Age and political leaning predict COVID-19 vaccination status at a large, multi-campus, public university in Pennsylvania: A cross-sectional survey.

Introduction: Vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted many higher education institutions. Understanding the factors associated with vaccine hesitancy and uptake is instrumental in directing policies and disseminating reliable information during public health emergencies.

Objective: This study evaluates associations between age, gender, and political leaning in relationship to COVID-19 vaccination status among a large, multi-campus, public university in Pennsylvania.

Curriculum mapping of accredited pharmacy programs in the United States.

Introduction: No current guidance exists to inform the content area credit hours for doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) programs in the United States (US).

Methods: Public websites were accessed for all Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited PharmD programs in the US to record the credit hours devoted to drug therapy, clinical skills, experiential learning, scholarship, social and administrative sciences, physiology/pathophysiology, pharmacogenomics, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics in the didactic curricula. Due to the high prevalence of programs that integrate drug therapy, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry into a single course, we subdivided programs based upon whether drug therapy courses were "integrated" or "non-integrated.

Developmental/behavioral training innovation in a high-need, low-resource state: The child health and development promotion fellowship.

Introduction: Developmental and behavioral problems are prevalent in early childhood, whereas the workforce available to identify and address early problems is comparatively limited. Beyond workforce shortages, additional barriers to developing and training a highly skilled workforce in this area exist-particularly in rural, high-need, and underserved U.S.

Temporal concordance between pulse contour analysis, bioreactance and carotid doppler during rapid preload changes.

Purpose: We describe the temporal concordance of 3 hemodynamic monitors.

Materials And Methods: Healthy volunteers performed preload changes while simultaneously wearing a non-invasive, pulse-contour stroke volume (SV) monitor, a bioreactance SV monitor and a wireless, wearable Doppler ultrasound patch over the common carotid artery. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting preload change over 3 temporal windows (early, middle and late) was assessed.

A novel, hands-free ultrasound patch for continuous monitoring of quantitative Doppler in the carotid artery.

Quantitative Doppler ultrasound of the carotid artery has been proposed as an instantaneous surrogate for monitoring rapid changes in left ventricular output. Tracking immediate changes in the arterial Doppler spectrogram has value in acute care settings such as the emergency department, operating room and critical care units. We report a novel, hands-free, continuous-wave Doppler ultrasound patch that adheres to the neck and tracks Doppler blood flow metrics in the common carotid artery using an automated algorithm.

The Feasibility of a Novel Index From a Wireless Doppler Ultrasound Patch to Detect Decreasing Cardiac Output in Healthy Volunteers.

Introduction: Early hemorrhage is often missed by traditional vital signs because of physiological reserve, especially in the young and healthy. We have developed a novel, wearable, wireless Doppler ultrasound patch that tracks real-time blood velocity in the common carotid artery.

Materials And Methods: We studied eight healthy volunteers who decreased their cardiac output using a standardized Valsalva maneuver.

A wearable carotid Doppler tracks changes in the descending aorta and stroke volume induced by end-inspiratory and end-expiratory occlusion: A pilot study.

Background And Aims: To test the feasibility of a novel, wearable carotid Doppler ultrasound to track changes in cardiac output induced by end-inspiratory and end-expiratory occlusion tests.

Methods: We observed the pattern of Doppler change of the common carotid artery during a simulated end-inspiratory and expiratory occlusion test (sEIOT/sEEOT) in 10, nonventilated, healthy subjects. Simultaneously, we measured the Doppler signal of the descending aorta using duplex ultrasound (Xario, Toshiba Medical Systems) and stroke volume (SV) using noninvasive pulse contour analysis (Clearsight, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California).

Diagnostic characteristics of 11 formulae for calculating corrected flow time as measured by a wearable Doppler patch.

Background: Change of the corrected flow time (Ftc) is a surrogate for tracking stroke volume (SV) in the intensive care unit. Multiple Ftc equations have been proposed; many have not had their diagnostic characteristics for detecting SV change reported. Further, little is known about the inherent Ftc variability induced by the respiratory cycle.

A Carotid Doppler Patch Accurately Tracks Stroke Volume Changes During a Preload-Modifying Maneuver in Healthy Volunteers.

Objectives: Detecting instantaneous stroke volume change in response to altered cardiac preload is the physiologic foundation for determining preload responsiveness.

Design: Proof-of-concept physiology study.

Setting: Research simulation laboratory.

Building new twenty-first century medical school libraries from the ground up: challenges, experiences, and lessons learned.

The twenty-first century library at a newly opened medical school often differs from those at traditional medical schools. One obvious difference is that the new medical school library tends to be a born-digital library, meaning that the library collection is almost exclusively digital. However, the unique issues related to building a library at a new medical school are not limited to online collections.

Exploratory Analysis of Single-Gene Predictive Biomarkers in HERA DASL Cohort Reveals That C8A mRNA Expression Is Prognostic of Outcome and Predictive of Benefit of Trastuzumab.

Purpose: The Herceptin Adjuvant study is an international multicenter randomized trial that compared 1 or 2 years of trastuzumab given every 3 weeks with observation in women with human epidermal growth factor 2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer after chemotherapy. Identification of biomarkers predictive of a benefit from trastuzumab will minimize overtreatment and lower health care costs.

Methods: To identify possible single-gene biomarkers, an exploratory analysis of 3,669 gene probes not expected to be expressed in normal breast tissue was conducted.

System for Informatics in the Molecular Pathology Laboratory: An Open-Source End-to-End Solution for Next-Generation Sequencing Clinical Data Management.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) diagnostic assays increasingly are becoming the standard of care in oncology practice. As the scale of an NGS laboratory grows, management of these assays requires organizing large amounts of information, including patient data, laboratory processes, genomic data, as well as variant interpretation and reporting. Although several Laboratory Information Systems and/or Laboratory Information Management Systems are commercially available, they may not meet all of the needs of a given laboratory, in addition to being frequently cost-prohibitive.

Noninvasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasms With Papillary-like Nuclear Features Are Genetically and Biologically Similar to Adenomatous Nodules and Distinct From Papillary Thyroid Carcinomas With Extensive Follicular Growth.

Context: - Proposed noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTPs), formerly noninvasive encapsulated papillary carcinoma, follicular variant (PTC-FV), is an indolent tumor with follicular growth and frequent RAS mutations.

Objective: - To detect histologic and molecular differences separating NIFTP from follicular adenomas (FAs) and invasive carcinomas, particularly papillary carcinomas with extensive follicular growth (PTC-EFGs) and invasive encapsulated PTC-FV (IE-PTC-FV).

Design: - Sixty-one tumors were reviewed histologically and reclassified into 32 NIFTPs (52%), 4 IE-PTC-FVs (7%), 14 PTC-EFGs (23%), and 11 FAs (18%).

High Expression of FGD3, a Putative Regulator of Cell Morphology and Motility, Is Prognostic of Favorable Outcome in Multiple Cancers.

Purpose: Identification of single-gene biomarkers that are prognostic of outcome can shed new insights on the molecular mechanisms that drive breast cancer and other cancers.

Methods: Exploratory analysis of 20,464 single-gene messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC) discovery cohort indicates that low expression of mRNA is prognostic for poor outcome. Prognostic significance of faciogenital dysplasia 3 (FGD3), SUSD3, and other single-gene proliferation markers was evaluated in breast cancer and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohorts.

Risk factors, prevalence, and site concordance of human papillomavirus in high-risk Greek men.

The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors, genotype-specific prevalence, and concordance of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections at three anatomical sites in a cohort of high-risk Greek men. Patients were recruited from sexually transmitted infection and HIV clinics in Athens. Samples were obtained from oral, penile, and anal sites of 294 study participants and HPV testing was performed on 882 samples using next-generation sequencing.

High prevalence of MiTF staining in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma: caution in the use of melanocytic markers in sarcoma.

Aims: The diagnosis of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) may be challenging, as other lesions with undifferentiated spindle cell morphology must be excluded, including melanoma. Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MiTF) stains naevi and epithelioid melanomas, as well as some mesenchymal neoplasms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of MiTF and melanocytic markers in UPS and a subset of atypical fibroxanthoma (AFX).

Clinical Validation of a Next-Generation Sequencing Genomic Oncology Panel via Cross-Platform Benchmarking against Established Amplicon Sequencing Assays.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) genomic oncology profiling assays have emerged as key drivers of personalized cancer care and translational research. However, validation of these assays to meet strict clinical standards has been historically problematic because of both significant assay complexity and a scarcity of optimal validation samples. Herein, we present the clinical validation of 76 genes from a novel 1212-gene large-scale hybrid capture cancer sequencing assay (University of Chicago Medicine OncoPlus) using full-data comparisons against multiple clinical NGS amplicon-based assays to yield dramatic increases in per-sample data comparison efficiency compared with previously published validations.

Identification of a structurally novel BTK mutation that drives ibrutinib resistance in CLL.

Ibrutinib (ibr), a first-in-class Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, has demonstrated high response rates in both relapsed/refractory and treatment naïve chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, about 25% of patients discontinue ibrutinib therapy at a median follow-up of 20 months and many patients discontinue the treatment due to leukemia progression or Richter transformation. Mutations affecting the C481 residue of BTK disrupt ibrutinib binding and have been characterized by us and others as the most common mechanism of ibrutinib resistance.

Effects of Estrogen Receptor and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-2 Levels on the Efficacy of Trastuzumab: A Secondary Analysis of the HERA Trial.

Importance: A number of studies suggest that response to antihuman epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (currently known as ERBB2, butreferred to asHER2 in this study) agents differs by estrogen receptor (ER) level status. The clinical relevance of this is unknown.

Objective: To determine the magnitude of trastuzumab benefit according to quantitative levels of ER and HER2 in the HERceptin Adjuvant (HERA) trial.

Polyglucosan bodies in intramuscular nerve branches are a poor predictor of GBE1 mutation and adult polyglucosan body disease.

Introduction: Adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD) is associated with formation of polyglucosan bodies in peripheral nerve branches. Some muscle biopsies show these inclusions in intramuscular nerve branches. It has not been established whether the presence of multiple polyglucosan bodies in intramuscular peripheral nerve branches could or should suggest testing for APBD.

ESR1 and ESR2 polymorphisms in the BIG 1-98 trial comparing adjuvant letrozole versus tamoxifen or their sequence for early breast cancer.

Estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) and ESR2 gene polymorphisms have been associated with endocrine-mediated physiological mechanisms, and inconsistently with breast cancer risk and outcomes, bone mineral density changes, and hot flushes/night sweats. DNA was isolated and genotyped for six ESR1 and two ESR2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from tumor specimens from 3691 postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer enrolled in the BIG 1-98 trial to receive tamoxifen and/or letrozole for 5 years. Associations with recurrence and adverse events (AEs) were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models.

Amplicon Indel Hunter Is a Novel Bioinformatics Tool to Detect Large Somatic Insertion/Deletion Mutations in Amplicon-Based Next-Generation Sequencing Data.

Amplicon-based targeted next-generation sequencing assays are used widely to test for clinically relevant somatic mutations in cancer. However, accurate detection of large insertions and deletions (indels) via these assays remains challenging. Sequencing reads that cover these anomalies are, by definition, different from the reference sequence, and lead to variable performance of alignment algorithms.

Enriched transcription factor signatures in triple negative breast cancer indicates possible targeted therapies with existing drugs.

Purpose: Triple negative (TN) breast cancers which lack expression of the estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) receptors convey a poor prognosis due in part to a lack of targeted therapies.

Methods: To identify viable targets for the treatment of TN disease, we have conducted a gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) on seven different breast cancer whole genome gene expression cohorts comparing TN vs. ER + HER2 - to identify consistently enriched genes that share a common promoter motif.

CYP19A1 polymorphisms and clinical outcomes in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in the BIG 1-98 trial.

To determine whether CYP19A1 polymorphisms are associated with abnormal activity of aromatase and with musculoskeletal and bone side effects of aromatase inhibitors. DNA was isolated from tumor specimens of 4861 postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer enrolled in the BIG 1-98 trial to receive tamoxifen and/or letrozole for 5 years. Tumors were genotyped for six CYP19A1 polymorphisms using PCR-based methods.