Risdiplam utilization, adherence, and associated health care costs for patients with spinal muscular atrophy: a United States retrospective claims database analysis.

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic neuromuscular disease associated with progressive loss of motor function. Risdiplam, a daily oral therapy, was approved in the United States for the treatment of SMA. Risdiplam's effectiveness depends on patient adherence to the treatment regimen.

Probabilistic medical predictions of large language models.

Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown promise in clinical applications through prompt engineering, allowing flexible clinical predictions. However, they struggle to produce reliable prediction probabilities, which are crucial for transparency and decision-making. While explicit prompts can lead LLMs to generate probability estimates, their numerical reasoning limitations raise concerns about reliability.

Pectoralis I and Serratus Anterior Plane Block Analgesia for Bilateral Mastectomy: A Case Series.

Background: Poorly controlled acute breast surgery postoperative pain is associated with delayed recovery, increased morbidity, impaired quality of life, and prolonged opioid use during and after hospitalization. Recently, ultrasound-guided pectoralis nerve (PECS) I block and serratus anterior plane (SAP) block, together or individually, have emerged as a potential method to relieve pain, decrease opioid requirements, and improve patient outcomes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess if the addition of a PECS I/SAP block in patients undergoing bilateral mastectomies provides more effective perioperative analgesia compared to standard analgesia.

Advisory on delayed fading caused by the use of a xylene substitute for frozen tissue specimen staining in micrographic surgery.

Background: The use of xylene substitutes is becoming more common in the setting of micrographic surgery frozen tissue section staining, and dermatologic surgeons need to be aware of possible undesirable delayed effects of using these agents and the possibility of modifying H&E staining protocols to prevent delayed fading. This report demonstrates an undesirable outcome of using an isoparaffinic aliphatic hydrocarbon as a xylene substitute, implementation of a quality improvement intervention to eliminate frozen section slide fading in the setting of micrographic surgery tissue processing, and recommendations for the modification of protocol when using a xylene substitute.

Clinical And Laboratory Information: Frozen section slides processed with xylene and xylene substitute were analyzed by histotechnicians, a dermatopathologist, and a micrographic surgery surgeon at 1-week and 1-month intervals.