Publications by authors named "Holli Mason"
Background: Before SARS-CoV-2 vaccination availability, medical center employees were at high risk of COVID-19. However, risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection in medical center employees, both healthcare and non-healthcare workers, are poorly understood.
Methods: From September-December 2020, free IgG antibody testing was offered to all employees at a large urban medical center.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic introduced challenges and disruption across healthcare, including apheresis medicine (AM). In this study, we report findings from a survey conducted among American Society for Apheresis Physician Committee (ASFA-PC) members to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on AM education practices.
Study Design And Methods: A voluntary, anonymous, 24-question, institutional review board-approved survey regarding AM teaching during the pandemic was distributed to ASFA-PC members in the United States between December 1, 2020, and December 15, 2020.
Article Synopsis
- Gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM) is a condition that can lead to gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC), yet there is no standardized surveillance approach for it in the U.S., particularly among minority populations who are more affected.
- A study identified 342 patients with GIM between 2016-2020, revealing that 5.2% had GAC at the initial endoscopy, with a majority being Hispanic.
- While many patients did not receive recommended follow-ups, nearly a third had repeat endoscopies, some revealing previously undetected conditions, but there was no evidence of disease progression to worse outcomes like dysplasia or GAC.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated vaccine hesitancy among essential workers, highlighting how factors like perceived susceptibility, perceived threat, and self-efficacy are linked to reluctance to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
- A survey was conducted with 1,327 essential workers at a Los Angeles medical center, revealing that 22% were hesitant about getting vaccinated, particularly among women and racial/ethnic minorities.
- Results showed that prior flu vaccination behavior and job type influenced hesitancy, with a notable difference between healthcare roles, but the expected psychological factors were not linked to vaccine attitudes, suggesting other unassessed influences may play a role.
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluates the effectiveness of chemical urinalysis (UA) as a screening tool for deciding whether to conduct further tests like microscopic UA and urine culture.
- The analysis involved over 9,000 UA results, highlighting that chemical UA has high sensitivity (93.0%) but lower specificity (56.9%), indicating it can effectively identify positive cases but may also misclassify some negatives.
- The findings suggest that relying on chemical UA for reflex testing could streamline workflows and reduce unnecessary testing, as only a small percentage of samples showed discrepancies between chemical UA and microscopic findings.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.
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- Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is characterized by the Philadelphia chromosome and typically presents in a chronic phase; extramedullary blast crisis is rare both during the disease and as an initial presentation.
- A 32-year-old woman initially diagnosed with B-lymphoblastic leukemia was later confirmed to have CML after her blood and bone marrow were analyzed, revealing features consistent with the disease.
- Diagnostic testing showed mixed phenotype blasts in her lymph nodes and confirmed the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome, leading to the diagnosis of extramedullary blast crisis of CML and subsequent treatment with chemotherapy.
Massive intravascular hemolysis may overwhelm hemoglobin (Hgb) clearance mechanisms leading to accumulation of excess plasma free-Hgb and subsequent acute kidney injury. We present the case of a 44-year-old male with cardiac failure necessitating placement of a subcutaneous left ventricular assist device. Following insertion, the patient developed mechanical hemolysis and an acute decline in renal function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 13-year-old girl with cold agglutinin syndrome caused by anti-i.
J Pediatr Hematol Oncol
July 2008
A 13-year-old girl with cold agglutinin syndrome caused by anti-i was serologically positive for Epstein-Barr virus. The anti-i had a high titer at 4 degrees C and high thermal amplitude (reacting up to 37 degrees C with both cord i RBCs and the patient's autologous RBCs). The patient's hemoglobin dropped to 48 g/L.
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