Perceptions of shared decision making in gastroenterology and inflammatory bowel disease: A qualitative analysis.

Objective: Shared decision-making (SDM) is the partnership and discussion between clinicians and patients to make an appropriate decision based on scientific evidence and patient preferences. Many benefits are associated with SDM; however, little is known about its awareness or use by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) clinicians in gastroenterology departments across Israel. This study aims to identify barriers and facilitators in implementing SDM as standard practice to achieve optimal disease management and personalized care for patients with IBD.

The Association of Vitamin D Status and Pre-operative Physical Activity in Patients with Hip or Knee Osteoarthritis.

Background: Vitamin D is important for musculoskeletal health and may have significant implications for maintaining physical activity in elderly patients. Our goal was to investigate whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels are associated with pre-operative physical activity in patients who are offered elective knee or hip joint replacement surgery.

Methods: We performed a single-center, retrospective analysis of patients who had elective knee or hip replacement surgery from 2002 to 2012.

Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels at Initiation of Care and Duration of Mechanical Ventilation in Critically Ill Surgical Patients.

Objective: Limited data exist regarding the relationship between plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and duration of respiratory support. Our goal was to explore whether vitamin D status at the time of intensive care unit (ICU) admission is associated with duration of mechanical ventilation in critically ill surgical patients.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed data from a prospective cohort study involving 210 critically ill surgical patients.

Prospective study of vitamin D status at initiation of care in critically ill surgical patients and risk of 90-day mortality.

Objectives: 1) To characterize vitamin D status at initiation of critical care in surgical ICU patients and 2) to determine whether this vitamin D status is associated with the risk of prolonged hospital length of stay, 90-day readmission, and 90-day mortality.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: A teaching hospital in Boston, MA.

Association between preoperative 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and hospital-acquired infections following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.

Importance: Postoperative hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) may result from disruption of natural barrier sites. Recent studies have linked vitamin D status and barrier site integrity.

Objective: To investigate the association between preoperative vitamin D status and the risk for HAIs.

Systemic administration of an antagonist of the ATP-sensitive receptor P2X7 improves recovery after spinal cord injury.

Traumatic spinal cord injury is characterized by an immediate, irreversible loss of tissue at the lesion site, as well as a secondary expansion of tissue damage over time. Although secondary injury should, in principle, be preventable, no effective treatment options currently exist for patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Excessive release of ATP by the traumatized tissue, followed by activation of high-affinity P2X7 receptors, has previously been implicated in secondary injury, but no clinically relevant strategy by which to antagonize P2X7 receptors has yet, to the best of our knowledge, been reported.