Publications by authors named "Vrinda Madan"

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive cutaneous malignancy with a poor prognosis. One of the major mechanisms of immune evasion in MCC involves downregulation of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I). Anti-PD-1/programmed death ligand 1 checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized treatment for MCC, producing objective responses in approximately 50% of patients, and are now the standard of care; however, a substantial proportion of patients either fail to respond or develop resistance to checkpoint inhibitors.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze sociodemographic factors in patients with eye-related issues attending emergency departments (EDs) and differentiate between emergent and nonemergent cases.
  • A total of 60,677 patients were evaluated across multiple eye hospitals throughout 2019, with findings indicating that most diagnoses were nonemergent (56.7%).
  • Key results showed that males and non-White Hispanic patients were more likely to have emergent diagnoses, while those with private insurance were less likely compared to uninsured patients; standard ED visits were associated with more emergent conditions than visits to specialized eye EDs.
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New advancements in medicine have paved the way for targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), which have become mainstays of cancer therapy. Targeted therapies work by pinpointing specific molecules in cancer pathways and inhibiting their function, while ICIs target irregularities in the immune system and DNA repair, participating in the induction of cell death. Although these agents have demonstrated great efficacy in treating a diverse set of cancers, they can frequently provoke serious dermatologic adverse effects.

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Pruritus has long been linked to hepatic dysfunction; however, there are limited data characterizing the association between liver disease and prurigo nodularis (PN), a chronic inflammatory skin disease featuring severe pruritis. We thus conducted a cross-sectional analysis of hepatic comorbidities in PN patients using TriNetX, a large global health research network. This analysis revealed that PN patients had a higher risk ( < 0.

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Systemic treatment options for patients with locally advanced or metastatic basal cell carcinoma (BCC) are limited, particularly when tumors are refractory to anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1). A better understanding of immune checkpoint expression within the BCC tumor microenvironment may inform combinatorial treatment strategies to optimize response rates. CD3, PD-1, programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3), and T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3)+ cell densities within the tumor microenvironment of 34 archival, histologically aggressive BCCs were assessed.

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While the advent of immune-checkpoint inhibitors has revolutionized cancer therapy, immune-related adverse effects (irAEs) have also been on the rise. Cutaneous toxicities are among the most common irAEs, especially in the context of programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitors like pembrolizumab. Herein, we report a case of anti-PD-1-induced lichen planus pemphigoides (LPP)-a rare autoimmune blistering disorder with characteristics of both lichen planus and bullous pemphigoid.

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Purpose: To characterize the most common ophthalmic conditions seen in the emergency department (ED) DESIGN: Cross-sectional study METHODS: This is a multicenter study of 64,988 patients who visited the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Wills Eye Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Hospital/Wilmer Eye Institute from January 1, 2019, until December 31, 2019. Demographic and primary diagnosis data were extracted including gender, age, race, ethnicity, insurance type, and ophthalmology consult status. Descriptive statistics were performed on all data using STATA IC 14 (64-bit).

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Background: Over the last decade, rates of risk-reducing prophylactic mastectomy (PM) have risen dramatically. A topic of debate regarding the procedure is whether to use sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) at the time of PM and what factors might predict for such need. In order to assess the rate of identifying presence of occult invasive breast cancer in the PM specimen, we performed a retrospective review of the pathology findings from a single-surgeon case-series of PM.

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Dengue is caused by four genetically distinct viral serotypes, dengue virus (DENV) 1-4. Following transmission by mosquitoes, DENV can cause a broad spectrum of clinically apparent disease ranging from febrile illness to dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. Progress in the understanding of different dengue serotypes and their impacts on specific host-virus interactions has been hampered by the scarcity of tools that adequately reflect their antigenic and genetic diversity.

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