Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Echocardiographic Findings in a Predominantly Black Population With Rheumatoid Arthritis and Heart Failure.

Among white rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohorts, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is the most prevalent type of heart failure (HF). We aimed to assess the type of HF affecting Black RA patients. A total of 64 patients with RA-HF were compared with age-, sex-, and race-matched RA patients without HF.

Development and external validation of a dynamic risk score for early prediction of cardiogenic shock in cardiac intensive care units using machine learning.

Aims: Myocardial infarction and heart failure are major cardiovascular diseases that affect millions of people in the USA with morbidity and mortality being highest among patients who develop cardiogenic shock. Early recognition of cardiogenic shock allows prompt implementation of treatment measures. Our objective is to develop a new dynamic risk score, called CShock, to improve early detection of cardiogenic shock in the cardiac intensive care unit (ICU).

Anesthesiology in Times of Physical Disasters-Earthquakes and Typhoons.

Nepal and Hong Kong both are susceptible to natural disasters due to their geographic locations. Nepal suffers from frequent earthquakes, and Hong Kong regularly experiences typhoons of varying severity. Natural disasters may present acutely or with some advance warning.

Brief compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator course for secondary school students: a multischool feasibility study.

Objectives: This study assessed the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a 2-hour compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator (CO-CPRAED) course in secondary school students.

Design: Prospective pre-post feasibility study.

Setting And Participants: 128 students (12-15 years old) without prior basic life support (BLS) training at four secondary schools in Hong Kong.

"A little bit of a guidance and a little bit of group support": a qualitative study of preferences, barriers, and facilitators to participating in community-based exercise opportunities among adults living with chronic pain.

Purpose: To understand preferences, barriers, and facilitators to participating in community-based exercise opportunities among adults living with chronic pain.

Materials And Methods: An interpretive description methodology based on semi-structured interviews was conducted. Adults (age>18 years) living with chronic pain (pain >3 months in duration) were recruited from a multidisciplinary chronic pain clinic in Toronto, Canada.

The use of an imagery mnemonic to teach the porphyrin biochemical pathway.

We designed an imagery mnemonic to help medical students and residents learn the porphyrin pathway and associated diseases. Fourth year medical students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the spring of 2014 participated. One group (n=11) received the porphyrin pathway in a lecture explaining a mnemonic, whereas a second group (n=11) was simply taught the steps of the pathway.

Dissection of immune gene networks in primary melanoma tumors critical for antitumor surveillance of patients with stage II-III resectable disease.

Patients with resected stage II-III cutaneous melanomas remain at high risk for metastasis and death. Biomarker development has been limited by the challenge of isolating high-quality RNA for transcriptome-wide profiling from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) primary tumor specimens. Using NanoString technology, RNA from 40 stage II-III FFPE primary melanomas was analyzed and a 53-immune-gene panel predictive of non-progression (area under the curve (AUC)=0.

Long-term durability and dose escalation patterns in infliximab therapy for psoriasis.

Background: Infliximab often requires dose escalation to maintain response. Studies regarding long-term durability and dose escalation patterns for psoriasis are few.

Objective: We sought to evaluate dose escalation patterns in psoriatic patients to identify factors of lack of optimal response to infliximab.

Urea: a comprehensive review of the clinical literature.

Introduction: Urea is an organic compound that has been used clinically for dermatological diseases for more than a century. Urea is a potent emollient and keratolytic agent, making urea an effective monotherapy for conditions associated with dry and scaly skin. A systematic review of the literature is needed to provide clinicians with evidence-based applications of urea in the treatment of dermatological diseases.

Practical pearls in phototherapy.

The following tips are suggested for phototherapy: (i) calibrate the unit with a radiometer every 2-4 weeks; (ii) change all bulbs at the same time every 8-10 months for regularly used machines or when the UV meter shows that the power has reached 3 or 4 mW/cm(2) ; (iii) avoid phototherapy sessions on consecutive days to prevent burn on burn; (iv) in the event of a burn, reduce the last PUVA or UVB dose by 50%, reinitiating when erythema has fully disappeared, which might take two days to two weeks; (v) nausea from oral psoralens can be avoided by taking it with a fixed amount of milk or food, taking an antiemetic with this meal prior to dosing, taking five ginger tablets 15 minutes before dosing, or dividing the dosage; (vi) to achieve 0.03% concentration of 8-methoxypsoralen for hand and foot soak PUVA, dissolve a 10-mg tablet or 1.0 cc of Oxsoralen(®) solution 1% in 3 l of water; and (vii) to achieve 0.