Mechanical Ventilation Training During Graduate Medical Education: Perspectives and Review of the Literature.

Background: Management of mechanical ventilation (MV) is an important and complex aspect of caring for critically ill patients. Management strategies and technical operation of the ventilator are key skills for physicians in training, as lack of expertise can lead to substantial patient harm.

Objective: We performed a narrative review of the literature describing MV education in graduate medical education (GME) and identified best practices for training and assessment methods.

Practice Patterns and Outcomes Associated With Procalcitonin Use in Critically Ill Patients With Sepsis.

Background.: Randomized trials support use of procalcitonin (PCT)-based algorithms to decrease duration of antibiotics for critically ill patients with sepsis. However, current use of PCT and associated outcomes in real-world clinical settings is unclear.

Technical performance of a novel, fully automated electrochemiluminescence immunoassay for the quantitation of β-amyloid (1-42) in human cerebrospinal fluid.

Introduction: Available assays for quantitation of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarker amyloid-beta 1-42 (Aβ [1-42]) in cerebrospinal fluid demonstrate significant variability and lack of standardization to reference measurement procedures (RMPs). We report analytical performance data for the novel Elecsys β-amyloid (1-42) assay (Roche Diagnostics).

Methods: Lot-to-lot comparability was tested using method comparison.

Colchicine in clinical medicine. A guide for internists.

Colchicine (COL) has been used in medicine for a long time. It is well recognized as a valid therapy in acute flares of gouty arthritis, familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), Behçet's disease, and recurring pericarditis with effusion. It has also been used to treat many inflammatory disorders prone to fibrosis, mostly with disappointing therapeutic results.

Epigenetic downregulation of human disabled homolog 2 switches TGF-beta from a tumor suppressor to a tumor promoter.

The cytokine TGF-beta acts as a tumor suppressor in normal epithelial cells and during the early stages of tumorigenesis. During malignant progression, cancer cells can switch their response to TGF-beta and use this cytokine as a potent oncogenic factor; however, the mechanistic basis for this is poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that downregulation of disabled homolog 2 (DAB2) gene expression via promoter methylation frequently occurs in human squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and acts as an independent predictor of metastasis and poor prognosis.

MeCP2 controls an epigenetic pathway that promotes myofibroblast transdifferentiation and fibrosis.

Background & Aims: Myofibroblast transdifferentiation generates hepatic myofibroblasts, which promote liver fibrogenesis. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) is a negative regulator of this process. We investigated epigenetic regulation of PPARgamma and myofibroblast transdifferentiation.