Cultural competency education in the medical curriculum to overcome health care disparities.

Background: Our increasingly diverse population demands the adoption of transcultural approaches to health care delivery. Training courses in medical education have been developed across the country for cultural competency, but have not been standardized or incorporated consistently. This study sought to formulate an educational intervention in medical training using the concepts of cultural competency and humility to improve understanding of cultural disparities in health care.

A Case of Aplastic Anemia and Colon Cancer With Underlying Spliceosome Mutation: Is It an Incidental Finding or a Novel Association?

Alternative splicing is an epigenetic mechanism that plays a role in the development and function of antigen-specific lymphocytes. One such is the zinc-finger-RNA-binding-motif-and-serine/arginine-rich-2 (ZRSR2), which is clinically implicated in myelodysplastic syndrome and leukemia. Here, we present a case of a young male with myriad autoimmune conditions and adenocarcinoma of the colon in the setting of ZRSR2 mutation.

Rapidly progressive dyspnea in gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with imatinib cardiac toxicity.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare and current estimates range from 4,000 to 6,000 number of GIST cases in the USA annually. Imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has shown a survival benefit in GISTs, and the presence of KIT mutation status is predictive of response. The current case discusses rapidly progressive dyspnea and heart failure in an elderly male with metastatic GIST who was started on imatinib.