Publications by authors named "Linda Ray"
Beyond NSAIDs and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs are now biologic agents and anti-interleukin drugs that can augment therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Few data are available regarding the rates of serious adverse events (SAEs) and important medical events (IMEs) outside of product-based registries and clinical trials for juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The Enhanced Drug Safety Surveillance Project (EDSSP) was developed to pilot a novel system to collect SAEs/IMEs in children with JIA. This analysis reports the results from this 4-year (2008-2012) EDSSP.
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- The study evaluated the open-artery hypothesis, testing if late-opening of an infarct-related artery through percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) plus stenting improves patient outcomes after a heart attack compared to medical therapy alone.
- The results showed that while PCI offered a slight improvement in cardiac function at 4 months, this benefit diminished over time, and there were no significant differences in psychological well-being between the two groups.
- Additionally, medical therapy was found to be significantly less expensive and associated with marginally longer quality-adjusted survival after two years compared to routine PCI.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated the impact of home automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on survival rates for patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
- The research involved 7,001 participants with recent heart attacks, comparing outcomes between standard emergency response and the use of an AED before summoning medical help.
- Results showed no significant difference in mortality rates between the two groups, indicating that home AED access did not substantially enhance survival for these patients.
Most cardiac arrests occur in the home, where emergency medical services (EMS) systems are challenged to provide timely care. Because a large proportion of sudden cardiac arrests (SCAs) are due to ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, home use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) might offer an opportunity to decrease mortality in those at risk. Predicting who will have a cardiac arrest in the general population is difficult.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We report an editorial club as a novel method of teaching systems-based competency in a hematology/oncology fellowship program.
Method: Editorial clubs focus on topics of broad economic, political, and legal ramifications of hematology/oncology and thereby help to develop systems competency as required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
Results: We began our program in 2001 and report on its functioning and outcome in a group of hematology/oncology fellows at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluated how the duration of untreated symptoms affects the clinical and laboratory status of children with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) at diagnosis.
- Children were shorter and lighter than national averages, with different weakness levels based on race, and older kids showing more severe symptoms like dysphagia and arthritis.
- The duration of untreated illness was linked to increased muscle weakness and abnormal calcifications, suggesting that timely treatment is crucial for better health outcomes in JDM.
We describe an adolescent male having sudden onset of sensorineural hearing loss. Evaluation led to the discovery of marked aortoarteritis. This patient exhibited findings of both Takayasu arteritis and Cogan syndrome.
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