Multimodal oculomotor assessment reveals prodromal markers of Parkinson's disease in non-manifesting LRRK2 G2019S mutation carriers.

Oculomotor behaviour changes in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are a promising source of prodromal disease markers. Capitalizing on this phenomenon to facilitate early diagnosis requires oculomotor assessment in prodromal cohorts. We examined oculomotor behaviour in non-manifesting LRRK2 G2019S mutation carriers (LRRK2-NM), who have heightened PD risk.

Cognitive correlates of antisaccade behaviour across multiple neurodegenerative diseases.

Oculomotor tasks generate a potential wealth of behavioural biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases. Overlap between oculomotor and disease-impaired circuitry reveals the location and severity of disease processes via saccade parameters measured from eye movement tasks such as prosaccade and antisaccade. Existing studies typically examine few saccade parameters in single diseases, using multiple separate neuropsychological test scores to relate oculomotor behaviour to cognition; however, this approach produces inconsistent, ungeneralizable results and fails to consider the cognitive heterogeneity of these diseases.

The Immokalee Community Health Coalition: Operationalizing Trust.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected migrant farmworker communities in the United States in case rates and deaths. In rural Immokalee, Florida, human rights, health care, and social support organizations with different strengths joined together to form a coalition that provided health information, tests, vaccines, and social supports. This report offers practical advice on how similar coalitions can overcome barriers to care, improve outcomes, and overall increase trust in the health system.

Interleaved Pro/Anti-saccade Behavior Across the Lifespan.

The capacity for inhibitory control is an important cognitive process that undergoes dynamic changes over the course of the lifespan. Robust characterization of this trajectory, considering age continuously and using flexible modeling techniques, is critical to advance our understanding of the neural mechanisms that differ in healthy aging and neurological disease. The interleaved pro/anti-saccade task (IPAST), in which pro- and anti-saccade trials are randomly interleaved within a block, provides a simple and sensitive means of assessing the neural circuitry underlying inhibitory control.

Eye tracking identifies biomarkers in α-synucleinopathies versus progressive supranuclear palsy.

Objectives: This study (1) describes and compares saccade and pupil abnormalities in patients with manifest alpha-synucleinopathies (αSYN: Parkinson's disease (PD), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA)) and a tauopathy (progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP)); (2) determines whether patients with rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD), a prodromal stage of αSYN, already have abnormal responses that may indicate a risk for developing PD or MSA.

Methods: Ninety (46 RBD, 27 PD, 17 MSA) patients with an αSYN, 10 PSP patients, and 132 healthy age-matched controls (CTRL) were examined with a 10-min video-based eye-tracking task (Free Viewing). Participants were free to look anywhere on the screen while saccade and pupil behaviours were measured.

A Retrospective Review of Primary Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy and Laparoscopic Gastrostomy Tube Placement.

Objectives: The laparoscopic-assisted gastrostomy tube placement (LAP) has increasingly become the preferred method for placing gastrostomy tubes in infants and children. The goal of this retrospective review was to examine our institutional experiences with our transition from the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) procedure to LAP technique.

Methods: All patients undergoing primary PEG or LAP gastrostomy at Boston Children's Hospital between January 2010 and June 2015 were identified.

Saccade, Pupil, and Blink Responses in Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) patients exhibit deficits in saccade performance, pupil function, and blink rate. Isolated REM (rapid eye movement) Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) is a harbinger to PD making them candidates to investigate for early oculomotor abnormalities as PD biomarkers.

Objectives: We tested whether saccade, pupillary, and blink responses in RBD were similar to PD.

Treatment patterns and real world clinical outcomes in ER+/HER2- post-menopausal metastatic breast cancer patients in the United States.

Background: With several new therapies becoming available, treatment of metastatic breast cancer (mBC) is evolving. The objective of this study is to describe patient characteristics, treatment patterns and real-world clinical outcomes in post-menopausal women with ER+, HER2- mBC and to obtain insight into patient outcomes and potential unmet needs with current therapies.

Methods: The current study is a physician survey followed by a retrospective chart review of patient medical records by physicians in the US between March and April 2015.

Primary laparoscopic gastrojejunostomy tubes as a feeding modality in the pediatric population.

Purpose: Outcomes associated with primary laparoscopic gastrojejunal (GJ) tube placement in the pediatric population were evaluated.

Methods: A single-institution, retrospective review examined patients undergoing laparoscopic GJ tube placement between June 2011 and December 2014. Outcomes included gastric feeding tolerance, subsequent fundoplication, complications, and mortality.

Association Between Breast Cancer Disease Progression and Workplace Productivity in the United States.

Objective: Determine workplace productivity losses attributable to breast cancer progression.

Methods: Longitudinal analysis linking 2005 to 2012 medical and pharmacy claims and workplace absence data in the US patients were commercially insured women aged 18 to 64 diagnosed with breast cancer. Productivity was measured as employment status and total quarterly workplace hours missed, and valued using average US wages.

Clinical and economic outcomes by first-line treatment among women with HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer in a large US health plan database.

Background: Guidelines recommend that women with hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (mBC) initiate hormonal therapy before chemotherapy. This study compared outcomes of women with mBC who received chemotherapy first vs hormonal therapy.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of women with mBC was conducted using a large US commercial health plan database between January 1, 2008-April 30, 2013.

Laparoscopic Gastrojejunostomy Tube Placement in Infants with Congenital Cardiac Disease.

Introduction: Gastrojejunostomy (GJ) tubes are an option for durable enteral access for critically ill infants with congenital cardiac disease who struggle with obtaining adequate nutrition.

Materials And Methods: Infants weighing less than 10 kg with cardiac disease who received placement of a laparoscopic GJ tube from November 2011 to January 2015 were reviewed. The operative technique used an umbilical port for the camera and a single stab incision for the gastric access site.

Depth of remission is a prognostic factor for survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Response remains an important endpoint in clinical cancer trials. However, the prognostic utility of best tumor response in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) remains vague.

Objective: To define the prognostic relevance of the depth of remission in mRCC.

Impact of the early initiation of feedings on hospital length of stay in children post-PEG tube placement.

Delays in feeding patients post-percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement may result in unnecessary prolongation of hospital stay, deprivation of nutrition, and increased healthcare costs. Common practice has been to wait overnight before initiating feedings post-PEG tube placement. Our facility changed existing policy and began feeding children 6 hours post-PEG.

Prognostic significance of bone metastases and bisphosphonate therapy in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Bone metastases (BMs) are frequently present in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) and cause significant morbidity.

Objective: The purpose of this analysis was to assess the impact of BMs and bisphosphonate therapy (BT) on outcomes in mRCC.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We conducted a pooled analysis of patients with mRCC treated from 2003 to 2011 in phase 2 and 3 trials.