Use of Infrared Thermography for Assessment of Burn Depth and Healing Potential: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Burn wound depth assessments are an important component of determining patient prognosis and making appropriate management decisions. Clinical appraisal of the burn wound by an experienced burn surgeon is standard of care but has limitations. IR thermography is a technology in burn care that can provide a non-invasive, quantitative method of evaluating burn wound depth.

Coincident Kikuchi-Fujimoto's disease and adult-onset Still's disease: report of a patient from an uncommonly affected population and case-directed systematic review.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto's disease (KFD) and adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) are rare idiopathic inflammatory conditions of unknown etiology. Ten prior instances of KFD and AOSD occurring together have been reported in the medical literature. These overlaps, together with certain distinguishing clinical and laboratory characteristics in these co-occurrences, offer insight into the pathophysiology of both of these rare disorders.

SARS-CoV-2-related outcomes after surgical procedures on SARS-CoV-2-positive patients in a large, urban, safety net medical center.

Background: Beginning on March 16, 2020, nonurgent scheduled operations at a large, urban, safety net medical center were canceled. The purpose of this study was to determine complications associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection for all operations done from March 16 to June 30, 2020.

Study Design: This study was a single-institution, retrospective observational analysis of data for all surgical procedures and all severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 tests done in the medical center from March 16 to June 30, 2020.

Should Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Based on the Vancomycin Area Under the Concentration-Time Curve Be Standard for Serious Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections?-No.

In this counterpoint we critically appraise the evidence supporting therapeutic drug monitoring based on the vancomycin 24-hour area under the concentration-time curve (AUC24) for serious methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections. We reveal methodologically weaknesses and inconsistencies in the data and suggest that, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence of benefit compared with modestly reducing trough targets, alternative strategies are more likely to result in superior safety and efficacy. These include focusing on fundamental antibiotic stewardship to limit vancomycin exposure overall, achieving earlier and more complete source control, and establishing alternative therapeutic options to vancomycin.

Verification and Implementation of HIV Antibody Differentiation Testing to Improve Turnaround Time for the HIV Diagnostic Algorithm.

Background: Relying on reference laboratories for HIV confirmation testing may lead to delays in treatment and can cause stress for patients who have positive HIV screening results.

Objective: To internalize HIV-1/HIV-2 antibody differentiation testing within the hospital laboratory.

Methods: We analytically verified an HIV antibody differentiation immunoassay and subsequently compared result turnaround times (TATs) for HIV antibody differentiation and HIV-1 qualitative RNA in the months before and after the test internalization.

A needle in the haystack? Assessing the significance of envelope (E) gene-negative, nucleocapsid (N2) gene-positive SARS-CoV-2 detection by the Cepheid Xpert Xpress SARS-COV-2 assay.

The clinical significance of high crossing threshold (Ct) detection of SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR is inadequately defined. In the course of universal admission screening with the Cepheid Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 assay at our institution, we observed that 3.9 % (44/1123) of SARS-CoV-2 positive results were negative for the envelope (E) gene target but positive for the nucleocapsid (N2) target.

Certain perspectives about the use of corticosteroids for managing hospitalized patients with rheumatic diseases.

The administration of cortisone to a bedridden patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) 70 years ago was a transformative event in modern medicine. We have since struggled to balance the near-miraculous anti-rheumatic with the yet all-too-frequent devastating side effects of glucocorticoids (GC). With the current availability of newer disease-modifying and biologic anti-rheumatic agents, we were rather surprised to note that 94% of sick hospitalized patients with systemic rheumatic diseases at our medical center were on corticosteroids during a 3-month observation period.

Alignment With Market Forces: The "Re-Whithering" of Infectious Diseases.

Given constant emergence of new infectious threats, infectious diseases (ID) should be one of the most attractive medical specialties to students and trainees. Yet, ID Fellowship programs continue to not fill in the match, and ID remains among the lowest paid specialties. Approximately 35 years after Dr.

Correlation of Chemical Urinalysis to Microscopic Urinalysis and Urine Culture: Implications for Reflex Urinalysis Workflows.

Background: Urinalysis (UA) reflex testing approaches, which offer potential for savings in labor and result turnaround time, may rely on the performance of a chemical UA screen to determine which urine samples need microscopic UA and/or urine culture. We correlated chemical UA, microscopic UA, and urine culture results to determine the performance of chemical UA as a screening tool for reflex testing approaches.

Methods: Consecutive UA results for 9127 tests (simultaneous chemical UA and microscopic UA) were retrospectively reviewed and correlated.

A review of biomarker utilization in the diagnosis and management of acute pancreatitis reveals amylase ordering is favored in patients requiring laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Background: Despite widespread recommendations to favor lipase over amylase in the diagnosis and management of acute pancreatitis, many routine hospital laboratories still offer amylase testing. This study sought to evaluate and compare ordering patterns of amylase and lipase in patients with acute pancreatitis.

Methods: We analyzed 438 patients with acute pancreatitis admitted to our hospital.

MRI does not predict pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Background: This study assessed whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could accurately predict pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for patients receiving standardized treatment, pre- and post-NAC MRI on the same instrumentation using a consistent imaging protocol, interpreted by a single breast fellowship-trained radiologist.

Methods: A single-institution retrospective analysis was performed including clinical, radiographic, and pathologic parameters for all patients with breast cancer treated with NAC from 2015 to 2018. Radiographic complete response (rCR) was defined as absence of suspicious MRI findings in the ipsilateral breast or lymph nodes.

Adenosine Deaminase Diagnostic Testing in Pericardial Fluid.

with hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and chronic hepatitis B with cirrhosis presented with a 2-week history of shortness of breath at rest, orthopnea, and lower extremity edema. He reported a 4-month history of nonproductive cough, 5-kg weight loss, and fatigue. He immigrated to the United States as an adult more than 20 years before presentation.

Evaluation of procalcitonin immunoassay concordance near clinical decision points.

Background Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker for systemic bacterial infections and may aid in decision making for antimicrobial stewardship. Numerous PCT assays are available on common clinical immunoassay platforms. However, questions remain about the harmonization of these assays and whether the same clinical decision points may be used with all methods.

Should a patient with rheumatoid arthritis be a kidney donor?

We cared for a woman with sero-positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA), in clinical remission on oral methotrexate (MTX) and hydroxychloroquine, who wished to donate a kidney to a brother with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). We could find scant literature about this unusual clinical circumstance, and therefore review pertinent aspects of renal disease in RA, perioperative medical management, maintenance of disease remission, outcomes for RA patients who have donated kidneys, and relevant ethical issues. Renal complications in RA are not uncommon, with as many as 50% of patients at risk of reduced eGFR.