Factors impacting resident outcomes from COVID-19 outbreaks in Residential Aged Care Facilities in Sydney Local Health District: testing an infection prevention and control scoring system.

Background: COVID-19 outbreaks have disproportionately affected Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) around the world, with devastating impacts for residents and their families. Many factors such as community prevalence, facility layout, and infection control practices have been linked to resident outcomes. At present, there are no scoring systems designed to quantify these factors and assess their level of association with resident attack rates and mortality rates.

Sustained benefits of autologous serum eye drops on self-reported ocular symptoms and vision-related quality of life in Australian patients with dry eye and corneal epithelial defects.

Background: This research examined the effect of autologous serum eye drops (ASED) on ocular symptoms, visual-related functioning and quality of life for patients failing other therapies.

Methods: Patients (N = 77) were asked to complete a survey prior to ASED use, and 2 and 12 months post-treatment.

Results: Significant improvements in symptom frequency and severity were documented for dryness, ocular pain and grittiness at 2 and 12 months.

Lenalidomide plus rituximab can produce durable clinical responses in patients with relapsed or refractory, indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

This phase II study evaluated the safety and efficacy of lenalidomide in combination with rituximab in patients with relapsed/refractory, indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Patients were treated with daily lenalidomide in 28-d cycles and weekly rituximab for 4 weeks. Lenalidomide was continued until progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Positron emission tomography and improved survival in patients with lung cancer: the Will Rogers phenomenon revisited.

Background: The Will Rogers phenomenon occurs when newer technology allows for more sensitive detection of tumor spread, resulting in stage migration and an apparent improvement in patient survival. We investigated whether use of highly sensitive positron emission tomography (PET) scanning in non-small cell lung cancer has had this effect.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis involving 12,395 patients with non-small cell lung cancer in the pre-PET (1994-1998) and PET (1999-2004) periods.

The AKT inhibitor perifosine in biochemically recurrent prostate cancer: a phase II California/Pittsburgh cancer consortium trial.

Background: Perifosine is an oral alkylphospholipid that inhibits cancer cell growth through decreased Akt phosphorylation. We conducted a phase II trial of perifosine in patients with biochemically recurrent, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients had histologically confirmed prostate cancer, previous prostatectomy and/or radiation therapy, and rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) without radiographic evidence of metastasis.

Modern multimodality approach to hepatic colorectal metastases: solutions and controversies.

Hepatic resection for colorectal metastases, limited to the liver, has become the standard of care, and currently remains the only potentially curative therapy. Numerous single institutional reports have demonstrated long-term survival and there are no other treatment options that have shown a survival plateau. However, curative resection is possible in less than 25% of those patients with disease limited to the liver, which translates into only 5-10% of the original group developing colorectal cancer.

Recent developments in advanced urothelial cancer.

Purpose Of Review: Metastatic or unresectable urothelial cancer of the urinary bladder has traditionally been treated with systemic chemotherapy, which is most often platinum-based. The long-term survival data and the associated toxicities from this form of therapy have spurred continuing interest in finding novel treatment options for this malignancy.

Recent Findings: Recently, trials of new chemotherapy combinations, many incorporating platinum analogs or deleting platinum entirely, have been reported.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura associated with quetiapine.

Objective: To report a case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) caused by the antipsychotic quetiapine on 2 occasions in the same patient and review the hematologic adverse events associated with quetiapine.

Case Summary: A 25-year-old African American male with a history of bipolar disorder was treated with quetiapine and developed thrombocytopenia, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, and acute renal failure consistent with a diagnosis of TTP on 2 occasions 2 years apart. On each occasion, TTP was successfully treated with plasmapheresis.

Trastuzumab plus docetaxel in HER-2/neu-positive prostate carcinoma: final results from the California Cancer Consortium Screening and Phase II Trial.

Background: Overexpression of the HER-2/neu oncoprotein has been reported to occur in View Article and Find Full Text PDF