Tonsillectomy guidelines make evidence-based recommendations for the perioperative use of dexamethasone, no routine use of antibiotics, and discharge education of families and for surgeons to monitor bleeding complication rates. The impact of the guidelines on processes and outcomes is unknown.

The guidelines were associated with improvement in perioperative care processes but no improvement in outcomes. Perioperative dexamethasone use increased slightly, and antibiotic use decreased substantially. Bleeding rates were stable, but revisit rates for complications increased because of revisits for pain. (Read the full article)

The 2011 national guidelines for the management of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia recommended narrow-spectrum antibiotic therapy (eg, ampicillin) for most children hospitalized with pneumonia. Before the release of the guidelines, the use of broader-spectrum antibiotics (eg, third-generation cephalosporins) was much more common.

After release of the guidelines, third-generation cephalosporin use declined and penicillin/ampicillin use increased among children hospitalized with pneumonia. Changes were most apparent among institutions that proactively disseminated the guidelines, underscoring the importance of local efforts for timely guideline implementation. (Read the full article)

Biotinidase deficiency (BD) might cause severe and permanent consequences. Cases detected through newborn screening and under treatment are shown to remain asymptomatic. However, some countries, including Spain, do not provide universal BD screening within their national newborn screening programs.

It provides a first estimate of the lifetime costs and health outcomes of a Spanish birth cohort with and without neonatal screening for BD. It shows that newborn screening for BD is likely to be a cost-effective use of resources. (Read the full article)

Previous studies have shown that concomitant administration of the quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine with MCV4 and Tdap was generally well tolerated and did not interfere with the immune responses to the respective vaccines.

Concomitant administration of the novel 9-valent human papillomavirus vaccine with MCV4 and Tdap, 2 vaccines that are currently recommended for routine vaccination of adolescents, did not compromise the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the individual vaccines. (Read the full article)

Rudeness is routinely experienced by hospital-based medical teams. Individuals exposed to mildly rude behavior perform poorly on cognitive tasks, exhibit reduced creativity and flexibility, and are less helpful and prosocial.

Rudeness had adverse consequences on diagnostic and procedural performance of members of the NICU medical teams. Information-sharing mediated the adverse effect of rudeness on diagnostic performance, and help-seeking mediated the effect of rudeness on procedural performance. (Read the full article)

Adolescent vaccination rates lag behind other childhood vaccines. Text messaging to improve uptake of adolescent vaccines has been shown to be effective in academic centers but has not been studied in other settings.

This study, done in 5 private and 2 safety-net practices, used a bidirectional text message as a behavioral prompt and showed text messaging was effective at increasing uptake of all adolescent vaccines. Costs were similar to other reminder/recall methods. (Read the full article)

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages providers from dismissing families who refuse vaccines for their children, yet some providers continue to do so.

We show that ~1 in 5 pediatricians dismiss families who refuse vaccines, and there is significant regional variation in the practice. Dismissing families for refusing vaccines was also associated with stricter state nonmedical exemption policies. (Read the full article)

Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni has announced a number of "exceptional tax measures as part of the fiscal package outlined by President Cyril Ramaphosa to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) has a huge, diverse library of games. These are the cream of the crop for Nintendo's iconic 8-bit home console

Enter PCMag.com's Readers' Choice/Business Choice Survey sweepstakes for a chance to win!

The Valencia CF starlet gives you his formula for finishing when running in on goal.

Valor Collegiate Academies has been in the top 5 percent of Tennessee schools on growth and achievement every year since it started in 2014. But Tom visited Valor because of the well-regarded Valor Compass, a holistic human-development program.

The company is showing off its new full-frame SLR, ultra-zoom bridge camera, and a pair of zoom lenses at CES this year.

For a moment, Wall Street seemed to be inching away from Saudi Arabia. Now, it’s already inching back.

Indonesia was rattled by more than 11 500 earthquakes last year, almost double the annual average of the past decade, according to the nation’s meteorological agency.

A studio course for architecture and landscape architecture students in the Stuckeman School prepares students for the collaborative design process they will take part in once they begin careers in their respective fields by blurring the boundaries between the disciplines in the college setting.

Capital structure, or the DNAs of different sectors differ substantially.

Where businesses are fighting to survive, agility is the name of the game, says Mignon Reynecke.

Read an extract from business author and coach Douglas Kruger's latest book, Virus-proof your small business.

Burundi escapó de una guerra civil y años de terror. Hoy se supone que vive en democracia, pero eso está por verse. Ante las próximas elecciones de mayo, y con el panorama de violencia política que asuela el país, parece imposible que éstas se celebren pacíficamente y bajo el paraguas de la democracia.

Después de 28 años bajo el gobierno de Paul Biya, Camerún se encuentra en una situación de inestabilidad grave que no sólo podría echar a perder las próximas elecciones presidenciales en 2011, sino que también pone en riesgo su papel como principal pilar de estabilidad en África Central.

Extreme poverty and armed conflict in the diamond-rich areas of the Central African Republic (CAR) put thousands of lives in danger and demand urgent reform of the mining sector.

South Africa’s efforts to foster peace and security have placed it centre stage in some of the continent’s most intractable conflicts. This is an inevitable result of the quest to promote “African solutions for African problems”.

Unless the government revives land governance reform in Burundi, long-term peacebuilding efforts will remain compromised.

To avoid a revival of past ethnic tensions between Hutu and Tutsi, Burundi needs to find the right balance between land restitution and national reconciliation.

La imagen de Camerún como una isla de paz en medio de una región tumultuosa terminó en 2013, cuando la violencia de Boko Haram cruzó la frontera nigeriana. Este grupo está afiliado al llamado Estado Islámico o Daesh, e incluso se rebautizó como Estado Islámico de África Occidental a principios de este año. Pero la forma brutal de yihadismo africano que representa difícilmente se explica por el auge del Estado Islámico en Irak y Siria. De hecho, es en parte una consecuencia del cambiante panorama religioso africano, que afecta y no poco a Camerún.

β-lactam resistance in Staphylococcus aureus limits treatment options. Stp1 and Stk1, a serine-threonine phosphatase and kinase respectively, mediate serine-threonine kinase (STK) signaling. Loss of function point mutations in stp1 were detected among laboratory passaged, β-lactam resistant S. aureus strains lacking mecA and blaZ, the major determinants of β-lactam resistance in the bacteria. Loss of Stp1 function facilitates β-lactam resistance of the bacteria.

Contezolid (MRX-I), a new oxazolidinone, is an antibiotic in development for treating complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTI) caused by resistant Gram-positive bacteria. This was a thorough QT study conducted in 52 healthy subjects who were administered oral contezolid at a therapeutic (800 mg) dose, a supratherapeutic (1600 mg) dose, placebo, and oral moxifloxacin 400 mg in 4 separate treatment periods. The pharmacokinetic profile of contezolid was also evaluated. Time-point analysis indicated that the upper bounds of the two-sided 90% confidence interval (CI) for placebo-corrected change-from-baseline QTc (QTc) were <10 ms for the contezolid therapeutic dose at each time point. The upper bound of the 90% CI for QTc were slightly more than 10 ms with the contezolid supratherapeutic dose at 3 and 4 hours postdose, and the prolongation effect on the QT/QTc interval was less than that of the positive control, moxifloxacin 400 mg. At 3 and 4 h after the moxifloxacin dose, the moxifloxacin group met the assay sensitivity criteria outlined in ICH Guidance E14 with having a lower confidence bound ≥5 ms. The results of a linear exposure-response model which were similar to that of a time point analysis demonstrated a slightly positive relationship between contezolid plasma levels and QTcF interval with a slope of 0.227 ms per mg/L (90% CI: 0.188 to 0.266). In summary, contezolid did not prolong the QT interval at a therapeutic dose and may have a slight effect on QT interval prolongation at a supratherapeutic dose.

Malware on an air-gapped computer can transmit data like Morse code by changing screen brightness in a way that's invisible to the naked eye but easily recorded with a camera.

BACKGROUND:

Elevated non–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are used to identify children at increased cardiovascular risk, but the use of non–HDL-C in childhood to predict atherosclerosis is unclear. We examined whether the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute classification of youth non–HDL-C status predicts high common carotid artery intima-media thickness in adulthood.

When Penn State students were faced with the unprecedented challenge of remote learning for the remainder of the spring semester in response to COVID-19, Orlando Acevedo saw an opportunity to connect his community by organizing a 9-week fitness challenge.

The Penn State Smeal College of Business Center for the Business of Sustainability recently hosted the first in a series of virtual fireside discussions titled “The Impact of Coronavirus on Sustainability and Social Impact,” to explore how recent momentum in sustainability efforts has been altered.

Save $30 on this Editors' Choice fitness tracker, which is safe to wear in the pool and shower. It's normally $149.95, but you can grab it now for just $119.95 with free shipping.

If you want to get healthy, a fitness tracker can help. Here at PCMag, we put them through vigorous testing to see which ones are up to the challenge.

If you're buying for someone who lives by the SoulCycle schedule, or wants to get in shape in 2020, this is the gift guide for you.

The Fitbit Inspire HR, which earned an excellent rating in PCMag's review and our Editors' Choice award, is already a good deal at $99.95, but you can grab one right now for just $69.95.

More singularly focused than smartwatches, dedicated fitness trackers are wearable devices that can help you move more, sleep better, and improve your overall health. Here's what you need to know to pick the right one for you, as well as the 10 best fitness trackers we've tested.

Millicent Collins
Aug 1, 2017; 140:e20160719-e20160719
CASE REPORTS

Having student board members with voting clout on school boards poses a number of logistical challenges, readers say in response to a recent Education Week feature.

Social distancing is forcing school business to be conducted virtually, putting school boards in the difficult spot of making crucial decisions on spending and other issues without the same level of public input.

Penn State Campus Recreation is now offering a library of more than 50 workouts online through YouTube as well as live classes that are held every business day on the Penn State Campus Recreation Instagram. Group fitness instructor Alexis "Lexi" Neimeyer talked about her experience on the transition to virtual fitness classes.

CONTEXT:

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) (pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine [PCV-13] and pneumococcal 10-valent conjugate vaccine [PCV-10]) are available for prevention of pneumococcal infections in children.

Whether you're looking to slim down, bulk up, run farther, bike faster, swim better, keep a new year's resolution, or just get healthier, these apps can help you meet your fitness goals in 2020.

Hongyan “Red” Yuan, an instructional designer at Penn State Berks and member of the board of the Reading Chinese Association (RCA), recently helped to coordinate the donation of 1,500 surgical masks to Penn State Health St. Joseph.

Brother International has long dominated PCMag's Business Choice Awards for printers, but this year it's joined by another top contender.

When people can’t leave their houses to attend an event, you bring the event to them. With residents across Pennsylvania sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, Penn State Dickinson Law’s Business Law Society is converting two upcoming entrepreneur pop-up clinics to virtual sessions, allowing people to participate from their homes.

The universe is full of questions waiting to be solved. So why teach science like all the discoveries have already been made? asks Alexander Bell.