Citations

The authors conclude that single-item measures of pain, fatigue, and QOL can be incorporated into oncology clinical practice with positive implications for patients and physicians without increasing duration of visits or work burden.

This study is among the first to report on the use of audit and feedback to improve medical oncology practices specifically for the processes of care in NSCLC. A modest but important improvement was observed between 2006 and 2009.

Background: Appropriate management of well-differentiated thyroid cancer requires treating clinicians to have access to critical elements of the patient's presentation, surgical management, postoperative course, and pathologic assessment. Electronic health records (EHRs) provide an effective method for the storage and transmission of patient information, although most commercially available EHRs are not intended to be disease-specific. In addition, there are significant challenges for the sharing of relevant clinical information when providers involved in the care of a patient with thyroid cancer are not connected by a common EHR. In 2012, the American Thyroid Association (ATA) defined the critical elements for optimal interclinician communication in a position paper entitled, “The Essential Elements of Interdisciplinary Communication of Perioperative Information for Patients Undergoing Thyroid Cancer Surgery.” Summary: We present a field-by-field comparison of the ATA's essential elements as applied to three contemporary electronic reporting systems: the Thyroid Surgery e-Form from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), the Alberta WebSMR from the University of Calgary, and the Thyroid Cancer Care Collaborative (TCCC). The MSKCC e-form fulfills 21 of 32 intraoperative fields and includes an additional 14 fields not specifically mentioned in the ATA's report. The Alberta WebSMR fulfills 45 of 82 preoperative and intraoperative fields outlined by the ATA and includes 13 additional fields. The TCCC fulfills 117 of 120 fields outlined by the ATA and includes 23 additional fields. Conclusions: Effective management of thyroid cancer is a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary effort. The patient information that factors into clinical decisions about thyroid cancer is complex. For these reasons, EHRs are particularly favorable for the management of patients with thyroid cancer. The MSKCC Thyroid Surgery e-Form, the Alberta WebSMR, and the TCCC each meet all of the general recommendations for effective reporting of the specific domains that they cover in the management of thyroid cancer, as recommended by the ATA. However, the TCCC format is the most comprehensive. The TCCC is a new Web-based disease-specific database to enhance communication of patient information between clinicians in a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant manner. We believe the easy-to-use TCCC format will enhance clinician communication while providing portability of thyroid cancer information for patients.

AbstractThis study was designed to determine whether treatment with erythropoietin (EPO) could protect cerebral microvasculature against the pathological consequences of endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase uncoupling. Wild‐type and GTP cyclohydrolase I (GTPCH‐I)‐deficient hph1 mice were administered EPO (1000 U/kg/day, s.c., 3 days). Cerebral microvessels of hph1 mice demonstrated reduced tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) bioavailability, increased production of superoxide anions and impaired endothelial NO signaling. Treatment of hph1 mice with EPO attenuated the levels of 7,8‐dihydrobiopterin, the oxidized product of BH4, and significantly increased the ratio of BH4 to 7,8‐dihydrobiopterin. Moreover, EPO decreased the levels of superoxide anions and increased NO bioavailability in cerebral microvessels of hph1 mice. Attenuated oxidation of BH4 and inhibition of endothelial NO synthase uncoupling were explained by the increased expression of antioxidant proteins, manganese superoxide dismutase, and catalase. The protective effects of EPO observed in cerebral microvessels of hph1 mice were also observed in GTPCH‐I siRNA‐treated human brain microvascular endothelial cells exposed to EPO (1 U/mL or 10 U/mL; 3 days). Our results suggest that EPO might protect the neurovascular unit against oxidative stress by restoring bioavailability of BH4 and endothelial NO in the cerebral microvascular endothelium. image We demonstrate that treatment with erythropoietin (EPO) could protect cerebral microvasculature against the pathological consequences of endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase uncoupling. Our results suggest that EPO might protect the neurovascular unit against oxidative stress by restoring bioavailability of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) and endothelial nitric oxide.

The advent of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology creates new opportunities for transplant-based therapeutic strategies. The potential for clinical translation is currently hindered by the risk of dysregulated cell growth. Pluripotent stem cells reprogrammed by three-factor (Sox2, Klf, and Oct4) and four-factor (Sox2, Klf, Oct4, and c-Myc) strategies result in the capacity for teratogenic growth from residual pluripotent progeny upon in vivo transplantation. However, these pluripotent stem cells also have a stage-specific hypersensitivity to DNA-damaging agents that may allow separation of lineage-specific therapeutic subpopulation of cells. We aimed to demonstrate the selective effect of DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor, etoposide, in eliminating pluripotent cells in the early cardiac progenitor population thus decreasing the effect of teratoma formation. Immunodeficient murine hearts were infarcted and received implantation of a therapeutic dose of cardiac progenitors derived from partially differentiated iPSCs. Etoposide-treated cell implantation reduced mass formation in the intracardiac and extracardiac chest cavity compared with the same dose of iPSC-derived cardiac progenitors in the control untreated group. In vivo bioluminescence imaging confirmed the localization and engraftment of transplanted cells in the myocardium postinjection in both groups. Comparatively, the equivalent cell population without etoposide treatment demonstrated a greater incidence and size of teratoma formation. Hence, pretreatment with genotoxic etoposide significantly lowered the threat of teratogenicity by purging the contaminating pluripotent cells, establishing an adjunctive therapy to further harness the clinical value of iPSC-derived cardiac regeneration.

Giant cell arteritis ( GCA ) is a medium and large‐vessel vasculitis, which is an important cause of secondary headache in older adults. While GCA has a classic presentation occurring after the age of 50, atypical presentations (eg, fever of unknown origin, cough, low or normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate) may lead to a delay in diagnosis. The topography of vascular involvement has implications for disease‐related complications, which can result in neurologic disease at multiple levels of the nervous system. The most feared complication, vision loss, fortunately becomes uncommon after initiation of corticosteroids. Corticosteroid treatment should not be withheld while waiting the results of a temporal artery biopsy ( TAB ), which remains the gold standard for GCA diagnosis. Newer diagnostic modalities, including ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography can play an important role in directing treatment in cases with negative TAB . After successful control of the disorder, patients should be gradually tapered off corticosteroids, with careful monitoring using both clinical and laboratory parameters to assess for relapse. Corticosteroid‐related treatment complications are not uncommon in GCA . There is mixed evidence for use of adjunct corticosteroid‐sparing agents (eg, methotrexate), although these should be initiated in the setting of corticosteroid‐related morbidity and/or cases with frequent relapse.

SummaryAs invasive mucormycosis (IM) numbers rise, clinicians suspect prior voriconazole worsens IM incidence and severity, and believe combination anti‐fungal therapy improves IM survival. To compare the cumulative incidence (CI), severity and mortality of IM in eras immediately before and after the commercial availability of voriconazole all IM cases from 1995 to 2011 were analysed across four risk‐groups (hematologic/oncologic malignancy (H/O), stem cell transplantation (SCT), solid organ transplantation (SOT) and other), and two eras, E1 (1995–2003) and E2, (2004–2011). Of 101 IM cases, (79 proven, 22 probable): 30 were in E1 (3.3/year) and 71 in E2 (8.9/year). Between eras, the proportion with H/O or SCT rose from 47% to 73%, while ‘other’ dropped from 33% to 11% (P = 0.036). Between eras, the CI of IM did not significantly increase in SCT (P = 0.27) or SOT (P = 0.30), and patterns of anatomic location (P = 0.122) and surgical debridement (P = 0.200) were similar. Significantly more patients received amphotericin‐echinocandin combination therapy in E2 (31% vs. 5%, P = 0.01); however, 90‐day survival did not improve (54% vs. 59%, P = 0.67). Since 2003, the rise of IM reflects increasing numbers at risk, not prior use of voriconazole. Frequent combination of anti‐fungal therapy has not improved survival.

A 54-year-old woman was seen by her primary care internist for a general health maintenance visit. Her major chronic illness was immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) for which she had been treated with prednisone therapy for the past 15 years. Recent review of possible aetiologies of her chronic thrombocytopenia revealed infection with Helicobacter pylori. Successful eradication resulted in complete resolution of her thrombocytopenia within 2 months. She was weaned from steroid therapy and at 1-year follow-up, her platelet counts remained in the normal range. This case report summarises what is known about the association of H. pylori infection and ITP.

Cough and angioedema are well-known adverse reactions of ACE inhibitors. However, other adverse effects of upper airways such as postnasal drainage, rhinitis and nasal blockage, are less frequently recognised. These might share the same pathophysiological mechanism: bradykinin accumulation. We present two patients with ACE inhibitor-induced upper respiratory symptoms that improved after the discontinuation of ACE-inhibitors and substitution with angiotensin II receptor blockers. The incidence of these adverse events is not accurately known, since these are not required to be reported, but it is estimated to be low. This presents challenges to the physician and demonstrates the importance of keeping it as a differential diagnosis. Most physicians are aware of ACE inhibitor-induced cough but not of ACE inhibitor-induced nasal blockage, rhinitis or postnasal drainage. Identifying these can avoid unnecessary diagnostic tests and inappropriate treatment.