Malignant wound aetiology, diagnosis and management: a case series and literature review.

Objective: Malignant wounds develop when neoplastic cells invade the skin either locally or by lymphatic and haematogenous spread. They can present as hard-to-heal wounds and underlying causes include: primary skin cancer; metastasis of extracutaneous primary malignancy; malignant transformation of a hard-to-heal wound; iatrogenic injury; and cutaneous forms of cancers of non-skin origin. High clinical suspicion for a malignant wound should be confirmed with skin biopsy.

Artificial intelligence in virtual standardized patients: Combining natural language understanding and rule based dialogue management to improve conversational fidelity.

Introduction: Advances in natural language understanding have facilitated the development of Virtual Standardized Patients (VSPs) that may soon rival human patients in conversational ability. We describe herein the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) system for VSPs enabling students to practice their history taking skills.

Methods: Our system consists of (1) Automated Speech Recognition (ASR), (2) hybrid AI for question identification, (3) classifier to choose between the two systems, and (4) automated speech generation.

Combined coronary artery bypass graft and liver/kidney transplantation in a liver failure patient with acute on chronic kidney failure and antiphospholipid syndrome.

Coexisting coronary artery disease (CAD), end-stage liver disease (ESLD), renal failure, and hypercoagulable state poses a formidable clinical challenge. Here, we discuss the first known case of a patient with antiphospholipid syndrome (APLS), ESLD complicated by hepatorenal syndrome (HRS), and severe CAD who successfully underwent combined coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and simultaneous liver/kidney (SLK) transplant.

Long-standing diabetes mellitus and pancreas transplantation: An avenue to increase utilization of an ideal treatment modality.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with increased post-operative complications in various surgeries. Little data exist regarding the impact of long-standing DM (>25 years) on outcomes in pancreas transplantation (PTX). The objectives of our study were to determine if long-standing pre-transplant DM (>25 years) was associated with inferior outcomes following PTX.

Preclinical Development of a vWF Aptamer to Limit Thrombosis and Engender Arterial Recanalization of Occluded Vessels.

Endothelial surface and circulating glycoprotein von Willebrand factor (vWF) regulates platelet adhesion and is associated with thrombotic diseases, including ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and peripheral vascular disease. Thrombosis, as manifested in these diseases, is the leading cause of disability and death in the western world. Current parenteral antithrombotic and thrombolytic agents used to treat these conditions are limited by a short therapeutic window, irreversibility, and major risk of hemorrhage.