Ab-Externo MicroShunt versus Trabeculectomy in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma:5-Year Safety Results from a Randomized, Multicenter Study.

Purpose: To compare the long-term safety of MicroShunt implantation with trabeculectomy in eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Methods: This was a 3-year observational extension of a 2-year prospective randomized trial comparing clinical outcomes of MicroShunt implantation with trabeculectomy, both augmented with mitomycin C. Adverse events (AEs), intraocular pressure (IOP), and IOP-lowering medication use were recorded 36, 48, and 60 months after initial randomization.

The effect of 0.5 mg dose of colchicine on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction: An updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Inflammation plays a critical role in the progression of atherosclerosis, and the anti-inflammatory effects on clinical outcomes of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are still uncertain.

Objectives: We aimed to study the effects of a 0.5 mg dose of colchicine on clinical outcomes following AMI.

Depression symptom level associates with negative and positive affect and cognitive dysfunction during a smoking cessation quit attempt.

Introduction: Individuals with elevated depression symptoms experience low positive affect, high negative affect, and cognitive dysfunction. Affective and cognitive disruptions also occur during cigarette abstinence. This study examined whether depression symptom levels associate with affect and cognitive dysfunction during a cigarette quit attempt.

Comparison of Underlying Risk of Developing and Dying from Lung Cancer in Screened Populations.

Background: Trial participants are typically healthier than the general population. Differences in underlying characteristics between the population undergoing lung cancer screening (LCS) and LCS trial participants may alter the benefits of LCS.

Research Question: Does the risk of developing and dying from lung cancer differ between trial participants and the general population?

Study Design And Methods: Using data from the i) North Carolina Lung Screening Registry (NCLSR), ii) 2022 Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Lung Cancer Screening Module, and iii) National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), we estimated the 5-year probability of developing and dying from lung cancer if not screened using publicly available macros.

HIV-related mortality time trends among children and young adolescents on antiretroviral therapy by age, treatment duration, and region: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis.

Background: Past cohort studies have examined mortality among children and young adolescents (aged 0-14 years) who have received antiretroviral therapy (ART), but no systematic reviews have been undertaken to synthesise these findings. Our study aims to provide the most comprehensive global estimates of paediatric mortality among children and adolescents receiving ART.

Methods: For this systematic review and meta-regression analysis, we searched PubMed and Embase from Jan 1, 1990 to July 31, 2024 for studies reporting mortality among children and young adolescents living with HIV who were on ART.

Safety, adherence, and compliance in a RCT of supervised exercise training among persons with multiple sclerosis who have slowed cognitive processing speed.

Background: Safety, adherence, and compliance have been poorly-characterized in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of exercise training within multiple sclerosis (MS) research. The MoXFo initiative recently proposed standard criteria for defining exercise safety, adherence, and compliance, yet these criteria have infrequently been applied within an exercise training RCT involving people with MS.

Objective: This study applied published criteria for characterizing safety, adherence, and compliance within a RCT that compared 12-weeks of supervised treadmill walking exercise (TMWX) training (intervention condition) with 12-weeks of stretching-and-toning (active control condition) among fully-ambulatory persons with MS who demonstrated slowed cognitive processing speed (CPS).

Collective memory from a cognitive perspective.

Although they have studied individual memory for almost a century, only recently have cognitive psychologists begun to study collective memory, a surprisingly lacunae given the centrality of collective memory in shaping collective identity and social action. The relation of this recent cognitive work on collective memory to the larger more social science- and humanities-oriented studies of collective memory is discussed. Current cognitive research is divided into bottom-up and top-down approaches, and examples of each approach are provided and discussed in term of their contribution to the larger effort of understanding the dynamics of collective memory.

Who's at the table? Disaster committee composition and policy pathways after Hurricane Sandy.

While scholars argue that resident participation in disaster recovery policymaking matters, few research teams have captured the composition of disaster recovery committees after shock. This study examines how the composition of disaster recovery committees influenced recovery plans following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Analyzing all 47 NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program committees, we catalogued professional and demographic traits of members and conducted quantitative text analysis on their recovery plans.

Neural substrates for the encoding of the contextual tonal alternation: An fNIRS study of Mandarin third-tone sandhi in word production.

Phonological alternations are common in speech, but the neurocognitive mechanisms for their encoding during word production remain unclear. Mandarin Tone 3 sandhi is an example of phonological alternation, whereby the Tone 3 (T3), a low-dipping tone, changes to a Tone 2 (T2)-like rising tone when followed by another T3. Previous research indicates that both the underlying tonal category and the surface tonal variant are activated during T3 sandhi word production, but the neural substrates of these sub-processes remain unclear.

Understanding lived experiences with KCNQ2 developmental and epileptic encephalopathy.

Background: KCNQ2 developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (KCNQ2-DEE) is a rare pediatric disorder characterized by seizures and neurodevelopmental impairments. Parent- and healthcare professional (HCP)-reported outcomes regarding the impacts of seizures and neurodevelopmental impairments may guide the design of clinically meaningful KCNQ2-DEE outcome measures.

Methods: Parents of children with KCNQ2-DEE (N = 53) and HCPs with KCNQ2-DEE expertise (N = 2) participated in qualitative interviews exploring signs, symptoms, and impacts of KCNQ2-DEE, and how varying KCNQ2-DEE phenotypes affect child development.

A fall too far: Trauma outcomes in the uninsured fall patient.

Background: Falls are a leading cause of nonfatal injury among older adults. Although most older adults are covered by Medicare, a subset remains uninsured. This study evaluates the impact of insurance status on outcomes following fall-related injuries among older adults.

A two-step training program for utilizing interpreters during patient interactions: Advancing student pharmacists communication skills.

Objective: To develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a two-step training pilot program in the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum to prepare students to utilize medical language interpreters during patient interactions.

Methods: The Advanced Communications and Counseling Skills course was a two-step program developed to train professional year two (P2) student pharmacists to effectively utilize interpreters during patient encounters. Training included completion of virtual modules and in-person standardized patient encounters where the use of an interpreter was required to counsel.

Advancing preclinical biology for Ewing Sarcoma: an international effort.

Ewing sarcoma (EwS) is an aggressive bone and soft tissue cancer affecting adolescents and young adults. In vitro and in vivo models of EwS have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of EwS biology and essential in evaluating potential therapies, particularly for metastatic or relapsed disease where effective treatment options remain limited. Through an international collaborative effort between the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Bone Tumor Committee and the Euro Ewing Consortium (EEC), we review the current landscape of preclinical modeling used in EwS research encompassing both in vitro (cell lines and tumor organoids) and in vivo (mouse and non-mammalian xenografts) model systems.

Anti-tumor activity of trastuzumab deruxtecan in pediatric solid tumors with variable HER2 expression.

Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) is a HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) with efficacy across adult cancers exhibiting variable HER2 expression. Prior studies demonstrating HER2 expression in osteosarcoma (OS) motivated a clinical trial of T-DXd in pediatric and adolescent/young adults with OS but was terminated early for inactivity. We evaluated the activity of T-DXd using OS patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models and found a 22% objective response rate despite no detectable HER2 expression across PDXs tested.

Mental Health Care Provider Experiences of Remote Measurement-Based Care Rollout in an Urban Safety-Net Psychiatry Department: Three-Site Mixed Methods Hypothesis-Generating Implementation Study.

Background: Measurement-based care (MBC), including remote MBC, is increasingly being considered or implemented for mental health treatment and outcomes monitoring in routine clinical care. However, little is known about the health equity implications in real-world practice or the impact on patient-provider relationships in lower-resource systems that offer mental health treatment for diverse patients.

Objective: This hypothesis-generating study examined the drivers of MBC implementation outcomes, the implications for health equity, and the impact of MBC on therapeutic alliance (TA).

Exploring Named Entity Recognition Potential and the Value of Tailored Natural Language Processing Pipelines for Radiology, Pathology, and Progress Notes in Clinical Decision Support: Quantitative Study.

Background: Clinical notes house rich, yet unstructured, patient data, making analysis challenging due to medical jargon, abbreviations, and synonyms causing ambiguity. This complicates real-time extraction for decision support tools.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the data curation, technology, and workflow of the named entity recognition (NER) pipeline, a component of a broader clinical decision support tool that identifies key entities using NER models and classifies these entities as present or absent in the patient through an NER assertion model.

Pyrimidine Nucleos(t)ide Therapy in Patients With Thymidine Kinase 2 Deficiency: A Multicenter Retrospective Chart Review Study.

Background And Objectives: Thymidine kinase 2 deficiency (TK2d) is an ultra-rare, progressive, and life-threatening mitochondrial myopathy caused by pathogenic variants of the thymidine kinase 2 gene. Patients often lose the ability to walk, eat, and breathe independently. There are no approved therapies; however, preclinical studies of pyrimidine nucleos(t)ide therapy have shown promising results.

Association Between Disability and Life Satisfaction, Participation, and Psychological Health: A Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems Study.

Background And Objectives: Moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in disability across physical, social, and cognitive domains. The Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE), which evaluates global function, is the most frequently used TBI outcome measure. However, the GOSE may not capture all domains of recovery.

Staff Perspectives on Normalizing and Sustaining Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes Monitoring at Six US Health Systems.

Purpose: We assessed the perspectives of staff from six health systems to understand how electronic Symptom Management (eSyM), an eSyM program that supports patients during chemotherapy and after surgery, is normalized and sustained.

Methods: Starting in 2019, we integrated eSyM into routine clinical practice and assessed its effectiveness using a cluster randomized stepped-wedge trial design. At least 1 year after implementation, we administered cross-sectional surveys to elicit the perspectives of physicians, nurses, advanced practice providers (APPs), hospital administrators, information technology, and research staff using the Normalization MeAsure Development (NoMAD) and the Clinical Sustainability Assessment Tool (CSAT).

Changes in Cost of Guideline-Concordant Cancer Treatment: Observations and Implications.

Purpose: Cost of cancer care in the United States is substantial. Previous studies have explored pricing comparisons at the level of individual cancer drugs but not that of clinical indications. This study evaluates cost patterns for providing the best guideline-concordant therapy for solid tumor treatment indications.

Palliative Care Consultation and End-of-Life Care Among Patients With Esophageal Cancer and Inpatient Mortality.

Purpose: Palliative care (PC) is an important facet of treatment for patients with advanced esophageal cancer because of symptom burden, low overall 5-year survival rate, and significant impact on quality of life. This patient population experiences high hospitalization burden. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of PC on end-of-life (EoL) hospitalizations and evaluate racial differences in EoL care.

PAX3-FOXO1 Drives Targetable Cell State-Dependent Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Rhabdomyosarcoma.

PAX3-FOXO1, an oncogenic transcription factor, drives a particularly aggressive subtype of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) by enforcing gene expression programs that support malignant cell states. Here, we showed that PAX3-FOXO1+ RMS cells exhibit altered pyrimidine metabolism and increased dependence on enzymes involved in de novo pyrimidine synthesis, including dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). Consequently, PAX3-FOXO1+ cells displayed increased sensitivity to inhibition of DHFR by the chemotherapeutic drug methotrexate, and this dependence was rescued by provision of pyrimidine nucleotides.

Should Surgeons Unionize? What Would Hippocrates Say?

This article explores the evolving landscape of surgical practice and the potential need for unionization among surgeons. Historically, surgeons were too consumed by their demanding workloads to consider collective bargaining. However, shifts in health care employment structures-where hospitals and health systems increasingly govern surgeons' work conditions-have led to discussions about unionization.