Registry versus claims-based index dates for studies of cancer diagnosis in administrative data.

Purpose: Studies of healthcare encounters leading to cancer diagnosis have increased over recent years. While some studies examine healthcare utilization before the cancer registry date of diagnosis, relevant pre-diagnosis interactions are not always immediately prior to this date due to date abstraction guidelines. We evaluated agreement of a registry date with a claims-based index and examined Emergency Department (ED) involvement in cancer diagnosis as an example of possible pre-diagnostic healthcare misclassification that could arise from improper date choice.

Barriers to accessing mental health resources as perceived by surgical compared to medical trainees.

Introduction: Despite myriad wellness programs, training demands restrict resident access. This study aimed to evaluate barriers to accessing mental health resources(MHR) and determine if differences exist between medical(MT) and surgical trainees(ST).

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed in one health system assessing awareness of and barriers to accessing MHR.

Medical Student Evaluations of Medical Faculty: Characteristics of Highly and Lower-Rated Teachers.

Purpose: Our purpose was to evaluate the characteristics of highly and poorly rated teachers as well as to assess the validity and reliability of those evaluations.

Methods: We downloaded 14 years of medicine faculty evaluations completed by 3rd and 4 year medical students. We dichotomized overall teaching effectiveness as outstanding (receiving "outstanding") or inferior (rated as a "unsatisfactory," "marginal," or "acceptable").

Acoustic Wave Sensor Detection of an Ovarian Cancer Biomarker with Antifouling Surface Chemistry.

Ovarian cancer (OC) must be detected in its early stages when the mortality rate is the lowest to provide patients with the best chance of survival. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a critical OC biomarker since its levels are elevated across all stages and increase with disease progression. This paper presents an LPA assay based on a thickness shear mode acoustic sensor with dissipation monitoring that involves a new thiol molecule 3-(2-mercaptoethanoxy)propanoic acid (HS-MEG-COOH).

Fingerprinting the emissions of volatile organic compounds emitted from the cooking of oils, herbs, and spices.

Emission rates for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been quantified from frying, spice and herb cooking, and cooking a chicken curry, using real-time selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) for controlled, laboratory-based experiments in a semi-realistic kitchen. Emissions from 7 different cooking oils were investigated during the frying of wheat flatbread (puri). These emissions were dominated by ethanol, octane, nonane and a variety of aldehydes, including acetaldehyde, heptenal and hexanal, and the average concentration of acetaldehyde (0.