Publications by authors named "Laura Pontiggia"

Objective: To assess the impact of student pharmacist state anxiety on vasopressor calculation accuracy in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) simulations.

Methods: Third-year professional students participated in 2 ACLS-related simulation laboratory sessions. In week 1, students completed 3 calculations at their workstation with no stressors.

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Objective: To determine the prevalence of board certification among pharmacy practice faculty in the United States, motivators and barriers to certification, and association between board certification and professional achievements and accomplishments that may support career advancement.

Methods: In phase I, the prevalence of board-certified pharmacy practice faculty in the United States was determined by cross-referencing lists of faculty and board-certified pharmacists. In phase II, faculty were stratified by rank and invited to participate in a survey regarding professional characteristics, motivators and barriers to board certification, and professional achievements and accomplishments that may support career advancement for pharmacy practice faculty.

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Background: Literature on optimal energy provision via parenteral nutrition (PN) is limited and the evidence quality is low. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a difference in outcomes in adult critically ill patients when receiving lower vs higher calorie provision via PN early in intensive care unit (ICU) stay.

Methods: Adult patients initiated on PN within the first 10 days of ICU stay from May 2014 to June 2021 were included in this retrospective study.

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Introduction: Transitions of care (TOC) continue to evolve as a problem within our health care system and is a direct driver to worsened patient outcomes. Currently information of in-depth instruction and application of TOC content within health care education, especially pharmacy, is limited. In 2012, a small team of faculty members created a specialized TOC pharmacy elective for third year doctor of pharmacy students.

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Introduction: Glycaemic variability and other metrics are not well characterised in subjects without diabetes. More comprehensive sampling as obtained with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) may improve diagnostic accuracy of the transition from health to pre-diabetes. Our goal is to investigate the glycaemic system as it shifts from health to pre-disease in adult patients without diabetes using CGM metrics.

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Individuals living with cancer often experience multiple nutrition-related side effects from cancer treatment, including changes in taste and smell, nausea, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and pain during eating. These side effects can profoundly impact nutritional status and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore experiences with nutrition-related cancer treatment side effects among cancer patients and their family caregivers, the way they manage such side effects, and the resulting changes in food preferences and behaviors.

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Background: Diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis associated with Clostridioides difficile - a spore-forming anaerobic Gram-positive bacillus - is a major infection in hospitalized patients with a profound impact on clinical and economic outcomes. Recurrence (rCDI) is common and predisposes to further episodes with poor outcomes.

Method: We aimed to identify a wide range of risk factors for recurrence to guide stewardship initiatives.

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This prospective cohort study enrolled people living with HIV initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) containing the integrase inhibitors, dolutegravir (DTG) or elvitegravir (EVG) and administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) at baseline and again after approximately six months to compare changes in MoCA scores. The proportion of patients found to have cognitive impairment, as indicated by a MoCA score <26/30, on each agent were also compared and comparisons were made between changes in each domain assessed by the MoCA (visuospatial/executive, naming, attention, language, abstraction, delayed recall, and orientation). Thirty-five evaluable participants were enrolled, 18 on DTG and 17 on EVG.

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Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Transitions of care between healthcare facilities are associated with increased risk of adverse events and hospital readmissions. Previous studies employing pharmacists in transitions of care showed reduced 30-day readmissions, however, many were without an active comparator. There is no standardized approach to pharmacist involvement in transitions of care services, making it difficult to ascertain where pharmacist expertise is most meaningful.

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infections (CDI) are increasingly recognized as a leading cause of infectious diarrhea, with increasing morbidity and mortality. Treatment primarily centers around oral vancomycin treatment. A wide range of dosing regimens exist in clinical practice, with little evidence to help distinguish the therapeutic benefit between them.

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Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is one of the earliest stages of breast cancer (BCa). The mechanisms by which DCIS lesions progress to an invasive state while others remain indolent are yet to be fully characterized and both diagnosis and treatment of this pre-invasive disease could benefit from better understanding the pathways involved. While a decreased expression of Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) in the tumor microenvironment of patients with DCIS breast cancer was linked to progression to invasive breast cancer (IBC), the downstream effector(s) contributing to this process remain elusive.

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Background: The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism Guidelines for Parenteral Nutrition in Geriatric Patients state metabolic complications are more frequent in elderly patients. However, literature provides limited information about metabolic complications in older patients receiving parenteral nutrition (PN). Consequently, the purpose of this study was to compare the development of metabolic complications in older vs younger patients receiving PN.

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Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) displays an aggressive clinical course, heightened metastatic potential, and is linked to poor survival rates. Through its lack of expression of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), this subtype remains unresponsive to traditional targeted therapies. Undesirable and sometimes life-threatening side effects associated with current chemotherapeutic agents warrant the development of more targeted treatment options.

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Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease, which lacks expression of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and the human epidermal growth factor 2 receptor (HER2). This subtype of breast cancer has the poorest prognosis with limited therapies currently available, and hence additional options are needed. CAPER is a coactivator of the activator protein-1 (AP-1) (interacting specifically with the c-Jun component) and the ER and is known to be involved in human breast cancer pathogenesis.

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Objective: To develop and establish the reliability, validity, measurement error, and minimum detectable change of a novel 30-second fast-paced walk test (30SFW) in persons with knee osteoarthritis (OA) that is easy to administer and can quantify walking performance in persons of all abilities.

Methods: Twenty females with symptomatic knee OA (mean age [SD] 58.30 [8.

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Treatment of severe infection (CDI) with oral vancomycin (VAN) is known to be superior to treatment with metronidazole (MDZ). However, previous studies have not evaluated the impact on patients when oral VAN therapy is delayed after diagnosis of severe CDI. : This was a single-center, retrospective study of adult patients who were diagnosed with severe CDI.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the timing of parenteral nutrition (PN) initiation in critically ill adults who can't receive enteral nutrition, focusing on in-hospital mortality and length of stay.
  • Results showed no significant difference in in-hospital mortality between patients starting PN within 7 days versus after 7 days of inadequate nutrient intake.
  • However, patients starting PN within 7 days experienced a shorter hospital stay, especially obese patients, indicating that early PN may be beneficial for reducing hospital duration.
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Protein restriction throughout pregnancy and lactation reduces liver triglyceride (TG) content in adult male rat offspring. The study determined the contribution of hepatic lipogenesis to the reduction in liver TG content. Rats received either control or protein-restricted diets throughout pregnancy and lactation.

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Background And Purpose: To evaluate the impact of two standardized patient (SP) approaches on student communication skills and self-perceived confidence.

Educational Activity And Setting: Second professional year pharmacy students were assessed on overall and area of improvement (AOI) communication skills and self-perceived confidence. Students were invited to participate in a SP intervention activity, following a fall and before a spring class assessment, where they were randomized to an individualized or non-specific SP group.

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Background: Increasing rate of resistant infections is a challenge to healthcare negatively impacting therapeutic and financial outcomes. Targeted antimicrobial stewardship interventions are needed to counteract this global crisis. On large scale, we sought to identify the prevalence of resistant pathogens and their susceptibility pattern in Northern Oman.

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Background: The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) parenteral nutrition (PN) safety consensus recommendations advise a comprehensive education program and competency assessment for all healthcare professionals involved in the care of patients receiving PN. The ASPEN-model papers provide guidance for designing PN competencies for prescribers, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of a comprehensive educational program that aligns with the ASPEN model on PN competency, attitudes, and perceptions in a multidisciplinary healthcare professional audience.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an interprofessional Transitions of Care (TOC) service on 30-day hospital reutilization inclusive of hospital readmissions and ED visits. This was a retrospective cohort study including patients discharged from an academic medical center between September 2013 and October 2014. Patients scheduled for a hospital follow-up visit in the post-acute care clinic (PACC) were included in the intervention group and patients without a post-discharge interprofessional TOC service were included in the comparison group.

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Breast cancers (BCas) that lack expression of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) are referred to as triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) and have the poorest clinical outcome. Once these aggressive tumors progress to distant organs, the median survival decreases to 12 months. With endocrine therapies being ineffective in this BCa subtype, highly toxic chemo- and radiation therapies are the only options.

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Background: Achilles tendinopathy negatively affects a person's ability to be physically active. However, remaining physically active during the rehabilitation process does not impact clinical outcomes when a pain-monitoring model is followed. There are several factors, such as the progression of pain and structural changes, kinesiophobia, functional impairments, or medical advice, which may explain why some patients become physically inactive while others maintain a physically active lifestyle.

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