Adapting Compassionate Conversations for Virtual Mediated Communication.

Objective: The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in a shift in communication of difficult, emotionally charged topics from almost entirely in-person to virtual mediated communication (VMC) methods due to restrictions on visitation for safety. The objective was to train residents in VMC and assess performance across multiple specialties and institutions.

Design: The authors designed a teaching program including asynchronous preparation with videos, case simulation experiences with standardized patients (SPs), and coaching from a trained faculty member.

Multiphase preclinical assessment of a novel device to locate unintentionally retained surgical sharps: a proof-of-concept study.

Background: Retained surgical sharps (RSS) is a "never event" that is preventable but may still occur despite of correct count and negative X-ray. This study assesses the feasibility of a novel device ("Melzi Sharps Finder®" or MSF) in effective detection of RSS.

Methods: The first study consisted of determination of the presence of RSS or identification of RSS in an ex-vivo model (a container with hay in a laparoscopic trainer box).

From chaos to creativity: Designing collaborative communication training for the delivery of bad news.

Background: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching communication skills in health care focused primarily on developing skills during face-to-face conversation. Even experienced clinicians were unprepared for the transition in communication modalities necessitated due to physical distancing requirements and visitation restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to develop and pilot a comprehensive video-mediated communication training program and test its feasibility in multiple institutional settings and medical disciplines.

Telehealth Training for Surgeons to Empathetically Deliver Bad News Via Video-Mediated Communication.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a sudden increase in the need to effectively use telehealth in all realms of health care communication, including the delivery of bad news.

Methods: A single arm, unblinded, feasibility study was performed at a tertiary care center located in Central Virginia to explore the value and utility of providing a telehealth training program based on SPIKES to teach surgical residents and faculty best practice for disclosing difficult news via video-mediated communication (VMC). Surgical interns (categorical and preliminary), surgical residents, and surgical faculty from General, Neuro, Pediatric, Plastics, Oncology, Urology, and Vascular surgical specialties were recruited via email to voluntarily participate in a telehealth simulation-based workshop, with 33 surgical learners participating in the training and 28 completing evaluation surveys.

Video-mediated breaking bad news simulation.

Background: Communication between clinicians, patients, and families is a core component of medical care that requires deliberate practice and feedback to improve. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden transformation in communication practices because of new physical distancing requirements, necessitating physicians to communicate bad news via telephone and video-mediated communication (VMC). This study investigated students' experience with a simulation-based communications training for having difficult conversations using VMC.

The COMET framework: A novel approach to design an escape room workshop for interprofessional objectives.

While recreational escape rooms have gained momentum across education and team training in multiple professions, few published escape room designs have been truly interprofessional. A major obstacle faced by educators and team leaders alike is the lack of any practical design framework for escape room development that is specific to meeting learning objectives. The COMET Framework (Context, Objectives, Materials, Execution, and Team Dynamics) was developed as a step-by-step approach to escape room design using general terminology and piloted in a one-hour workshop at a regional interprofessional conference.

Complete Atrioventricular Septal Defect with Truncus Arteriosus and Interrupted Aortic Arch in the Fetus.

Complete atrioventricular septal defect is generally diagnosed on the four-chamber view of the fetal heart. This defect can be accompanied by additional outflow tract lesions, including truncus arteriosus. Although truncus arteriosus in isolation can be associated with interrupted aortic arch, we describe a fetal case with the rare association of all three diagnoses: complete atrioventricular septal defect with truncus arteriosus and interrupted aortic arch.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and other malignancies after pediatric cardiac transplantation: an evolving landscape.

Purpose Of Review: Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs) remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality after pediatric solid organ transplantation (SOT). PTLD treatment outcomes have improved steadily over the past decade, in large part due to an enhanced understanding of the disease process, newer immunosuppression regimens, and implementation of evolving chemotherapeutic treatment protocols.

Recent Findings: New therapies continue to be employed to treat PTLDs while maintaining normal allograft function in SOT recipients.

25-Hydroxyvitamin D2 /D3 levels and factors associated with systemic inflammation and melanoma survival in the Leeds Melanoma Cohort.

Lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 /D3 levels at melanoma diagnosis are associated with thicker primaries and poorer survival. We postulated that this might relate to the deleterious effect of systemic inflammation as 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 /D3 levels are inversely associated with levels of C-reactive protein. 2,182 participants in the Leeds Melanoma Cohort (median follow-up 7.

Rasputin functions as a positive regulator of orb in Drosophila oogenesis.

The determination of cell fate and the establishment of polarity axes during Drosophila oogenesis depend upon pathways that localize mRNAs within the egg chamber and control their on-site translation. One factor that plays a central role in regulating on-site translation of mRNAs is Orb. Orb is a founding member of the conserved CPEB family of RNA-binding proteins.

MDCT-based quantification of porcine pulmonary arterial morphometry and self-similarity of arterial branching geometry.

The pig is frequently used as an experimental model for studies of the pulmonary circulation, yet the branching and dimensional geometry of the porcine pulmonary vasculature remains poorly defined. The purposes of this study are to improve the geometric definition of the porcine pulmonary arteries and to determine whether the arterial tree exhibits self-similarity in its branching geometry. Five animals were imaged using thin slice spiral computed tomography in the prone posture during airway inflation pressure at 25 cmH2O.

An in-vivo computed tomography approach for quantifying porcine pulmonary arterial morphometry.

The objective of this study was to develop an in vivo CT imaging-based approach for pulmonary arterial morphometry measurement, and to improve the geometrical basis for studies of the porcine vasculature. The luminal diameter and distance from the inlet of left and right pulmonary arteries, and pulmonary arteries within the lungs of two porcine subjects were measured at inflation pressure of 25 cmH(2)O. The results suggest that the porcine pulmonary arteries have geometric self-similarity, and that this approach will have utility for systematically quantifying pulmonary arterial vessel dimensions in vivo in a larger group of animals.

Pulmonary perfused blood volume with dual-energy CT as surrogate for pulmonary perfusion assessed with dynamic multidetector CT.

Purpose: To compare measurements of regional pulmonary perfused blood volume (PBV) and pulmonary blood flow (PBF) obtained with computed tomography (CT) in two pig models.

Materials And Methods: The institutional animal care and use committee approved all animal studies. CT-derived PBF and PBV were determined in four anesthetized, mechanically ventilated, supine swine by using two methods for creating pulmonary parenchymal perfusion heterogeneity.

Chipscale, single-shot gated ultrafast optical recorder.

We introduce a novel, chipscale device capable of single-shot ultrafast recording with picosecond-scale resolution over hundreds of picoseconds of record length. The device consists of two vertically-stacked III-V planar waveguides forming a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and makes use of a transient, optically-induced phase difference to sample a temporal waveform injected into the waveguides. The pump beam is incident on the chip from above in the form of a diagonally-oriented stripe focused by a cylindrical lens.

Over-the-wire intravascular ultrasound in an animal model of pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) measures prognostically important pulsatile flow indexes in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH). IVUS catheters traditionally require a guiding catheter for placement which can impact hemodynamics in small infants because the guiding catheter renders the atrioventricular valve incompetent.

Methods: Domestic swine (1.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP2D6) genotype is associated with elevated systolic blood pressure in preterm infants after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit.

Objective: To determine genetic and clinical risk factors associated with elevated systolic blood pressure (ESBP) in preterm infants after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Study Design: A convenience cohort of infants born at <32 weeks gestational age was followed after NICU discharge. We retrospectively identified a subgroup of subjects with ESBP (systolic blood pressure [SBP] >90th percentile for term infants).

Occupational therapy consultation for case managers in community mental health: exploring strategies to improve job satisfaction and self-efficacy.

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study was 2-fold: (1) to examine to what extent case managers' job satisfaction and self-efficacy were impacted by the addition of an occupational therapy consultation model and (2) to identify factors that both positively and negatively impacted the occupational therapy consultation services.

Primary Practice Setting: The study was conducted at a mental health community support program in a local homeless center.

Methodology And Sample: In a 2-year study, a mixed-methods design was used to study changes over time in job satisfaction and perceived self-efficacy among 14 case managers who received ongoing occupational therapy consultation.

Left heart decompression by atrial stenting during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Persistent severe left ventricular dysfunction during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (EcmO) requires left heart decompression. We describe stenting of the atrial septum as an alternative emergency approach for left heart decompression during EcmO in addition to the already published surgical and transcatheter approaches.

Clean Western blot signals from immunoprecipitated samples.

We present a strategy that overcomes the high background arising during Western blotting (WB) detection of proteins obtained through immunoprecipitation (IP). Traditional HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies, which detect the denatured heavy and light antibody chains, produce high background that often mask the signals of interest on WBs. Here, we show that HRP-conjugated Protein A and Protein G, which detect almost exclusively intact antibody molecules, can be effectively used to obtain clean and specific WB signals of target proteins.

Phylogeography of the common vole (Microtus arvalis) with particular emphasis on the colonization of the Orkney archipelago.

To investigate the human introduction of the common vole Microtus arvalis onto the Orkney islands, the complete cytochrome b gene was sequenced in 41 specimens from both Orkney (four localities) and elsewhere in their range (26 localities). Orkney voles belonged to the same phylogenetic lineage, 'Western', as individuals from France and Spain indicating southwestern Europe as the most likely source area for the islands. This result is of interest with respect to the movement and trading links of the Neolithic people who likely transported the voles.