Chronic non-cancer pain, defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as lasting beyond three months, significantly affects individuals' quality of life and is often linked to various medical conditions or injuries. Its management is complex. Cannabis, containing the key compounds Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), has garnered interest for its potential in pain management, though it remains controversial due to its psychoactive effects and illegal status in many countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with abnormal (positive) exercise electrocardiography, but normal stress echocardiography (+ECG/-Echo), have an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared with patients with a normal (negative) ECG and a normal stress Echo (-ECG/-Echo). However, it is unclear if +ECG/-Echo discordance is associated with a greater burden of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis.
Methods: Project Baseline Health Study participants who underwent a stress Echo and coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan were stratified by stress Echo result: -ECG/-Echo or +ECG/-Echo.
Using immunotherapeutic agents like inotuzumab ozogamicin (InO), blinatumomab, or chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T)-cell therapy in frontline adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) therapy is promising. These agents are mostly well tolerated and have different toxicity profiles than conventional chemotherapy, enabling their combination with chemotherapy. Additionally, they have often been shown to overcome the traditional adverse ALL risk features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdding inotuzumab ozogamicin (InO) to hyper-CVAD and blinatumomab may improve outcomes in newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-negative B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Patients with newly diagnosed B-ALL received up to four cycles of hyper-CVAD followed by four cycles of blinatumomab. Beginning with patient #39, InO 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Indexing peak oxygen uptake (VOpeak) to total body mass can underestimate cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in women, older adults, and individuals with obesity. The primary objective of this multicenter study was to derive and validate a body size-independent scaling metric for VOpeak. This metric was termed exercise body mass (EBM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients who develop acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after having received treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or related conditions have particularly poor outcomes. This study analyzed adult patients with newly diagnosed AML who previously had MDS, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), or MDS/myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) overlap syndrome, and who had received hypomethylating agents, chemotherapy, and/or allogeneic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for these antecedent disorders. From January 2012 to August 2023, we included 673 patients with a median age of 70 years (range, 19-94); 536 (80%) had transformed from MDS, and the remainder from CMML or MDS-MPN.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBullous pemphigoid (BP) is the most prevalent autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes. This disease typically affects the elderly and manifests with pruritus and localized or, most commonly, generalized bullous lesions. Numerous studies have established the association between BP and oral antidiabetic agents, particularly dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors, diuretics, and certain antibiotics, notably levofloxacin and cephalexin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe acquisition and evolution of cardiovascular (CV) adaptation to physical activity or exercise training are critical in enhancing cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and reducing CV disease (CVD) risk. CV adaptations to exercise occur through structural, functional, and molecular changes that enhance cardiac efficiency. These adaptations, such as increased stroke volume, improved blood pressure regulation, and enhanced endothelial function, collectively reduce CVD morbidity and mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with TP53 aberrations, dissecting the interaction amongst patient, disease and treatment factors are important for therapeutic decisions and prognostication. This retrospective analysis included patients with newly diagnosed MDS (>5% blasts) and AML with TP53 mutation(s) treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center. We factored patient age, TP53 aberration burden, therapy intensity and use of venetoclax in the AML subgroup, and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) to interrogate outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs advancements in total knee arthroplasty progress at an exciting pace, two areas are of special interest, as they directly impact implant design and surgical decision making. Knee morphometry considers the three-dimensional shape of the articulating surfaces within the knee joint, and knee phenotyping provides the ability to categorize alignment into practical groupings that can be used in both clinical and research settings. This annotation discusses the details of these concepts, and the ways in which they are helping us better understand the individual subtleties of each patient's knee.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) combinations have produced excellent outcomes in patients with standard-risk acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Herein, the authors update their long-term results with the regimen of ATO-ATRA and gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) in standard-risk and high-risk APL.
Methods: This was a phase 2 trial of patients with newly diagnosed APL.
Lyell syndrome, also known as toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), is a rare but life-threatening skin condition, often triggered by certain medications. Antiepileptics, allopurinol, and some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the most common causes. Some antibiotics are also common culprits, although tetracyclines are rarely linked to this condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Donor-recipient heart size matching is crucial in heart transplantation; however, the often-used predicted heart mass (PHM) ratio may be inaccurate in the setting of obesity.
Objectives: In this study, the authors sought to investigate the association between echocardiographically measured donor left ventricular mass (LVM) for heart size matching and the risk of the primary 1-year composite outcome of death or retransplantation.
Methods: The Donor Heart Study was a prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study that collected echocardiograms from brain-dead donors.
Unlabelled: Introduction-Aim: Clinical reasoning in situations of uncertainty is a skill to be acquired from initial training. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical reasoning ability in a context of uncertainty of health science students using the Script Concordance Test (SCT).
Methods: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study which included students in the third year of the National License in Anesthesia-Resuscitation, with their consent, and a panel of experts made up of ten members.
Aims: The aim of this study was to compare patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) following isolated anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), with those following ACLR and concomitant meniscal resection or repair.
Methods: We reviewed prospectively collected data from the UK National Ligament Registry for patients who underwent primary ACLR between January 2013 and December 2022. Patients were categorized into five groups: isolated ACLR, ACLR with medial meniscus (MM) repair, ACLR with MM resection, ACLR with lateral meniscus (LM) repair, and ACLR with LM resection.