Expanding the Toolbox: A Palliative Care Lecture Series for Oncology Advanced Practice Providers.

Purpose: Initiation of early palliative care (PC) is vital in order to assure that the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social needs of patients and their families are addressed before, during, and after treatment for a serious illness. According to the World Health Organization, PC is patient-and family-centered care that optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering. It is holistic care that addresses the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs of patients and their families.

Variability in caries management decision-making in a dental school setting.

Objective: To assess variability in caries management decision-making by faculty and dental students. Understanding sources of variability during training can aid in implementing evidence-based clinical decision-making in caries management.

Methods: A voluntary, anonymous survey including clinical scenarios was distributed online to dental students in their first (D1) and third-year (D3) of training, and to faculty in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics.

Reconciling the Effects of Screening on Prostate Cancer Mortality in the ERSPC and PLCO Trials.

Background: The ERSPC (European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer) found that screening reduced prostate cancer mortality, but the PLCO (Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial) found no reduction.

Objective: To evaluate whether effects of screening on prostate cancer mortality relative to no screening differed between the ERSPC and PLCO.

Design: Cox regression of prostate cancer death in each trial group, adjusted for age and trial.

Development of the SaFETy Score: A Clinical Screening Tool for Predicting Future Firearm Violence Risk.

Background: Interpersonal firearm violence among youth is a substantial public health problem, and emergency department (ED) physicians require a clinical screening tool to identify high-risk youth.

Objective: To derive a clinically feasible risk index for firearm violence.

Design: 24-month prospective cohort study.

The Relationship of Obesity to Hospice Use and Expenditures: A Cohort Study.

Background: Obesity complicates medical, nursing, and informal care in severe illness, but its effect on hospice use and Medicare expenditures is unknown.

Objective: To describe the associations between body mass index (BMI) and hospice use and Medicare expenditures in the last 6 months of life.

Design: Retrospective cohort.

Current Therapy for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and Related Single Ventricle Lesions.

Universally fatal only 4 decades ago, the progress in the 3-stage palliation of hypoplastic left heart syndrome and related single right ventricular lesions has drastically improved the outlook for these patients. Although the stage II operation (hemi-Fontan or bidirectional Glenn) and stage III Fontan procedure have evolved into relatively low-risk operations, the stage I Norwood procedure remains one of the highest-risk and costliest common operations performed in congenital heart surgery. Yet, despite this fact, experienced centers now report hospital survivals of >90% for the Norwood procedure.

Constitutive Intracellular Na+ Excess in Purkinje Cells Promotes Arrhythmogenesis at Lower Levels of Stress Than Ventricular Myocytes From Mice With Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia.

Background: In catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT), cardiac Purkinje cells (PCs) appear more susceptible to Ca(2+) dysfunction than ventricular myocytes (VMs). The underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Using a CPVT mouse (RyR2(R4496C+/Cx40eGFP)), we tested whether PC intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)]i) dysregulation results from a constitutive [Na(+)]i surplus relative to VMs.

Pediatric Cancer Genetics Research and an Evolving Preventive Ethics Approach for Return of Results after Death of the Subject.

The return of genetic research results after death in the pediatric setting comes with unique complexities. Researchers must determine which results and through which processes results are returned. This paper discusses the experience over 15 years in pediatric cancer genetics research of returning research results after the death of a child and proposes a preventive ethics approach to protocol development in order to improve the quality of return of results in pediatric genomic settings.

Predicting graft loss by 1 year in pediatric heart transplantation candidates: an analysis of the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study database.

Background: Pediatric data on the impact of pre-heart transplantation (HTx) risk factors on early post-HTx outcomes remain inconclusive. Thus, among patients with previous congenital heart disease or cardiomyopathy, disease-specific risk models for graft loss were developed with the use pre-HTx recipient and donor characteristics.

Methods And Results: Patients enrolled in the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study (PHTS) from 1996 to 2006 were stratified by pre-HTx diagnosis into cardiomyopathy and congenital heart disease cohorts.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, version 1.2014.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is an uncommon soft tissue tumor characterized by a relatively high risk of local recurrence and low risk of metastasis. The NCCN Guidelines for DFSP provide multidisciplinary recommendations on the management of patients with this rare disease. These NCCN Guidelines Insights highlight the addition of the Principles of Pathology section, which provides recommendations on the pathologic assessment of DFSP.

Benign breast disease.

Benign breast diseases are among the most common diagnoses that the busy obstetrician-gynecologist will see in practice. Moreover, breast cancer will undoubtedly be diagnosed numerous times in an obstetrician-gynecologist's career. An ability to accurately and promptly diagnose both benign and malignant breast diseases is within the purview of the generalist obstetrician-gynecologist.