0 to 6.0], 8.5 [8.0 to 10.3] and 11.0 [9.0 to 12.5] injections by 6, 12 and 18 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The visual outcomes achieved with a treat-and-extend protocol in this study were similar to the pivotal trials of aflibercept for CMO secondary to CRVO, which used monthly and then as-needed protocols. TRIAL REGISTRATION Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, registration number ACTRN12615000417583, 01/05/2015.BACKGROUND Patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease (FILD) often experience gas exchange abnormalities and ventilatory limitations, resulting in reduced exercise capacity. High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen therapy is a novel treatment, whose physiological beneficial effects have been demonstrated in various clinical settings. We hypothesized that HFNC oxygen therapy might be superior to conventional oxygen therapy for improving exercise capacity in FILD patients. METHODS We performed a prospective randomized controlled crossover trial with a high-intensity constant work-rate endurance test (CWRET) using HFNC (50 L/min, FiO2 0.5) and a venturi mask (VM) (15 L/min, FiO2 0.5) for oxygen delivery in FILD patients. The primary outcome variable was endurance time. The secondary outcome variables were SpO2, heart rate, Borg scale (dyspnea and leg fatigue), and patient's comfort. RESULTS Seven hundred and eleven patients were screened and 20 eligible patients were randomized. All patients completed the trial. The majority of patients were good responders to VM and HFNC compared with the baseline test (VM 75%; HFNC 65%). There was no significant difference in endurance time between HFNC and VM (HFNC 6.8 [95% CI 4.3-9.3] min vs VM 7.6 [95% CI 5.0-10.1] min, p = 0.669). No significant differences were found in other secondary endpoints. Subgroup analysis with HFNC good responders revealed that HFNC significantly extended the endurance time compared with VM (VM 6.4 [95%CI 4.5-8.3] min vs HFNC 7.8 [95%CI 5.8-9.7] min, p = 0.046), while no similar effect was observed in the VM good responders. CONCLUSIONS HFNC did not exceed the efficacy of VM on exercise capacity in FILD, but it may be beneficial if the settings match. Further large studies are needed to confirm these findings. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/purmorphamine.html TRIAL REGISTRATION UMIN-CTR UMIN000021901.BACKGROUND Recognition that coordination among healthcare providers is associated with better quality of care and lower costs has increased interest in interventions designed to improve care coordination. One intervention is to add care coordination to nurses' role in a formal way. Little is known about effects of this approach, which tends to be pursued by small organizations and those in lower-resource settings. We assessed effects of this approach on care experiences of high-risk patients (those most in need of care coordination) and clinician teamwork during the first 6 months of use. METHODS We conducted a quasi-experimental study using a clustered, controlled pre-post design. Changes in staff and patient experiences at six community health center practice locations that introduced the added-role approach for high-risk patients were compared to changes in six locations without the program in the same health system. In the pre-period (6 months before intervention training) and post-period (about 6 months 1% of nurses reported incompatibility between care coordination and other job demands. Over 75% of nurses reported adequate training and resources. CONCLUSIONS There were some positive effects of adding care coordination to nurses' role within 6 months of implementation, suggesting value in this improvement strategy. Addressing compatibility between coordination and other job demands is important when implementing this approach to coordination.BACKGROUND Epidemiological models have been employed with great success to explore the efficacy of alternative strategies at combating disease outbreaks. These models have often incorporated an understanding of age-based susceptibility and severity of outcome, considering how to limit the adverse outcomes or disease burden relative to an age structure. Such models frequently recommend the preferential treatment/vaccination of children or the elderly, demonstrating how prevention of serious disease within these etiological subgroups can provide both protection within the subgroup itself and indirect protection to the broader population. However, it is most frequently the case that these target populations are consumers, rather than providers, of household resources. In areas of the globe where continued health of household members relies on continued provision of resources, these models may fail to provide the most effective overall strategies for health outcomes in both target populations and overall. This is treatment on consumers such as children can produce a counter-intuitive outcome in which more children contract the disease.BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between lumbar multifidus fat infiltration and lumbar postoperative surgical site infection (SSI). Several clinical studies have found that spine postoperative SSI is associated with age, diabetes, obesity, and multilevel surgery. However, few studies have focused on the correlation between lumbar multifidus fat infiltration and SSI. METHOD A retrospective review was performed on patients who underwent posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) between 2011 and 2016 at our hospital. The patients were divided into SSI and non-SSI groups. Data of risk factors [age, diabetes, obesity, body mass index (BMI), number of levels, and surgery duration] and indicators of body mass distribution (subcutaneous fat thickness and multifidus fat infiltration) were collected. The degree of multifidus fat infiltration was analyzed on magnetic resonance images using Image J. RESULTS Univariate analysis indicated that lumbar spine postoperative SSI was associated with urinary tract infection, subcutaneous fat thickness, lumbar multifidus muscle (LMM) fat infiltration, multilevel surgery (≥2 levels), surgery duration, drainage duration, and number of drainage tubes. In addition, multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that spine SSI development was associated with sex (male), age (> 60 years), subcutaneous fat thickness, LMM fat infiltration, and drainage duration. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the risk of SSI development was higher when the percentage of LMM fat infiltration exceeded 29.29%. Furthermore, Pearson's correlation analysis demonstrated that LMM fat infiltration was correlated with age but not with BMI. CONCLUSION Indicators of body mass distribution may better predict SSI risk than BMI following PLIF. Lumbar Multifidus fat infiltration is a novel spine-specific risk factor for SSI development.