Patient Outreaches for Clinical Pharmacy Services: A Population Health Management Program Assessment.

Background: Pharmacists in ambulatory care can utilize population health approaches to identify patients needing disease management and improve outcomes. However, population health is only effective when identified patients are successfully outreached and show to appointments.

Objective: Describe a population health approach utilized by pharmacists in primary care, report outcomes of outreach attempts and scheduled appointments, and determine whether patient and referral characteristics predict no-show appointments.

Factors influencing the acceptance of referrals for clinical pharmacist managed disease states in primary care.

Objective: Clinical pharmacists use population health methods to generate chronic disease management referrals for patients with uncontrolled chronic conditions. The purpose of this study was to compare primary care providers' (PCPs) referral responses for 4 pharmacist-managed indications and to identify provider and patient characteristics that are predictive of PCP response.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Quality of Care and Outcomes Among Hospitalized Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Background: Half of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require hospitalization. We sought to characterize inpatient quality indicators of care and outcomes during IBD-related hospitalizations at 4 major IBD referral centers in Canada.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study of patients with IBD admitted from 2011 to 2013 to tertiary centers in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver.

A case series of two glomus tumors of the gastrointestinal tract.

Two recent cases of glomus tumors (GTs) of the gastrointestinal tract presented with symptoms of GI bleeding. GTs, typically benign lesions of mesenchymal origin, are rarely seen in the GI tract, and most commonly involve the distal appendages. This case series discusses the tumor biology, presentation, imaging, endoscopic findings, pathology and management of GTs.

Vedolizumab for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease: results and implications of GEMINI studies.

Vedolizumab (VDZ) is a selective antibody against α4β7-integrin, which targets leukocyte trafficking in the gastrointestinal tract. The GEMINI studies are Phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled trials to assess the efficacy of VDZ in induction and maintenance of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (GEMINI 1) and Crohn's disease (GEMINI 2). Included in these studies are patients who have failed TNF-α antagonist therapy.

Time of infliximab therapy initiation and dose escalation in Crohn's disease.

Aim: To determine if early initiation of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy affects the need for dose escalation.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of patients receiving infliximab therapy for Crohn's disease (CD) at two outpatient gastroenterology clinics during July 2009 to October 2010. All patients included in the study were biologic agent naïve and had moderate to severe CD (Harvey Bradshaw index > 8).

Follow-up of participants in the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology Scholars' Program, 2006 to 2012.

The Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG) Scholars' Program (previously known as the Bright Lights Course) is designed to encourage trainees to consider a subspecialty career in gastroenterology. A formal analysis of the Scholars' Program performed in 2007 revealed that 82% of participants invited to the program pursued or were planning to pursue a career in gastroenterology. The positive results are consistent with the CAG's strategic plan of developing "the next generation of gastroenterology clinical practitioners, researchers, educators, and leaders" and to "attract, train, and retain the best and the brightest to gastroenterology".

Argon plasma coagulation for the treatment of hemorrhagic radiation colitis.

Radiation colitis is a common consequence of pelvic radiation. Its complications may include anemia due to chronic bleeding requiring transfusions. Many of these patients are managed with rectal medications which are often inadequate for control.

Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia (FHBL) is a rare genetic disorder of lipid metabolism that is associated with abnormally low serum levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and apolipoprotein B. It is an autosomal co-dominant disorder, and depending on zygosity, the clinical manifestations may vary from none to neurological, endocrine, hematological or liver dysfunction. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is common in persons with FHBL, however progression to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is unusual.

Gastric polyps in patients with portal hypertension.

Objectives: Gastric hyperplastic polyps are usually associated with chronic gastritis including Helicobacter pylori gastritis and postantrectomy stomachs. Here, we report on a series of 12 patients with portal hypertension secondary to liver cirrhosis, who were found to have a unique histological type of gastric polyp on endoscopy.

Methods: Retrospective chart review of 12 patients with portal hypertension, who presented with histologically diagnosed gastric hyperplastic polyps.

Quality-of-life outcomes after surgical correction of pectus excavatum: a comparison of the Ravitch and Nuss procedures.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare clinical and health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) outcomes within a group of patients treated for pectus excavatum (PE).

Methods: A retrospective 3-year review of patients undergoing Nuss or Ravitch correction of PE was performed. Health-related quality-of-life assessment was performed using the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ-CF87) and the 17-item Pectus Excavatum Evaluation Questionnaire, and results were compared between groups and with age-matched CHQ-CF87 normative data.

Subdomain X of the kinase domain of Lck binds CD45 and facilitates dephosphorylation.

CD45 is a transmembrane, two-domain protein-tyrosine phosphatase expressed exclusively in nucleated hematopoietic cells. The Src family kinase, Lck, is a major CD45 substrate in T cells and CD45 dephosphorylation of Lck is important for both T cell development and activation. However, how the substrate specificity of phosphatases such as CD45 is achieved is not well understood.

Adenovirus vector-induced inflammation: capsid-dependent induction of the C-C chemokine RANTES requires NF-kappa B.

Adenovirus vectors for gene therapy activate responses in the host that result in acute inflammation of transduced tissues. Our previous studies in vivo demonstrate that chemokines, including the C-C chemokine RANTES (regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted), contribute to the acute inflammation induced by adenovirus vectors. Various first-generation adenovirus vectors, including adCMV beta gal, were equally capable of inducing the expression of RANTES 3 hr after transduction in epithelial HeLa and REC cells.

Activation of p38 and ERK signaling during adenovirus vector cell entry lead to expression of the C-X-C chemokine IP-10.

The use of adenovirus vectors for human gene therapy is limited by potent inflammatory responses that result in significant morbidity. In kidney-derived epithelial cells (REC), activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK) and p38 kinase (p38) pathways occurred within 20 min of transduction with the serotype 5 adenovirus vector AdCMV beta gal. Inhibition of ERK and p38 with U0126 and SB203580, respectively, reduced the expression of IP-10 mRNA following transduction with AdCMV beta gal.