Upper back, neck, and shoulder pain during labor epidural analgesia: a quality improvement initiative.

Background: Severe upper back/interscapular, neck and shoulder pain during labor epidural analgesia (PLEA) is not uncommon. The objective of this quality initiative was to evaluate the incidence, demographic associations and management of PLEA.

Methods: An eight-month, single-center quality improvement initiative was performed for the detection and management of PLEA.

Optimal Echocardiographic Parameters to Improve the Diagnostic Yield of Tc-99m-Bone Avid Tracer Cardiac Scintigraphy for Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis.

Background: Echocardiographic deformation-based ratios and novel multi-parametric scores have been suggested to discriminate transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) from other causes of increased left ventricular wall thickness among patients referred for ATTR-CM evaluation. Their relative predictive accuracy has not been well studied. We sought to (1) identify echocardiographic parameters predictive of ATTR-CM and (2) compare the diagnostic accuracy of these parameters in patients with suspected ATTR-CM referred for technetium-99m-pyrophosphate scintigraphy.

Quantitative Comparison of Statistical Methods for Analyzing Human Metabolomics Data.

Emerging technologies now allow for mass spectrometry-based profiling of thousands of small molecule metabolites ('metabolomics') in an increasing number of biosamples. While offering great promise for insight into the pathogenesis of human disease, standard approaches have not yet been established for statistically analyzing increasingly complex, high-dimensional human metabolomics data in relation to clinical phenotypes, including disease outcomes. To determine optimal approaches for analysis, we formally compare traditional and newer statistical learning methods across a range of metabolomics dataset types.

Mesothelioma Risk Score: A New Prognostic Pretreatment, Clinical-Molecular Algorithm for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.

Introduction: Prognostic models for malignant pleural mesothelioma have been limited to demographics, symptoms, and laboratory values. We hypothesize higher accuracy using both tumor and patient characteristics. The mesothelioma prognostic test (MPT) and molecular subtype based on claudin-15-to-vimentin expression ratio are molecular signatures associated with survival.