Can Medical Licensing Boards Swing the Pendulum Towards Judicious Opioid Prescribing Practices?

In the initial wave of the opioid crisis, uninformed prescribing practices and lax oversight were the drivers of opioid addiction and death. Although opioid prescriptions have decreased by 44.4 percent between 2011-2020, the number of deaths linked to prescription opioids has decreased only marginally.

Tumor specific delivery and radiation-enhanced tumor penetration of mesoporous silica nanoparticles for effective radionuclide therapy of ovarian peritoneal metastasis.

Advanced ovarian cancer with peritoneal metastasis is challenging to treat. Limited tumor delivery and penetration of the therapeutics to deep tumor regions are significant barriers to effective treatment. The rising radiopharmaceuticals offer hopes for patients through targeted delivery.

Visual Improvement With Wavefront-Guided Scleral Lenses for Irregular Corneal Astigmatism.

Purpose: To report interim results of a single center, randomized, double-blind, crossover-controlled clinical trial comparing wavefront-guided (wfg) scleral lenses (SLs) to traditional scleral lenses (tSLs) for patients with a history of irregular corneal astigmatism (ICA).

Methods: Thirty-one ICA eyes of 18 participants were reviewed, 23 with keratoconus, six postcorneal refractive ectasia, and two postpenetrating keratoplasty. Patients with corneal or lens opacities were not excluded from participating.

Tick Tock-A Matter of Time: Two Cases of Babesia Acquired in Urban Newark, NJ.

Babesiosis is a parasitic tick-borne infectious disease that is well elucidated in medical literature and known to be endemic to the Midwest and northeast United States. However, like other infectious diseases, its epidemiology is subject to change. This case report documents two cases with clinical presentations that deviate from what is expected in typical cases of Babesiosis.

The GIP receptor activates futile calcium cycling in white adipose tissue to increase energy expenditure and drive weight loss in mice.

Obesity is a chronic disease that contributes to the development of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and cardiovascular risk. Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor (GIPR) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor (GLP-1R) co-agonism provide an improved therapeutic profile in individuals with T2D and obesity when compared with selective GLP-1R agonism. Although the metabolic benefits of GLP-1R agonism are established, whether GIPR activation impacts weight loss through peripheral mechanisms is yet to be fully defined.

Drug Treatments for Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Targeting Signaling Pathways and Homeostasis.

Purpose Of The Review: Preclinical and clinical evidence support the notion that neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are synaptic disorders, characterized by excitatory-inhibitory imbalance. Despite this, NDD drug development programs targeting glutamate or gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors have been largely unsuccessful. Nonetheless, recent drug trials in Rett syndrome (RTT), fragile X syndrome (FXS), and other NDDs targeting other mechanisms have met their endpoints.

YAP1::KMT2A-rearranged sarcomas harbor a unique methylation profile and are distinct from sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma and low-grade fibromyxoid sarcoma.

Sclerosing epithelioid fibrosarcoma (SEF) was originally described as a peculiar variant of fibrosarcoma in 1995. Subsequent studies showed that conventional SEF was associated with both immunohistochemical expression of MUC4 and EWSR1/FUS gene rearrangements with CREB3L1 as the predominant fusion partner. Since then, a distinct group of fibrous tumors characterized by YAP1::KMT2A and KMT2A::YAP1 gene rearrangements and SEF-like morphology has been described.

Paying to publish: A cross-sectional analysis of article processing charges and journal characteristics among 87 pathology journals.

Article processing charges are increasingly being levied on authors via publication fees to provide open access to readers. These charges may impose challenges to early career physicians seeking to publish research but pathology journal article processing charges have not been investigated to date. We aimed to quantify pathology journal article processing charges and investigate the potential associated factors.

A health economic analysis of noninjectable epinephrine compared with intramuscular epinephrine.

Background: Noninjectable epinephrine to treat allergic reactions addresses an unmet need. Intranasal epinephrine is approved and a sublingual form is under development. Inhaled epinephrine is poorly studied for anaphylaxis.

Early Initiative of Structured Mentoring and Research for Social Disadvantage Trainees to Increase Diversity and Inclusion among Clinician Scientists.

Background: There is a significant lag in integrating ethnically diverse healthcare trainees as clinician scientists. Although this gap is acknowledged, it is mostly focused physician scientists with a marked lag in dental scientists and the other healthcare fields such as the physician assistant program. We report on the outcome of three cohorts of underserved and economically disadvantaged trainees from a National Institute of Health Heart and Lung Blood Institute R25 summer training program with participants from four Rutgers Health Science schools.

Genetics of Nonsyndromic Microtia and Congenital Aural Atresia: A Scoping Review.

Objective: To review the literature on genetics of nonsyndromic microtia and congenital aural atresia (CAA).

Data Sources: Embase, Ovid (Medline), and Web of Science.

Review Methods: The search was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for scoping reviews.

Clinical applications of exosomes in cosmetic dermatology.

Introduction: Exosomes are extracellular vesicles that transport bioactive substances during normal and abnormal cellular physiological processes. The unique properties of exosomes can be exploited for use as biomarkers and targeted drug delivery vehicles, and are, for this reason, gaining increasing attention in the field of dermatology. This review aims to synthesise the existing evidence supporting exosomes in regenerative and cosmetic dermatology.

The effect of preoperative smoking status on carotid endarterectomy outcomes in asymptomatic patients.

Objective: The current medical landscape lacks comprehensive data regarding the impact of preoperative smoking status on both short and long-term outcomes for patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA). This study seeks to elucidate the influence of smoking cessation on in-hospital and long-term outcomes in this patient population.

Methods: Data were collected from the Vascular Quality Initiative for all asymptomatic patients who underwent CEA from 2016 to 2023.

Ewing Sarcoma of the Sinonasal Tract: A Scoping Review.

Objective: Ewing sarcoma (ES) is a rare aggressive malignancy that can present in the sinonasal region. The objective of this study is to investigate the demographics, presentation, management, and outcomes of patients with sinonasal ES.

Data Sources: PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library.