Canadian perspective on managing multiple myeloma during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and future considerations.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has necessitated changes to the way patients with chronic diseases are managed. Given that patients with multiple myeloma are at increased risk of covid-19 infection and related complications, national bodies and experts around the globe have made recommendations for risk mitigation strategies for those vulnerable patients. Understandably, because of the novelty of the virus, many of the proposed risk mitigation strategies have thus far been reactionary and cannot be supported by strong evidence.

Enhancing generalizability: moving from an intimate to a political voice.

Weak external validity of qualitative data has been a subject of debate outside and within the field of qualitative health research. Though some narratives have the power to reveal universal existential issues and inform theoretical development, each story remains unique and cannot be generalized. If the goal of qualitative researchers is to have narrative knowledge effect social change, we are faced with a pervasive problem.

Physical health status assessed during hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome predicts mortality 12 months later.

Objective: Self-report measures of health status predict mortality in several groups of patients with cardiovascular disease, although overlap with symptoms of depression may reduce or eliminate this relationship. The association between self-reported health status and mortality has not been examined in patients hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The objective was to investigate whether the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores of the SF-12 predicted 12-month all-cause mortality after controlling for cardiac risk factors and symptoms of depression.

Optimizing detection of major depression among patients with coronary artery disease using the patient health questionnaire: data from the heart and soul study.

Background: Clinical guidelines recommend depression screening in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), but how to accomplish this is unclear.

Objective: We evaluated the test characteristics of the two-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and a two-step screening approach (PHQ-2 then PHQ-9 if positive on PHQ-2), compared with the Computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule (C-DIS) for major depression. We also evaluated a "PHQ diagnosis" of depression, requiring five of nine symptoms "more than half the days," compared with the C-DIS.

A systematic comparison of fatigue levels in systemic sclerosis with general population, cancer and rheumatic disease samples.

Objectives: There are no studies of fatigue levels in patients with SSc. The objective of this study was to compare fatigue in SSc to general population samples and patients with rheumatic diseases and cancer, where fatigue has been researched extensively.

Methods: SSc patients completed the General Fatigue Index (GFI) of the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory.

Usefulness of a single-item general self-rated health question to predict mortality 12 months after an acute coronary syndrome.

Background: A single-item general self-rated health (GSRH) question consistently predicts mortality in community cohort studies, but has not been examined in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We investigated whether a single-item GSRH question predicted mortality 12 months post-discharge in 800 ACS patients.

Methods: Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship of the single-item GSRH question with mortality, controlling for cardiac risk factors, including depressive symptoms.

Predictors of treatment duration and retention in a study of long-term dynamic psychotherapy: childhood adversity, adult personality, and diagnosis.

Systematic knowledge about patient characteristics that predict the duration of long-term psychotherapy is largely absent. We examined predictors of attrition, retention, and duration of long-term dynamic psychotherapy to delineate the naturalistic history of psychotherapy, specifically focusing on childhood emotional neglect and abuse, adult diagnosis, personality, and functioning as predictors. Fifty-three adults with depressive, anxiety, and/or personality disorders (PDs) were offered at least 3 years of long-term dynamic psychotherapy.

Knowledge translation: closing the evidence-to-practice gap.

Knowledge translation describes any activity or process that facilitates the transfer of high-quality evidence from research into effective changes in health policy, clinical practice, or products. This increasingly important discipline attempts to conceptually combine elements of research, education, quality improvement, and electronic systems development to create a seamless linkage between interventions that improve patient care and their routine implementation in daily clinical practice. We outline the gap between research and practice and present a case study of an emergency medicine example of validated evidence that has failed to achieve widespread implementation.

Human papillomavirus and HIV coinfection and the risk of neoplasias of the lower genital tract: a review of recent developments.

One of the risk factors for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and subsequent lower genital tract neoplasias and cancers is impaired cell-mediated immunity. HIV-positive women with severe immunosuppression are 5 times more likely than HIV-negative women to have lower genital tract neoplasias. A corresponding increase in the risk of invasive vulvar and anal cancers, but not of cervical cancer, has also been observed among HIV-positive women.

Diffuse hepatic intravascular carcinomatous embolization resulting in fatal liver failure: a clinicopathologic study of 4 cases.

The authors report four cases in which patients died of acute or fulminant hepatic failure resulting from massive intravascular metastatic carcinomatous embolization, a rarely reported manifestation of metastatic disease. Neoplasms were high grade carcinomas. Tumor emboli were present within portal branches ranging 0.