Assessing professionalism in health profession degree programs: A scoping review.

Background: To identify and classify methods for assessing professionalism across health profession degree programs and identify gaps in the literature regarding types of assessments.

Methods: The authors conducted a scoping review of articles published from database inception through 24 January 2020. Included articles described an assessment approach for professionalism in health profession degree programs available in full-text in the English language.

A Novel Application of a Biopsychosocial Theory in the Understanding of Disturbed Sleep before and after Kidney Transplantation.

Study Objectives: Sleep and fatigue difficulties appear to be highly prevalent among individuals with end-stage renal disease and individuals who have received a kidney transplant. While there is some evidence of biopsychosocial factors predicting sleep disturbance in these populations, previous studies have relied on single time point retrospective measurements.

Methods: The study utilized a 2-week prospective measurement approach, including one night of polysomnographic measurement, nightly sleep diaries, and self-report measures of health, sleep, and mood.

Malignant melanoma in solid transplant recipients: collection of database cases and comparison with surveillance, epidemiology, and end results data for outcome analysis.

Objective: To determine malignant melanoma cause-specific and overall survival among patients with melanoma diagnosed after organ transplantation compared with a national sample with malignant melanoma.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: Mayo Clinic sites.

Barriers to evaluation and wait listing for kidney transplantation.

Background And Objectives: Many factors have been shown to be associated with ESRD patient placement on the waiting list and receipt of kidney transplantation. Our study aim was to evaluate factors and assess the interplay of patient characteristics associated with progression to transplantation in a large cohort of referred patients from a single institution.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: We examined 3029 consecutive adult patients referred for transplantation from 2003 to 2008.

YSPSL (rPSGL-Ig) for improvement of early renal allograft function: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center Phase IIa study.

Introduction: Recombinant P-selectin glycoprotein ligand IgG fusion protein, rPSGL-Ig (YSPSL), a fusion protein of human P-selectin ligand and IgG1-Fc, blocks leukocyte adhesion and protects against ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) in animal models.

Patients And Methods: This randomized 15-center, double-blind, 59-patient Ph2a study assessed YSPSL's safety in recipients of deceased-donor kidney allografts and its potential efficacy in improving early graft function. Two doses and two dosing modalities were evaluated.

Dendritic cell deficiency associated with development of BK viremia and nephropathy in renal transplant recipients.

Background: BK virus nephropathy (BKVN) is a significant cause of renal allograft loss. Although overall intensity of immunosuppression is the greatest risk factor, recipient immune factors likely also play a role in the pathogenesis. Dendritic cells (DC) are potent antigen-presenting cells important for the induction of anti-viral cytotoxic T-cell responses.

Long-term outcomes of kidney transplantation in recipients 60 years of age and older at the University of Florida.

As the population ages, the transplant community will continue to see "elderly" patients with end-stage kidney disease who are seeking transplantation. In this report we describe long-term outcomes of 315 primary kidney transplants performed at the University of Florida in recipients aged > or = 60 years and compare them to results from 3 younger recipient cohorts. Among recipients > or = 60 years, patient survival was significantly worse than for younger recipients but no differences in graft or death-censored graft survival were seen.

Treating tobacco use and dependence in kidney transplant recipients: development and implementation of a program.

Tobacco use adversely affects transplant outcomes such as graft survival, patient survival, and other conditions that alter transplant patient longevity. Especially concerning is tobacco's relationship to cardiovascular disease, the number 1 cause of death in kidney transplant recipients. Many authors conclude that tobacco interventions ought to be provided to patients and sometimes lament that there are no tobacco dependence interventions designed for kidney transplant recipients.

Combination of voriconazole and caspofungin as primary therapy for invasive aspergillosis in solid organ transplant recipients: a prospective, multicenter, observational study.

Background: : The efficacy of the combination of voriconazole and caspofungin when used as primary therapy for invasive aspergillosis in organ transplant recipients has not been defined.

Methods: : Transplant recipients who received voriconazole and caspofungin (n=40) as primary therapy for invasive aspergillosis (proven or probable) in a prospective multicenter study between 2003 and 2005 were compared to a control group comprising a cohort of consecutive transplant recipients between 1999 and 2002 who had received a lipid formulation of AmB as primary therapy (n=47). In vitro antifungal testing of Aspergillus isolates to combination therapy was correlated with clinical outcome.

The effects of renal transplantation on peripheral blood dendritic cells.

Recent advances allow accurate quantification of peripheral blood (PB) myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell (DC) populations (mDC and pDC, respectively), although the response to renal transplantation (RT) remains unknown. Using flow cytometry, PBDC levels were quantified in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing RT. PBDC levels were significantly reduced in ESRD patients pre-RT compared to healthy controls, with further reduction noted immediately following a hemodialysis session.

Effect of sirolimus withdrawal in patients with deteriorating renal function.

Sirolimus has been an important addition to immunosuppressive regimens utilized in kidney transplantation. However, sirolimus can potentiate calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) nephrotoxicity by some still uncertain mechanisms. Studies have demonstrated that withdrawal of a CNI under sirolimus immunosuppression can improve renal function.

The changing causes of graft loss and death after kidney transplantation.

Background: The results of kidney transplantation have improved markedly over the last three decades. Despite this, patients still lose grafts and die. We sought to determine whether the causes of graft loss and death have changed over the last 30 years.

Obesity does not portend a bad outcome for kidney transplant recipients.

Background: Kidney transplant programs may avoid transplantation in obese patients because of reports indicating that obese patients have poorer outcomes than do nonobese patients. We recently reviewed our experience.

Methods: Patients receiving a kidney transplant between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 1999 were divided according to body mass index (BMI): group 1, BMI<25 (n=457); group 2, BMI> or =25 and <30 (n=278); and group 3, BMI> or =35 (n=98).