Management of Ocular Toxicity in Patients Receiving Belantamab Mafodotin.

While significant strides have been made in the treatment of multiple myeloma, treatment options remain limited and definite, and most patients ultimately succumb to their disease. The urgency for more treatment modalities remains, as patients who are refractory to proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory agents, and anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies have a median survival of only 5.8 to 13 months.

A Focus on Waldenström Macroglobulinemia and AL Amyloidosis.

Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) is a lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma that is characterized by the overproduction of an IgM monoclonal protein. It may cause adenopathy, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, as well as other disease-related complications such as cold agglutinin anemia, cryoglobulinemia, hyperviscosity, and neuropathy. While light chain amyloidosis in patients with WM only occurs in about 10% of patients, it is important that advanced practitioners are able to recognize concurrent AL amyloidosis, which will affect the patient's treatment trajectory.

A Focus on CAR T-Cell Therapy and Bispecific Antibodies in Multiple Myeloma.

Significant strides have been made in the management of patients living with myeloma. However, patients with multiply relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM) have a shorter overall survival; therefore, new treatments with novel mechanisms of action are needed in this patient population. Patients with relapsing disease require a full restaging workup, including whole body imaging to evaluate for extramedullary disease and lytic bone lesions, as well as bone marrow biopsy with fluorescence in situ hybridization to determine if the patient has any new chromosomal changes that are present.

Food security in African Canadian communities: a scoping review.

Objective: The objective of this review is to chart the evidence relating to food security among African Canadian communities to inform future research and offer insight related to food security in African Canadian communities.

Introduction: Achieving food security is of global importance to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As a social determinant of health, food security, which refers to the unrestricted physical, economic, and timely access to safe and nutritious foods, impacts more than 4 million Canadians.

Diagnosis and Treatment of AL and ATTR Amyloidosis.

At JADPRO Live Virtual 2020, Beth Faiman, PhD, RN, MSN, APRN-BC, AOCN®, FAAN, and Tiffany Richards, PhD, ANP-BC, AOCNP®, differentiated between AL and ATTR amyloidosis, discussed key considerations in selecting therapy, and identified ways that advanced practitioners can manage the supportive care needs of this patient population.

In-Hospital Feeding Practices of Infants Born to Mothers With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Evaluating Policy Implementation Effectiveness.

Objectives: Women with diabetes in pregnancy may experience unique breastfeeding challenges. Few studies have examined the effectiveness of hospital policy to support breastfeeding in this patient population. This study aimed 1) to describe infant feeding practices of mother-infant pairs with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) or type 2 diabetes in pregnancy before and after introduction of an in-hospital policy and, 2) to compare feeding practices before and after policy introduction.

AL Amyloidosis: Unfolding a Complex Disease.

Light chain (AL) amyloidosis is a rare plasma cell dyscrasia. An estimated 12,000 people live with the disease in the United States. AL amyloidosis occurs from the misfolding of proteins that deposit in organs (heart, kidneys, digestive tract, tongue, lungs, and nervous system), leading to progressive organ damage and impairment of quality of life.

Novel Speed-Controlled Automated Ladder Walking Device Reveals Walking Speed as a Critical Determinant of Skilled Locomotion after a Spinal Cord Injury in Adult Rats.

The horizontal ladder task is an established method to assess skilled locomotor recovery after neurological dysfunction. Walking speed is often used as a standardized measure in locomotor assessment of overground walking in human and pre-clinical studies, but the assessment of walking speed is typically ignored during skilled locomotor tasks. Ample empirical evidence indicates that walking speeds on the horizontal ladder are largely non-uniform after central nervous system trauma, suggesting that it could pose a potential source of variability in assessing motor deficits.

Distress, Fatigue, and Sexuality: Understanding and Treating Concerns and Symptoms in Patients With Multiple Myeloma .

Background: The psychological needs of patients and caregivers may be inadvertently overlooked, contributing to the patient's distress and possibly compromising outcomes. Untreated, these psychological needs may impair the patient's ability to make decisions and adhere to treatment. 
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Strategies for Selecting the Optimal Treatment in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Patients.

Objective: To review the current evidence on strategies for selecting the optimal treatment for newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

Data Sources: Journal articles, research reports, state of the science papers, and clinical practice guidelines.

Conclusion: Despite the plethora of drugs to effectively treat MM, the optimal induction regimen for patients with newly diagnosed MM is unknown.

Innovative agents in multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells. However, the overall survival of patients with MM has increased dramatically within the past decade. This is due, in part, to newer agents such as immunomodulatory drugs (lenalidomide, thalidomide, and pomalidomide) and proteasome inhibitors (bortezomib, carfilzomib, MLN9708).

Clinical perspective: Linking psychosocial care to the disease continuum in patients with multiple myeloma.

Objective: A model of psychosocial care specific for patients with multiple myeloma and their caregivers has not yet been proposed. We sought to develop a model of care that considers the specific profile of this disease.

Method: The authors, representing a multidisciplinary care team, met in December of 2012 to identify a model of psychosocial care for patients with multiple myeloma and their caregivers.

Health implications of human trafficking.

Freedom is arguably the most cherished right in the United States. But each year, approximately 14,500 to 17,500 women, men and children are trafficked into the United States for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking has significant effects on both physical and mental health.

Combining other antihypertensive drugs with β-blockers in hypertension: a focus on safety and tolerability.

Combining multiple classes of antihypertensive drugs together is one of the most important factors for achieving blood pressure control in most hypertensive patients. The benefits of combination therapy in comparison with monotherapy include: a synergistic enhancement of each drug's hypertensive effects and a potential reduction of side effects if each drug is used at a lower dose. Although long-acting dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers and β-blockers are a good fit for combination therapy, because of the risk of atrioventricular block and bradycardia, the combination of verapamil and β-blockers is not advised.

Survey of experiences of an e-mentorship program: Part II.

Nurse educators (NEs) are responsible for providing continuing education to nurses, who are expected to remain knowledgeble in the diagnosis and management strategies of a range of cancers. Remaining abreast of up-to-date information can be a challenge. Part I of the e-mentorship program was developed in 2009 to provide NEs with the latest updates and educational materials to enhance multiple myeloma (MM) nursing knowledge.

Sexual dysfunction in multiple myeloma: survivorship care plan of the International Myeloma Foundation Nurse Leadership Board.

The World Health Organization describes sexuality as a "central aspect of being human throughout life and encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social, economic, political, cultural, ethical, legal, historical, religious, and spiritual factors." Currently, no research has been conducted regarding sexual dysfunction in patients with multiple myeloma; therefore, information related to the assessment and evaluation of sexual dysfunction is gleaned from other malignancies and diseases.

Survivorship care guidelines for patients living with multiple myeloma: consensus statements of the International Myeloma Foundation Nurse Leadership Board.

Novel therapies approved over the past decade for the management of multiple myeloma have contributed to improved overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed and relapsed disease. Nurses play a key role in educating, advocating for, and supporting patients throughout the continuum of care. Identifying potential and actual comorbid conditions associated directly with multiple myeloma and its treatment is important, as is confirming those that are patient specific so that prompt intervention can take place; therefore, the International Myeloma Foundation Nurse Leadership Board identified the most significant needs of patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma as bone health, health maintenance, mobility and safety, sexual dysfunction, and renal health.

Advances in treatment for relapses and refractory multiple myeloma.

Recent advances in the treatment of multiple myeloma have resulted in improved response rates and overall survival in patients with multiple myeloma. These advances are largely due to thalidomide-, lenalidomide-, and bortezomib-based combinations that have improved response rates, not only in patients with untreated disease, but also in those with relapsed and/or refractory myeloma, in some cases producing response rates up to 85%. Eventually, however, nearly all patients relapse, emphasizing a continuing role for the introduction of investigational agents that overcome drug resistance.

Rescue of postcompaction-stage mouse embryo development from hypertonicity by amino acid transporter substrates that may function as organic osmolytes.

Early preimplantation embryos are sensitive to external osmolarity and use novel mechanisms to accumulate organic osmolytes and thus control their cell volumes and maintain viability. However, these mechanisms are restricted to the cleavage stages of development, and it was unknown whether postcompaction embryos use organic osmolytes. Mouse embryos developing from the 8-cell stage formed blastocoel cavities in vitro at osmolarities up to 360 mOsM.

Novel agents for relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma.

The introduction of novel agents, such as thalidomide, bortezomib, and lenalidomide, has altered the landscape of therapeutic options for multiple myeloma by offering new mechanisms for targeting this disease. Combinations of these agents, with each other and/or traditional chemotherapeutics, have vastly increased the treatment options for patients both frontline, and at relapse, providing higher response rates, and importantly, increasing median overall survival. In this review, we will discuss the use of these novel agents and their combinations in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma.

Cell volume regulation is initiated in mouse oocytes after ovulation.

Fertilized mouse eggs regulate their size principally by accumulating glycine as an intracellular osmolyte using the GLYT1 (SLC6A9) transporter, a mechanism of cell volume homeostasis apparently unique to early embryos before the morula stage. However, nothing was known of cell volume regulation in oocytes before fertilization. We show here that GLYT1 is quiescent in mouse germinal-vesicle-stage oocytes but becomes fully activated within hours after ovulation is triggered.

Lenalidomide in multiple myeloma.

For many years the treatment of multiple myeloma was limited to such regimens as melphalan-prednisone, high-dose dexamethasone, and vincristine-doxorubicin-dexamethasone (VAD). These combinations provided response rates of 45-55%, with complete remission rates of up to 10%. With the advent of thalidomide- and bortezomib-based combinations, response rates to induction therapy have risen to 85-95% in previously untreated patients and are associated with complete remission rates up to 25%.

Similar effects of osmolarity, glucose, and phosphate on cleavage past the 2-cell stage in mouse embryos from outbred and F1 hybrid females.

One-cell-stage embryos derived from most random-bred and inbred female mice exhibit an in vitro developmental block at the two-cell stage in classical embryo culture media. However, embryos derived from many F1 hybrids develop easily past the two-cell stage under the same conditions. This has given rise to the commonly accepted idea that there exist blocking and nonblocking types of female mice, with only the former being prone to a two-cell block.