Major Outcomes With Personalized Dialysate TEMPerature (MyTEMP): Rationale and Design of a Pragmatic, Registry-Based, Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Small randomized trials demonstrated that a lower compared with higher dialysate temperature reduced the average drop in intradialytic blood pressure. Some observational studies demonstrated that a lower compared with higher dialysate temperature was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. There is now the need for a large randomized trial that compares the effect of a low vs high dialysate temperature on major cardiovascular outcomes.

Prevalence of Pre-pregnancy Obesity, 2011-2014.

Importance: Obesity before and during pregnancy increases risk among mothers for poor health outcomes, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.

Objective: To describe trends in pre-pregnancy obesity rates among women in Wisconsin.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from Wisconsin birth certificates were analyzed.

Use of withdrawal (coitus interruptus) for both pregnancy and HIV prevention among young adults in Rakai, Uganda.

Introduction: Although understudied in the context of AIDS, use of withdrawal (coitus interruptus) with or in place of other prevention methods affects exposure to both pregnancy and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Aim: We used mixed methods to assess use of withdrawal among 15-24-year-olds in a rural Ugandan setting with considerable HIV prevalence.

Methods: We measured withdrawal reporting among (i) sexually active 15-24-year-olds enrolled in a quantitative community survey (n = 6,722) and (ii) in-depth qualitative interview participants systematically selected from the latest round of the community survey (N = 60).

Immunosuppression without calcineurin inhibition: optimization of renal function in expanded criteria donor renal transplantation.

Introduction: To assess the efficacy of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-free immunosuppression vs. calcineurin-based immunosuppression in patients receiving expanded criteria donor (ECD) kidneys.

Patient And Methods: Thirteen recipients of ECD kidneys were enrolled in this pilot study and treated with induction therapy and maintained on sirolimus, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and prednisone.

Can standardized patients replace physicians as OSCE examiners?

Background: To reduce inter-rater variability in evaluations and the demand on physician time, standardized patients (SP) are being used as examiners in OSCEs. There is concern that SP have insufficient training to provide valid evaluation of student competence and/or provide feedback on clinical skills. It is also unknown if SP ratings predict student competence in other areas.