Publications by authors named "Block S"

The field of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) has its roots in the principles, promulgated by Dame Cicely Saunders, that patient and family are the unit of care and that comprehensive integration of physical, psychological, social, and spiritual care is necessary to address suffering in all its dimensions. Although we aspire to provide comprehensive care for our patients, most hospice and palliative care (HPM) physicians lack basic competencies for identifying and managing patients with psychological distress and mental health distress and disorders, a growing segment of our clinical population. In this article, I argue that we are not living up to the founding values of our field in how we practice, how we educate our trainees, our research, and in how we pursue our own professional development as faculty.

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Background: With the next generation of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) -targeting therapies, such as antibody-drug conjugates, showing benefit in "HER2 low" and even "HER2 ultralow" patients, the need for novel methods to quantify HER2 expression accurately becomes even more important for clinical decision making. A HER2 PET/CT imaging assessment could evaluate HER2 positive disease locations while improving patient care, reducing the need for invasive biopsies. A single-domain antibody (sdAb)-based PET tracer could combine the high specificity of sdAbs with short-lived radionuclides such as fluorine-18 (F) and gallium-68 (Ga).

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Background: The radiation exposure of nuclear medicine personnel, especially concerning extremity doses, has been a significant focus over the past two decades. This study addresses the evolving practice of NM, particularly with the rise of radionuclide therapy and theranostic procedures, which involve a variety of radionuclides such as Ga, Lu, and I. Traditional studies have concentrated on common radioisotopes like Tc, F, and Y, but there is limited data on these radionuclides, which are more and more frequently used.

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  • Experiential learning in palliative care at RWTH Aachen University allows medical students to engage directly with terminally ill patients through a course called "The Patient as Teacher," which has been running from 2005 to 2020, with a temporary pause due to Covid-19.
  • A study conducted on student essays from this course revealed that participants were motivated to improve their communication skills, gain firsthand experience with patients, and build meaningful relationships beyond a clinical setting.
  • Overall, the course has been viewed positively by students, aiding in both their personal growth and professional development by helping them address insecurities related to interacting with terminally ill patients.
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Significance: This study brings awareness of racial/ethnic difference of refractive error characteristics in clinics.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess longitudinal change in refractive errors over a 36-month period in Hispanic and Black children.

Methods: Children (2.

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Purpose: To provide information on the demographics of optometrists and regulation of the optometry profession in countries who were members of the World Council of Optometry (WCO) during the period 2022-2023.

Methods: A non-random, purposive sampling and a key informant strategy was employed to conduct a survey-based cross-sectional study on the professional landscape and distribution of optometrists; educational landscape; legislative aspects of the profession; and the scope of optometry practice in countries who were members of WCO during the period 2022-2023. Key informants were identified by WCO country members' leadership.

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  • Different immigrant groups in the U.S. have higher rates of chronic hepatitis B and liver cancer, so it's important to create educational campaigns to help them understand the risks and promote screenings and vaccinations.
  • Researchers talked to people from various communities, like Micronesian and Nigerian, to see how they prefer to learn about these health issues.
  • The study found that people want information in their own languages, presented by trusted leaders in safe places, and that it’s important to share accurate info to clear up any myths about hepatitis B and liver cancer.
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  • There are many immigrant communities in the U.S. that have high rates of hepatitis B and liver cancer.
  • A project was done to find out what these communities know about these diseases, so that better educational programs can be created.
  • The study showed that people in these communities have a lot of gaps in their knowledge about hepatitis B and liver cancer, and these gaps make it harder for them to get check-ups and vaccinations.
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Asian, Pacific Islander, African, and Caribbean communities in the U.S. are heavily impacted by chronic hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

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Control of cellular identity requires coordination of developmental programs with environmental factors such as nutrient availability, suggesting that perturbing metabolism can alter cell state. Here, we find that nucleotide depletion and DNA replication stress drive differentiation in human and murine normal and transformed hematopoietic systems, including patient-derived acute myeloid leukemia (AML) xenografts. These cell state transitions begin during S phase and are independent of ATR/ATM checkpoint signaling, double-stranded DNA break formation, and changes in cell cycle length.

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Mucus is a dynamic biological hydrogel, composed primarily of the glycoprotein mucin, exhibits unique biophysical properties and forms a barrier protecting cells against a broad-spectrum of viruses. Here, this work develops a polyglycerol sulfate-based dendronized mucin-inspired copolymer (MICP-1) with ≈10% repeating units of activated disulfide as cross-linking sites. Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) analysis of MICP-1 reveals an elongated single-chain fiber morphology.

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  • Our ancestors’ ability to adapt their diets and migrate to better environments facilitated their rapid spread from Africa over 120,000 years ago.
  • The influence of environmental factors versus cultural aspects on this migration process remains uncertain.
  • A statistical analysis of archaeological and genetic data reveals that migration routes were primarily shaped by regional environmental conditions, despite the potential role of cultural influences on a smaller scale.
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Growth and immune process dysregulation can result in both cancer and nonmalignant disease (hereditary or acquired, with and without predisposition to malignancy). Moreover, perhaps unexpectedly, many nonmalignant illnesses harbor genomic alterations indistinguishable from druggable oncogenic drivers. Therefore, targeted compounds used successfully to treat cancer may have therapeutic potential for nonmalignant conditions harboring the same target.

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Recent use of least-cost diets as a measure of global food security revealed that over 3 billion people are unable to afford sufficient nutritious food for an active and healthy life, driving demand for policy changes to improve access and affordability. This study quantifies the role of imports in consumer prices, matching retail prices in 144 countries to imports by origin of the item or its main ingredient, resulting in a total of 13,846 pairs of a retail price and its import cost in 2017. We find that 55% of retail items had some active imports supplementing domestic production, and of those around 48% have nonzero tariffs whose average effective rate is around 6.

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  • The androgen receptor (AR) is a protein that regulates gene expression by binding to specific DNA sequences, and its structure when bound to two natural androgen response elements (AREs) has been studied.
  • The research reveals how mutations causing androgen insensitivity affect the AR's ability to bind DNA and dimerize, with detailed structural data obtained through X-ray crystallography.
  • Findings indicate that the binding of the AR to DNA involves cooperative interactions between its two domains, with implications for understanding how certain mutations may influence its function.
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Mucus forms the first defense line of human lungs, and as such hampers the efficient delivery of therapeutics to the underlying epithelium. This holds particularly true for genetic cargo such as CRISPR-based gene editing tools which cannot readily surmount the mucosal barrier. While lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) emerge as versatile non-viral gene delivery systems that can help overcome the delivery challenge, many knowledge gaps remain, especially for diseased states such as cystic fibrosis (CF).

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We present a method to differentiate organisms solely by their motion based on the generalized Langevin equation (GLE) and use it to distinguish two different swimming modes of strongly confined unicellular microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The GLE is a general model for active or passive motion of organisms and particles that can be derived from a time-dependent general many-body Hamiltonian and in particular includes non-Markovian effects (i.e.

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Purpose: Determine the pediatric prevalence of keratoconus (KC) using Scheimpflug corneal tomography.

Methods: A prospective observational study was done on subjects aged 3 to 18 years at the Princeton Vision Clinic, Chicago, IL. Scheimpflug tomography (Pentacam HR, OCULUS Optikgerate GmbH) scans (Belin/Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia BAD3) yielded BAD Final D (Final D) and Back Elevation at the Thinnest Point (BETP) measurements.

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Background: In cases of child sexual abuse (CSA), a supportive non-offending caregiver (NOC) is important for the child's overall well-being and adjustment. NOC support is also predictive of CSA cases moving forward to prosecution. Limited research has studied CSA case factors in relation to NOC supportive behaviors across numerous support dimensions.

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Adults' ability to accurately evaluate children's statements can have far-reaching consequences within the legal system. This study examined the evaluations of police officers ("experts") and laypersons ("nonexperts") when presented with videotaped interviews of children aged 3 and 5 years who provided either true or false reports or denials. Participants were drawn from several counties in the eastern United States.

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Purpose: Vision screening and regular eye care can help detect and treat potentially irreversible vision impairment. This study aims to investigate the associations between sociodemographic and health characteristics and the receipt of eye care among children aged 17 years and younger in the United States.

Design: This cross-sectional study used data from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), a nationally representative and population-based survey of randomly sampled households.

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