Perioperative outcomes and hospital reimbursement by type of radical prostatectomy: results from a privately insured patient population.

Background: With the increasing use of robotic surgery in the United States, the comparative effectiveness and differences in reimbursement of minimally invasive radical prostatectomy (MIRP) and open prostatectomy (ORP) in privately insured patients are unknown. Therefore, we sought to assess the differences in perioperative outcomes and hospital reimbursement in a privately insured patient population who were surgically treated for prostate cancer.

Methods: Using a large private insurance database, we identified 17,610 prostate cancer patients who underwent either MIRP or ORP from 2003 to 2010.

The automated clinical microbiology laboratory: fact or fantasy?

Automated chemistry laboratories dependent on robotic processes are the standard in both academic and large community hospital settings. Diagnostic microbiology manufacturers are betting that robotics will be used for specimen processing, plate reading, and organism identification in the near future. These systems are highly complex and have large footprints and hefty price tags.

Melatonin and its atheroprotective effects: a review.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic vascular disease in which oxidative stress and inflammation are commonly implicated as major causative factors. Identification of novel strategies that contribute to plaque stabilization or inhibition represents a continuing challenge for the medical community. The evidence from the last decade highlights that melatonin influences the cardiovascular system, but its mechanisms of action have not been definitively clarified.

Improving end-of-life care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The provision and awareness of the need for end-of-life care has expanded greatly in the past decade. The burgeoning older adult population is obviously a factor in the growth of both hospice and palliative care organizations. Additionally, public awareness and healthcare literacy campaigns have called attention to the plight of those dying in pain.

ACR appropriateness criteria® resectable rectal cancer.

The management of resectable rectal cancer continues to be guided by clinical trials and advances in technique. Although surgical advances including total mesorectal excision continue to decrease rates of local recurrence, the management of locally advanced disease (T3-T4 or N+) benefits from a multimodality approach including neoadjuvant concomitant chemotherapy and radiation. Circumferential resection margin, which can be determined preoperatively via MRI, is prognostic.

Can medication management coordinators help improve continuity of care after psychiatric hospitalization?

Objective: This demonstration project examined whether medication management coordinators enhanced continuity of care from inpatient facilities to an outpatient public mental health clinic.

Methods: From 2004 to 2008, patients (N=325) hospitalized with schizophrenia or schizoaffective or bipolar disorder enrolled in a medication management program before discharge or at their first clinic appointment. Medication management coordinators supplemented existing clinic practices by identifying recently hospitalized patients, providing inpatient and outpatient prescribing clinicians with patients' complete medication history, meeting with patients for six months postdischarge to assess clinical status and provide medication education, and advocating guideline-concordant prescribing.

Summary of the 6th Annual Bladder Cancer Think Tank: new directions in urologic research.

The 6th Annual Bladder Cancer Think Tank brought together a multidisciplinary group of clinicians, researchers, and representatives from the National Cancer Institute and Industry in an effort to advance bladder cancer research efforts. This year's meeting comprised panel discussions and research involving 5 separate working groups, including the Survivorship, Clinical Trials, Standardization of Care, Data Mining, and Translational Science working groups. In this manuscript, the accomplishments and objectives of the working groups are summarized.

The photoperiod, circadian regulation and chronodisruption: the requisite interplay between the suprachiasmatic nuclei and the pineal and gut melatonin.

The current scientific literature is replete with investigations providing information on the molecular mechanisms governing the regulation of circadian rhythms by neurons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the master circadian generator. Virtually every function in an organism changes in a highly regular manner during every 24-hour period. These rhythms are believed to be a consequence of the SCN, via neural and humoral means, regulating the intrinsic clocks that perhaps all cells in organisms possess.

Prognostic factors for failure after prostatectomy.

Several randomized studies have been completed in prostate cancer that show a benefit to immediate postoperative treatment in patients undergoing prostatectomy. In one of the studies, there was even a survival advantage. In spite of those positive findings, there has been some reluctance to uniformly offer adjuvant treatment to patients.

LATENT RANK CHANGE DETECTION FOR ANALYSIS OF SPLICE-JUNCTION MICROARRAYS WITH NONLINEAR EFFECTS.

Alternative splicing of gene transcripts greatly expands the functional capacity of the genome, and certain splice isoforms may indicate specific disease states such as cancer. Splice junction microarrays interrogate thousands of splice junctions, but data analysis is difficult and error prone because of the increased complexity compared to differential gene expression analysis. We present Rank Change Detection (RCD) as a method to identify differential splicing events based upon a straightforward probabilistic model comparing the over- or underrepresentation of two or more competing isoforms.

Taxonomy and imaging spectrum of small bowel obstruction after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.

Objective: For most patients with morbid obesity, bariatric surgery is the only effective method to achieve sustainable weight loss. Small bowel obstruction (SBO) after bariatric surgery is a major complication that affects postoperative course and management. Knowledge of the types of and imaging findings for SBO is essential to prompt diagnosis.

Differential expression of muscular dystrophy in diaphragm versus hindlimb muscles of mdx mice.

Contractile properties of diaphragm (DIA) from mdx and control mice were compared with those of hindlimb muscles [soleus (SOL) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL)] in vitro. Mice ranged in age from 2 weeks to 1.5 years.