Breaking Bad News to Learners: How Well Does the SPIKES Clinical Model Translate?

When health professions learners do not meet standards on assessments, educators need to share this information with the learners and determine next steps to improve their performance. Those conversations can be difficult, and educators may lack confidence or skill in holding them. For clinician-educators with experience sharing challenging news with patients, using an analogy from clinical settings may help with these conversations in the education context.

Sex Differences in Ependymoma Methylation by Methylation-Defined Subgroup.

Ependymoma is the second most common malignant paediatric brain tumour composed of nine methylation-defined, clinically relevant subgroups. It is unclear if there are sex differences in methylation profiles within these subgroups which could guide future treatment options. We obtained available methylation data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO).

Methadone-Buprenorphine Transfers Using Low Dosing of Buprenorphine: An Open-Label, Nonrandomized Clinical Trial.

Aims: To compare a low-dosing protocol to standard practice for methadone-buprenorphine transfers.

Methods: We undertook a nonrandomized open-label clinical trial across 8 sites from NSW, Australia. Participants prescribed methadone wishing to transfer to buprenorphine could either choose or be randomized to a low-dose transfer or standard care transfer as per NSW health guidelines.

Evaluating the Scope of Services and Monetary Impact of Charity Medical Clinics in North Texas.

Introduction/objectives: The cost of medical services is a major barrier to healthcare accessibility for underserved populations in the United States. Community charity medical clinics help address this disparity by providing free or reduced-cost care for the medically underinsured; however, their economic and public health contributions are unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the scope of services and monetary impact of 4 community charity medical clinics in North Texas, with one of the largest medically underinsured populations in the United States.

Artificial Intelligence-Powered Surgical Consent: Patient Insights.

Introduction The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has revolutionized patient interactions and service delivery. AI's role extends from supporting clinical diagnostics and enhancing operational efficiencies to potentially improving informed consent processes in surgical settings. This study investigates the application of AI, particularly large language models like OpenAI's ChatGPT, in facilitating surgical consent, focusing on patient understanding, satisfaction, and trust.

A phenome-wide association study of polygenic scores for selected childhood cancer: Results from the UK Biobank.

The aim of this study was to scan phenotypes in adulthood associated with polygenic risk scores (PRS) for childhood cancers with well-articulated genetic architectures-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Ewing sarcoma, and neuroblastoma-to examine genetic pleiotropy. Furthermore, we aimed to determine which SNPs could drive associations. Per-SNP summary statistics were extracted for PRS calculation.

Recounting the untold stories of breast cancer patient experiences: lessons learned from a patient-public involvement and engagement storytelling event.

Objectives: Breast cancer remains a prevalent disease in women worldwide. Though advancements in breast cancer care have improved patient survival, a breast cancer diagnosis, and subsequent interventions have a lasting impact on patients' lived experiences during the pandemic.

Methods: We present the collaborative learning process from this patient engagement workshop series as a community-academic partnership.

Low back pain or injury before collegiate athletics, a potential risk factor for non-contact athletic injuries.

Context: Majority of research surrounding the predictive value of clinical measurements and assessments for future athletic injury does not differentiate between contact and non-contact injuries.

Objective: We assessed the association between clinical measures and questionnaire data collected prior to sport participation and the incidence of non-contact lower extremity (LE) injuries among Division III collegiate athletes.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Appearance-related cyberbullying and its association with the desire to alter physical appearance among adolescent females.

Cyberbullying is associated with various mental health concerns in adolescents, including body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviours. However, there is a significant research gap concerning the unique effects of appearance-related cyberbullying (ARC) on adolescent mental health. This study examined the prevalence and psychological consequences of ARC among middle to late adolescent females (aged 14-19 years, M = 15.

"When You're in It, It Feels Like It's Everything": Medical Students' Experience of Failure and Remediation in the United States and the Netherlands.

Purpose: Medical training institutions worldwide must be prepared to remediate struggling learners, but there is little empirical evidence around learners' perspectives on remediation efforts. Research shows that emotion has a significant effect on learning, but it has not been well studied in remediation in medical education. Given the high stakes of remediation, understanding more about learners' emotional experience could lead to improvements in remediation programs.

A Comparison of Perinatal Circulatory Transition in Critical Right and Left Heart Obstructive Lesions.

Background: During perinatal transition in hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), reduced systemic blood flow (Qs) and cerebral blood flow and increased pulmonary blood flow (Qp) are observed, contributing to hemodynamic instability. The aim of the present study was to explore whether similar or discordant perinatal changes occur in critical pulmonary outflow tract obstruction (POFO) compared with HLHS and healthy control subjects.

Methods: Echocardiography was prospectively performed at 36 to 39 gestational weeks and then serially from 6 to 96 hours after birth, before cardiac intervention.

Integrating a mental health intervention into PrEP services for South African young women: a human-centred implementation research approach to intervention development.

Introduction: Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) who may benefit from HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) face high levels of common mental disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety).

Treatment Outcomes for Tuberculosis Infection and Disease Among Persons Deprived of Liberty, Uganda, 2020.

We report that unsuccessful treatment outcomes were 11.8% for tuberculosis (TB) disease and 21.8% for TB infection among persons deprived of liberty in Uganda Prisons Service facilities.

Sociodemographic and Health Factors of the Alcohol Treatment-seeking Population in New South Wales, Australia.

Objectives: Although factors associated with alcohol use have been researched at a population level, descriptions of the alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment-seeking population in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, are limited. This study addresses this gap by analyzing sociodemographic and health characteristics in the NSW AOD treatment-seeking population.

Methods: Self-reported Australian Treatment Outcomes Profile data on substance use, health ratings, and sociodemographic factors were acquired from public AOD services (offering services from counseling to ambulatory/inpatient withdrawal management) in 6 administrative health districts from 2016 to 2019 (n = 14,287).

Medical cannabis use in Australia seven years after legalisation: findings from the online Cannabis as Medicine Survey 2022-2023 (CAMS-22).

Background: Cannabis was legalised for medical purposes in 2016. Uptake was initially slow, but since 2019 there has been a large increase in the number of Australians who have been prescribed cannabis for medical reasons. Yet a significant number of consumers continue to treat their medical conditions via illicitly-sourced cannabis.

Pilot study with randomised control of dual site theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for methamphetamine use disorder: a protocol for the TARTAN study.

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) (including the theta burst stimulation (TBS) form of TMS used in this study) is a non-invasive means to stimulate nerve cells in superficial areas of the brain. In recent years, there has been a growth in the application of TMS to investigate the modulation of neural networks involved in substance use disorders. This study examines the feasibility of novel TMS protocols for the treatment of methamphetamine (MA) use disorder in an ambulatory drug and alcohol treatment setting.

A toolbox to engineer the highly productive cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 11901.

Synechococcus sp. PCC 11901 (PCC 11901) is a fast-growing marine cyanobacterial strain that has a capacity for sustained biomass accumulation to very high cell densities, comparable to that achieved by commercially relevant heterotrophic organisms. However, genetic tools to engineer PCC 11901 for biotechnology applications are limited.

Delegation of insulin administration: a survey of community nursing teams in England.

In community nursing, the administration of insulin for people with type 2 diabetes can be delegated by registered nurses to healthcare support workers. Although a voluntary framework in England provides national guidance, little is known about its uptake. The project aim was to determine the roll-out, characteristics and support needs in relation to the delegation of insulin administration in community settings.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) knowledge, use, and discontinuation among Lake Victoria fisherfolk in Uganda: a cross-sectional population-based study.

Background: There are limited population-level data on the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care continuum in eastern Africa. Here, we assessed the PrEP care continuum following PrEP rollout in a Ugandan community with ~40% HIV seroprevalence.

Methods: We used cross-sectional population-based data collected between September 3 and December 19, 2018 from a Lake Victoria fishing community in southern Uganda to measure levels of self-reported PrEP knowledge, ever use, and discontinuation following 2017 PrEP rollout via a U.