Outbreak of perichondritis associated with ear piercings and a contaminated water system.

In September 2023, the UK Health Security Agency's (UKHSA) South West Health Protection Team received notification of patients with perichondritis. All five cases had attended the same cosmetic piercing studio and a multi-disciplinary outbreak control investigation was subsequently initiated. An additional five cases attending the same studio were found.

Outcomes and Prognostic Factors in Patients With Untreated Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Objectives: Although several studies have reported the treatment prognosis in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, few studies exist on the prognosis and mortality-related risk factors in untreated cases. This study aimed to determine the outcomes of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who underwent no treatment and investigate the associated factors.

Methods: This retrospective, single-institution study initially included 718 patients with head and neck cancer who visited our hospital between January 2015 and December 2021; 43 untreated patients were included in the final analysis.

Navigating herpes simplex encephalitis: Family medicine perspectives from Jharkhand, India.

Background: Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE), caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) is the most common cause of sporadic encephalitis that often presents as an emergency case of acute or sub-acute nature associated with poor prognosis. Early suspicion and prompt diagnostic testing with adequate antiviral therapy can only reduce morbidity and mortality associated with the disease. This study aims to evaluate the role of serological and molecular diagnosis of encephalitis caused by HSV 1 and 2 for timely detection of the disease.

Temporal pattern and effect of COVID-19 on the trend of TB, DRTB, paediatrics TB and TB with HIV Coinfection: A decadal trend analysis.

Background: India shares 2/3 of global TB burden. MDR and HIV coinfections are the main obstacle in achieving the successful TB control because it decrease the therapy effect.

Objective: To analyze the long-term trends of incidence of tuberculosis cases and identify any differences between actual and projected cases after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results from a UK consensus about the optimal prescribing of medium strength triple therapy in uncontrolled adult asthma patients in the NHS.

Context: An inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) in combination with a long-acting β2-agonist (LABA) is a common treatment approach for asthma patients not controlled on ICS alone, but a significant proportion of patients remain uncontrolled on this combination and treatment adherence can also be a challenge. One of the options for adults whose asthma is uncontrolled in an ICS/LABA is the addition of a long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonist (LAMA), an approach commonly referred to as 'triple therapy'. The use of medium-strength ICS/LABA/LAMA is established in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but is less well-established in asthma.

Perceptions of Frailty and Prehabilitation Among Thoracic Surgeons: Findings From a National Survey.

Background: Frailty is associated with increased perioperative morbidity and mortality. How thoracic surgeons recognize, measure, and mitigate frailty in their daily clinical practice is unknown. We administered a national survey to determine the current practices of thoracic surgeons managing frail patients.

Repairing Bilateral Coronary-Pulmonary Artery Fistulas During Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

Coronary-pulmonary artery fistulas (CPAFs) are rare entities that can cause significant left-to-right shunting and complicate routine coronary artery bypass grafting. There are no best practice guidelines and a scarcity of reports regarding concomitant treatment of CPAF with coronary artery disease. We present a case of bilateral CPAFs in a 60-year-old man with symptomatic coronary artery disease treated successfully with coronary artery bypass, epicardial ligation, and transpulmonary closure of CPAF with patch reconstruction.

Treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Introduction: The treatment landscape of metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) has evolved with the emergence of programmed cell death protein 1/ligand 1 (PD-1/L1) inhibitors. This study assessed mUC treatment patterns in Europe.

Methods: Data were derived from the Adelphi mUC Disease Specific Programme™ (November 2020 to April 2021), a large, cross-sectional, patient record-based survey of physicians in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Proteomics: An In-Depth Review on Recent Technical Advances and Their Applications in Biomedicine.

Proteins hold pivotal importance since many diseases manifest changes in protein activity. Proteomics techniques provide a comprehensive exploration of protein structure, abundance, and function in biological samples, enabling the holistic characterization of overall changes in organisms. Nowadays, the breadth of emerging methodologies in proteomics is unprecedentedly vast, with constant optimization of technologies in sample processing, data collection, data analysis, and its scope of application is steadily transitioning from the bench to the clinic.

A machine learning model accurately identifies glycogen storage disease Ia patients based on plasma acylcarnitine profiles.

Background: Glycogen storage disease (GSD) Ia is an ultra-rare inherited disorder of carbohydrate metabolism. Patients often present in the first months of life with fasting hypoketotic hypoglycemia and hepatomegaly. The diagnosis of GSD Ia relies on a combination of different biomarkers, mostly routine clinical chemical markers and subsequent genetic confirmation.

CK19 protein expression: the best cutoff value on the prognosis and the prognosis model of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background And Objective: In clinical practice, CK19 can be an important predictor for the prognosis of HCC. Due to the high incidence and mortality rates of HCC, more effective and practical prognostic prediction models need to be developed urgently.

Methods: A total of 1,168 HCC patients, who underwent radical surgery at the Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, between January 2014 and July 2019, were recruited, and their clinicopathological data were collected.

Autophagy Associated Genes (ARGs) -Based Predictive Model AIDPS for Prostate Cancer.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers in men worldwide. Autophagy-related genes (ARGs) may play an important role in various biological processes of PCa. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate autophagy-related features to predict clinical outcomes in patients with PCa.

The added value of anosmic subtype on motor subtype in Parkinson's disease: a pilot study.

This study investigates whether incorporating olfactory dysfunction into motor subtypes of Parkinson's disease (PD) improves associations with clinical outcomes. PD is commonly divided into motor subtypes, such as postural instability and gait disturbance (PIGD) and tremor-dominant PD (TDPD), but non-motor symptoms like olfactory dysfunction remain underexplored. We assessed 157 participants with PD using the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), Movement Disorder Society-Sponsored Revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (M-UPDRS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire Summary Index (PDQ-39 SI), and 99mTc-TRODAT-1 imaging.

aGvHDtrackR and cGvHDtrackR: shiny applications for graft versus host disease management and clinical data collection.

Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is one of the most common and troublesome complications after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Despite adequate GvHD prophylaxis, 30-50% of the patients still develop acute or chronic GvHD, often requiring multiple lines of therapy. Therefore, it is crucial to closely monitor the onset and the response of GvHD to therapies to identify the best available treatment for each patient.

Exquisite sensitivity of Polycystin-1 to HO concentration in the endoplasmic reticulum.

Aquaporin11 (AQP11) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident peroxiporin. It allows HO transport from the lumen to the cytosol, guaranteeing redox homeostasis and signaling in and between the two organelles. Interestingly, Aqp11 mice develop a fatal, early onset polycystic kidney disease (PKD) similar to Autosomal Dominant PKD, a condition frequently associated with mutations of polycystin-1 (PC-1) in human patients.

AI-based models to predict decompensation on traumatic brain injury patients.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a form of brain injury caused by external forces, resulting in temporary or permanent impairment of brain function. Despite advancements in healthcare, TBI mortality rates can reach 30%-40% in severe cases. This study aims to assist clinical decision-making and enhance patient care for TBI-related complications by employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods and data-driven approaches to predict decompensation.

Equipping residential aged care facilities for acute respiratory illness: The Western Sydney experience of improving outbreak management.

Objectives: Acute respiratory illnesses have a disproportionate impact on older people, and especially those living in residential aged care facilities where transmission risks are heightened. Additionally, staff in these facilities have been working under challenging conditions, often ill-equipped in terms of both training and resources to successfully manage the outbreaks of these illnesses. This paper examines the actions of an Australian public health unit to improve influenza outbreak management in residential aged care facilities and critiques the outcomes through a contemporary lens.

Pitfalls and perils from FDA-approved germ-line cancer predisposition tests.

The FDA approval on September 29, 2023, for "class III " blood tests to assess hereditary cancer risk make widely available tests that may be obtained through a Direct to Consumer (DTC) path. There is concern that germ-line predisposition tests may not be reimbursed by insurance adding financial burdens to individuals and families. It is generally agreed in the fields of oncology and genetics that germ-line testing for disease susceptibility including cancer is best performed under care of a healthcare provider with genetic counseling.

Tumour deposit count is an independent prognostic factor in colorectal cancer-a population-based cohort study.

Background: Tumour deposits are a prognostic factor for overall survival and distant metastasis in lymph node-negative colorectal cancer. However, the current TNM staging system does not account for the presence of tumour deposits in lymph node-positive colorectal cancer, or for the presence of multiple deposits. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic effect of tumour deposit count in patients with colorectal cancer.

Jaccoud's Arthropathy Secondary to Leprosy.

Jaccoud's arthropathy is a deforming, non-erosive form of arthritis initially described in patients with rheumatic fever. However, it has been recently observed more frequently in those with systemic lupus erythematosus. Cases of Jaccoud's arthropathy have also been described to be associated with other conditions.

Safety and Vision Outcomes Following Gene Therapy for Bietti Crystalline Dystrophy: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Bietti crystalline dystrophy (BCD) is a severe genetic retinopathy caused by variants in the CYP4V2 gene. Currently, there is no approved treatment for BCD.

Objective: To evaluate safety and vision outcomes following gene therapy with adeno-associated virus (AAV) encoding CYP4V2 (rAAV-hCYP4V2, NGGT001 [Next Generation Gene Therapeutics]).

Multimodal deep learning for predicting in-hospital mortality in heart failure patients using longitudinal chest X-rays and electronic health records.

Amid an aging global population, heart failure has become a leading cause of hospitalization among older people. Its high prevalence and mortality rates underscore the importance of accurate mortality prediction for swift disease progression assessment and better patient outcomes. The evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) presents new avenues for predicting heart failure mortality.

Activity and safety of avelumab in high-grade neuroendocrine tumors and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas progressive after chemotherapy (AveNEC trial).

Background: Neuroendocrine neoplasias grade 3 (NEN G3) are rare tumors with poor prognosis and no established second-line therapy. The role of immune checkpoint blockade in these aggressive tumors remains unclear.

Methods: The phase II AVENEC study evaluated the effect of avelumab (AVE, 10 mg/kg IV Q2W) in 60 patients with well-differentiated high-grade neuroendocrine tumors (NET G3, N=22) or poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC, N=38) progressing after ≥ one prior chemotherapy (excluding Merkel cell and small-cell lung cancer).

Alcohol Use Disorder Polygenic Score Compared With Family History and ADH1B.

Importance: Identification of individuals at high risk of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and subsequent application of prevention and intervention programs has been reported to decrease the incidence of AUD. The polygenic score (PGS), which measures an individual's genetic liability to a disease, can potentially be used to evaluate AUD risk.

Objective: To assess the estimability and generalizability of the PGS, compared with family history and ADH1B, in evaluating the risk of AUD among populations of European ancestry.

Considerations to forgo systemic treatment in patients with advanced esophageal or gastric cancer: A real-world evidence study.

The majority of patients with advanced esophageal or gastric cancer do not start palliative systemic treatment. To gain insight into the considerations underlying the decision not to start systemic treatment, we analyzed characteristics of patients starting and not starting systemic treatment, reasons for not starting systemic treatment, and receipt of local palliative treatments on a nationwide scale. Patients diagnosed with advanced esophageal or gastric cancer between 2015 and 2021 were included (n = 10,948).