Update to the Minimum Requirements for Core Competency in Pediatric Hospital Pharmacy Practice.

Colleges of pharmacy provide varying amounts of didactic and clinical experiential hours in pediatrics therapeutics, resulting in variability in the knowledge, skills, and perceptions of new graduates toward the pharmacist role in providing care to pediatric patients. The Pediatric Pharmacy Association continues to endorse a minimum set of core competencies for all pharmacists involved in the care of hospitalized pediatric patients of all ages. To that end, we have updated our 2015 Position Statement.

Delivery After 40 Weeks of Gestation in Pregnant Women With Well-Controlled Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Objective: To evaluate whether there is increased mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 associated with deliveries at 40 weeks of estimated gestational age (EGA) or greater in pregnant women with HIV-1 viral loads of 1,000 copies/mL or less.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development International Site Development Initiative Perinatal and Longitudinal Study in Latin American Countries and International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials P1025 cohorts. We included pregnant women with HIV-1 with recent viral loads of 1,000 copies/mL or less at the time of delivery and compared delivery outcomes at between 38 and less than 40 weeks EGA with delivery outcomes at 40 weeks EGA or greater, the exposure of interest.

Symptomatic and quality-of-life outcomes after treatment for clinically localised prostate cancer: a systematic review.

To conduct a systematic review of the risks of short-term outcomes after major treatments for clinically localised prostate cancer. MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library were searched from 2004 to January 2013. Study arms that included ≥100 men with localised prostate cancer in receipt of surgery, radiotherapy or active surveillance and reported symptomatic and quality-of-life (QoL) data from 6 to 60 months after treatment were eligible.

Minimum Requirements for Core Competency in Pediatric Pharmacy Practice.

Colleges of pharmacy provide varying amounts of didactic and clinical hours in pediatrics resulting in variability in the knowledge, skills, and perceptions of new graduates toward pediatric pharmaceutical care. The Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group (PPAG) endorses the application of a minimum set of core competencies for all pharmacists involved in the care of hospitalized children.

How well do health professionals interpret diagnostic information? A systematic review.

Objective: To evaluate whether clinicians differ in how they evaluate and interpret diagnostic test information.

Design: Systematic review.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO from inception to September 2013; bibliographies of retrieved studies, experts and citation search of key included studies.

Pre-transplant donor HLA-specific antibodies: characteristics causing detrimental effects on survival after lung transplantation.

Background: The impact of Luminex-detected HLA antibodies on outcomes after lung transplantation is unclear. Herein we have undertaken a retrospective study of pre-transplant sera from 425 lung transplants performed between 1991 and 2003.

Methods: Pre-transplant sera, originally screened by complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) assays, were retrospectively tested for the presence of HLA-specific antibodies using HLA-coated Luminex beads and C4d deposition on Luminex beads.

The 2013 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Working Formulation for the standardization of nomenclature in the pathologic diagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection in heart transplantation.

During the last 25 years, antibody-mediated rejection of the cardiac allograft has evolved from a relatively obscure concept to a recognized clinical complication in the management of heart transplant patients. Herein we report the consensus findings from a series of meetings held between 2010-2012 to develop a Working Formulation for the pathologic diagnosis, grading, and reporting of cardiac antibody-mediated rejection. The diagnostic criteria for its morphologic and immunopathologic components are enumerated, illustrated, and described in detail.

Statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Background: Reducing high blood cholesterol, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in people with and without a past history of CVD is an important goal of pharmacotherapy. Statins are the first-choice agents. Previous reviews of the effects of statins have highlighted their benefits in people with CVD.

Operable non-small cell lung cancer: correlation of volumetric helical dynamic contrast-enhanced CT parameters with immunohistochemical markers of tumor hypoxia.

Purpose: To assess the relationship between helical dynamic contrast material-enhanced (DCE) computed tomographic (CT) parameters and immunohistochemical markers of hypoxia in patients with operable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Materials And Methods: After institutional review board approval was obtained, 20 prospective patients who were suspected of having NSCLC underwent whole-tumor DCE CT with kinetic modeling (Patlak analysis) 24 hours before scheduled surgery. Flow-extraction product (in milliliters per 100 milliliters per minute) and blood volume (in milliliters per 100 milliliters) were derived.

Is MRI better than CT for detecting a vascular component to dementia? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Identification of causes of dementia soon after symptom onset is important, because appropriate treatment of some causes of dementia can slow or halt its progression or enable symptomatic treatment where appropriate. The accuracy of MRI and CT, and whether MRI is superior to CT, in detecting a vascular component to dementia in autopsy confirmed and clinical cohorts of patients with VaD, combined AD and VaD ("mixed dementia"), and AD remain unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate this question.

Speech and language therapy interventions for children with cleft palate: a systematic review.

Objective :  (1) To examine the evidence for the effectiveness of differences in timing and type of speech and language therapy for children with cleft palate with or without a cleft lip and (2) to identify types of interventions assessed. Design :  Nine databases, including MEDLINE and EMBASE, were searched between inception and March 2011 to identify published articles relating to speech and language therapy for children with cleft palate with or without cleft lip. Studies that included at least 10 participants and reported outcome measures for speech and/or language measures were included.

2011 consensus statement on endomyocardial biopsy from the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology and the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology.

The Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology and the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology have produced this position paper concerning the current role of endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) for the diagnosis of cardiac diseases and its contribution to patient management, focusing on pathological issues, with these aims: • Determining appropriate EMB use in the context of current diagnostic strategies for cardiac diseases and providing recommendations for its rational utilization • Providing standard criteria and guidance for appropriate tissue triage and pathological analysis • Promoting a team approach to EMB use, integrating the competences of pathologists, clinicians, and imagers.

Long-term outcome for immune suppression and immune related lymphoproliferative disorder: prospective data from the United Kingdom Children's Leukaemia and Cancer Group registry 1994-2004.

Prospective national registry data on 98 patients were studied to determine the long-term outcome of immune related lymphoproliferative disease (LPD) and define prognostic factors. Seventy-three developed LPD following organ transplant (26 liver, 21 heart, 15 kidney, nine bone marrow [BM], two bowel). Twenty-five had non-transplant related immunosuppression.

A web-based pilot study of inter-pathologist reproducibility using the ISHLT 2004 working formulation for biopsy diagnosis of cardiac allograft rejection: the European experience.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess, at the European level and using digital technology, the inter-pathologist reproducibility of the ISHLT 2004 system and to compare it with the 1990 system We also assessed the reproducibility of the morphologic criteria for diagnosis of antibody-mediated rejection detailed in the 2004 grading system.

Methods: The hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections of 20 sets of endomyocardial biopsies were pre-selected and graded by two pathologists (A.A.

Report from a consensus conference on antibody-mediated rejection in heart transplantation.

Background: The problem of AMR remains unsolved because standardized schemes for diagnosis and treatment remains contentious. Therefore, a consensus conference was organized to discuss the current status of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) in heart transplantation.

Methods: The conference included 83 participants (transplant cardiologists, surgeons, immunologists and pathologists) representing 67 heart transplant centers from North America, Europe, and Asia who all participated in smaller break-out sessions to discuss the various topics of AMR and attempt to achieve consensus.

Guidelines for autopsy investigation of sudden cardiac death.

Although sudden cardiac death is one of the most important mode of death in Western Countries, pathologists and public health physicians have not given this problem the attention it deserves. New methods of preventing potentially fatal arrhythmias have been developed, and the accurate diagnosis of the causes of sudden cardiac death is now of particular importance. Pathologists are responsible for determining the precise cause of sudden death but there is considerable variation in the way in which they approach this increasingly complex task.

Statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Background: Reducing high blood cholesterol, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in people with and without a past history of coronary heart disease (CHD) is an important goal of pharmacotherapy. Statins are the first-choice agents. Previous reviews of the effects of statins have highlighted their benefits in people with coronary artery disease.

Expanding colorectal cancer screening among minority women.

Background: Colorectal cancer screening (CRCS) in the United States is inadequate in minority communities and particularly among those who lack insurance. Finding ways to increase screenings in these minorities presents a healthcare challenge. The authors sought to determine whether offering CRCS at the time of mammography is an effective way to increase CRCS among minority women.

Inclusion of methodological filters in searches for diagnostic test accuracy studies misses relevant studies.

Objective: To compare the performance of MEDLINE searches using index test(s) and target condition (subject searches) with the same searches combined with methodological filters for test accuracy studies.

Study Design And Setting: We derived a reference set of 506 test accuracy studies indexed on MEDLINE from seven systematic reviews that conducted extensive searches. We compared the performance of "subject" with "filtered" searches (same searches combined with each of 22 filters).