Perceptions and impact of patient reviews: a survey of academic dermatologists.

Background: Patient reviews (PRs) have emerged as a method to assess patient experiences with healthcare in order to improve the quality of care. Both institutional and third-party organizations collect quantitative data and comments from these patient surveys, usually accessible to the public for review. Our study examined dermatologists' perceptions of PRs and assessed their impact on dermatologists.

Could Education Be the Best Galactagogue? Development and Content Validation of Provider and Patient Checklists to Promote Lactation Among Black Parents.

One of the factors contributing to the disparities still present by race in the United States may be inequitable access to lactation education. In order to ensure that all parents receive the education they deserve to make informed infant feeding decisions, two checklists were created for patient and healthcare professional use, respectively. This paper describes the process of creating and validating the healthcare professional and patient checklists.

Integration of the Verbatim Exercise into a Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship.

One of the more challenging aspects of specialty level training in any medical fellowship is learning to communicate mindfully and effectively with patients and families in the face of serious illness. For the past five years, our accredited Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) fellowship program has been integrating the "verbatim"-an exercise with a long and integral history in the training of health care chaplains. Verbatims are word-for-word accounts of a clinician's encounter with a patient and/or the patient's family.

Post-Pemphigus Acanthomata Presenting as an Isolated, Hyperkeratotic Plaque.

Post-pemphigus acanthomas have been rarely discussed in the literature. A prior case series identified 47 cases of pemphigus vulgaris and 5 cases of pemphigus foliaceus, out of which 13 developed acanthomata as a part of the healing process. Additionally, a case report by Ohashi et al.

Increases in CLIA-Waived Testing Sites Since the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The number of testing sites receiving their first Certificate of Waiver (CoW) under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) increased significantly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We compared the first-time CoWs in 2020-2021 to those in 2018-2019. The total number of first-time CoWs during 2020-2021 was more than twice what it was in 2018-2019, corresponding to population testing needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in assisted living facility, pharmacy, physician office, and school/student health service settings.

Immediate effects of short-term meditation on sensorimotor rhythm-based brain-computer interface performance.

Introduction: Meditation has been shown to enhance a user's ability to control a sensorimotor rhythm (SMR)-based brain-computer interface (BCI). For example, prior work have demonstrated that long-term meditation practices and an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training have positive behavioral and neurophysiological effects on SMR-based BCI. However, the effects of short-term meditation practice on SMR-based BCI control are still unknown.

Dupilumab-Associated Mycosis Fungoides with a CD8+ Immunophenotype.

Dupilumab is a humanized IgG4 monoclonal-antibody that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD) in patients aged 12 years and older. In recent years, several case studies have associated the unmasking or progression of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL) with dupilumab treatment. To date, all reported cases of dupilumab-associated CTCL have shown a CD4+ T-helper-cell-predominant immunophenotype.

Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma following dupilumab use: a systematic review.

In recent years, studies have associated dupilumab with unmasking or progression of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The objective of this study was to synthesize reported cases of CTCL in the setting of dupilumab use. Two independent reviewers conducted a systematic review using PubMed and Embase databases.

Effects of Season, Location, Species, and Sex on Hematologic and Plasma Biochemical Values and Body Mass in Free-ranging Grebes ( species).

The effects of season, location, species, and sex on body weight and a comprehensive array of blood chemistry and hematology analytes were compared for free-ranging western () and Clark's () grebes. Birds (n = 56) were collected from Puget Sound, WA, and Monterey Bay and San Francisco Bay, CA, from February 2007 to March 2011. The data supported generalization of observed ranges for most analytes across s grebe metapopulations wintering on the Pacific coast.

Clinical Laboratory Biosafety Gaps: Lessons Learned from Past Outbreaks Reveal a Path to a Safer Future.

Patient care and public health require timely, reliable laboratory testing. However, clinical laboratory professionals rarely know whether patient specimens contain infectious agents, making ensuring biosafety while performing testing procedures challenging. The importance of biosafety in clinical laboratories was highlighted during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, where concerns about biosafety resulted in delayed diagnoses and contributed to patient deaths.

An international randomized phase III trial of pulse actinomycin-D versus multi-day methotrexate for the treatment of low risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia; NRG/GOG 275.

Objectives: Methotrexate and actinomycin-D are both effective first-line drugs for low-risk (WHO score 0-6) Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia (GTN) with considerable debate about which is more effective, less toxic, and better tolerated. The primary trial objective was to test if treatment with multi-day methotrexate (MTX) was inferior to pulse actinomycin-D (ACT-D). Secondary objectives included evaluation of severity and frequency of adverse events, and impact on quality of life (QOL).

Correction: Latex hypersensitivity to injection devices for biologic therapies in psoriasis patients.

The Table in the article "Latex Hypersensitivity to Injection Devices for Biologic Therapies in Psoriasis Patients" (Cutis. 2018;102:116-118.) incorrectly stated that guselkumab contains latex.

Latex hypersensitivity to injection devices for biologic therapies in psoriasis patients.

An allergic reaction provoked by reexposure to an allergen or antigen is known as a type I or immediate hypersensitivity reaction. Latex allergy is a common cause of type I hypersensitivity reactions. Allergic responses to latex in psoriasis patients receiving frequent injections with biologic agents are not commonly reported in the literature.

A proposal for teaching bioethics in high schools using appropriate visual education tools.

Teaching bioethics with visual education tools, such as movies and comics, is a unique way of explaining the history and progress of human research and the art and science of medicine to high school students. For more than a decade, bioethical concepts have appeared in movies, and these films are useful for teaching medical and research ethics in high schools. Using visual tools to teach bioethics can have both interpretational and transformational effects on learners that will enhance their overall understanding of complex moral and legal issues in medicine and research.

Treatment challenges in the management of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis - role of secukinumab.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that has a negative impact on psychosocial well-being and cardiometabolic health. Treatment options for moderate-to-severe psoriasis have expanded with the development of interleukin-17 (IL-17) inhibitors, the first of which is now available - secukinumab. Secukinumab is a fully human monoclonal immunoglobulin G1 κ antibody that selectively inhibits the ligand IL-17A.

The Individualized Quality Control Plan - Coming Soon to Clinical Microbiology Laboratories Everywhere!

As of January 1, 2016, microbiology laboratories can choose to adopt a new quality control option, the Individualized Quality Control Plan (IQCP), under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). This voluntary approach increases flexibility for meeting regulatory requirements and provides laboratories the opportunity to customize QC for their testing in their unique environments and by their testing personnel. IQCP is an all-inclusive approach to quality based on risk management to address potential errors in the total testing process.

Use of a Novel Teaching Method to Increase Knowledge and Adherence to Isolation Procedures.

Adherence to infection prevention precautions is a challenge in many hospitals. The purpose of this study was to determine if an isolation educational program, which included visual demonstrations of cross-contamination during breaks in isolation procedures, increased nursing staff knowledge of and adherence to isolation procedures.

Newborn Adipokines and Birth Outcomes.

Background: Adipokines can serve as a measure of adipose tissue activity. Although birthweight correlates with neonatal adiposity, findings for cord blood levels of adipokines and birth outcomes have been conflicted. Therefore, we determined the cross-sectional associations between adipokines measured in newborn dried blood spots (DBS) and birth outcomes.

Approaches to community nursing research partnerships: a case example.

Every community is unique and has special strengths and health-related needs, such that a community-based participatory research partnership cannot be formed and implemented in a predetermined, step-by-step manner. In this article, we describe how the Community Partnership Model (CPM), designed to allow flexible movement back and forth through all action phases, can be adapted to a variety of communities. Originally developed for nursing practice, the CPM has evolved into approaches for the collaborative initiation and maintenance of community partnerships.

Use of Proficiency Testing as a Tool to Improve Quality in Microbiology Laboratories.

Proficiency testing (PT) is a valuable tool for assessing laboratory performance and verifying the accuracy and reliability of test results. Participation is required by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) of 1988 for each of the microbiology subspecialties (bacteriology, mycobacteriology, mycology, parasitology, and virology), and the regulations include specific PT requirements for each subspecialty. To determine the use and perceived value of PT beyond meeting CLIA requirements, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded a cooperative agreement with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to convene a series of focus groups to query laboratory professionals responsible for PT.