Adherence Disparities and Utilization Trends of Oncotype Dx Assay: A National Cancer Database Study.

Introduction: Oncotype Dx (ODX) is a genetic assay that analyzes tumor recurrence risk and provides chemotherapy recommendations for T1-T2 stage, hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-negative, and nodal-negative breast cancer patients. Despite its established validity, the utilization of this assay is suboptimal. The study aims to evaluate factors that are associated with adherence rate with the testing guidelines and examine changes in utilization trends.

Should Surgical Services Admit Small Bowel Obstructions Managed Non-operatively?

Introduction: Over the past decade, small bowel obstructions (SBO) have been increasingly managed non-operatively. Prior studies have looked at outcomes based on admission to surgical services (SS) or medicine services (MS), but most are restricted to operative patients. This study evaluates the outcomes of non-operative patients specifically.

Fewer Levels of Dedicated Trauma Care Leads to Better Outcomes.

Background: Dedicated trauma intensive care units (ICUs) staffed by surgical intensivists lead to better patient outcomes. Increased length of stay (LOS) leads to worse outcomes. Little research has focused on the effect of dedicated trauma medical-surgical units or ICU/medicalsurgical systems.

Admitting Service and Outcome for Small Bowel Obstruction.

Introduction: Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is a common admission diagnosis. Prior research has shown improved length of stay and time to operation for SBO patients on surgical services (SS) compared to medical services (MS). This study evaluates the impact of admitting service on readmission and mortality.

Developing a targeting system for bacterial membranes: measuring receptor-phosphatidylglycerol interactions with (1)H NMR, ITC and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

An ammonium picket porphyrin that targets bacterial membranes has been prepared and shown to bind to phosphatidylglycerol (PG), a bacterial lipid, when the lipid was in solution, contained within synthetic membrane vesicles, or when in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial membranes. The multifunctional receptor was designed to interact with both the phosphate anion portion and neutral glycerol portion of the lipid headgroup. The receptor's affinity and selectivity for binding to surfactant vesicles or lipid vesicles that contain PG within their membranes was directly measured using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS).