Publications by authors named "Desai A"

Graves' disease, a common autoimmune disorder, characteristically presents with upper eyelid retraction, causing significant functional and cosmetic concerns for affected individuals. The management of Graves' upper eyelid retraction has evolved significantly over recent years, with various surgical and non-surgical interventions. An ideal procedure is predictable and easily repeatable.

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Background: The importance of nutritional status is underappreciated in patients with heart failure (HF). This study aimed to describe the range of the prognostic nutrition index (PNI), and the clinical characteristics and outcomes according to PNI, in patients with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The primary outcome was the composite of HF hospitalization or cardiovascular death.

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Endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) is a novel endoscopic technique for removing complex colorectal lesions. The inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) population poses unique challenges for endoscopic resection due to an increased prevalence of fibrotic, nonlifting lesions and higher recurrence rates compared with the general population. This case series reports on the successful use of EFTR in 5 patients with IBD who had challenging colonic polyps, including fibrotic and nonlifting lesions.

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To describe a case of frosted branch angiitis-like retinal vasculitis that developed after scleral buckle surgery. A single case was evaluated. Five days after nondrainage scleral buckle surgery with a segmental buckle and encircling band, an otherwise healthy 39-year-old man presented with frosted branch angiitis.

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Patients with AML and measurable residual disease (MRD) undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) may benefit from myeloablative conditioning (MAC) when feasible to reduce relapse risk. Fludarabine-Melphalan (FluMel) is a common reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimen; however, data in MRD+ patients is sparse. We performed a retrospective review of AML patients who underwent their first HCT (2016-2021) without morphologic disease at City of Hope who had pre-transplant marrow evaluated for MRD using multicolor flow cytometry (MFC) and received radiation-based MAC or FluMel conditioning.

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Background And Objectives: There is a need to accurately capture family demographic information to ensure appropriate delivery of services, optimize patient experiences, and examine health disparities; however, we lack a standardized and inclusive approach to collect demographic data. Our objective was to design a set of inclusive survey items for common demographic categories that can be used for clinical care and research.

Methods: In this prospective, mixed-methods study, we used a rigorous survey design approach to conduct a literature review, seek expert validation, and perform cognitive pretesting with families between October 2021 and September 2023 to iteratively develop an inclusive demographic survey.

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Purpose: Cancer treatment often results in adverse financial consequences-also termed financial toxicity. To build upon limited research in pediatric oncology, we conducted a qualitative study exploring families' lived experiences with financial toxicity and their perspectives on potential mitigation strategies.

Methods: We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of English- and Spanish-speaking family caregivers, 3-24 months following diagnosis.

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This research aims to improve the accuracy of cutting fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) utilizing CO2 laser processing techniques, with a particular focus on carbon-glass fiber-reinforced hybrid composites (CGFRP) using epoxy resin. Establishing CO laser machining as a dependable and effective process for creating superior CGFRP components is the main goal. This research intends to optimize laser machining parameters to enhance surface quality and machining efficiency for these composites by a thorough parametric analysis.

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Background & Objective: Diabetic patients often develop lesions called non-diabetic renal diseases (NDRD), whose prognostic and therapeutic implications vary from diabetic nephropathy (DN). Since early identification of NDRD is associated with a better prognosis, we aimed to understand its spectrum.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-four patients were included in a cross-sectional study.

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Background: Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) are the most common cancers in the United States. Image-guided superficial radiation therapy (IGSRT) is an effective treatment for NMSCs. Patient comorbidities and socioeconomic status (SES) are known contributors to health disparities.

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Background: The combined therapy with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and Impella (ECPella) has been shown to improve survival in acute cardiogenic shock (CS) in adult patient. Only three paediatric cases have been reported in a multicentre study.

Case Summary: We present our case, the first described to our knowledge in the UK, of a 15-year-old adolescent of Afro-Caribbean descent, weight 75 kg, who received extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (E-CPR) and ECPella implantation.

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Background: With the rise of virulent pathogens, the transplant community faces unprecedented challenges in caring for immunocompromised patients. Effective diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up are essential, with prompt immunosuppression adjustment and hospitalization for decompensated patients being critical for survival.

Objective: Our study aimed to determine if a nurse practitioner-driven care model improves outcomes for kidney transplant recipients who contracted COVID-19.

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Objective: Event capture in clinical trials is resource-intensive, and electronic medical records (EMRs) offer a potential solution. This study develops algorithms for EMR-based death and hospitalization capture and compares them with traditional event capture methods.

Materials And Methods: We compared the effectiveness of EMR-based event capture and site-captured events adjudicated by a clinical endpoint committee in the multi-center INfluenza Vaccine to Effectively Stop cardio Thoracic Events and Decompensated heart failure (INVESTED) trial for participants from the Veterans Affairs healthcare system.

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Wildland fire-atmosphere interaction generates complex turbulence patterns, organized across multiple scales, which inform fire-spread behaviour, firebrand transport, and smoke dispersion. Here, we utilize wavelet-based techniques to explore the characteristic temporal scales associated with coherent patterns in the measured temperature and the turbulent fluxes during a prescribed wind-driven (heading) surface fire beneath a forest canopy. We use temperature and velocity measurements from tower-mounted sonic anemometers at multiple heights.

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Background: Obesity is associated with excessive adipocyte-derived aldosterone secretion, independent of the classical renin-angiotensin-aldosterone cascade, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists may be more effective in patients with heart failure (HF) and obesity.

Objectives: This study sought to examine the effects of the nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist finerenone compared with placebo, according to body mass index (BMI) in FINEARTS-HF (FINerenone trial to investigate Efficacy and sAfety superioR to placebo in paTientS with Heart Failure).

Methods: A total of 6,001 patients with HF with NYHA functional class II, III, and IV, a left ventricular ejection fraction of ≥40%, evidence of structural heart disease, and elevated natriuretic peptide levels were randomized to finerenone or placebo.

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Background: Glioblastoma is the most aggressive adult primary brain cancer, characterized by significant heterogeneity, posing challenges for patient management, treatment planning, and clinical trial stratification.

Methods: We developed a highly reproducible, personalized prognostication and clinical subgrouping system using machine learning (ML) on routine clinical data, MRI, and molecular measures from 2,838 demographically diverse patients across 22 institutions and 3 continents. Patients were stratified into favorable, intermediate, and poor prognostic subgroups (I, II, III) using Kaplan-Meier analysis (Cox proportional model and hazard ratios [HR]).

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Introduction: The aim of this study was to differentiate amelanotic choroidal lesions - amelanotic choroidal melanoma, choroidal metastasis, and choroidal granuloma using multimodal imaging.

Methods: Retrospective comparative chart review was done. Patients diagnosed with the abovementioned choroidal lesions from 2015 to 2022 were included.

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Patient-derived tumor organoids have been leveraged for disease modeling and preclinical studies but rarely applied in real time to aid with interpretation of patient treatment responses in clinics. We recently demonstrated early efficacy signals in a first-in-human, phase 1 study of dual-targeting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells (EGFR-IL13Rα2 CAR-T cells) in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. Here, we analyzed six sets of patient-derived glioblastoma organoids (GBOs) treated concurrently with the same autologous CAR-T cell products as patients in our phase 1 study.

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Purpose: We developed prediction models for severe pain and urinary symptoms after ureteroscopy with ureteral stent placement.

Materials And Methods: The development cohort included 424 adults and adolescents enrolled in the multicenter STENTS prospective cohort study who underwent ureteroscopy with stent placement for urinary stones. The validation cohort was an independent prospective cohort of 115 adults.

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Article Synopsis
  • Topical preparations, especially in dermatology, account for a significant portion of compounded prescriptions and involve varied ointment bases with active ingredients often added in liquid forms.
  • There are currently no established quantitative guidelines on how different ointment bases absorb water and alcohol, prompting a short experiment to measure their capacity for these solvents.
  • The findings aim to help compounding pharmacists choose the most appropriate base based on the solvent requirements for effective topical medications, while also offering insights into compounding challenges related to these preparations.
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