The Validation of the Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire (SCQ) and SCQ Short Form in an English-Speaking U.S. Population: A Patient-Reported Measure of Compassion in Healthcare.

Compassion is recognized as a key component of high-quality healthcare. The literature shows that compassion is essential to improving patient-reported outcomes and fostering health care professionals' (HCPs) response and resilience to burnout. However, compassion is inherently difficult to define, and a validated tool to reliably quantify and measure patients' experience of compassion in healthcare settings did not exist until recently.

Pustular psoriasis of pregnancy: A rare cause of placental insufficiency.

Generalised pustular psoriasis of pregnancy (GPPP) is a rare dermatosis that presents in the third trimester. It merits careful clinical assessment given the difficulty in diagnosis, impact on maternal health and association with placental insufficiency. We present a case of generalised pustulosis in a pregnant woman at 30 weeks' gestation and describe the clinico-pathological challenges in obtaining a diagnosis of GPPP.

Rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing for urinary tract infections in secondary care in England: a cost-effectiveness analysis.

Objectives: To perform a model-based cost-effectiveness evaluation of a rapid antimicrobial susceptibility test.

Design: A Markov model of a cohort of hospital inpatients with urinary tract infection (with inpatient numbers based on national administrative data from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019).

Setting: Urinary tract infections (UTI) in acute National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in England, from the perspective of the NHS Healthcare system, at a national level.

Long-Term Clinical Outcomes of Biodegradable- Versus Durable-Polymer-Coated Everolimus-Eluting Stents in Real-World Post-Marketing Study.

Background: Long-term clinical data on biodegradable-polymer (BP) drug-eluting stents (DES) are limited. The objective of this study was to assess the long-term safety and efficacy of the BP-DES SYNERGY compared to XIENCE V, a durable-polymer (DP)-DES.

Methods: We compared patients treated with BP-DES or DP-DES at our center from 2008 to 2020.

Under pressure: Supporting academic faculty in demanding times.

Medical education has long relied upon the inherent rewards of teaching to secure necessary educators. In an era of increasing emphasis upon clinical productivity, the expectation of faculty engagement in medical education has been upended. In addition, the demands and stressors of modern medical education has contributed to the perceived cost of teaching by faculty.

Two codependent routes lead to high-level MRSA.

Methicillin-resistant (MRSA), in which acquisition of [which encodes the cell wall peptidoglycan biosynthesis component penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a)] confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, is of major clinical concern. We show that, in the presence of antibiotics, MRSA adopts an alternative mode of cell division and shows an altered peptidoglycan architecture at the division septum. PBP2a can replace the transpeptidase activity of the endogenous and essential PBP2 but not that of PBP1, which is responsible for the distinctive native septal peptidoglycan architecture.

Context in memory is reconstructed, not encoded.

Context has long been regarded as an important element of long-term memory, and episodic memory in particular. The ability to remember not only the object or focus of a memory but also contextual details allow us to reconstruct integrated representations of events. However, despite its prevalence in the memory literature, context remains difficult to define and identify, with different studies using context to refer to different sets of stimuli or concepts.

Self-care towards the end of life: A systematic review and narrative synthesis on access, quality and cost.

Background: Policy and practice encourages patients to engage in self-care, with individual patient management and remote monitoring of disease. Much is known of the moderate stage of chronic disease, without a clear understanding of how self-care applies towards the end of life.

Aim: To review the current evidence on practices of self-care in life-limiting conditions and its impacts on healthcare utilisation, quality of life and associated costs.

Identifying transgene insertions in genomes with Oxford Nanopore sequencing.

Genetically modified organisms are commonly used in disease research and agriculture but the precise genomic alterations underlying transgenic mutations are often unknown. The position and characteristics of transgenes, including the number of independent insertions, influences the expression of both transgenic and wild-type sequences. We used long-read, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) to sequence and assemble two transgenic strains of commonly used in the research of neurodegenerative diseases: BY250 (pPdat-1::GFP) and UA44 (GFP and human -synuclein), a model for Parkinson's research.

Eliminating episodic memory?

In Tulving's initial characterization, episodic memory was one of multiple memory systems. It was postulated, in pursuit of explanatory depth, as displaying proprietary operations, representations and substrates such as to explain a range of cognitive, behavioural and experiential phenomena. Yet the subsequent development of this research programme has, paradoxically, introduced surprising doubts about the nature, and indeed existence, of episodic memory.

Crystallization of Bis(2-hydroxyethylene) Terephthalate as a Part of a Bottle-to-Bottle Recycling Concept for Poly(ethylene terephthalate).

The chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is very attractive as PET bottle waste provides an abundant clean material with low levels of additives. One of the most promising processes is glycolysis, which depolymerizes PET in the presence of ethylene glycol. For this process, it is necessary to think through the whole concept, from the waste material to the newly polymerized virgin polymer.

Skin tone discrimination and birth control avoidance among women in Harris County, Texas: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Structural racism plays a major role in reproductive health inequities. Colorism, discrimination based on skin color, may profoundly impact reproductive health access and service delivery. However, quantitative research in this area is limited.

Public Willingness to Mask and Vaccinate in the Future: Results From a 2023 Nationally Representative Survey of US Adults.

The enduring spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses highlights a need for greater focus on long-term public willingness to perform protective behaviors. Although COVID-19 is no longer considered a public health emergency of international concern, it is unknown whether people in the United States plan to continue protective behaviors to protect themselves and others against infection. To inform planning and communications, we used a nationally representative survey of 1,936 US adults to examine attitudes and intentions toward future vaccination and mask-wearing.

High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is a potential disease biomarker in cell and mouse models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle wasting disorder affecting 1:3500 male births and is associated with myofiber degeneration, regeneration, and inflammation. Glucocorticoid treatments have been the standard of care due to immunomodulatory/immunosuppressive properties but novel genetic approaches, including exon skipping and gene replacement therapy, are currently being developed. The identification of additional biomarkers to assess DMD-related inflammatory responses and the potential efficacy of these therapeutic approaches are thus of critical importance.

Identification of mechanisms modulating chlorhexidine and octenidine susceptibility in Proteus mirabilis.

Aims: We aimed to identify mechanisms underlying the tolerance of Proteus mirabilis-a common cause of catheter associated urinary tract infection-to the clinically used biocides chlorhexidine (CHD) and octenidine (OCT).

Methods And Results: We adapted three clinical isolates to grow at concentrations of 512 µg ml-1 CHD and 128 µg ml-1 OCT. Genetic characterization and complementation studies revealed mutations inactivating the smvR repressor and increasing smvA efflux expression were associated with adaptation to both biocides.

Automating detection of diagnostic error of infectious diseases using machine learning.

Diagnostic error, a cause of substantial morbidity and mortality, is largely discovered and evaluated through self-report and manual review, which is costly and not suitable to real-time intervention. Opportunities exist to leverage electronic health record data for automated detection of potential misdiagnosis, executed at scale and generalized across diseases. We propose a novel automated approach to identifying diagnostic divergence considering both diagnosis and risk of mortality.

Changes and challenges in the residency application process in obstetrics and gynecology.

Faculty career advisors who guide applicants applying to obstetrics and gynecology residency programs need updated information and resources, given the constant changes and challenges to the residency application process. Initial changes included standardization of the application timeline and interview processes. More recent changes included the utilization of a standardized letter of evaluation, initiation of program signaling, second look visit guidelines, and updated sections in the Electronic Residency Application Service.

Paving the Way for Medical Students: How Smooth Should the Road Be?

Clerkship directors must balance the mental wellbeing of their medical students with the demanding schedule that rotations in procedural specialties such as surgery and obstetrics and gynecology require. In this paper, the Undergraduate Medical Education Committee of the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology argues the importance of maintaining adequate clinical exposure for learners. Involving students in overnight call provides additional clinical involvement, improved relationships with the clinical team, and a better perspective on specialist lifestyle.