associated with student success measures such as graduation and matriculation to strong graduate programs in STEM. However, these opportunities typically are available to upper division students, despite evidence suggesting that the first (Freshman) year at university is determinant for individuals to complete STEM degrees. To expand the number of research opportunities and to extend them preferentially to new, entering students, we established the Freshman Year Research Intensive Sequence (FYRIS) in 2015, a course sequence consisting of a research foundations course and one or two laboratory courses redesigned by faculty into small, special topic Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). CUREs provide authentic research experiences with similar early-, middle-, and late-term benefits to those found in traditional mentored experiences. Several of these benefits can be conceptualized as "hubs", which derive from earlier benefits, while facilitating later positive outcomes. Self-efficacy is one such hub, while retention and persistence in science enrollment represent late-phase positive outcomes. In this report, we examined self-efficacy of FYRIS participants in surveys administered at the start and end of each course to assess their confidence in conducting fundamental and specific research activities in the foundations and research driven courses, respectively. Specific items from a validated survey were used in addition to items developed for each course based on specific learning objectives. Retention was measured across three years of assessment of participants and non-participants, controlling for key scholastic characteristics. Results on retention rates after FYRIS vary depending on whether students fully or partially participated in the course-sequence. Results will be presented for three cohorts of students: 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18.

BUILDing SCHOLARS: enhancing diversity among U.S. biomedical researchers in the Southwest

Background and purpose

With funding from the National Institutes of Health, BUILDing SCHOLARS was established at The University of Texas at El Paso with the goal of implementing, evaluating and sustaining a suite of institutional, faculty and student development interventions in order to train the next generation of biomedical researchers from the U.S. Southwest region, where the need is dire among underserved communities. The focus is on supporting the infrastructure necessary to train and mentor students so they persist on pathways across a range of biomedical research fields. The purpose of this article is to highlight the design and implementation of BUILDing SCHOLARS' key interventions, which offer a systemic student training model for the U.S. Southwest. In-depth reporting of evaluation results is reserved for other technical publications.

Program and key highlights

BUILDing SCHOLARS uses a comprehensive regional approach to undergraduate training through a multi-institution consortium that includes 12 research partners and various pipeline partners across Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Through faculty collaborations and undergraduate research training, the program integrates social and behavioral sciences and biomedical engineering while emphasizing seven transdisciplinary nodes of biomedical research excellence that are common across partner institutions: addiction, cancer, degenerative and chronic diseases, environmental health, health disparities, infectious diseases, and translational biomedicine. Key interventions aim to: (1) improve institutional capacities by expanding undergraduate research training infrastructures; (2) develop an intra- and cross-institutional mentoring-driven "community of practice" to support undergraduate student researchers; (3) broaden the pool of student participants, improve retention, and increase matriculation into competitive graduate programs; and (4) support faculty and postdoctoral personnel by training them in research pedagogy and mentoring techniques and providing them with resources for increasing their research productivity. Student training activities focus on early interventions to maximize retention and on enabling students to overcome common barriers by addressing their educational endowments, science socialization, network development, family expectations, and material resources. Over the long term, BUILDing SCHOLARS will help increase the diversity of the biomedical research workforce in the U.S. by meeting the needs of students from the Southwest region and by serving as a model for other institutions.

The investigation of congenital infection by Trypanosoma cruzi in an endemic area of Chile: three protocols explored in a pilot project

Given the increasing travel of pregnant women from areas were Trypanosoma cruzi is endemic, the congenital transmission of the parasite has become a global public-health problem. In a recent pilot study, which ran in Chile from 2006 to 2010, three strategies for exploring and managing T. cruzi-infected mothers and their infected or uninfected neonates were investigated. Any protocols applied to the investigation of such mother-and-child pairs need to include the detection of infection in pregnant women, the detection of infection, if any, in the children born to the women, the appropriate treatment of the infected neonates, and the serological-parasitological follow-up of all of the neonates until their medical discharge.

An event-related potential paradigm for identifying (rare negative) attitude stimuli that people intentionally misreport

This experiment explored whether a late positive potential (LPP) of the event-related brain potential is useful for examining attitudes that people attempt to conceal. Participants identified a set of liked, neutral, and disliked people and viewed sequences consisting of either names or pictures of these people. Disliked people appeared rarely among liked people, and participants either: (1) always accurately reported their negative attitudes toward the people; (2) misreported negative attitudes as positive when they saw a picture of a disliked person; or (3) misreported negative attitudes as positive when they saw a name of a disliked person. Rare negative stimuli evoked a larger-amplitude LPP than frequent positive stimuli. Misreporting attitudes significantly reduced the amplitude difference between rare negative and frequent positive stimuli, though it remained significant.

Wait, what? Assessing stereotype incongruities using the N400 ERP component

Numerous discoveries regarding stereotypes have been uncovered by utilizing techniques and methods developed by cognitive psychologists. The present study continues this tradition by borrowing psychophysiological techniques used for the study of memory and language, and applying them to the study of stereotypes. In this study, participants were primed with either the gender category 'Women' or 'Men', followed by a word which was either consistent with gender stereotypes (e.g. Women: Nurturing) or inconsistent (e.g. Women: Aggressive). Their task was to indicate whether the words matched or did not match, according to gender stereotypes. Both response times and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during performance of the task. As predicted, stereotype incongruent word pairs were associated with larger N400 ERP amplitudes and slower response times, relative to congruent word pairs. The potential utility of this approach as an independent measure of stereotypes is discussed.

Infection control strategies in a neonatal intensive care unit in Argentina

An intervention strategy was designed to reduce the high endemic rates of nosocomial bacteraemia in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Argentina where no changes can be expected in the ratio of patients to nurses. After surveillance of high-risk procedures, guidelines were developed by physician and nurse consensus, based on CDC guidelines and adapted to actual circumstances for handwashing, handling of infants, care of intravenous lines and suction of endotracheal tubes. These guidelines were taught to all involved personnel and made effective on July 1, 1995. Data from blood cultures obtained after 72 h of life and on patient-days in the unit were collected for 1 year periods before (P1), and, after (P2) this intervention strategy was instituted. During P1, the overall bacteraemia rate was 20/1000 patient-days, and the Gram-negative bacteraemia rate was 7.7/1000 patient-days but bacteraemia and Gram-negative bacteraemia rates dropped to 12.4 and 2.2/1000 patient-days respectively (P < 0.003) during P2. We conclude that simple intervention strategies such as the one developed at our institution can reduce rates of nosocomial infection.