Identifying Strategies to Improve Shared Decision Making for Pregnant Patients' Decisions about Prenatal Genetic Screens and Diagnostic Tests.

Purpose: Prenatal genetic screens and diagnostic tests are vital components of prenatal care. The first prenatal visit is a critical time in the decision-making process when patients decide whether to use these tests in addition to address a series of other essential prenatal care aspects. We conducted this study to examine the role of a shared decision-making (SDM) instrument to support these discussions.

Reducing decisional conflict in decisions about prenatal genetic testing: the impact of a dyadic intervention at the start of prenatal care.

Objectives: Decisional conflict and regret about prenatal genetic screening and diagnostic tests may have important consequences in the current pregnancy and for future reproductive decisions. Identifying mechanisms that reduce conflict associated with the decision to use or decline these options is necessary for optimal patient counseling.

Methods: We conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial of a shared decision-making tool (NEST) at the beginning of prenatal care.

Impact of Telehealth on the Delivery of Prenatal Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Study of the Barriers and Opportunities to Improve Health Care Communication in Discussions About Pregnancy and Prenatal Genetic Testing.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant changes in health care, specifically the accelerated use of telehealth. Given the unique aspects of prenatal care, it is important to understand the impact of telehealth on health care communication and quality, and patient satisfaction. This mixed methods study examined the challenges associated with the rapid and broad implementation of telehealth for prenatal care delivery during the pandemic.

The Impact of Outpatient Prenatal Care Visitor Restrictions on Pregnant Patients and Partners During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, several health care facilities enacted visitor restrictions to help reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among patients, front-line workers in health care systems, and communities. The impact and burden of policy updates on visitor restrictions put forth by the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen on patients and families, most often in the acute care setting and skilled nursing facilities. Yet, the effects of visitor restrictions in the prenatal care setting were unknown.

Urolithiasis in pregnancy: Advances in imaging modalities and evaluation of current trends in endourological approaches.

Objective: Given the challenges involved in diagnosis and treatment of pregnant women with urolithiasis, we aim to review the imaging modalities and current endourological management of these patients.

Materials And Methods: We performed a review of the available literature on urolithiasis in pregnancy. This included evaluation, diagnostic imaging, and therapeutic options.

The Successes and Challenges of Implementing Telehealth for Diverse Patient Populations Requiring Prenatal Care During COVID-19: Qualitative Study.

Background: Although telehealth appears to have been accepted among some obstetric populations before the COVID-19 pandemic, patients' receptivity and experience with the rapid conversion of this mode of health care delivery are unknown.

Objective: In this study, we examine patients' prenatal care needs, preferences, and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of supporting the development of successful models to serve the needs of pregnant patients, obstetric providers, and health care systems during this time.

Methods: This study involved qualitative methods to explore pregnant patients' experiences with prenatal health care delivery at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prostate cancer metastatic to bilateral testicles: case report and literature review.

Purpose: Hormone-refractory prostate cancer (PCa) has a high incidence of metastasis with common secondary site locations. Our case report describes a rare metastatic site of PCa infiltrating bilateral testicles in the absence of definitive radiologic evidence.

Materials And Methods: Following the patient's consent and IRB exemption, we report the clinical, radiological, and pathological presentation of the patient treated at our institution.

The impact of the emergence of COVID-19 on women's prenatal genetic testing decisions.

Objective: We conducted a study to examine the impact of COVID on patients' access and utilization of prenatal genetic screens and diagnostic tests at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Methods: We conducted telephone interviews with 40 patients to examine how the pandemic affected prenatal genetic screening and diagnostic testing decisions during the initial months of the pandemic in the United States. An interview guide queried experiences with the ability to access information about prenatal genetic testing options and to utilize the tests when desired.

Pandemics and Supply Chain Management Research: Toward a Theoretical Toolbox.

The COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed the world and revealed the critical importance of supply chain management-perhaps more so than any other event in modern history-in navigating crises. The extensive scope of disruption, massive spillover of effects across countries and industries, and extreme shifts in demand and supply that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate that pandemics are qualitatively different from typical disruptions. As such, pandemics require scholars to take a fresh look at what lenses offer understanding of supply chain phenomena in order to help supply chain managers better prepare for the next pandemic and foster (i.

One-phase synthesis of surface modified gold nanoparticles and generation of SERS substrate by seed growth method.

In this study, we report a novel and facile single-phase synthesis of stable AuNP-CTAB(NA) conjugates with good dispersibility, bearing a bilayer of cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) supported by N-nonylamine (NA) as a cosurfactant. We investigated AuNP-CTAB(NA) conjugates by (1)H NMR spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). These studies suggest the presence of a CTAB bilayer on the nanoparticles surface forming an admicelle and NA embedded in the hydrophobic core of that bilayer.

Pulmonary sporotrichosis with massive hemoptysis.

Pulmonary sporotrichosis is an uncommon condition that may mimic tuberculosis. We present a patient who, years after antifungal therapy, presented with massive pulmonary hemorrhage. Although such life-threatening hemoptysis caused by sporotrichosis is rare, the possibility of this complication of progressive disease should influence decisions regarding medical and surgical treatment of patients with extensive cavitary involvement.

Intracranial hemorrhage after carotid endarterectomy.

Among 1500 carotid endarterectomies performed between 1975 and 1984, 11 ipsilateral intracranial hemorrhages (IH) occurred between the first and tenth postoperative days for an incidence of 0.7%. The mortality rate among these patients was 36%.

Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm presenting as symptomatic inguinal mass: report of six cases.

Six elderly male patients (mean age, 73 years; range, 66 to 78 years) were admitted with groin masses caused by ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms. A palpable abdominal mass was present in 33%. All patients eventually underwent abdominal aortic aneurysmectomy with a resultant mortality rate of 50%.

Linton patch angioplasty. An adjunct to distal bypass with polytetrafluoroethylene grafts.

Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts have shown promise in bypasses to the popliteal and tibial arteries, but a significant incidence of immediate and late graft failure has limited general acceptance. Compliance differences between the PTFE graft and artery may present technical difficulties in small vessel anastomosis, as well as being implicated in late development of intimal hyperplasia. A retrospective study of 68 patients who had bypass to the distal popliteal and tibial arteries using PTFE grafts with adjunctive distal patch angioplasty was undertaken.

The use of Mersilene mesh in repair of abdominal wall hernias: a clinical and experimental study.

Use of synthetic materials in herniplasty has been a controversial issue. In order to determine the influence of Mersilene mesh on the strength of healing abdominal wounds and its effectiveness in repair of hernia, experimental and clinical studies were undertaken. Experimental study included 175 male rats divided into three groups subjected to either: 1) an incision made only through the skin and closed with 3-0 silk sutures; 2) a 2.

Translumbar aortography updated.

Although translumbar aortography is the oldest form of aortography, we belive it to be the procedure of choice in studying patients with aortoiliac and more distal peripheral vascular occlusive disease. It may be performed rapidly and easily and carried a low serious complication rate. The aorta should be punctured below the renal detail even in the feet, and some life threatening complications that have been reported when the aorta was punctured above the renal arteries may be avoided.