Development of Worksheets for Immunomodulator Shared Decision-Making to Facilitate Patient-Clinician Communication: A Quality Improvement Project Employing Design Thinking Principles.

Background: Shared decision-making (SDM) is a principle of humanistic, patient-centered health care within the field of rheumatology. However, clear communication between patients and their clinicians regarding the benefits and risks of immunomodulators may be challenging in a clinical setting. The design-thinking process is a human-centered approach to quality improvement that can help to identify insights to uphold high-quality communication.

Protective anti-chlamydial vaccine regimen-induced CD4+ T cell response mediates early inhibition of pathogenic CD8+ T cell response following genital challenge.

We have demonstrated previously that TNF-α-producing CD8+ T cells mediate chlamydial pathogenesis, likely in an antigen (Ag)-specific fashion. Here we hypothesize that inhibition of Ag-specific CD8+ T cell response after immunization and/or challenge would correlate with protection against oviduct pathology induced by a protective vaccine regimen. Intranasal (i.

Reimagining the Rheumatology Fellowship Interview: Using Participatory Design-Thinking Process to Create a More Applicant-Centered Experience.

Objective: Design thinking is a creative problem-solving process used to better understand users' needs and experiences so that a product or service can be improved. Its emphasis on empathy, iterative prototyping, and participatory collaboration make it an ideal methodology for innovation in medical education. We apply this framework to the virtual rheumatology fellowship interview process so that interviews can become more applicant centered.

A case of TAFRO syndrome with DIC and neurologic and cardiac involvement.

We highlight a novel case of TAFRO syndrome with disseminated intravascular coagulation, neurologic changes, and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. Through this clinical vignette, we hope to raise awareness of TAFRO syndrome and encourage providers to maintain a high level of suspicion for it when evaluating patients who meet the diagnostic criteria.

Pulmonary AL amyloidosis: A review and update on treatment options.

Amyloidosis is a rare disease that involves the extracellular deposition of abnormally folded proteins, precipitating organ dysfunction. Pulmonary amyloidosis is frequently characterized by the AL amyloid subtype and can be localized or associated with systemic involvement, presenting in a nodular, diffuse alveolar-septal, or tracheobronchial pattern. Presentation of disease can vary from clinically silent to severe.