Implicit Bias Training: Improving Outcomes for Patients With Cancer Who Have Substance Use Disorders.

Being mindful of one's implicit bias in the treatment of patients with cancer who have substance use disorders is fundamental to quality of care and good patient outcomes. Implicit bias held by healthcare professionals could negatively affect patient assessment, diagnosis and treatment decisions, and follow-ups at discharge.

Pain Assessment: Use of the Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale in Patients With Cancer.

Background: Thorough, consistent pain assessment and reassessment are critical to guide and evaluate interventions designed to improve pain.

Objectives: Based on a literature review about functional pain assessment, clinicians selected and then implemented the Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS) as a pain assessment instrument option in a comprehensive cancer center.

Methods: The DVPRS was added as a pain assessment instrument in clinical oncology practice.

Advances in the Treatment of Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma.

The treatment landscape for metastatic renal cell carcinoma has constantly been in flux. In 2005, with the advent of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy, the standard of care shifted to agents such as sunitinib and pazopanib. However, more recently there have been datasets, suggesting that next-generation TKIs such as cabozantinib may play an important role in therapy.

Violence against women in South Africa: policy position and recommendations.

Violence against women (VAW) in South Africa remains rampant, irrespective of human rights- focused laws passed by the government. This article reflects on the position of two acts: the Domestic Violence Act No 116 of 1998 and Criminal Law (Sexual Offense and Related Matters) Act No 32 of 2007. Both are framed to protect women against all forms of violence.

Implementation of a standardized pathway for the treatment of cardiac arrest patients using therapeutic hypothermia: "CODE ICE".

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is common and is associated with high mortality. The majority of in-hospital deaths from resuscitated victims of cardiac arrest are due to neurologic injury. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is now recommended for the management of comatose survivors of cardiac arrest.

Evaluation of a new pulse oximeter sensor.

Background: A new forehead noninvasive oxygen saturation sensor may improve signal quality in patients with low cardiac index.

Objectives: To examine agreement between oxygen saturation values obtained by using digit-based and forehead pulse oximeters with arterial oxygen saturation in patients with low cardiac index.

Methods: A method-comparison study was used to examine the agreement between 2 different pulse oximeters and arterial oxygen saturation in patients with low cardiac index.

Fundamental flaws of hormesis for public health decisions.

Hormesis (defined operationally as low-dose stimulation, high-dose inhibition) is often used to promote the notion that while high-level exposures to toxic chemicals could be detrimental to human health, low-level exposures would be beneficial. Some proponents claim hormesis is an adaptive, generalizable phenomenon and argue that the default assumption for risk assessments should be that toxic chemicals induce stimulatory (i.e.

"Hormesis"--an inappropriate extrapolation from the specific to the universal.

Although it is generally accepted that some chemicals may have beneficial effects at low doses, incorporating these effects into risk assessments generally ignores well-established factors related to exposure and human susceptibility. The authors argue against indiscriminate application of hormesis in assessments of chemical risks for regulatory purposes.