Classical Presentation of Disseminated Blastomycosis in a 44-Year-Old Healthy Man 3 Months After Diagnosis of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND During the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of opportunistic infections, including fungal infections, has increased. Blastomycosis is caused by inhalation of an environmental fungus, Blastomyces dermatides, which is endemic in parts of the USA and Canada. This case report is of a 44-year-old man from the American Midwest who presented with disseminated blastomycosis infection 3 months following a diagnosis of COVID-19.

Usefulness of Routine Laboratory Tests for Follow up of Patients Receiving Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy Run by Infectious Diseases Fellows.

Background: The infectious disease society of America (IDSA) recommends routine laboratory tests for all patients receiving outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) to monitor for adverse events. There are no data to support how often patients should take monitoring laboratory tests. In addition, the relevance of different laboratory tests commonly used for OPAT follow up is not clearly known.

Quantitative futility in emergency laparotomy: an exploration of early-postoperative death in the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit.

Background: Quantitative futility is an appraisal of the risk of failure of a treatment. For those who do not survive, a laparotomy has provided negligible therapeutic benefit and may represent a missed opportunity for palliation. The aim of this study was to define a timeframe for quantitative futility in emergency laparotomy and investigate predictors of futility using the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) database.

Ceftaroline: Systematic Review of Clinical Uses and Emerging Drug Resistance.

Objective: To assess the success rates of off-label uses of ceftaroline for infections caused by methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and evaluate emerging ceftaroline resistance.

Data Sources: We queried PubMed/MEDLINE, with the search term "Ceftaroline." Articles were restricted to the English language and year of publication (January 1, 2009-January 31, 2022).

Femoral artery aneurysm with large hematoma from Pasteurella: case report and literature review.

Background: Pasteurella multocida is a well-known gram-negative facultative anaerobe well known for its ability to cause soft tissue infections following animal bite or scratch. Here we present a case with mycotic aneurysm of the superficial femoral artery due to P. multocida infection.

Hospital Resource Utilization Associated With Endoprosthetic Reconstruction Versus Primary Arthroplasty.

Endoprosthetic reconstructions of the hip and knee are currently reimbursed as primary hip and knee arthroplasty according to Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) coding guidelines. The purpose of this study was to compare hospital resources consumed by patients undergoing endoprosthetic reconstruction with those consumed by patients undergoing primary arthroplasty. The authors' hypothesis was that the former group carries more comorbidities, experiences longer length of stay (LOS), and has greater resource consumption.

The Efficacy of Medical Marijuana in the Treatment of Cancer-Related Pain.

The opioid epidemic has spurred investigations for nonopioid options, yet limited research persists on medical marijuana's (MMJ) efficacy in managing cancer-related symptoms. We sought to characterize MMJ's role on symptomatic relief and opioid consumption in the oncologic population. Retrospective chart review of MMJ-certified oncology patients was performed.

Novel policing techniques decrease gun-violence and the cost to the healthcare system.

The objective was to investigate the effects of novel policing techniques on hospital-observed incidence, healthcare utilization, mortality and costs associated with gun violence, from the perspective of a level-1 trauma center. An eight-year retrospective review evaluating the clinical and financial effects of gunshot wound (GSW) encounters between January 1st, 2010 and December 31st, 2017. Individuals who presented to the emergency department (Level-1 trauma center in Camden, NJ) between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2017 with GSW (995 encounters) were included; however, patients with incomplete financial or medical record data were excluded (55 encounters).

The Changing Nature of the Oncology Section of the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination.

Introduction: The Orthopaedic In-Training Examination (OITE) assesses orthopaedic resident knowledge over 275 multiple-choice questions.Since the first publication examining the contents of the pathology section was published over ten years ago, the pathology content has been renamed (oncology) and revamped. As the overall extent of these alterations is currently unknown, the efficacy of current orthopaedic oncology educational practices for optimal OITE performance should be questioned.

Changes in voluntary admission and restraint use after a comprehensive tobacco-free policy in inpatient psychiatric health facilities.

Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, predominantly due to tobacco use, are the leading causes of death among individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. However, many psychiatric health facilities do not routinely treat tobacco use disorder. The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of implementing a tobacco-free policy in inpatient psychiatric health facilities in a large, urban setting on behavioral problems, treatment access, and tobacco treatment.

First Necrotizing Fasciitis Caused by Serotype a.

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is an infrequently encountered skin infection that has high morbidity and mortality, even with prompt medical and surgical intervention. We describe the case of a 67-year-old male presenting with significant NF in his left lower extremity, despite aggressive surgical intervention, and included multiple surgical debridements, ACell Matrix, split-thickness, and negative wound VAC therapy. Ultimately, this patient required a below the knee amputation.

Contextual Computing: A Bluetooth based approach for tracking healthcare providers in the emergency room.

Hospital Emergency Departments (EDs) frequently experience crowding. One of the factors that contributes to this crowding is the "door to doctor time", which is the time from a patient's registration to when the patient is first seen by a physician. This is also one of the Meaningful Use (MU) performance measures that emergency departments report to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Interprofessional learning on a stroke unit.

Background: The importance of a collaborative approach to patient care in improving safety and outcomes has been highlighted by medical regulatory organisations. The World Health Organization has advocated that future health care professionals should be 'collaborative practice ready', and there is a global drive to incorporate interprofessional learning into health education. Interprofessional learning promotes the development of effective teamworking skills and improves the understanding of roles in the multidisciplinary team.

Interprofessional working in acute care.

Background: This paper describes the development and implementation of an interprofessional (IP) module for pre-qualification medical, nursing and physiotherapy students. The module focuses on clinical care in the acute care setting, and is called Interprofessional Working in Acute Care (IWAC).

Context: The authors are acute-care practitioners and educators familiar with an environment where good interprofessional collaboration and communication are prerequisite for, and linked to, good patient outcomes.

Marr: an appreciation.

The following is based largely on sections of our two recent books: Frisby and Stone (2010, Seeing MIT Press), and Stone (2012, Vision and Brain MIT Press). Those books are aimed at student/ novice audiences, and so we have eliminated material of a wholly introductory nature for this special issue of Perception. However, various debates we have had at vision conferences recently suggest to us that going over basic material on Marr could be useful to many current vision researchers who have had little contact with his work, so we have left in some content of that kind.

The accuracy of metric judgements: perception of surface normal.

Observers adjusted a probe (a short rod) to appear normal to a planar surface slanted in depth. In Experiment 1, observers (N=12) performed this metric task in two conditions: with reduced cues to calibration of binocular viewing parameters and with full cues. The results provided evidence for the use of an internal working metric in metric tasks because they confirm predictions that (i) errors should be largely systematic and accounted for by assuming an inaccurate working metric and (ii) this metric should be consistent with miscalibration of relevant viewing parameters.

Does binocularly perceived depth correlate with reduced stereoacuity?

Aim: To assess perceived depth in the Wirt Fly Stereotest for assessing stereoacuity.

Methods: Somers and Hamilton [Ophthalmic Physiol. Opt.

Development of a volatile amine sensor for the monitoring of fish spoilage.

A sensor with potential for the development of a "chemical barcode" for real-time monitoring of fish freshness is described. This on-package sensor contains a pH sensitive dye, bromocresol green, that responds through visible colour change to basic volatile spoilage compounds, such as trimethylamine (TMA), ammonia (NH(3)) and dimethylamine (DMA) collectively known as Total Volatile Basic Nitrogen (TVB-N). The sensor characteristics were studied as well as its response with standard ammonia gas.

The prevalence of nocturnal hypoxemia in advanced cancer.

Nocturnal hypoxemia is associated with excessive daytime sleepiness in patients with chronic respiratory disease. This relationship has not been explored in patients with cancer. This study examined the prevalence of nocturnal hypoxemia in patients admitted to a specialist palliative care unit, and explored relationships with demographic and physiological parameters, opioid or other sedative drug use, and daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and quality of life.

Thermal desorption characterisation of molecularly imprinted polymers. Part II: Use of direct probe GC-MS analysis to study crosslinking effects.

A powerful method utilising direct probe thermal desorption GC-MS is presented for the study of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). A series of 2-aminopyridine (2-apy)-imprinted methacrylic acid-ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (MAA-EGDMA) copolymers were prepared under identical conditions but with varying amounts of EGDMA (crosslinking monomer). The use of appropriate temperature programmes permitted template removal, and the subsequent assessment of polymer affinity and specificity, all of which were found to be dependent on polymer composition and morphology.

Randomised, placebo controlled trial of nebulised furosemide for breathlessness in patients with cancer.

Background: Breathlessness is a common and difficult symptom to treat in patients with cancer. Case reports suggest that nebulised furosemide can relieve breathlessness in such patients but few data are available.

Method: Patients with primary or secondary lung cancer and a Dyspnoea Exertion Scale score of >or=3 were recruited.

Use of a Cybex NORM dynamometer to assess muscle function in patients with thoracic cancer.

Background: The cachexia-anorexia syndrome impacts on patients' physical independence and quality of life. New treatments are required and need to be evaluated using acceptable and reliable outcome measures, e.g.

The use of FTIR and NMR spectroscopies to study prepolymerisation interactions in nitrogen heterocycles.

A detailed investigation into the functional groups responsible for the formation of a noncovalent complex between 2-aminopyridine (template) and methacrylic acid (functional monomer) has been carried out using FTIR spectroscopy and confirmed by (1)H NMR spectroscopic data. The approach adopted to confirm the mechanism of interaction was the analysis of the template plus the structurally similar 2-methylaminopyridine and 2-dimethylaminopyridine. A 1:1 stoichiometry of complexation was determined by Job plot analysis following titration, with FTIR results complementing those of the (1)H NMR study.