CONCLUSION A significant reduction in day-5 embryo outcome parameters was found using Embryogen®/BlastGen™ compared with standard medium, and insufficient evidence of a difference in pregnancy outcomes. Taking into consideration the small samples size, study limitations and strict inclusion criteria of this single-centre study, further research is needed to determine the efficacy of Embryogen®/BlastGen™ medium in couples undergoing IVF/ICSI. BACKGROUND In the context of co-morbid illness and increasing age, data on excess morbidity from pertussis in older adults is crucial for immunisation policy but has been largely limited to case-series. METHODS We designed a matched case-control study nested within a population-based cohort of 267,153 adults aged ≥45 years in New South Wales, Australia (The 45 and Up Study cohort). Excess hospital bed days, emergency department (ED) admissions, general practitioner (GP) visits, and prescriptions were estimated using negative binomial regression models. An additional self-controlled analysis was also conducted to validate the main models, and to evaluate results for those with either asthma or a body mass index (BMI)≥30 compared to those without these risk factors. RESULTS Based on 524 pairs of PCR-confirmed pertussis cases and matched controls, we estimated an excess healthcare utilisation per case of 2.5 prescriptions (95% CI 0.2-4.7), of which 1.1 (95% CI 0.5-2.2) were antibiotics, 2.3 GP visits (95% CI 2.0-2.6), and 0.1 ED admissions (95% CI 0.1-0.2). Compared to those 45-64 years, cases ≥65 years had a significantly greater excess for all prescriptions (1.1 vs 4.7/case), antibiotic prescriptions (0.1 vs 2.2/case), and ED admissions (0.1 vs 0.2/case), but no significant excess of respiratory-related hospital bed days. An additional self-controlled analysis confirmed that cases with either asthma or BMI≥30 had higher overall healthcare utilisation but this was not associated with pertussis infection. CONCLUSION We found a substantial excess outpatient healthcare burden among adults aged 65 years and over with PCR-confirmed pertussis, supporting further evaluation of preventive measures. BACKGROUND Recent data suggest that routine drainage is unnecessary in patients undergoing hepatectomy, but many surgeons continue to utilize drains. We compared the outcomes of patients undergoing early versus routine drain removal after hepatectomy. METHODS Patients having drains placed during major (≥3 segments) or partial hepatectomy (≤2 segments) were identified in the 2014-16 ACS-NSQIP database. Propensity matching between early (POD 0-3) and routine (POD 4-7) drain removal and multivariable regressions were performed. RESULTS Early drain removal was performed in 661 (40%) of patients undergoing a partial hepatectomy and 211 (22%) of major hepatectomy patients. After matching, 719 early and 719 routine drain removal patients were compared. Early drain removal patients had lower overall (12 vs 19%, p  less then  0.001) and serious (9 vs 13%, p  less then  0.03) morbidity as well as fewer bile leaks (2.1% vs 5.0%, p  less then  0.003). Length of stay was two days shorter (4 vs 6 days, p  less then  0.01) and readmissions were less frequent (5.4 vs 8.1%, p = 0.02) for patients undergoing early drain removal.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/lys05.html  CONCLUSION Early drain removal is associated with fewer overall and serious complications, shorter length of stay and fewer readmissions. Early drain removal after hepatectomy is an underutilized management strategy. Age-related neurobiological and cognitive alterations suggest that interval timing (as a related function) is also altered in aging, which can, in turn, disrupt timing-dependent functions. We investigated alterations in interval timing with aging and accompanying neurobiological changes. We tested 4-6, 10-12, and 18-20 month-old mice on the dual peak interval procedure. Results revealed a specific deficit in the termination of timed responses (stop-times). The decision processes contributed more to timing variability (vs. clock/memory process) in the aged mice. We observed age-dependent reductions in the number of dopaminergic neurons in the VTA and SNc, cholinergic neurons in the medial septum/diagonal band (MS/DB) complex, and density of dopaminergic axon terminals in the DLS/DMS. Negative correlations were found between the number of dopaminergic neurons in the VTA and stop times, and the number of cholinergic neurons in MS/DB complex and the acquisition of stop times. Our results point at age-dependent changes in the decisional components of interval timing and the role of dopaminergic and cholinergic functions in these behavioral alterations. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the association between household food insecurity (HFI) and elevated antepartum depressive symptoms (EADS) in the National Children's Study, 2009-2014, as well as standardize our results to the U.S. pregnant population. METHODS HFI was collected at participants' baseline visits using the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module; antepartum depression symptoms were collected twice during pregnancy using the Center for Epidemiologic Study Depression scale. Generalized estimating equations for binary outcomes were used to estimate the association between HFI and EADS. Inverse probability weighting was used to generalize the effect to the U.S. population using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. RESULTS Among 746 participants, 20.6% were food insecure. Women who were food insecure were 3.39 times (95% confidence interval 1.73, 6.62) as likely to report EADS compared with women who were food secure. This estimate was marginally strengthened in a weighted analysis (odds ratio 3.68; 95% confidence interval 1.43, 9.43). CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that women who are food insecure are at a greater risk of EADS, and HFI should be evaluated when assessing antepartum depression. PURPOSE Providing up-to-date information on patient prognosis is important in determining the optimal treatment strategies. The currently available prediction models, such as the Cox model, are limited to making predictions from baseline and do not consider the time-varying effects of covariates. METHODS A total of 1501 cervical cancer patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were included. We introduced three landmark dynamic prediction models (models 1-3) that explore the dynamic effects of prognostic factors to obtain 5-year dynamic survival rate predictions at different prediction times. The performances of these models were evaluated by Harrell's C-index and the Brier score using cross-validation. RESULTS Some variables did not meet the proportional hazards assumption, indicating that the constant hazard ratios were unreliable. Model 3, which showed the best performance for prediction, was selected as the final model. Significant time-varying effects were observed for age at diagnosis, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, lymph node metastasis, and histological subtypes.