Insurance Denials and Patient Treatment in a Large Academic Radiation Oncology Center.

Importance: Insurance barriers to cancer care can cause significant patient and clinician burden.

Objective: To investigate the association of insurance denial with changes in technique, dose, and time to delivery of radiation oncology treatment.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this single-institution cohort analysis, data were collected from patients with payer-denied authorization for radiation therapy (RT) from November 1, 2021, to December 8, 2022.

African-specific alleles modify risk for asthma at the 17q12-q21 locus in African Americans.

Background: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children, occurring at higher frequencies and with more severe disease in children with African ancestry.

Methods: We tested for association with haplotypes at the most replicated and significant childhood-onset asthma locus at 17q12-q21 and asthma in European American and African American children. Following this, we used whole-genome sequencing data from 1060 African American and 100 European American individuals to identify novel variants on a high-risk African American-specific haplotype.

Prospective Clinical Evaluation of Integrating a Radiation Anatomist for Contouring in Routine Radiation Treatment Planning.

Purpose: A radiation anatomist was trained and integrated into clinical practice at a multi-site academic center. The primary objective of this quality improvement study was to determine whether a radiation anatomist improves the quality of organ-at-risk (OAR) contours, and secondarily to determine the impact on efficiency in the treatment planning process.

Methods And Materials: From March to August 2020, all patients undergoing computed tomography-based radiation planning at 2 clinics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center were assigned using an "every other" process to either (1) OAR contouring by a radiation anatomist (intervention) or (2) contouring by the treating physician (standard of care).

Evaluation of the Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Test Ag Card for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by a local public health district with a rural population.

SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR, the gold standard for diagnostic testing, may not be readily available or logistically applicable for routine COVID-19 testing in many rural communities in the United States. In this validation study, we compared the BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Test Ag Card with SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR in 214 participants who sought COVID-19 testing from a local public health district in Idaho, USA. The median age of participants was 35 and 82.

Addressing Service Recovery Practice With Radiation Oncology Frontline Managers: A Project Brief.

The relationship between patient satisfaction, care compliance, and treatment outcomes suggests patients who report dissatisfaction perceive receipt of suboptimal care. Patient satisfaction plays a role in defining quality of care, affecting institutional reimbursement and reputation capital. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methodology approach, this study explored frontline management's role in effective service recovery, actively addressing instances of patient dissatisfaction to improve the overall patient experience.

Impact of Telemedicine on Patient Satisfaction and Perceptions of Care Quality in Radiation Oncology.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed cancer care with the rapid expansion of telemedicine, but given the limited use of telemedicine in oncology, concerns have been raised about the quality of care being delivered. We assessed the patient experience with telemedicine in routine radiation oncology practice to determine satisfaction, quality of care, and opportunities for optimization.

Patients And Methods: Patients seen within a multistate comprehensive cancer center for prepandemic office visits and intrapandemic telemedicine visits in December 2019 through June 2020 who completed patient experience questionnaires were evaluated.

Expression quantitative trait locus fine mapping of the 17q12-21 asthma locus in African American children: a genetic association and gene expression study.

Background: African ancestry is associated with a higher prevalence and greater severity of asthma than European ancestries, yet genetic studies of the most common locus associated with childhood-onset asthma, 17q12-21, in African Americans have been inconclusive. The aim of this study was to leverage both the phenotyping of the Children's Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) birth cohort consortium, and the reduced linkage disequilibrium in African Americans, to fine map the 17q12-21 locus.

Methods: We first did a genetic association study and meta-analysis using 17q12-21 tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for childhood-onset asthma in 1613 European American and 870 African American children from the CREW consortium.

A decade of research on the 17q12-21 asthma locus: Piecing together the puzzle.

Chromosome 17q12-21 remains the most highly replicated and significant asthma locus. Genotypes in the core region defined by the first genome-wide association study correlate with expression of 2 genes, ORM1-like 3 (ORMDL3) and gasdermin B (GSDMB), making these prime candidate asthma genes, although recent studies have implicated gasdermin A (GSDMA) distal to and post-GPI attachment to proteins 3 (PGAP3) proximal to the core region as independent loci. We review 10 years of studies on the 17q12-21 locus and suggest that genotype-specific risks for asthma at the proximal and distal loci are not specific to early-onset asthma and mediated by PGAP3, ORMDL3, and/or GSDMA expression.

Analysis of Azithromycin Monohydrate as a Single or a Combinatorial Therapy in a Mouse Model of Severe Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neurodegenerative autosomal recessive disorder characterized by the loss of α-motor neurons. A variety of molecular pathways are being investigated to elevate SMN protein expression in SMA models and in the clinic. One of these approaches involves stabilizing the SMNΔ7 protein by inducing translational read-through.

Optimization of Morpholino Antisense Oligonucleotides Targeting the Intronic Repressor Element1 in Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Loss of Survival Motor Neuron-1 (SMN1) causes Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a devastating neurodegenerative disease. SMN2 is a nearly identical copy gene; however SMN2 cannot prevent disease development in the absence of SMN1 since the majority of SMN2-derived transcripts are alternatively spliced, encoding a truncated, unstable protein lacking exon 7. Nevertheless, SMN2 retains the ability to produce low levels of functional protein.

Disparity in Patients' Self-Reported and Charted Medication Allergy Information.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare current adverse drug/allergy reaction reporting in patient electronic medical records/charts against information gathered during patient interviews in the emergency department. Our hypothesis was that current methods for allergy reporting results in significant discrepancy between what is documented and the actual allergy history upon interviewing the patient.

Methods: The study was conducted between December 2011 and April 2012 in an academic emergency department.

Trauma training course: innovative teaching models and methods for training health workers in active conflict zones of Eastern Myanmar.

Background: Myanmar has struggled through decades of internal conflict, which has negatively impacted the country's health outcomes. Recent government changes have brought hope and reduced conflict. The ethnic minority groups have suffered the brunt of the health consequences and reside in regions that lack health infrastructure, resources, and providers.

A 9-year-old boy with severe diphtherial infection and cardiac complications.

The incidence of diphtheria has decreased since the introduction of an effective vaccine. However, in countries with low vaccination rates it has now become a re-emerging disease. Complications from diphtheria commonly include upper airway obstruction and cardiac complications.

A 5-year-old boy with miliary and osteoarticular tuberculosis.

Osteoarticular involvement is one manifestation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB). We present a 5-year-old Burmese boy with 10 months of right hip pain and decreased range of motion. The patient also had low-grade fever, cough and decreased appetite.

Secondary mapping of lymphatic filariasis in Haiti-definition of transmission foci in low-prevalence settings.

To eliminate Lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that any area with infection prevalence greater than or equal to 1% (denoted by presence of microfilaremia or antigenemia) should receive mass drug administration (MDA) of antifilarial drugs for at least five consecutive rounds. Areas of low-antigen prevalence (< 1%) are thought to pose little risk for continued transmission of LF. Five low-antigen prevalence communes in Haiti, characterized as part of a national survey, were further assessed for transmission in this study.

A 12-day-old male newborn with extensive vesicles and fever.

Neonatal varicella infection is a rare condition since vaccine introduction. The authors report the case of a 12-day-old male who presented with a fever and generalised vesicular eruption. The patient's mother had varicella infection 1 day before delivery without treatment.

A 6-year-old boy with fever, rash and severe pneumonia.

The authors report a 6-year-old boy with fever, rash and cough. He was diagnosed with severe measles pneumonia and admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit with severe dyspnoea 8 days after symptom onset. He received intravenous antibiotics and high dose vitamin A.

Improving teamwork and communication in trauma care through in situ simulations.

Objectives: Teamwork and communication often play a role in adverse clinical events. Due to the multidisciplinary and time-sensitive nature of trauma care, the effects of teamwork and communication can be especially pronounced in the treatment of the acutely injured patient. Our hypothesis was that an in situ trauma simulation (ISTS) program (simulating traumas in the trauma bay with all members of the trauma team) could be implemented in an emergency department (ED) and that this would improve teamwork and communication measured in the clinical setting.

Nosocomial Infections among Pediatric Patients with Neoplastic Diseases.

Background. Pediatric patients with neoplastic diseases are more likely to develop nosocomial infections (NIs). NIs may prolong their hospital stay, and increase morbidity and mortality.

Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy in HIV-Infected Children: A Case Report and Literature Review.

We report a case of a perinatally HIV-infected patient aged 9 years, who presented with right-sided hemiplegia. His initial CD4 T-cell was of 0.21% (4 cells/muL) and plasma HIV RNA virus of 185 976 copies/mL (log 5.

The prevalence of HIV infection in women attending antenatal clinics in Fiji.

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is an increasing concern in the South Pacific. We estimate, based on reported figures, that the prevalence of HIV infection in women attending antenatal clinics in Fiji in 2003 was 0.04%.

Spatial clustering of filarial transmission before and after a Mass Drug Administration in a setting of low infection prevalence.

BACKGROUND: In the global program for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) longitudinal assessment of the prevalence of microfilaremia and antigenemia is recommended to monitor the effect of mass treatment on transmission. Additional monitoring tools such as entomologic and antibody methods may be useful in identifying residual foci of infection. In this study, we characterized serologic markers of infection and exposure spatially both before and after mass treatment, in an area of initial low Wuchereria bancrofti infection prevalence.

The influence of educational preparation on evaluations of applicants for radiation therapy positions: a policy-capturing experiment.

Purpose: To determine whether radiation therapy department administrators prefer to hire graduates with certain types of educational preparation. The study was undertaken by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists as part of a larger project to determine educational requirements for radiation therapists.

Methods And Materials: Forty-one department administrators evaluated applications from a pool of 984 hypothetical applicants for the position of radiation therapist.