Background: Approximately 25% of cancer patients are diagnosed with rare cancers and face unique challenges. Decentralized patient-partnered research efforts, like Count Me In provide an avenue for patients to participate in research that overcomes key barriers to address disparities in rare cancer research to accelerate discovery.
Objectives: Projects in metastatic breast cancer (The Metastatic Breast Cancer Project; MBCproject) and angiosarcoma (The Angiosarcoma Project; ASCproject) highlight disparities that exist for all cancer patients and underscore those that are compounded for rare cancer patients.
Purpose: Incorporating patient-reported outcomes (PROs) into survivorship care may improve the comprehensiveness of follow-up. The objective was to engage stakeholders to develop a PRO assessment of survivors' symptoms and concerns for use during breast cancer follow-up.
Methods: We convened patient and oncologist stakeholder advisory groups to develop an initial PRO assessment including survivorship domains of importance, measurement instruments, and clinically significant thresholds, and revise the assessment based on feedback from community focus groups and two rounds of iterative pilot testing with survivors.
Accumulating data suggest that some bat species host emerging viruses that are highly pathogenic in humans and agricultural animals. Laboratory-based studies have highlighted important adaptations in bat immune systems that allow them to better tolerate viral infections compared to humans. Simultaneously, ecological studies have discovered critical extrinsic factors, such as nutritional stress, that correlate with virus shedding in wild-caught bats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: If C is creatinine clearance, a surrogate for glomerular filtration rate (GFR), the serum potassium concentration (K) is the sum of E/C and TR/C, which are amounts of potassium excreted and (net) reabsorbed per volume of filtrate (K = E/C + TR/C). We investigated changes in E/C, TR/C, and K through the stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 452 patients with CKD stages G1 - 5.
Objectives: To identify risk factors for developing a fracture-related infection in operatively treated ballistic tibia fractures and to report the microbiologic results of intraoperative cultures.
Design: Retrospective review.
Setting: Level 1 trauma center.
Achieving satisfactory alignment during intramedullary nailing of periarticular fractures can be technically challenging due to a combination of deforming forces and the lack of cortical contact by the nail in the articular segment metaphysis allowing malreduction to persist during nail passage. Although blocking screws are described to facilitate reduction, they risk impeding subsequent implant fixation. This article introduces an innovative Temporary Reduction Assisting Corridor Constraint Wires (TRACC-wires) technique to safely correct multiplanar deformities without limiting fixation options.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Rapid response teams (RRTs) can improve outcomes in both adult and pediatric hospitals. Most pediatric hospitals have RRT-type systems; however, little is known about stakeholders' perspectives regarding how to optimize RRT quality and efficiency. We aimed to better understand multidisciplinary stakeholder perspectives on how to improve the RRT process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Health disparities are pervasive in pediatrics. We aimed to describe disparities among patients who are likely to be cared for in the PICU and delineate how sociodemographic data are collected and categorized.
Methods: Using MEDLINE as a data source, we identified studies which included an objective to assess sociodemographic disparities among PICU patients in the United States.
Over the past two decades, research on bat-associated microbes such as viruses, bacteria and fungi has dramatically increased. Here, we synthesize themes from a conference symposium focused on advances in the research of bats and their microbes, including physiological, immunological, ecological and epidemiological research that has improved our understanding of bat infection dynamics at multiple biological scales. We first present metrics for measuring individual bat responses to infection and challenges associated with using these metrics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective is to quantify the rate of opioid and benzodiazepine prescribing for the diagnosis of shoulder osteoarthritis across a large healthcare system and to describe the impact of a clinical decision support intervention on prescribing patterns.
Design: A prospective observational study.
Setting: One large healthcare system.
Objectives: To evaluate the work relative value units (RVUs) attributed per minute of operative time (wRVU/min) in fixation of acetabular fractures, evaluate surgical factors that influence wRVU/min, and compare wRVU/min with other procedures.
Design: Retrospective.
Setting: Level 1 academic center.
Background: Urinary cadmium excretion (E) rises with renal tissue content of the metal. Whereas glomerulopathies are sometimes associated with massive albuminuria, tubular accumulation of Cd typically causes modest albuminuria. Since β-microglobulinuria (E) is an established marker of proximal tubular dysfunction, we hypothesized that a comparison of albuminuria (E) to E in Cd-exposed subjects would provide evidence of similar mishandling of both proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIf C is creatinine clearance and E and TR are rates of phosphate excretion and reabsorption, the serum phosphate concentration (P) is the sum of E/C and TR/C, i.e., the amounts of phosphate excreted and reabsorbed per volume of filtrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Psychiatry Med
July 2024
"Lifestyle medicine (LM) is an evidence-based therapeutic intervention delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty to prevent, treat, and often reverse chronic disease". Eighty percent of the conditions primary care physicians routinely encounter in their offices, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We aimed to understand urgent and emergency care pathways for older people and develop a decision support tool using a mixed methods study design.
Objective(s), Study Design, Settings And Participants: Work package 1 identified best practice through a review of reviews, patient, carer and professional interviews. Work package 2 involved qualitative case studies of selected urgent and emergency care pathways in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific γ9δ2 T cells secrete granzyme A (GzmA) protective against intracellular Mtb growth. However, GzmA-enzymatic activity is unnecessary for pathogen inhibition, and the mechanisms of GzmA-mediated protection remain unknown. We show that GzmA homodimerization is essential for opsonization of mycobacteria, altered uptake into human monocytes, and subsequent pathogen clearance within the phagolysosome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Adolesc Young Adult Oncol
February 2024
Over 87,000 adolescents and young adults (AYAs) are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year. Improvement in outcomes in the AYA population has lagged that of both younger and older patients. This decrement may be attributable to several factors, including insufficient supportive care services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Accumulating evidence suggests that adult vaccinations can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Alzheimer's disease related dementias.
Objective: To compare the risk for developing AD between adults with and without prior vaccination against tetanus and diphtheria, with or without pertussis (Tdap/Td); herpes zoster (HZ); or pneumococcus.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed using Optum's de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database.
Description The Care Alert program is designed to help navigate encounters with patient populations that are high utilizers of emergency department (ED) resources. These populations often have chronic medical conditions, have a poor understanding of their conditions, are unfamiliar with the EDs' role in the management of these conditions, and commonly lack outpatient resources. The Care Alert program intends to address the needs of this challenging patient population by designing individualized care plans that are approved through a multidisciplinary committee.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe global epidemiological significance of bats and their blood-sucking ectoparasites is increasingly recognized. However, relevant data are scarce from Pakistan where the Palearctic and Oriental zoogeographic regions meet. In this study, 200 bats belonging to five species were examined for the presence of ectoparasites in Pakistan.
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