Case report: Acute necrotizing encephalopathy: a report of a favorable outcome and systematic meta-analysis of outcomes with different immunosuppressive therapies.

Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy (ANE) is a condition characterized by symmetric, bilateral lesions affecting the thalamus and potentially other areas of the brain following an acute febrile illness. It manifests clinically as abrupt development of encephalopathy, or alteration in mental status that often includes development of seizures and progression to coma. Treatment strategies combine immunosuppressive therapies and supportive care with varying levels of recovery, however there are no universally accepted, data-driven, treatment algorithms for ANE.

Remote Didactic Education Effectively Increases Cardiac Critical Care Nursing Staff Knowledge in Low-Resource Settings.

While progress has been made to decrease mortality in children under age five, there continues to be a need for improvement in the treatment of children with congenital heart disease. Many of these patients require surgical correction and live in areas without the expertise of surgical teams. Research has shown that appropriate training is critical to ensure the best clinical outcomes.

Social needs screening during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Millions of Americans lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, placing immeasurable stress on families and making it difficult for parents to support their children's basic needs. Research shows that screening for social determinants of health is an important part of a child's well visit, noting that awareness of these factors leads to more holistic and improved quality of care. Due to increased precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic and a significant decrease in well-child visits and in-person appointments, there was a marked decrease in the number of face-to-face opportunities for these screenings.

Implementation and Impact of a Hospital-Wide Instrument Set Review: Early Experiences at a Multisite Tertiary Care Academic Institution.

A multidisciplinary team of nurses, sterile processing technicians, and surgeons reviewed 609 otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) surgical instrument sets at the study institution's 3 hospitals. Implementation of the 4-phase instrument review resulted in decreased OHNS surgical instrument set types from 261 to 234 sets, and a decreased number of instruments in these sets from 18 952 to 17 084. The instrument set review resulted in an estimated savings of $35 665 in sterile processing costs for the OHNS department.

Trends in Utilization and Cost of Cervical Spine Surgery Using the National Inpatient Sample Database, 2001 to 2013.

Study Design: A retrospective review.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine national rates of cervical spine surgery and to examine factors that underlie cost variation.

Summary Of Background Data: There has been an increase in the rate and cost of spinal surgery over the past decades, but there is little understanding of the drivers of cost variation at the national level.

Epigenetic mechanisms drive the progression of neurofibromas to malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors.

Thinking Outside The Box: The polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) is a histone methyltransferase complex known to repress gene expression. There is a large body of experimental evidence that supports its role in promoting tumorigenicity by suppressing tumor suppressor genes. Here, we discuss the surprising findings that, in neurofibromas, it may have a completely different role as a tumor suppressor; mutations of PRC2 lead to conversion of benign neurofibromas into malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) by de-repressing and thereby activating genes driving cell growth and development.

The impact of a patient education bundle on neurosurgery patient satisfaction.

Background: As reimbursements and hospital/physician performance become ever more reliant on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) and other quality metrics, physicians are increasingly incentivized to improve patient satisfaction.

Methods: A faculty and resident team at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Neurological Surgery developed and implemented a Patient Education Bundle. This consisted of two parts: The first was preoperative expectation letters (designed to inform patients of what to expect before, during, and after their hospitalization for a neurosurgical procedure); the second was a trifold brochure with names, photographs, and specialty/training information about the attending surgeons, resident physicians, and nurse practitioners on the neurosurgical service.