Surgical techniques for non-missile penetrating brain injuries (PBI) are challenging because they require good preoperative planning. Generally, extraction is performed ipsilaterally at the entry site. In certain cases, the extraction can be performed contralaterally through the inner end of the foreign body; however, this requires special consideration. We present a case report of a patient who had a stab wound on the head via a screwdriver and underwent surgery, during which extraction was performed contralaterally through the inner end of the screwdriver without inducing any neurological deficit. Careful preoperative planning and surgical technique modification are required to minimize morbidity and mortality in patients with PBIs.

PURPOSE: It aimed at determining whether emotional intelligence is a predictor for success in a medical school program and whether the emotional intelligence construct correlated with other markers for admission into medical school. METHODS: Three databases (PubMed, CINAHL, and ERIC) were searched up to and including July 2016, using relevant terms. Studies written in English were selected if they included emotional intelligence as a predictor for success in medical school, markers of success such as examination scores and grade point average and association with success defined through traditional medical school admission criteria and failures, and details about the sample. Data extraction included the study authors and year, population description, emotional intelligence I tool, outcome variables, and results. Associations between emotional intelligence scores and reported data were extracted and recorded. RESULTS: Six manuscripts were included. Overall, study quality was high. Four of the manuscripts examined emotional intelligence as a predictor for success while in medical school. Three of these four studies supported a weak positive relationship between emotional intelligence scores and success during matriculation. Two of manuscripts examined the relationship of emotional intelligence to medical school admissions. There were no significant relevant correlations between emotional intelligence and medical school admission selection. CONCLUSION: Emotional intelligence was correlated with some, but not all, measures of success during medical school matriculation and none of the measures associated with medical school admissions. Variability in success measures across studies likely explains the variable findings.
Emotional Intelligence* ; School Admission Criteria ; Schools, Medical* ; United States

Objective To express the plasminogen activator(Pla) of Yersinia pestis and one of its gene fragments,and to detect their immunological reactivity.Methods The pla gene and its specific gene fragment pla-c were amplified by PCR using the EV76 strain as a template.PCR products were then ligated with the plasmid pET32a (+).The recombinant plasmids pET32a (+)-pla and pET32a (+)-pla-c were subsequently trausformed into E.coli BL21 (DE3).The expressed products were purified by HIS affinity chromatography,and their immunological reactivity was detected by Western blotting.Results The recombinant Pla(52.8 × 103) was expressed as inclusion bodies,and the recombinant Pla-c protein (24.0 × 103) was expressed in the soluble form.These two recombinant proteins reacted with anti-Yersinia pestis EV76 rabbit sera.Conclusions The recombinant Pla and its specific fragments have displayed immunological reactivity,and can be served as an alternative diagnosis method for Yersinia pestis.

Objective: Since the characteristics of frequent emergency department (ED) users are heterogeneous, it is impossible to mitigate overcrowding of the ED without basic data of diagnoses and risk factors of frequent ED users. Instead of selecting for a limited disease group, our study included all ED patients, thereby providing invaluable information to help predict patient demand for medical resources. Methods: Frequent ED users are defined as patients who visit an ED between 7-17 times per calendar year, and highly frequent ED users are patients who visit an ED 18 times or more during the same period. Our study developed two logistic regression models comparing frequent users with less frequent users, and highly frequent users with frequent users. Results: Although 98.98% of all patients were determined as less frequent ED users, they encompassed only 92.27% of all ED visits. Frequent ED users were most strongly identified as wound dressing follow-up visits and liver diseases (standardized βvalue of 3.29 and 2.31, respectively). However, considering the different disease categories, no differences were obtained between highly frequent ED and frequent ED users. Conclusion The diagnoses and risk factors related to frequent ED visits in Korea identified in this study, will provide important reference for future research aimed at reducing ED overcrowding. By further analyzing the risk factors associated with frequent ED use, non-emergency administrative systems or medical facilities can be utilized to reduce the ED overload.

The use of social media data, like Twitter, for biomedical research has been gradually increasing over the years. With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, researchers have turned to more non-traditional sources of clinical data to characterize the disease in near-real time, study the societal implications of interventions, as well as the sequelae that recovered COVID-19 cases present. However, manually curated social media datasets are difficult to come by due to the expensive costs of manual annotation and the efforts needed to identify the correct texts. When datasets are available, they are usually very small and their annotations don’t generalize well over time or to larger sets of documents. As part of the 2021 Biomedical Linked Annotation Hackathon, we release our dataset of over 120 million automatically annotated tweets for biomedical research purposes. Incorporating best-practices, we identify tweets with potentially high clinical relevance. We evaluated our work by comparing several SpaCy-based annotation frameworks against a manually annotated gold-standard dataset. Selecting the best method to use for automatic annotation, we then annotated 120 million tweets and released them publicly for future downstream usage within the biomedical domain.

Objective: Since the characteristics of frequent emergency department (ED) users are heterogeneous, it is impossible to mitigate overcrowding of the ED without basic data of diagnoses and risk factors of frequent ED users. Instead of selecting for a limited disease group, our study included all ED patients, thereby providing invaluable information to help predict patient demand for medical resources. Methods: Frequent ED users are defined as patients who visit an ED between 7-17 times per calendar year, and highly frequent ED users are patients who visit an ED 18 times or more during the same period. Our study developed two logistic regression models comparing frequent users with less frequent users, and highly frequent users with frequent users. Results: Although 98.98% of all patients were determined as less frequent ED users, they encompassed only 92.27% of all ED visits. Frequent ED users were most strongly identified as wound dressing follow-up visits and liver diseases (standardized βvalue of 3.29 and 2.31, respectively). However, considering the different disease categories, no differences were obtained between highly frequent ED and frequent ED users. Conclusion The diagnoses and risk factors related to frequent ED visits in Korea identified in this study, will provide important reference for future research aimed at reducing ED overcrowding. By further analyzing the risk factors associated with frequent ED use, non-emergency administrative systems or medical facilities can be utilized to reduce the ED overload.

PURPOSE: This literature review was performed to assess the effect of raisins on human health. METHODS: A review of Medline was conducted using the keywords: ‘raisins, raisins and health, raisins and cardiovascular disease (CVD), raisins and cancer, raisins and diabetes, raisins and fiber, raisins and colon health, raisins and antioxidants, raisins and inflammation, raisins and dental caries’. The reference lists from previous review articles on raisins and human health and the California Raisin Marketing Board files were reviewed for additional studies. RESULTS: Raisins have one of the highest polyphenolic content and antioxidant ORAC levels compared to other traditional dried fruits. Many of the polyphenols in raisins are well assimilated and bioavailable. Raisin consumption reduces low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar, when compared to equal caloric carbohydrate snacks and is associated with a reduced risk of CVD. The anti-inflammatory and cancer chemopreventive effects of raisins are mixed. Raisin consumption reduces intestinal transit time and positively affects gut microbiota. Raisins produce sustained energy during long term athletic competitions equal to traditional sports energy gels, shots and jelly beans. Raisins produce a non-cariogenic oral environment and do not fit the American Academy of Pediatrics criteria to be considered a choking hazard. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the review of literature, consumption of raisins provide numerous health benefits for promoting general wellness and in the prevention of many chronic diseases including: CVD, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) gastrointestinal diseases, and dental caries.
Airway Obstruction ; Antioxidants ; Blood Glucose ; Blood Pressure ; California ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Chronic Disease ; Colon ; Dental Caries ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Fruit ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Gastrointestinal Microbiome ; Gels ; Humans* ; Inflammation ; Insurance Benefits ; Lipoproteins ; Marketing ; Pediatrics ; Polyphenols ; Snacks ; Sports ; Vitis*

Although bipolar disorder is highly heritable, the identification of specific genetic variations is limited because of the complex traits underlying the disorder. We performed a genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder using a subphenotype that shows hypersomnia symptom during a major depressive episode. We investigated a total of 2,191 cases, 1,434 controls, and 703,012 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the merged samples obtained from the Translational Genomics Institute and the Genetic Association Information Network. The gene emerging as the most significant by statistical analysis was rs1553441 (odds ratio=0.4093; p=1.20x10-5; Permuted p=6.0x10-6). However, the 5x0-8 threshold for statistical significance required in a genome-wide association study was not achieved. The functional enrichment pathway analysis showed significant enrichments in the adhesion, development-related, synaptic transmission-related, and cell recognition-related pathways. For further evaluation, each gene of the enriched pathways was reviewed and matched with genes that were suggested to be associated with psychiatric disorders by previous genetic studies. We found that the cadherin 13 and hypocretin (orexin) receptor 2 genes may be involved in the hypersomnia symptom during a major depressive episode of bipolar disorder.
Bipolar Disorder* ; Disorders of Excessive Somnolence* ; Genetic Variation ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Genomics ; Information Services ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Orexins