Comparative Analysis of Indices for Social Determinants of Health in Pediatric Surgical Populations.

Importance: Conclusions vary substantially among studies examining associations between area-based social determinants of health (SDOH) and pediatric health disparities based on the selected patient population and SDOH index. Most national studies use zip codes, which encompass a wide distribution of communities, limiting the generalizability of findings.

Objectives: To characterize the distributions of composite SDOH indices for pediatric surgical patients within a national sample of academic children's hospitals and to assess SDOH index precision in classifying patients at similar levels of disadvantage.

Drug prioritization identifies panobinostat as a tailored treatment element for patients with metastatic hepatoblastoma.

Background: Patients with metastatic hepatoblastoma are treated with severely toxic first-line chemotherapies in combination with surgery. Yet, inadequate response of lung metastases to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy still compromises patient outcomes making new treatment strategies, tailored to more efficient lung clearance, mandatory.

Methods: We harnessed a comprehensive patient-derived xenograft platform and a variety of in vitro and in vivo assays to establish the preclinical and biological rationale for a new drug for patients with metastatic hepatoblastoma.

Neonatal surgical mortality at a low resource setting, HEAL Africa tertiary hospital, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Purpose: This study describes the experience with common neonatal surgical conditions and their outcomes at a single center in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over a period of 7 years (2016-2022).

Methods: A retrospective review of neonatal surgical admissions and their outcomes was performed for patient admitted between January 2016 and December 2022 at HEAL Africa teaching hospital. Data were collected from the neonatal admission and discharge registry for all patients with a potential surgical condition.

Routine Protamine Administration for Bleeding in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation: The ACE-PROTAVI Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Vascular complications after transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) remain an important cause of procedure-related morbidity. Routine reversal of anticoagulation with protamine at the conclusion of transfemoral TAVI could reduce complications, but data remain scarce.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of routine protamine administration after transfemoral TAVI.

Synergic activity of FGFR2 and MEK inhibitors in the treatment of FGFR2-amplified cancers of unknown primary.

Patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP) carry the double burden of an aggressive disease and reduced access to therapies. Experimental models are pivotal for CUP biology investigation and drug testing. We derived two CUP cell lines (CUP#55 and #96) and corresponding patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), from ascites tumor cells.