Publications by authors named "Maheetha Bharadwaj"

Background: The role of adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) in patients with locally advanced bladder cancer following radical cystectomy (RC) remains uncertain, with contemporary clinical trials underpowered and closed early due to low accrual.

Objective: To conduct observational analyses designed to emulate a completed randomized trial of AC in patients with locally advanced bladder cancer.

Design, Settings, And Participants: Based on EORTC 30994 eligibility criteria, we identified adult patients aged 35 to 75 with pT3/pT4 Nany M0 or Tany pN1-3 M0, R0 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder treated with RC and lymphadenectomy from 2006 to 2015 in the National Cancer Database.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, US states developed Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) algorithms to triage allocation of scarce resources to maximize population-wide benefit. While CSC algorithms were developed by ethical debate, this protocol guides their quantitative assessment. For CSC algorithms, this protocol addresses (1) adapting algorithms for empirical study, (2) quantifying predictive accuracy, and (3) simulating clinical decision-making.

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Many US states published crisis standards of care (CSC) guidelines for allocating scarce critical care resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the performance of these guidelines in maximizing their population benefit has not been well tested. In 2,272 adults with COVID-19 requiring mechanical ventilation drawn from the Study of the Treatment and Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 (STOP-COVID) multicenter cohort, we test the following three approaches to CSC algorithms: Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores grouped into ranges, SOFA score ranges plus comorbidities, and a hypothetical approach using raw SOFA scores not grouped into ranges.

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Unlabelled: To establish the feasibility of empirically testing crisis standards of care guidelines.

Design: Retrospective single-center study.

Setting: ICUs at a large academic medical center in the United States.

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At the health systems level, lack of diagnostic ability, inadequate access to trained providers, and limited drug availability provide significant barriers to cancer care delivery. This article outlines an urgent call to action to improve access to precision oncology therapies in lower‐ and middle‐income countries, drawing upon lessons from international efforts in oncology and infectious disease.

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Sensitive and specific severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serologic assays are needed to inform diagnostic, therapeutic, and public health decision-making. We evaluated three commercial serologic assays as stand-alone tests and as components of two-test algorithms. Two nucleocapsid antibody tests (Abbott IgG and Roche total antibody) and one spike protein antibody test (DiaSorin IgG) were included.

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Objectives: To compare subjective and objective failure after posterior colporrhaphy with and without biologic graft augmentation.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review and telephone survey of patients who underwent a posterior colporrhaphy with and without biologic graft augmentation from 2005 to 2019. Patients who underwent a sacrocolpopexy, uterosacral ligament suspensions, or anterior sacrospinous ligament fixation were excluded.

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Background: Several states have released Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) guidelines for the allocation of scarce critical care resources. Most guidelines rely on Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores to maximize lives saved, but states have adopted different stances on whether to maximize long-term outcomes (life-years saved) by accounting for patient comorbidities.

Methods: We compared 4 representative state guidelines with varying approaches to comorbidities and analyzed how CSC prioritization correlates with clinical outcomes.

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The genetic aberrations that drive mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) remain largely unknown, with the exception of a small subset of MPALs harboring and translocations. We performed clinicopathologic and genetic evaluation of 52 presumptive MPAL cases at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Only 29 out of 52 (56%) cases were confirmed to be bona fide MPAL according to the 2016 World Heath Organization classification.

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Large-scale cancer sequencing data enable discovery of rare germline cancer susceptibility variants. Here we systematically analyse 4,034 cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas cancer cases representing 12 cancer types. We find that the frequency of rare germline truncations in 114 cancer-susceptibility-associated genes varies widely, from 4% (acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)) to 19% (ovarian cancer), with a notably high frequency of 11% in stomach cancer.

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Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) function with associated proteins to effect complex structural and regulatory outcomes. To reveal the composition and dynamics of specific noncoding RNA-protein complexes (RNPs) in vivo, we developed comprehensive identification of RNA binding proteins by mass spectrometry (ChIRP-MS). ChIRP-MS analysis of four ncRNAs captures key protein interactors, including a U1-specific link to the 3' RNA processing machinery.

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