Publications by authors named "Dylan D Thomas"

Purpose: Imaging reporters have been widely employed in cancer research to monitor real-time tumor burden and metastatic spread. These tools offer a valuable approach for non-invasive imaging of tumor dynamics over time. With the established understanding that tumor immunology plays a critical role in cancer progression, it is essential to ensure that the chosen imaging reporters used to study tumor-immune interactions do not inadvertently elicit an immune response.

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Background: Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) antibiotic-laden bone cement (ALBC) is commonly used in total joint arthroplasty to treat and potentially prevent prosthetic joint infection (PJI). Multiple properties impact the elution characteristics of antibiotics from PMMA-based ALBC, including viscosity. What is not known is how medium-viscosity cement formulations affect antibiotic elution and how different cement products from different manufacturers compare regarding reaching the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antibiotics for common PJI-causing organisms in an in vitro setting.

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While primary bone malignancies make up just 0.2% of all cancers, osteosarcoma (OS) is the third most common cancer in adolescents. Due to its highly complex and heterogeneous tumor microenvironment (TME), OS has proven difficult to treat.

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Objective: Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) have unique metabolic properties which may improve insulin sensitivity (Si) and beta cell function but data in humans are limited. We conducted a 6-week clinical trial of MCT oil supplementation.

Methods: 22 subjects without diabetes (8 males, 14 females, mean ± standard error age 39±2.

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Objective: Electronic consultations (e-consults) are clinician-to-clinician communications that may obviate face-to-face specialist visits. E-consult programs have spread within the US and internationally despite limited data on outcomes. We conducted a systematic review of the recent peer-reviewed literature on the effect of e-consults on access, cost, quality, and patient and clinician experience and identified the gaps in existing research on these outcomes.

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Hyperinsulinemia is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes. Racial and ethnic minority populations are disproportionately affected by diabetes and obesity-related complications. This mini-review provides an overview of the genetic and environmental factors associated with hyperinsulinemia with a focus on racial and ethnic differences and its metabolic consequences.

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Objective: Weight-management medications (WMM) are recommended for the treatment of obesity. This study examined characteristics associated with initial receipt of WMM among eligible veterans in the first year following enrollment in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) MOVE! behavioral weight-management program.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of VHA patients with obesity or overweight and obesity-related comorbidities who enrolled in MOVE! from October 2013 to September 2016 (N = 153,939).

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Goals: To determine whether diabetic patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) treated with direct-acting antiviral agents have improved diabetes, accounting for change in both hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and diabetes medications, and whether any improvement was sustained.

Background: HCV infection is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, with improvement in glycemic control after eradication. There remains uncertainty about the durability and magnitude of this effect.

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Objective: Weight recidivism following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is common and is associated with recurrence of comorbidities. Studies with long-term follow-up of recidivism quantified by weight regain (WR) are lacking. A retrospective review of all RYGB at our center from 2004 to 2015 was performed to examine the effects of race and type 2 diabetes on WR following RYGB.

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Protein sparing therapies were developed to mitigate the harms associated with protein-calorie malnutrition and nitrogen losses induced by either acute illness or hypocaloric diets in patients with obesity. We review the development of protein sparing therapies in illness and obesity with a focus on the pioneering contributions of George Blackburn, MD, PhD. He recognized that protein-calorie malnutrition is a common and serious clinical condition and developed new approaches to its treatment in hospitalized patients.

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Objective: Lack of physician knowledge about transgender medicine is a barrier to care. An intervention with medical students changed attitudes about providing transgender medical care, but it is unknown whether at the level of postgraduate education an intervention could have a similar effect. We conducted such an intervention with resident-physicians.

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