An Elective Course on Antimicrobial Stewardship.

Objective: To implement an antimicrobial stewardship (AS) elective course for second-year and third-year pharmacy students and to assess its impact on students' perceptions regarding the application of AS principles.

Design: A 2-credit elective course focusing on principles of AS incorporated prelecture didactic recordings with primary literature and guideline-based reading assignments, in-class active-learning group work and student-led presentations, and student-generated examination items.

Assessment: Perceptions were assessed by precourse and postcourse survey items.

Proton beam radiation therapy results in significantly reduced toxicity compared with intensity-modulated radiation therapy for head and neck tumors that require ipsilateral radiation.

Background: As proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT) may allow greater normal tissue sparing when compared with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), we compared the dosimetry and treatment-related toxicities between patients treated to the ipsilateral head and neck with either PBRT or IMRT.

Methods: Between 01/2011 and 03/2014, 41 consecutive patients underwent ipsilateral irradiation for major salivary gland cancer or cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. The availability of PBRT, during this period, resulted in an immediate shift in practice from IMRT to PBRT, without any change in target delineation.

Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: Three-dimensional or Intensity-modulated radiotherapy? A single institution's experience.

Objectives/hypothesis: Compare outcomes of hypopharyngeal carcinoma that received conventional radiotherapy versus intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Study Design: Retrospective single-institution trial.

Methods: Between April 1990 and May 2011, 100 patients with hypopharyngeal cancer underwent curative radiotherapy (RT) at our institution: 50 with IMRT and 50 with conventional RT.

Dynamics of Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates in a Random Potential.

Disorder plays a crucial role in spin dynamics in solids and condensed matter systems. We demonstrate that for a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a random potential two mechanisms of spin evolution that can be characterized as "precessional" and "anomalous" are at work simultaneously. The precessional mechanism, typical for solids, is due to the condensate displacement.

Acute and Chronic Management of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder.

Neuromyelitis optica and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMO/NMOSD) is a rare but clinically aggressive demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by antibodies against water channel protein aquaporin 4 (AQP4) in the astrocytic foot processes. Patients typically present with optic neuritis (ON) or longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM). The majority of patients with NMOSD show good response to treatment with steroids and plasmapheresis in the acute setting; however, 90 % of patients will eventually have clinical relapses and accrue permanent disability.

Cobicistat: Review of a Pharmacokinetic Enhancer for HIV Infection.

Purpose: This article reviews the clinical pharmacology, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, clinical efficacy and tolerability, drug interactions, and dosing and administration of cobicistat.

Methods: Searches of MEDLINE and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts from 1964 to February 2015 were conducted using the search terms cobicistat and GS-9350. Relevant information was extracted from the identified clinical trials and review articles.

Palliative head and neck radiotherapy with the RTOG 8502 regimen for incurable primary or metastatic cancers.

Objectives: To report on our institutional experience of palliative radiotherapy (RT) of cancers in the head and neck by the RTOG 8502 'QUAD SHOT' regimen.

Methods: Seventy-five patients completed at least 1 cycle of palliative RT to the head and neck for primary or metastatic disease based on the RTOG 8502 regimen (3.7 Gy twice daily over 2 consecutive days at 4 week intervals per cycle) between 2/2005 and 7/2014.

Fab Chaperone-Assisted RNA Crystallography (Fab CARC).

Recent discovery of structured RNAs such as ribozymes and riboswitches shows that there is still much to learn about the structure and function of RNAs. Knowledge learned can be employed in both biochemical research and clinical applications. X-ray crystallography gives unparalleled atomic-level structural detail from which functional inferences can be deduced.

An assumption-free quantification of neural responses to electrical stimulations.

Background: Connectivity between brain regions provides the fundamental infrastructure for information processing. The standard way to characterize these interactions is to stimulate one site while recording the evoked response from a second site. The average stimulus-triggered response is usually compared to the pre-stimulus activity.

Can sea urchins beat the heat? Sea urchins, thermal tolerance and climate change.

The massive die-off of the long-spined sea urchin, Diadema antillarum, a significant reef grazer, in the mid 1980s was followed by phase shifts from coral dominated to macroalgae dominated reefs in the Caribbean. While Diadema populations have recovered in some reefs with concomitant increases in coral cover, the additional threat of increasing temperatures due to global climate change has not been investigated in adult sea urchins. In this study, I measured acute thermal tolerance of D.

Definitive chemoradiation for primary oral cavity carcinoma: A single institution experience.

Objectives: While surgery with or without adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) is the standard of care for oral cavity cancer (OCC), a select group requires nonsurgical treatment. We provide a single-institution experience using definitive chemotherapy and RT for primary OCC.

Materials And Methods: We examined 73 patients with previously untreated, non-metastatic primary OCC treated definitively from 1990 to 2011.

Phase I study of the safety and pharmacokinetics of trabectedin with docetaxel in patients with advanced malignancies.

Purpose: Combination therapy with trabectedin and docetaxel was evaluated in patients with advanced malignancies.

Methods: In this open-label phase 1 study, docetaxel (60 or 75 mg/m(2); 1-h intravenous infusion) was given on day 1 of a 21-day cycle in combination with escalating doses of trabectedin (0.4-1.

Phase II trial of bevacizumab + cetuximab + cisplatin with concurrent intensity-modulated radiation therapy for patients with stage III/IVB head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of the addition of 2 monoclonal antibodies, bevacizumab and cetuximab, to 2 cycles of high-dose cisplatin administered concurrently with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed stage III/IVB (M0) HNSCC received cetuximab (400 mg/m(2) loading dose, followed by 250 mg/m(2) weekly), bevacizumab (15 mg/kg, days 1 and 22), and cisplatin (50 mg/m(2) , days 1, 2, 22, and 23) concurrently with IMRT (70 Gy). The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS).

Development of a Short Form of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory: the FFNI-SF.

The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI; Glover, Miller, Lynam, Crego, & Widiger, 2012) is a 148-item self-report inventory of 15 traits designed to assess the basic elements of narcissism from the perspective of a 5-factor model. The FFNI assesses both vulnerable (i.e.

Treatment-related toxicities in older adults with head and neck cancer: A population-based analysis.

Background: Despite advantages in terms of cancer control and organ preservation, the benefits of chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CTRT) may be offset by potentially severe treatment-related toxicities, particularly in older patients. The objectives of this study were to assess the types and frequencies of toxicities in older adults with locally or regionally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who were receiving either primary CTRT or radiation therapy (RT) alone.

Methods: With Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry data linked with Medicare claims, patients who were 66 years old or older with locally advanced HNSCC, were diagnosed from 2001 to 2009, and received CTRT or RT alone were identified.

Trends in chemoradiation use in elderly patients with head and neck cancer: Changing treatment patterns with cetuximab.

Background: Cetuximab was approved for use in chemoradiation therapy (CRT) for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in 2006.

Methods: Among 3705 patients with locally advanced HNSCC identified in the linked Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Medicare database, we assessed treatment trends, including surgery, radiation therapy (RT), CRT, and specific agents used in CRT. We examined the influence of demographic and clinical characteristics on the likelihood of receiving CRT before and after 2006.

Site-directed spin-labeling strategies and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy for large riboswitches.

Genetic regulation effected by RNA riboswitches is governed by ligand-induced structural reorganization with modulation of RNA conformation and dynamics. Characterization of the conformational states of riboswitches in the presence or absence of salts and ligands is important for understanding how interconversion of riboswitch RNA folding states influences function. The methodology of site-directed spin labeling (SDSL) coupled with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is suitable for such studies, wherein site-specific incorporation of a nitroxide radical spin probe allows for local dynamics and conformational changes to be investigated.

Exploratory survey of Florida pharmacists' experience, knowledge, and perception of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Objective: To assess Florida pharmacists' experience, knowledge, and perception of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and to identify areas for pharmacist training.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: Florida in March through July 2013.

Mechanisms of localized activation of the T cell antigen receptor inside clusters.

The T cell antigen receptor (TCR) has been shown to cluster both before and upon engagement with cognate antigens. However, the effect of TCR clustering on its activation remains poorly understood. Here, we used two-color photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) to visualize individual molecules of TCR and ZAP-70, as a marker of TCR activation and phosphorylation, at the plasma membrane of uniformly activated T cells.