Citations

AbstractWith increasing opportunities for minors to undergo genomic testing, factors influencing young people's decision stability and instability regarding genomic testing are unclear. This interpretive description study examines decision stability when adolescents (13–17) and young adults (18–21) decide whether to learn genetic testing results. Adolescents and young adults enrolled in a clinical trial chose whether they wanted to learn genetic testing results and could modify their decisions during a study visit or 2 weeks later. A purposive sample of clinical trial participants was invited to participate in an interview exploring their decision preferences, confidence level, and factors impacting decision stability. Twenty‐two participants chose to learn all (n = 7), some (n = 7), or no genetic test results (n = 8). Perceptions of the impact of personal genetic information on one's quality of life and sense of reproductive goals and responsibilities were driving factors for people who chose to learn no or some genetic results, while curiosity influenced those who chose to learn all. Prior health and healthcare experiences and others' influence also factored into decision‐making about receiving results. Decision stability varied among individuals but increased over time and was positively influenced by parents, baseline decision confidence, and fear of missing out on the opportunity to learn genetic information. Participants felt favorably about the opportunity to change their decision 2 weeks after the study visit. Among study participants, decision stability was high, as was satisfaction with decisions regarding how much personal genetic information to learn. The results suggest that adolescent and young adult genetic research participants may experience high decision stability and confidence in making choices regarding personal genetic testing, especially when a window of opportunity for change is available. Researchers and clinicians should consider the benefits and challenges of offering multiple checkpoints to bolster decision stability.

Abstract Background Patient age can impact the safety and efficacy of ulcerative colitis (UC) treatments. Etrasimod is an oral, once daily (QD), selective sphingosine 1-phosphate1,4,5 receptor modulator for the treatment of moderately to severely active UC. Here, we evaluate the impact of age on etrasimod safety and efficacy in patients with UC in the phase 3 ELEVATE UC clinical program. Methods Data were pooled from ELEVATE UC 52 and ELEVATE UC 12 in patients receiving etrasimod 2 mg QD or placebo. Proportions and incidence rates (IRs) per 100 patient-years of treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) were stratified by age (<40, 40-59, and ≥60 years). With the same age stratifications, efficacy was evaluated in patients with baseline Modified Mayo scores of 5-9 and 4-9 for the primary efficacy endpoint (clinical remission) and secondary efficacy endpoints. Results Overall, 787 patients were enrolled (<40 years, n = 420 [53.4%]; 40-59 years, n = 276 [35.1%]; and ≥60 years, n = 91 [11.6%]). Arthralgia, fatigue, and hypertension IRs were higher in older patients, irrespective of treatment. Serious AEs and AEs leading to treatment discontinuation were low and consistent across age groups. Significantly more patients receiving etrasimod 2 mg QD vs placebo achieved efficacy endpoints, regardless of age. Conclusions The safety profile of etrasimod 2 mg QD in the ELEVATE UC population was consistent across age groups, with no change in the incidence of AEs. Patients receiving etrasimod vs placebo showed significant clinical benefit, regardless of age. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03945188; NCT03996369.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review and synthesize the evidence surrounding factors impacting women rising to leadership positions in critical care medicine (CCM). DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library from 2011 to 2024. STUDY SELECTION: Articles included were cohort studies, surveys, and interviews addressing women physicians practicing in CCM and related fields of academic medicine. DATA EXTRACTION: Causes of not rising to leadership among women were extracted and tabulated along with other pertinent study characteristics. DATA SYNTHESIS: The database searches generated 892 records. Thirty-nine studies met inclusion criteria for data extraction. The included articles represented seven countries, with 30 studies originating in the United States. Only two studies were from CCM, whereas others addressed leadership in other academic and clinical fields of medicine, medical journals, and societies and medical faculty. Twenty-six studies were qualitative, observational studies; five were survey based and eight included interviews. Using thematic analysis, the following five domains emerged: pipeline issues, lack of opportunities, lack of self-efficacy, lack of mentorship, and sustaining women in leadership. CONCLUSIONS: While the satisfaction rates of women in CCM were high, challenges remain for women to obtain leadership opportunities. A culture of support could better nurture and sustain women in leadership roles. More CCM-focused gender bias research is needed. Future targets for interventions include gender bias training, awareness, and developing strategies to break through the cycle of gender preferential promotions in CCM.

INTRODUCTION: The recent US Food and Drug Administration approval of resmetirom for treating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis in patients necessitates patient selection for significant fibrosis or higher (≥F2). No existing vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) algorithm targets ≥F2. METHODS: The mAchine Learning ADvanceD fibrosis and rIsk metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis Novel predictor (ALADDIN) study addressed this gap by introducing a machine-learning-based web calculator that estimates the likelihood of significant fibrosis using routine laboratory parameters with and without VCTE. Our study included a training set of 827 patients, a testing set of 504 patients with biopsy-confirmed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease from 6 centers, and an external validation set of 1,299 patients from 9 centers. Five algorithms were compared using area under the curve (AUC) in the test set: ElasticNet, random forest, gradient boosting machines, XGBoost, and neural networks. The top 3 (random forest, gradient boosting machines, and XGBoost) formed an ensemble model. RESULTS: In the external validation set, the ALADDIN-F2-VCTE model, using routine laboratory parameters with VCTE (AUC 0.791, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.764–0.819), outperformed VCTE alone (0.745, 95% CI 0.717–0.772, P < 0.0001), FibroScan-aspartate aminotransferase (0.710, 0.679–0.748, P < 0.0001), and Agile-3 model (0.740, 0.710–0.770, P < 0.0001) regarding the AUC, decision curve analysis, and calibration. The ALADDIN-F2-Lab model, using routine laboratory parameters without VCTE, achieved an AUC of 0.706 (95% CI: 0.668–0.749) and outperformed Fibrosis-4, steatosis-associated fibrosis estimator, and LiverRisk scores. DISCUSSION: Along with the steatosis-associated fibrosis estimator model developed to target significant fibrosis or higher, ALADDIN-F2-VCTE (https://aihepatology.shinyapps.io/ALADDIN1) uniquely supports a refined noninvasive approach to patient selection for resmetirom without the need for liver biopsy. In addition, ALADDIN-F2-Lab (https://aihepatology.shinyapps.io/ALADDIN2) offers an effective alternative when VCTE is unavailable.

Importance Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST) has been associated with pathologic complete response (pCR) in up to 60% of breast cancers (BCs). The findings of this trial question the necessity of surgery. Objective To report preplanned 5-year efficacy outcomes evaluating radiotherapy alone without breast surgery in patients selected with image-guided vacuum assisted biopsy (VAB). Design, Setting, and Participants This single-arm, prospective, phase 2 nonrandomized clinical trial was conducted at 7 US medical centers and included women 40 years or older with cT1-2N0-1M0 ERBB2 -positive (formerly HER2 -positive) or triple-negative invasive BC who showed residual breast lesions after NST of less than 2 cm on imaging. Enrollment was from March 6, 2017, to November 9, 2021. Data analysis was from October to December 2024. Intervention Image-guided VAB of the tumor bed (9G with a minimum of 12 cores) was performed after standard NST. Patients with clinically node-negative disease at diagnosis and no residual cancer in the breast on post-NST VAB underwent whole-breast radiotherapy with a boost without breast or axillary surgery. Patients with initial documented nodal disease and a breast pCR on VAB underwent targeted axillary dissection, while those with residual cancer when undergoing VAB had standard breast and axillary surgery. Patients were monitored with physical examinations and mammography every 6 months. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome was ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence. Results Fifty patients (median [IQR] age, 62 [55-77] years) were enrolled and underwent post-NST VAB. Twenty-nine (58%) and 21 (42%) patients had ERBB2 -positive and triple-negative invasive BC, respectively. Breast pCR on VAB was identified in 31 patients (62%; 95% CI, 47.2%-75.34%), and axillary pCR was identified among all 8 patients with initial nodal metastases and breast pCR on VAB who underwent targeted axillary dissection. At a median follow-up of 55.4 (IQR, 44.0-63.5) months, the ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence rate was 0%, and disease-free and overall survival rates were 100% for patients without breast surgery. Conclusions and Relevance The results of this nonrandomized clinical trial that reported preplanned 5-year outcomes suggest that omission of breast surgery in select patients after NST may be feasible, with no recurrences seen. More confirmatory studies are necessary before this new approach alters surgical practice. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02945579