Community health centers at the crossroads: growth and staffing needs.

In response to increased demand for primary care services under the Affordable Care Act, the national network of community health centers (CHCs) will play an increasingly prominent role. CHCs have a broad staffing model that includes extensive use of physician assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), and certified nurse midwives (CNMs). Between 2007 and 2012, the number of PAs, NPs, and CNMs at CHCs increased by 61%, compared with 31% for physicians.

Carbonic anhydrase IX expression is associated with improved outcome of high-dose interleukin-2 therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Aim: The objectives of this study were to evaluate treatment responses to high-dose interleukin-2 (HD IL-2) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) and assess correlation between responses and prognostic factors, such as histology, site of metastatic disease, prior treatment, prior nephrectomy, and carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) expression.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on all mRCC patients treated with HD IL-2 between 1996 and 2006 at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. A cycle of HD IL-2 consisted of 600,000 U/kg given once every 8 hours for 14 doses.