Publications by authors named "Flaherty L"

Introduction: Interpretation and utilization of qualitative feedback from participants has immense value for program evaluation. Reliance on only quantitative data runs the risk of losing the lived patient experience, forcing their outcomes to fit into our predefined objectives.

Objectives: Using large language models (LLMs), program directors may begin to employ rich, qualitative feedback expediently.

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Article Synopsis
  • A phase 2 clinical trial tested the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor SCH 727965 in patients with metastatic melanoma to assess its safety and effectiveness, focusing on overall survival and progression-free survival rates.* -
  • Among 72 enrolled patients, there were no observed responses to the treatment out of 67 evaluable cases, with stable disease in only 21%, median progression-free survival at 1.4 months, and median overall survival at 8.2 months.* -
  • Despite some patients achieving a 1-year overall survival rate of 38%, the study concluded that SCH 727965 showed minimal benefit and significant toxic effects, suggesting it should not be further pursued as a single-agent therapy.*
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Host affiliation and entomopathogenic infections play a major role in shaping population dynamics of the forest tent caterpillar (FTC), Malacosoma disstria Hübner (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae). The effect of these individual factors has been studied, but it is unknown whether interactions between these factors significantly impact FTC life history traits. In the laboratory, we investigated a tritrophic interaction among larval diet, larval microsporidian infection, and FTC life history traits.

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Adolescent pregnancy and the babies of teen mothers have been a focus of attention and concern for many years. The literature on the health of pregnant and parenting teens, however, is largely silent about the impact of stigma on them and their children. Stigma is a pervasive cultural attitude, which leads us to overlook potentially good outcomes for this vulnerable population and contributes to poor outcomes for these mothers and babies.

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Health care is a human right. Achieving universal health insurance coverage for all US residents requires significant system-wide reform. The most equitable and cost-effective health care system is a public, single-payer (SP) system.

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Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors.

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Combination immunotherapy with sequential administration may enhance metastatic melanoma (MM) patients with long-term disease control. High Dose Aldesleukin/Recombinant Interleukin-2 (HD rIL-2) and ipilimumab (IPI) offer complementary mechanisms against MM. This phase IV study assessed the sequenced use of HD rIL-2 and IPI in MM patients.

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Background: Metastatic human epidermal growth receptor II (HER2) negative breast cancer remains incurable. Our phase I study showed that anti-CD3 × anti-HER2 bispecific antibody armed activated T cells (HER2 BATs) may be effective against HER2-tumors. This phase II trial evaluates the efficacy and immune responses of HER2 BATs given to patients with metastatic HER2-estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive (HR+) and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as immune consolidation after chemotherapy.

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Background: The impact of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) occurring from adjuvant use of immunotherapy and of their management on relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) outcomes is currently not well understood.

Patients And Methods: E1609 enrolled 1673 patients with resected high-risk melanoma and evaluated adjuvant ipilimumab 3 mg/kg (ipi3) and 10 mg/kg (ipi10) versus interferon-α. We investigated the association of irAEs and of use of immunosuppressants with RFS and OS for patients treated with ipilimumab (n=1034).

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Background: The benefit of aspirin in rectal cancer during chemoradiation therapy (CRT) and the factors affecting its efficacy are not well characterized. We compared the outcomes of rectal patients undergoing neoadjuvant CRT based on aspirin use.

Methods: Patients undergoing CRT for rectal cancer from 2010 to 2018 were evaluated.

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To examine the extent to which levels of cognitive status influence patterns of word use in dementia evaluation reports. We utilized neuropsychological evaluation reports from 61 geriatric primary care patients referred for suspected dementia. Linguistic Inquiry Word Count analysis was utilized to examine clinician language use in patient reports and whether language use differs dependent on the diagnosis rendered.

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Background: β-blocker use has been associated with improved outcomes in a number of different malignancies; however, the impact of β-blockade in esophageal cancer is not been well characterized. We compared the outcomes of esophageal cancer patients based on β-blocker usage.

Methods: The charts of all 418 patients treated with radiation for esophageal cancer at our institution from April 2010 to October 2018 were analyzed.

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Background: Brain metastases are a significant cause of mortality and morbidity for patients with melanoma. We hypothesize that the development of brain metastases may be explained by molecular heterogeneity between primary cutaneous melanoma (PCM) or extracranial (ECM) and brain (MBM) melanoma metastases.

Materials And Methods: We compared next-generation sequencing, tumor mutational burden (TMB), and immunohistochemical staining for PD-L1 expression, among 132 MBM, 745 PCM, and 1190 ECM.

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Longhorn beetles are among the most important groups of invasive forest insects worldwide. In parallel, they represent one of the most well-studied insect groups in terms of chemical ecology. Longhorn beetle aggregation-sex pheromones are commonly used as trap lures for specific and generic surveillance programs at points of entry and may play a key role in determining the success or failure of exotic species establishment.

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Purpose: Phase III adjuvant trials have reported significant benefits in both relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) for high-dose interferon alfa (HDI) and ipilimumab at 10 mg/kg (ipi10). E1609 evaluated the safety and efficacy of ipilimumab at 3 mg/kg (ipi3) and ipi10 versus HDI.

Patients And Methods: E1609 was a phase III trial in patients with resected cutaneous melanoma (American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th edition stage IIIB, IIIC, M1a, or M1b).

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Objectives: Clear and efficient communication between nursing staff and medical providers is an essential component of healthcare delivery. At McLean Hospital, there is an inconsistency in utilization of alphanumeric paging, with many individuals communicating primarily via numeric-only pages that can cause difficulty in triaging importance of pages and lead to disruptions in care. This quality improvement project sought to improve communication between nursing staff and residents by decreasing the number of difficult to triage pages sent to the psychiatrist-on-call at a stand-alone academic psychiatric hospital.

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Child and adolescent psychiatry is in a unique position to respond to the growing public health challenges associated with the large number of mental disorders arising early in life, but some changes may be necessary to meet these challenges. In this context, the future of child and adolescent psychiatry was considered by the Section on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA CAP), the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP), the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH), the International Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology (ISAPP), the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, representatives of the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and other experts. We take this opportunity to outline four consensus priorities for child and adolescent psychiatry over the next decade: increase the workforce necessary for providing care for children, adolescents and families facing mental disorders; reorienting child and adolescent mental health services to be more responsive to broader public health needs; increasing research and research training while also integrating new research finding promptly and efficiently into clinical practice and research training; Increasing efforts in advocacy.

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Background: Data on the characteristics of patients who are likely to experience adverse events, both immune-related and non-immune-related, from programmed cell death-1 (PD1) inhibitors are limited.

Patients And Methods: Data from patients who received ≥1 dose of single-agent PD1 inhibitor between August 3, 2011 and August 31, 2016 were obtained from our Institution's pharmacy database. AEs were graded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.

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Background: Preclinical studies suggest that BRAF inhibitors enhance anti-tumor immunity and antigen presentation. Combination BRAF inhibition with immunotherapy is an appealing therapeutic approach. We sequenced vemurafenib with HD IL-2 in patients with BRAF-mutated metastatic melanoma to improve long term outcomes.

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Background: Prior research has established that falls are commonplace in adults with hemophilia, and advises that physical therapy and exercise are successful in fall prevention. Recognizing obstacles and catalysts to physical therapy and exercise in people with hemophilia may augment the efficacy of efforts to prevent falls in this population.

Objectives: To learn about the experiences and ideas of patients with hemophilia, especially associated with balance, falls, and exercise.

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: The Symptoms of Dementia Screener (SDS) is an 11-item scale developed to screen for cognitive impairment. We aim to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SDS for use in primary care. : We analyzed data from 192 patients: 25 not impaired, 42 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 125 with dementia.

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The incidence of CNS progression in patients with high-risk regional melanoma (stages IIIAN2a-IIIC) is not well characterized. Data from the S0008 trial provided an opportunity to examine the role of CNS progression in treatment failure and survival. All patients were surgically staged.

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