Little evidence for genetic variation associated with susceptibility to sea star wasting syndrome in the keystone species Pisaster ochraceus.

The keystone species Pisaster ochraceus suffered mass mortalities along the northeast Pacific Ocean from Sea Star Wasting Syndrome (SSWS) outbreaks in 2013-2016. SSWS causation remains of debate, leading to concerns as to whether outbreaks will continue to impact this species. Considering the apparent link between ocean temperature and SSWS, the future of this species and intertidal communities remains uncertain.

Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS) on Clozapine with a Potential Atypical Interaction with Paliperidone.

Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS) associated with the use of first-generation antipsychotics is a widely known phenomenon. This idiosyncratic reaction is less significant with the use of second-generation antipsychotics, and only a few cases in the literature exist, describing this reaction with clozapine use. While being titrated on clozapine, the patient developed major and minor criteria features of NMS as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition (DSM-5) criteria except for fever, a core symptom which created diagnostic uncertainty.

Synthesis of systematic review evidence of interprofessional education.

Interprofessional education (IPE) continues to be a central focus within health care and research spheres. As a result, there is a sustained interest in understanding its overall effects on learners, professions, organizations, and patients. Systematic reviews are instrumental in assessing evidence and informing disciplinary fields about the effects of interventions and providing direction for future activity and research.

Evaluation of software for multiple imputation of semi-continuous data.

It is now widely accepted that multiple imputation (MI) methods properly handle the uncertainty of missing data over single imputation methods. Several standard statistical software packages, such as SAS, R and STATA, have standard procedures or user-written programs to perform MI. The performance of these packages is generally acceptable for most types of data.

Cost-effectiveness in clinical trials: using multiple imputation to deal with incomplete cost data.

Background: Cost-effectiveness has become an important outcome in many clinical trials and has resulted in the collection of resource use data and the calculation of costs for individual patients. A specific example is a Cancer Research UK phase III trial comparing chemotherapy (CT) against standard palliative care in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Resource usage from trial entry until death were collected and costs obtained on a subset of 115 trial patients.

The design of simulation studies in medical statistics.

Simulation studies use computer intensive procedures to assess the performance of a variety of statistical methods in relation to a known truth. Such evaluation cannot be achieved with studies of real data alone. Designing high-quality simulations that reflect the complex situations seen in practice, such as in prognostic factors studies, is not a simple process.

A retrospective evaluation of the feasibility of intrapatient dose escalation as appropriate methodology for dose-ranging studies for combination cytotoxic regimens.

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of intrapatient dose-escalation methodology for dose-ranging studies of conventional cytotoxics in combination.

Patients And Methods: Case records were identified for patients with ovarian cancer treated first-line with either single-agent carboplatin or carboplatin and paclitaxel in combination and routinely subjected to a 10% dose escalation in carboplatin at each cycle, towards a target day-22 neutrophil count in the range 1.0-1.