Factors Contributing to Opioid Overprescribing at Surgical Discharge.

Introduction: Opioids remain the gold standard for treating acute pain, whereas overprescribing occurs regularly in the postoperative setting with little clinical guidance. The objective of this study is to examine whether the length of surgery is an independent risk factor for opioid overprescribing at discharge.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study to determine if there is an association between the length of surgery and overprescribed opioids.

Evaluating the Impact of Buprenorphine on Depressive Symptoms Among Veterans with Chronic Pain.

Buprenorphine has demonstrated benefit for acute and chronic pain and various psychiatric disorders. However, many studies evaluating buprenorphine's effect on psychiatric conditions are not specific to the chronic pain population. This retrospective study was conducted to assess the impact of buprenorphine on depressive symptoms in patients with chronic pain at a Veterans Affairs healthcare facility.

Assessment of Metformin Intolerance: A Retrospective Chart Review.

The aim of the present study is to determine similarities between patients with type 2 diabetes not on metformin therapy compared to patients on metformin therapy at a resident-led primary care clinic. An exploratory, single-center retrospective chart review was performed on patients 18 years and older with a documented diagnosis of type 2 diabetes seen at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Family Medicine Clinic in Little Rock, Arkansas. Of the 2452 patients who met criteria for the study, 1085 patients did not have a documented metformin allergy.

Implementation of collaborative care for depression in VA HIV clinics: Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (HITIDES): protocol for a cluster-randomized type 3 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial.

Background: Depression is the most diagnosed mental health condition among people living with HIV. Collaborative care is an effective intervention for depression, typically delivered in primary care settings. The HIV Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (HITIDES) clinical intervention involves a depression care team housed off-site that supports depression care delivery by HIV care providers.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors as subsequent treatment in older adults with non-small cell lung cancer and synchronous brain metastases.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become the mainstay treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there is a lack of studies assessing ICIs as subsequent treatment in older adults with NSCLC and brain metastasis (BM). This retrospective cohort study compared the real-world survival of older patients with NSCLC and BM at diagnosis [synchronous BM (SBM)] previously treated with chemotherapy receiving ICI versus chemotherapy as subsequent treatment.

Outpatient Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) for the Palliative Care Patient.

This study explores the under-researched domain of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) for cancer pain management in adult outpatients, focusing on the transition from patient-controlled analgesia pumps (PCA pump) to oral medications. While existing literature primarily addresses the use of PCA in inpatient settings, this descriptive study investigates the initiation of outpatient PCA in palliative care patients. The retrospective chart review includes data from all admissions between July 1, 2014, and December 31, 2020.

Evaluation of the Perceived Benefits of a Peer Support Group for People with Mental Health Problems.

This paper reports on a service evaluation of PeerTalk, a nationwide charity that organises and facilitates peer support groups for individuals with depression. Therefore, the aim was to gather and synthesise benefits perceived by support group attendees. Thematic analysis was undertaken following the collection of data from two group interviews comprising PeerTalk support group attendees.

Sequenced Treatment Effectiveness for Posttraumatic Stress (STEPS) Trial: A protocol for a pragmatic comparative effectiveness trial with baseline results.

Background: There have only been two efficacy trials reporting a head-to-head comparison of medications and psychotherapy for PTSD, and neither was conducted in primary care. Therefore, this protocol paper describes a pragmatic trial that compares outcomes of primary care patients randomized to initially receive a brief trauma-focused psychotherapy or a choice of three antidepressants. In addition, because there are few trials examining the effectiveness of subsequent treatments for patients not responding to the initial treatment, this pragmatic trial also compares the outcomes of those switching or augmenting treatments.

The Effect of Concurrent Use of Opioids and Gabapentin on Fall Risk in Older Adults.

Falls pose a significant threat to older adults, resulting in injuries and mortality. Concurrently prescribed opioids and gabapentin for pain management may increase fall risks in older patients. This study aimed to estimate fall risks associated with the concurrent use of gabapentin and opioids, comparing them to opioid monotherapy in older adults.

What's cooking? The normalization of meat in YouTube recipe videos consumed by South Asian British Muslims.

Muslim consumers in the UK eat more meat than the national average. Individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds, particularly South Asian communities, experience poorer health outcomes, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease, associated with meat consumption. According to a YouGov survey, British Pakistani and Bangladeshi consumers use television cookery programs and social media (particularly YouTube) as their main digital sources of dietary information.

Refining the impact of genetic evidence on clinical success.

The cost of drug discovery and development is driven primarily by failure, with only about 10% of clinical programmes eventually receiving approval. We previously estimated that human genetic evidence doubles the success rate from clinical development to approval. In this study we leverage the growth in genetic evidence over the past decade to better understand the characteristics that distinguish clinical success and failure.

Adopting the RE-AIM analytic framework for rural program evaluation: experiences from the Advance Care Planning via Group Visits (ACP-GV) national evaluation.

Introduction: To support rigorous evaluation across a national portfolio of grants, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Rural Health (ORH) adopted an analytic framework to guide their grantees' evaluation of initiatives that reach rural veterans and to standardize the reporting of outcomes and impacts. Advance Care Planning via Group Visits (ACP-GV), one of ORH's Enterprise-Wide Initiatives, also followed the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. ACP-GV is a national patient-centered intervention delivered in a large, veterans integrated healthcare system.

Reliability testing of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales 2018.

What Is Known On The Subject: The Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) is a widely used clinical measure designed to rate and monitor the outcomes of service users accessing specialist mental healthcare. Since its development (in 1996), numerous research studies have confirmed the HoNOS captures the aspects of care that it purports to (validity), and that clinicians' ratings are consistent both over time, and between different raters (reliability).

What The Paper Adds To Existing Knowledge: In 2018, the HoNOS was reviewed with updates made to some terminology and other revisions intended to remove ambiguity in the guidance for raters.

Healthy food delivery for type 2 diabetes management in rural clinics' patients: A comparative effectiveness randomized controlled trial protocol.

Background: Rural populations experience a higher prevalence of both food insecurity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) than metropolitan populations and face many challenges in accessing resources essential to optimal T2DM self-management. This study aims to address these challenges by delivering a T2DM-appropriate food box and recipes directly to rural participants' homes.

Methods: This is a comparative effectiveness randomized controlled trial including 400 English- or Spanish-speaking rural adult participants with T2DM (HbA1c ≥6.

Opioid therapy trajectories of patients with chronic non-cancer pain over 1 year of follow-up after initiation of short-acting opioid formulations.

Objective: This study compared opioid utilization trajectories of persons initiating tramadol, short-acting hydrocodone, or short-acting oxycodone, and it characterized opioid dose trajectories and type of opioid in persistent opioid therapy subsamples.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of adults with chronic non-cancer pain who were initiating opioid therapy was conducted with the IQVIA PharMetrics® Plus for Academics data (2008-2018). Continuous enrollment was required for 6 months before ("baseline") and 12 months after ("follow-up") the first opioid prescription ("index date").

Engaging stakeholders to retrospectively discern implementation strategies to support program evaluation: Proposed method and case study.

Background: Availability of evidence-based practices (EBPs) is critical for improving health care outcomes, but diffusion can be challenging. Implementation activities increase the adoption of EBPs and support sustainability. However, when implementation activities are a part of quality improvement processes, evaluation of the time and cost associated with these activities is challenged by the need for a correct classification of these activities to a known taxonomy of implementation strategies by implementation actors.

Clinical Review of Risk of Nephrotoxicity with Acyclovir Use for Treatment of Herpes Simplex Virus Infections in Neonates and Children.

Objective: This study aims to clarify the risk of nephrotoxicity with intravenous use of acyclovir (ACV) for the treatment of neonates (ages <3 months) and children (ages ≥3 months to <12 years) with herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections and to identify gaps in knowledge that could be further investigated.

Methods: Multiple databases were searched to identify studies on risk of nephrotoxicity with ACV use for treatment of invasive HSV infections, defined as any neonatal infection or HSV encephalitis (HSE) in children.

Results: There were 5 and 14 studies that evaluated the risk of ACV-associated nephrotoxicity in neonates and children, respectively.

Addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in rural community pharmacies: a protocol for a stepped wedge randomized clinical trial.

Background: Uptake of COVID-19 vaccines remains problematically low in the USA, especially in rural areas. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is associated with lower uptake, which translates to higher susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 variants in communities where vaccination coverage is low. Because community pharmacists are among the most accessible and trusted health professionals in rural areas, this randomized clinical trial will examine implementation strategies to support rural pharmacists in delivering an adapted evidence-based intervention to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Semi-automation of keratopathy visual acuity grading of corneal events in belantamab mafodotin clinical trials: clinical decision support software.

Background: Belantamab mafodotin (belamaf) has demonstrated clinically meaningful antimyeloma activity in patients with heavily pretreated multiple myeloma. However, it is highly active against dividing cells, contributing to off-target adverse events, particularly ocular toxicity. Changes in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and corneal examination findings are routinely monitored to determine Keratopathy Visual Acuity (KVA) grade to inform belamaf dose modification.

Food Insecurity and Health Outcomes of Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in the United States.

We aimed to (a) provide nationally representative estimates of food insecurity (FI) among children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and (b) determine the association between FI and four health outcomes (overall health, problem behavior, activities of daily living, functional limitations) in 5,657 children with IDD compared to 1:1 propensity score matched children without IDD. Mixed-effects ordered logistic regression models were used. Children with IDD were more likely to experience FI than children without IDD (43.

Orai inhibition modulates pulmonary ILC2 metabolism and alleviates airway hyperreactivity in murine and humanized models.

Ca entry via Ca release-activated Ca (CRAC) channels is a predominant mechanism of intracellular Ca elevation in immune cells. Here we show the immunoregulatory role of CRAC channel components Orai1 and Orai2 in Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), that play crucial roles in the induction of type 2 inflammation. We find that blocking or genetic ablation of Orai1 and Orai2 downregulates ILC2 effector function and cytokine production, consequently ameliorating the development of ILC2-mediated airway inflammation in multiple murine models.