Developing Competencies and Milestones: Putting the Pieces Together for Student Success.

Competency-based medical education has become a means in physician assistant (PA) education to ensure learner readiness for practice; align educational expectations; and assess knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Competency-based education may also serve to meet accreditation requirements. Creating program-defined competencies and associated milestones can help a PA program align with their mission and vision, developmentally guide learners through the curriculum, and ensure program assessments measure the tasks required of practice-ready graduates.

ChatGPT Assisting Diagnosis of Neuro-Ophthalmology Diseases Based on Case Reports.

Background: To evaluate the accuracy of Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), a large language model (LLM), to assist in diagnosing neuro-ophthalmic diseases based on case reports.

Methods: We selected 22 different case reports of neuro-ophthalmic diseases from a publicly available online database. These cases included a wide range of chronic and acute diseases commonly seen by neuro-ophthalmic subspecialists.

Let-7b-5p sensitizes breast cancer cells to doxorubicin through Aurora Kinase B.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression level of the target genes in the cell. Breast cancer is responsible for the majority of cancer-related deaths among women globally. It has been proven that deregulated miRNAs may play an essential role in the progression of breast cancer.

Clinical Decision Support and Cardiometabolic Medication Adherence: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Medication adherence is important for managing blood pressure (BP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). Interventions to improve medication adherence are needed.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an intervention using algorithmic identification of low medication adherence, clinical decision support to physicians, and pharmacist outreach to patients to improve cardiometabolic medication adherence and BP, LDL-C, and HbA1c control.

Children's executive functioning and health behaviors across pediatric life stages and ecological contexts.

Executive functioning (EF) has been linked to chronic disease risk in children. Health behaviors are thought to partially explain this association. The current cross-sectional study evaluated specific domains of EF and varied health behaviors in three pediatric life stages.

Phase 2 Open-Label Trial of Brentuximab Vedotin with Pembrolizumab in PD-1 Pretreated Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Metastatic Cutaneous Melanoma.

Purpose: Brentuximab vedotin (BV) is hypothesized to selectively deplete T regulatory cells (Tregs) that express CD30 and re-sensitize tumors to anti-(PD-1) therapy. This study evaluated responses to BV+pembrolizumab post PD-1 and explored corresponding biomarkers.

Methods: 55 patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 58 with metastatic cutaneous melanoma received ≥1 dose of BV+pembrolizumab.

Biomarkers.

Background: CADASIL, linked to NOTCH3 variants, is a primary monogenic cause of vascular dementia, leading to vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) observable in early stages. The NIH-funded USA CADASIL Consortium aims to explore CADASIL's onset and progression in the USA, crucial due to varying phenotype-genotype associations globally. The consortium will identify biological and clinical markers across the disease spectrum, contributing to clinical trial preparations.

Biomarkers.

Background: Increasing age is the greatest risk factor for age-associated cognitive decline (AACD) and, especially in females, for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Mechanisms underlying this connection are unknown, but neuronal loss and brain atrophy accompany aging and AD and likely contribute to cognitive deficits. There are currently no means to measure neuronal cell death during life and no means to prevent it.

Public Health.

Background: Global health is increasingly burdened by oral diseases (ODs) affecting 3.9 billion people, and Alzheimer's disease with related dementias (AD/ADRD), impacting 46.8 million globally.

Public Health.

Background: Prior research has established a relationship between hearing loss (HL) and cognitive decline. However, this association remains unclear in the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population. Given the high prevalence of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and HL in the AI/AN population, exploring this relationship is crucial.

Pediatric Craniofacial Injuries Involving Alcohol: An Epidemiologic Study.

Introduction: Alcohol intoxication significantly increases an individual's risk for a variety of injuries including craniofacial injuries, although this research is limited to adults. Further research is needed on pediatric craniofacial injuries related to alcohol use in children, a group inherently different in anatomy and developmental considerations from adults. This study aims to identify alcohol-related craniofacial injury patterns, injury mechanisms, and patient disposition in the pediatric population presenting to the emergency department.

Public Health.

Background: Varicella zoster virus (VZV) reactivation, manifesting as herpes zoster, increases dementia risk. Herein, we review the literature supporting the biological plausibility of VZV contributing to AD pathologies and examine the unique ability of VZV to induce amylin that has been found in blood vessels and parenchyma of AD patients.

Method: We conducted a literature review on VZV and dementia to elucidate a potential model for how VZV reactivation intersects with AD.

Public Health.

Background: Impairments in sensory and motor function are common and have been independently linked with higher risk of dementia in older adults. Yet, there is limited information associated with the increasing number of such impairments and dementia risk. This study investigated longitudinal associations between sensory and motor impairment and dementia in older adults.

Public Health.

Background: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) present a growing challenge in the US and has emerged as a significant health concern in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. ADRD prevalence and risk factors among AI/AN adults remain poorly understood and plagued by inconsistent findings. This study addressed this knowledge gap by examining the associations of social determinants of health (SDOH) with ADRD between AI/AN and non-Hispanic White (White) populations.

Public Health.

Background: Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is latent in ganglionic neurons in >90% of the world population and reactivates to produce herpes zoster in older adults. Zoster increases dementia risk, of which Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common. However, a critical barrier in studying the mechanisms by which VZV contributes to dementia is that VZV is an exclusively human virus.

Biomarkers.

Background: Plasma GFAP, a biomarker of astrogliosis, has previously been linked with Alzheimer's disease clinical status, amyloid levels, and memory performance in older adults. The neuroanatomical pathways by which GFAP might impact cognitive outcomes remains unclear. We evaluated whether fornix structure, which is critically involved in AD-associated cholinergic pathways, is associated with interactive effects of plasma GFAP and amyloid levels.

Clinical Conundrum: Climbing at the Extremes of High Elevation with Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy.

Cornwell, William, Aaron L Baggish, Christoph Dehnert, Benjamin D Levine, and Andrew M Luks. Clinical Conundrum: Climbing at the Extremes of High Elevation with Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy. 00:00-00, 2024.

Dementia Care Research and Psychosocial Factors.

Background: Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a common and burdensome neurodegenerative dementia, that remains under-recognized and under-studied. Caregivers play an important role, although research on their needs is lacking. Understanding and addressing their concerns can help improve their well-being, the care they provide for their loved ones, and also participation in research.

Lebrikizumab decreases type 2 inflammatory biomarker levels in patients with asthma: data from randomized phase 3 trials (LAVOLTA I and II).

Aim: Lebrikizumab is an interleukin (IL)-13 inhibitor that specifically blocks IL-13 signaling. Here, we report the effects of lebrikizumab on asthma serum biomarkers in 2 phase 3 clinical studies.

Methods: LAVOLTA I and LAVOLTA II are replicate, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials with 52-week placebo-controlled treatment periods that evaluated lebrikizumab 37.

Assessment of Atrial Size, Shape, and Contractility in Growth-Restricted and Small-for-Gestational-Age Fetuses.

Objectives: The size, shape, and contractility of the heart's atrial chambers have not been evaluated in fetuses with growth restriction (FGR) or who are small-for-gestational-age (SGA) as defined by the Delphi consensus protocol. This study aimed to examine the atrial chambers using speckle tracking analysis to identify any changes that may be specific for either growth disturbance.

Methods: Sixty-three fetuses were evaluated with an estimated fetal weight <10th percentile who were classified as FGR or SGA based on the Delphi consensus protocol.

Advancing Monogenic Diabetes Research and Clinical Care by Creating a Data Commons: The Precision Diabetes Consortium (PREDICT).

Monogenic diabetes mellitus (MDM) is a group of relatively rare disorders caused by pathogenic variants in key genes that result in hyperglycemia. Lack of identified cases, along with absent data standards, and limited collaboration across institutions have hindered research progress. To address this, the UChicago Monogenic Diabetes Registry (UCMDMR) and UChicago Data for the Common Good (D4CG) created a national consortium of MDM research institutions called the PREcision DIabetes ConsorTium (PREDICT).

Purine metabolites regulate leukemic cell sensitivity toward cytarabine.

Not available.

Reducing antibiotic duration for acute otitis media: clinician, administrator, and parental insights to inform implementation of system-level interventions.

Objective: This qualitative study aimed to understand facilitators and barriers to implementation of interventions to improve guideline-concordant antibiotic duration prescribing for pediatric acute otitis media (AOM).

Design: Clinicians and clinic administrators participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews, and parents of children 2 years of age or older with a recent diagnosis of AOM participated in focus groups. The Practical Robust Implementation and Sustainability Model (PRISM) guided the study.

Death and survival of gut CD4 T cells following HIV-1 infection ex vivo.

The gastrointestinal tract is ground zero for the massive and sustained CD4 T cell depletion during acute HIV-1 infection. To date, the molecular mechanisms governing this fundamental pathogenic process remain unclear. HIV-1 infection in the gastrointestinal tract is associated with chronic inflammation due to a disrupted epithelial barrier that results in microbial translocation.