The influence of wearing a mask on the projected first impressions and attractiveness levels of smiling individuals.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of mask wearing on facial attractiveness and projected first impressions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A total of eight models were evaluated by 200 live raters and 750 online raters both with and without masks while smiling maximally. Both live and online raters looked at the models for 15 s, then completed a first impressions questionnaire.

Weight Gain and Metabolic Effects in Persons With HIV Who Switch to ART Regimens Containing Integrase Inhibitors or Tenofovir Alafenamide.

Background: The timing and magnitude of antiretroviral therapy-associated weight change attributions are unclear.

Setting: HIV Outpatient Study participants.

Methods: We analyzed 2007-2018 records of virally suppressed (VS) persons without integrase inhibitor (INSTI) experience who switched to either INSTI-based or another non-INSTI-based ART, and remained VS.

An accumulation of distress: Grief, loss, and isolation among healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article draws on the journal entries of 62 healthcare professionals (HCP) in the United States and Canada who participated in the Pandemic Journaling Project (PJP) during 2020-2021. The HCP in this article represented healthcare fields including medicine, nursing, physical therapy, social work, and clinical psychology. In their journal entries, HCP provided accounts of witnessing the death and bereavement of their patients and loved ones; experiencing their own loss of loved ones and important milestones; facing isolation from their networks and places of meaning; and juggling increasing workloads and caregiving activities.

Addressing Barriers to Accessing Head Start Programs via the Medical Home: A Qualitative Study.

Objectives: High quality early childhood education and childcare programs, such as Early Head Start and Head Start (EHS/HS), play a critical role in early childhood development, learning, and quality of life. This study was designed to determine barriers to applying and enrolling in EHS/HS in an urban community and the potential role of the medical home in overcoming these barriers.

Methods: Four 90-minute focus groups were conducted with 41 various stakeholders, including EHS/HS coordinators, personnel from early childhood policy organizations, medical personnel, and families who have previously applied to EHS/HS.

Optimizing Clinical Reasoning Assessments With Analytic and Holistic Ratings: Examining the Validity, Reliability, and Cost of a Simplified Patient Note Scoring Procedure.

Purpose: Post-standardized patient (SP) encounter patient notes used to assess students' clinical reasoning represent a significant time burden for faculty who traditionally score them. To reduce this burden, the authors previously reported a complex faculty-developed scoring method to assess patient notes rated by nonclinicians. The current study explored whether a simplified scoring procedure for nonclinician raters could further optimize patient note assessments by reducing time, cost, and creating additional opportunities for formative feedback.

Improvisational and Standup Comedy, Graphic Medicine, and Theatre of the Oppressed to Teach Advancing Health Equity.

Ninety-minute virtual workshops that used improvisational comedy, standup comedy, graphic medicine, and Theatre of the Oppressed were implemented in 2020 within a required health equity course at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine to train 90 first-year medical students in advancing health equity. Learning objectives were to (1) deepen understanding of diverse human experiences by developing relationship skills, such as empathy, active listening, engagement, and observation; (2) recognize how diverse patients perceive students and how students perceive them to gain insight into one's identity and how intersectional systems of oppression can stigmatize and marginalize different identities; and (3) engage in free, frank, fearless, and safe conversations about structural racism, colonialism, White and other social privileges, and systemic factors that lead to health inequities. With a 61% (109/180 [90 students × 2 workshops per student]) survey response rate, 72% of respondents thought workshops were very good or excellent, and 83% agreed or strongly agreed they would recommend workshops to others.

Strengthening Parent - Physician Communication: A Mixed Methods Study on Attuned Communication Training for Pediatric Residents.

: High-quality communication improves patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes, yet formal communication training in residency is often minimal. Many studies on empathic communication show mixed results and are often hindered and skewed by brief study lengths, insufficiently and ambiguously defined concepts, and limited methods for objective measurements. : The FAN Curriculum is a unique communication curriculum, based on the conceptual frameworks of patient-centered communication, reflective practice, mindfulness, and attunement using the Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN) model.

Impacts of COVID-19 at the intersection of substance use disorder treatment and criminal justice systems: findings from three states.

Background: Individuals with substance use disorders (SUD), particularly opioid use disorder (OUD), who are criminal justice-involved are a particularly vulnerable population that has been adversely affected by COVID-19 due to impacts of the pandemic on both the criminal justice and treatment systems. The manuscript presents qualitative data and findings exploring issues related to SUD/OUD treatment among individuals involved in the justice system and the impacts of COVID-19 on these service systems. Qualitative data were collected separately by teams from three different research hubs/sites in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky; at each hub, data were collected from justice system personnel (n = 17) and community-level SUD/OUD providers (n = 21).

Identifying unique barriers to implementing rural emergency department-based peer services for opioid use disorder through qualitative comparison with urban sites.

Background: In an effort to address the current opioid epidemic, a number of hospitals across the United States have implemented emergency department-based interventions for engaging patients presenting with opioid use disorder. The current study seeks to address gaps in knowledge regarding implementation of a sub-type of such interventions, emergency department-based peer support services, in rural areas by comparing implementation of rural and urban programs that participated in Indiana's Recovery Coach and Peer Support Initiative (RCPSI).

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of qualitative semi-structured implementation interviews collected as part of an evaluation of 10 programs (4 rural and 6 urban) participating in the RCPSI.

American College of Surgeons Objective Assessment of Skills in Surgery (ACS OASIS): A Formative Assessment of Junior Residents' Technical Skills.

Objective: The objective assessment of technical skills of junior residents is essential in implementing competency-based training and providing specific feedback regarding areas for improvement. An innovative assessment that can be easily implemented by training programs nationwide has been developed by expert surgeon educators under the aegis of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Division of Education. This assessment, ACS Objective Assessment of Skills in Surgery (ACS OASIS) uses eight stations to address technical skills important for junior residents within the domains of laparoscopic appendectomy, excision of lipoma, central line placement, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, trocar placement, exploratory laparotomy, repair of enterotomy, and tube thoracostomy.

Venous Anatomy and Collateral Pathways of the Pelvis: An Angiographic Review.

The pelvic venous system is complex, with the potential for numerous pathways of collateralization. Owing to stenosis or occlusion, both thrombotic and nonthrombotic entities in the pelvis may necessitate alternate routes of venous return. Although the pelvic venous anatomy and collateral pathways may demonstrate structural variability, a number of predictable paths often can be demonstrated on the basis of the given disease and the level of obstruction.

Patient-centered quality measurement for opioid use disorder: Development of a taxonomy to address gaps in research and practice.

: Evidence-based treatment is provided infrequently and inconsistently to patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). Treatment guidelines call for high-quality, patient-centered care that meets individual preferences and needs, but it is unclear whether current quality measures address individualized aspects of care and whether measures of patient-centered OUD care are supported by evidence. : We conducted an environmental scan of OUD care quality to (1) evaluate patient-centeredness in current OUD quality measures endorsed by national agencies and in national OUD treatment guidelines; and (2) review literature evidence for patient-centered care in OUD diagnosis and management, including gaps in current guidelines, performance data, and quality measures.

"Finding My Piece in That Puzzle": A Qualitative Study Exploring How Medical Students at Four U.S. Schools Envision Their Future Professional Identity in Relation to Health Systems.

Purpose: Health systems science (HSS) curricula equip future physicians to improve patient, population, and health systems outcomes (i.e., to become "systems citizens"), but the degree to which medical students internalize this conception of the physician role remains unclear.

Genicular Artery Embolization for Primary Knee Osteoarthritis.

Genicular artery embolization (GAE) is a novel treatment for knee osteoarthritis (OA) with increasing interest and utilization worldwide. The genicular arteries are selectively embolized using microspheres with subsequent cessation of abnormal synovial hyperemia, a process believed to arrest the inflammatory changes and pain associated with OA. Current data indicate that GAE offers sustained, 6-month improvement in Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) and visual analog scale scores in 80 to 85% of patients with mild to moderate OA.

Advanced cancer patients in a randomized clinical trial of night-simulating eyeglasses observed to have a normal 24-h circadian rhythm during chemotherapy.

Objectives: Cancer patients routinely exhibit dysfunctional circadian organization. Indeed, a dysfunctional circadian organization is a hallmark of advanced cancer. A cohort of advanced cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy was recruited to investigate whether manipulating exposure to blue light could restore or ameliorate their circadian organization.

Multi-Site Observational Study to Assess Biomarkers for Susceptibility or Resilience to Chronic Pain: The Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS) Study Protocol.

Chronic pain has become a global health problem contributing to years lived with disability and reduced quality of life. Advances in the clinical management of chronic pain have been limited due to incomplete understanding of the multiple risk factors and molecular mechanisms that contribute to the development of chronic pain. The Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS) Program aims to characterize the predictive nature of biomarkers (brain imaging, high-throughput molecular screening techniques, or "omics," quantitative sensory testing, patient-reported outcome assessments and functional assessments) to identify individuals who will develop chronic pain following surgical intervention.

Endothelial Transcytosis in Acute Lung Injury: Emerging Mechanisms and Therapeutic Approaches.

Acute Lung Injury (ALI) is characterized by widespread inflammation which in its severe form, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), leads to compromise in respiration causing hypoxemia and death in a substantial number of affected individuals. Loss of endothelial barrier integrity, pneumocyte necrosis, and circulating leukocyte recruitment into the injured lung are recognized mechanisms that contribute to the progression of ALI/ARDS. Additionally, damage to the pulmonary microvasculature by Gram-negative and positive bacteria or viruses (e.

PASS-A course in Pediatric Acute Surgical Support to build pediatric surgical emergencies capacity in developing countries.

Objectives: The burden of pediatric trauma and emergency, including pediatric surgical emergencies in low middle income countries (LMIC) is high. The goal of Pediatric Acute Surgical Support (PASS) course is to prepare caregivers in LMIC for the acute management of life-threatening pediatric surgical emergencies. We aim to show the feasibility of its initial deployment.

Gender-based salary differences in academic medicine: a retrospective review of data from six public medical centers in the Western USA.

Objectives: We assessed the effect of gender, rank and research productivity on compensation for faculty at academic medical centres.

Design: A web-based retrospective review of salary for professors in 2016.

Setting: Faculty from six state-run, publicly funded academic medical centres in the Western USA.