Predictors of Respiratory Support Use in Emergency Department Patients With COVID-19-Related Respiratory Failure.

Background: Given the known downstream implications of choice of respiratory support on patient outcomes, all factors influencing these decisions, even those not limited to the patient, warrant close consideration. We examined the effect of emergency department (ED)-specific system factors, such as work load and census, on the use of noninvasive versus invasive respiratory support.

Methods: We conducted a multi-center retrospective cohort study of all adult subjects with severe COVID-19 requiring an ICU admission from 5 EDs within a single urban health care system.

A phase I study of cabazitaxel in combination with platinum and 5-fluorouracil (PF) in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (LA-SCCHN).

Background: There is a clinical need to improve outcomes for patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (LA-SCCHN), especially in Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) negative and HPV positive subtypes with a significant history of tobacco use. In animal models bearing SCCHN, Cabazitaxel showed an excellent response rate compared to docetaxel and might prove useful in treatment of patients. The primary objective of this study was to determine the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of cabazitaxel when combined with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (PF) in induction chemotherapy (IC) for patients with SCCHN.

Risk Factors Leading to Free Flap Failure: Analysis From the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Database.

Background: The objective of this study was to identify risk factors for free flap failure among various anatomically based free flap subgroups.

Methods: The 2005 to 2012 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried for patients undergoing microvascular free tissue transfer based on current procedural terminology codes. Univariate analysis was performed to identify any association between flap failure and the following factors: age, gender, race, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, smoking, alcohol use, hypertension, intraoperative transfusion, functional health status, American Society of Anesthesiologists class, operative time, and flap location.

A Comparison of Postoperative Outcomes in Immediate Versus Delayed Reconstruction After Mastectomy.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of various postoperative complications in patients undergoing either immediate or delayed breast reconstruction after mastectomy for malignancy.

Methods: The ACS-NSQIP 2005-2012 database was queried for patients who underwent mastectomy for the treatment of breast malignancy. These mastectomy cases were then stratified, generating "mastectomy alone" and "mastectomy with immediate reconstruction" cohorts.

Conservation of HIV-1 T cell epitopes across time and clades: validation of immunogenic HLA-A2 epitopes selected for the GAIA HIV vaccine.

HIV genomic sequence variability has complicated efforts to generate an effective globally relevant vaccine. Regions of the viral genome conserved in sequence and across time may represent the "Achilles' heel" of HIV. In this study, highly conserved T-cell epitopes were selected using immunoinformatics tools combining HLA-A2 supertype binding predictions with relative global conservation.