Lymph node yield during radical prostatectomy does not impact rate of biochemical recurrence in patients with seminal vesicle invasion and node-negative disease.

Objectives: Seminal vesicle invasion (SVI) is a risk factor for poor oncologic outcome in patients with prostate cancer. Modifications to the pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) during radical prostatectomy (RP) have been reported to have a therapeutic benefit. The present study is the first to determine if lymph node yield (LNY) is associated with a lower risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) for men with SVI.

Predictors of Medical and Surgical Complications After Robot-Assisted Partial Nephrectomy: An Analysis of 1139 Patients in a Multi-Institutional Kidney Cancer Database.

Introduction: Previous robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) studies have identified various predictors of overall and major postoperative complications, but few have evaluated the specific role of these factors in the development of medical and surgical complications. In this study, we present an analysis of the modifiable and nonmodifiable variables influencing medical and surgical complications in a contemporary series of patients who underwent RAPN and were followed in a prospectively maintained, multi-institutional kidney cancer database.

Methods: A retrospective review of all patients who underwent RAPN at four institutions between 2008 and 2015 was performed.

Examining the effectiveness of an opt-in approach to prenatal human immunodeficiency virus screening.

Objective: We sought to determine the prenatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening rate when using an opt-in policy and to find variables predictive of screening.

Study Design: This was a case-control study examining gravid women with a prenatal visit and a delivery at our hospital in 2005. Cases were defined as women who did not undergo HIV screening during the first or second prenatal visit.

What is the cost of maintaining a kidney in upper-tract transitional-cell carcinoma? An objective analysis of cost and survival.

Background And Purpose: For many years, the gold standard in upper urinary tract transitional-cell carcinoma (UT-TCC) management has been nephroureterectomy with excision of the bladder cuff. Advances in endourologic instrumentation have allowed urologists to manage this malignancy. The feasibility and success of conservative measures for UT-TCC have been widely published, but there has not been an objective cost analysis performed to date.

Health technology assessment in Canada and the United States: the case of biologics.

Canadian health technology assessments (HTAs) are coordinated by government agencies, while HTA activity in the United States is conducted haphazardly by a variety of interest groups. As a result, biologic therapies have diffused more slowly and rationally in Canada, according to the authors. If HTAs were conducted similarly in the United States, the distribution of biologics might occur more efficiently.

Development and evaluation of a 1-day interclerkship program for medical students on medical errors and patient safety.

Medical students need to be well informed about medical errors and patient safety. Pursuant to a needs assessment and pilot program, 229 third-year students participated in a 1-day program on patient safety including a plenary session and workshops. Attitudes and beliefs were measured by a survey at the beginning and end of the program.

Characterization of the intronic splicing silencers flanking FGFR2 exon IIIb.

The cell type-specific alternative splicing of FGFR2 pre-mRNA results in the mutually exclusive use of exons IIIb and IIIc, which leads to critically important differences in receptor function. The choice of exon IIIc in mesenchymal cells involves activation of this exon and repression of exon IIIb. This repression is mediated by the function of upstream and downstream intronic splicing silencers (UISS and DISS).