Biobanks and biomarkers: Their current and future role in biomedical research.

The importance and utility of biobanks has increased exponentially since their inception and creation. Initially used as part of translational research, they now contribute over 40% of data for all cancer research papers in the United States of America and play a crucial role in all aspects of healthcare. Multiple classification systems exist but a simplified approach is to either classify as population-based or disease-oriented entities.

Research surveys and their evolution: Past, current and future uses in healthcare.

Research surveys are believed to have originated in antiquity with evidence of them being performed in ancient Egypt and Greece. In the past century, their use has grown significantly and they are now one of the most frequently employed research methods including in the field of healthcare. Modern validation techniques and processes have allowed researchers to broaden the scope of qualitative data they can gather through these surveys such as an individual's views on service quality to nationwide surveys that are undertaken regularly to follow healthcare trends.

'COVID impacted my life in so many ways': a qualitative study of the lived experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic among people of Black ethnicities living with HIV in England.

Objectives: COVID-19 disproportionately affected people of Black ethnicities whilst also negatively affecting the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of people living with HIV. This may have been amplified by pre-existing socioeconomic marginalisation, poorer health, and structural racism. Despite being disproportionately affected by the pandemic, little is known about lived experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic within these communities.

Genotes - a 'just-in-time' genomics education resource co-designed with clinicians.

Background: Powerful new genomic technologies are transforming the way healthcare is delivered, shaping medical practice across all specialties. In this rapidly changing landscape, there is an urgent need to equip the clinical workforce with knowledge and skills to navigate the new healthcare terrain. Co-design of healthcare resources with end users is increasingly gaining traction as a method of ensuring that educational content and delivery are tailored to users' needs, increasing likelihood of use and resulting in better outcomes for patients.

Improving Laryngeal Procedure Workflow: Moving From the Operating Room to the Outpatient Setting.

Objectives: Laryngology disease burden is growing while theater capacity is falling. Over half a million patients are waiting for ENT care in England alone (1). The demand for laryngology services has continued to grow significantly, particularly post-COVID (2).

Improving delirium assessments in acute senior health: A quality improvement project for care of the older person.

Background: Delirium is a common and reversible neurobehavioral condition with significant morbidity and mortality ramifications for older patients. Consequentially, clear guidelines exist pertaining to its swift identification and management. However, studies suggest that adherence to these guidelines are poor.

Corrigendum to "WCN24-813 MANAGEMENT OF ACUTE FLUID OVERLOAD IN HEART FAILURE PATIENTS WITH CKD USING HOME DELIVERED SUBCUTANEOUS FUROSEMIDE" [ Volume 9, Issue 4, Supplement, April 2024, Page S251-S252].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.

Global meta-analysis of physicians' experiences of workplace sexual harassment by patients.

The World Health Organization recognises that sexual harassment is an occupational hazard in medicine, but the prevalence of sexual harassment by patients is unknown. This global meta-analysis found that a pooled prevalence of 45.13% of 18 803 physicians from several specialities (e.

Total abdominal colectomy versus diverting loop ileostomy with colonic lavage for fulminant clostridium difficile colitis: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of outcomes.

Purpose: Diverting Loop Ileostomy (DLI) with intraoperative colonic lavage has emerged as a potential alternative to Total Abdominal Colectomy (TAC) for treating Fulminant Clostridium Difficile Colitis (FCDC). This study aims to provide an updated review comparing DLI with TAC in managing FCDC.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Embase to identify retrospective and prospective studies comparing DLI with TAC for fulminant CDC treatment.

Potassium Supplementation and Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery: The TIGHT K Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Supplementing potassium in an effort to maintain high-normal serum concentrations is a widespread strategy used to prevent atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery (AFACS), but is not evidence-based, carries risks, and is costly.

Objective: To determine whether a lower serum potassium concentration trigger for supplementation is noninferior to a high-normal trigger.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This open-label, noninferiority, randomized clinical trial was conducted at 23 cardiac surgical centers in the United Kingdom and Germany.

BASHH standards for the management of sexual health in UK prisons.

People in prison often experience risk factors that can lead to poor sexual health which is compounded by social deprivation. In response, the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) has published the first national standards in the management of UK prisons, providing recommendations for commissioners, service providers, health care providers and people in prison. Nine standards have been devised which cover aspects of sexual health diagnosis and management, public health measures, and some reproductive health issues.

Gastrointestinal tuberculosis: Diagnostic approaches for this uncommon pathology.

A case report entitled "Primary gastroduodenal tuberculosis presenting as gastric outlet obstruction" recently published in the presented a rare cause of gastric outlet obstruction and highlighted the atypical manner in which gastrointestinal tuberculosis (TB) can present. The literature with regards to this rare pathology is limited to case reports and case series with the largest being published using data from between 2003 and 2013. However, since then the diagnostic tools available have significantly changed with more modern and increasingly accurate tests now available.

Benefits and harms of antenatal and newborn screening programmes in health economic assessments: the VALENTIA systematic review and qualitative investigation.

Background: Health economic assessments are used to determine whether the resources needed to generate net benefit from an antenatal or newborn screening programme, driven by multiple benefits and harms, are justifiable. It is not known what benefits and harms have been adopted by economic evaluations assessing these programmes and whether they omit benefits and harms considered important to relevant stakeholders.

Objectives: (1) To identify the benefits and harms adopted by health economic assessments in this area, and to assess how they have been measured and valued; (2) to identify attributes or relevance to stakeholders that ought to be considered in future economic assessments; and (3) to make recommendations about the benefits and harms that should be considered by these studies.

Evaluating the knowledge of stroke management among Nigerian medical doctors.

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Nigeria. Effective stroke management is essential to reduce morbidity and mortality. Few trained neurologists in Nigeria are mostly concentrated in the cities, making non-specialists the backbone of acute stroke management in Nigeria.

Postoperative Hypotension After Cardiac Surgery Is Associated With Acute Kidney Injury.

Objectives: To describe the incidence of postoperative hypotension in patients undergoing cardiac surgery during the first 12 hours in the intensive care unit (ICU) and any relationship between hypotension and the development of acute kidney injury (AKI).

Design: This was a retrospective, observational cohort study.

Setting: The study took place in a single-center tertiary teaching hospital in London, UK.

Advances in the diagnosis and management of acute vertigo.

Background: Patients presenting to the emergency department with acute vertigo pose a diagnostic challenge. While 'benign' peripheral vestibulopathy is the most common cause, the possibility of a posterior circulation stroke is paradoxically the most feared and missed diagnosis in the emergency department.

Objectives: This review will attempt to cover the significant advances in the ability to diagnose acute vertigo that have occurred in the last two decades.

Biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease: a practical guide.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), comprising ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), is a costly condition in terms of morbidity and healthcare utilization, with an increasing prevalence now approaching 1% in the Western world. Endoscopic assessment of IBD remains the gold standard for diagnosis, evaluation of treatment response and determination of post-operative recurrence, but is expensive and invasive. Biomarkers can facilitate non-invasive disease assessment, with C-reactive protein and faecal calprotectin as the most widely available biomarkers in current clinical practice.

Using clinical cases to guide healthcare.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has been the gold standard in healthcare for nearly three centuries and aims to assist physicians in providing the safest and most effective healthcare for their patients. The well-established hierarchy of evidence lists systematic reviews and meta-analyses at the top however these methodologies are not always appropriate or possible and in these instances case-control studies, case series and case reports are utilised to support EBP. Case-control studies allow simultaneous study of multiple risk factors and can be performed rapidly and relatively cheaply.