Intravenous thrombolysis for patients with acute ischemic stroke while receiving a direct oral anticoagulant: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Recent guidelines for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) indicate administration of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in patients receiving direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) is not firmly established and may be harmful unless certain potential parameters are met. This systematic review and meta-analysis explores safety outcomes and other clinical parameters from the growing number of publications describing patients taking a DOAC who experience an AIS that is treated acutely with IVT alone. Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and PubMed were searched up to January 9, 2024 for studies including adult patients taking a DOAC who experienced an AIS treated with IVT and did not undergo endovascular therapy (EVT), regardless of the use of an anticoagulation reversal agent.

Evaluation of a Pharmacist-Led Methicillin-Resistant Nasal PCR Testing Protocol.

Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) can cause cases of community-acquired pneumonia, hospital-acquired pneumonia, and ventilator-associated pneumonia, and nasal colonization with this pathogen increases the risk of infection. Due to its high negative predictive value, multiple studies support using the MRSA nasal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to discontinue antimicrobials that target MRSA in the setting of a negative test result. The purpose of this project was to assess the utility of a protocol to allow pharmacists the ability to order MRSA nasal PCR screenings in hospitalized patients with pneumonia.

Integrating Global Health Initiatives into Routine Radiology Workflow in the USA.

Radiologist shortages and lack of access to radiology services are common issues in low- and middle-income countries around the world. Teleradiology offers radiologists an opportunity to contribute to global health and support hospital systems in low-resource regions remotely. Challenges can occur when determining how to integrate the new remote worklist, how radiologists will view and report exams, and how a US host site can ensure safety and privacy across the different systems.

EMSIG: Uncovering Factors Influencing COVID-19 Vaccination Across Different Subgroups Characterized by Embedding-Based Spatial Information Gain.

COVID-19 and its variants continue to pose significant threats to public health, with considerable uncertainty surrounding their impact. As of September 2024, the total number of deaths reached 8.8 million worldwide.

Why so slow? The advancement of females in neurosurgery: a 30-year analysis.

Objective: As gender parity in medicine improves, neurosurgery lags behind. In pediatric neurosurgery, considered the most "female-friendly" subspecialty, determining the extent to which gender disparity has evolved over time, and how it compares to other subspecialties, can serve as an important benchmark for neurosurgery altogether. This study analyzed gender parity across different neurosurgical and subspecialty training stages to understand how female representation varies with training level and leadership positions.