Care across the gender spectrum: A transgender health curriculum in the Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship.

BACKGROUND: A lack of undergraduate medical curricula on providing healthcare to transgender and gender diverse (TGD) patients has contributed to significant health disparities for TGD communities. To address this gap, we designed and evaluated a novel curriculum to train Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) clerkship students in caring for TGD patients. METHODS: Following Kern's 6-step method for curriculum development, we created a two-part curriculum on TGD healthcare topics - an online module on gender-affirming care, followed by a series of interactive cases on TGD-specific health topics. Undergraduate medical students completing their core OB/GYN clerkships at a university academic medical center (January-December 2021) were invited to complete this curriculum. Participants completed pre/post assessment surveys to assess their experience caring for TGD patients, as well as a scored knowledge assessment before and after completing the curriculum. RESULTS: Sixty-five students participated in this curricular assessment. Prior to completing the module, 45% agreed that they had received adequate TGD health training. Following module completion, students reported increased comfort in caring for transgender patients (49.2% vs. 81.5%; p < .001) and endorsed an improved fund of knowledge of both healthcare maintenance for TGD patients (61.5% vs. 100%; p < .001) and gender affirming medical therapies (60.0% vs. 96.9%; p < .001). Knowledge scores increased from a mean of 9.65 (1.81) to 12.5 (2.20) out of 15 (p < .001). In post-assessment surveys, 95% of participants agreed that the module was helpful for their learning. Qualitatively, students suggested longitudinal integration of TGD-topics into the pre-clinical curriculum, and expanded opportunities to practice patient counseling. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study support the need for student education on TGD health. Integration of interactive, case-based TGD-care curricula into clinical training may increase medical students' knowledge and comfort in caring for TGD patients. Ongoing efforts to integrate TGD health training into undergraduate medical student curricula are necessary.

Patterns of First Recurrence in African American Patients with High Grade Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study is to compare the distribution of anatomic sites of first recurrence in African American (AA) patients with ovarian carcinoma compared to Caucasians. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with high-grade epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or peritoneal carcinoma from 2007 to 2013 were identified. Patterns of recurrence were compared for AA and Caucasian patients. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared. RESULTS: A total of 238 patients were included - 210 Caucasians and 28 AAs. At a follow-up time of 28 months, AAs were more likely to have multiple anatomic sites of recurrence rather than a single site when compared to Caucasians (63.6 vs. 35.5%, p = 0.01). Time to first recurrence was shorter for AA patients (12 vs. 18 months, p < 0.01). PFS and OS did not differ. AA patients with multiple sites of first recurrence had a significantly shorter OS than Caucasian patients with multiple sites of first recurrence (24 vs. 30 months, p = 0.022). CONCLUSION: Patterns of first recurrence differ between AAs and Caucasians. AAs have shorter times to first recurrence and are more likely to have multiple anatomic sites involved. AA patients with multiple sites of recurrence have a shorter OS than Caucasian patients with multiple sites.

Management of early stage, high-risk endometrial carcinoma: preoperative and surgical considerations.

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the developed world. Most cases are diagnosed at an early stage and have low-grade histology, portending an overall excellent prognosis. There exists a subgroup of patients with early, high-risk disease, whose management remains controversial, as current data is clouded by inclusion of early stage tumors with different high-risk features for recurrence, unstandardized protocols for surgical staging, and an evolving staging system by which we are grouping these patients. Here, we present preoperative and intraoperative considerations that should be taken into account when planning surgical management for this population of patients.

Carbon monoxide inhibits apoptosis during cold storage and protects kidney grafts donated after cardiac death.

Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury remains as a serious deleterious factor in kidney transplantation (KTx). We hypothesized that carbon monoxide (CO), an endogenous potent cytoprotective molecule, inhibits hypothermia-induced apoptosis of kidney grafts. Using the rat KTx model mimicking the conditions of donation after cardiac death (DCD) as well as nontransplantable human kidney grafts, this study examined effects of CO in preservation solution in improving the quality of marginal kidney grafts. After cardiac cessation, rat kidneys underwent 40 min warm ischemia (WI) and 24 h cold storage (CS) in control UW or UW containing CO (CO-UW). At the end of CS, kidney grafts in control UW markedly increased mitochondrial porin release into the cytosol and resulted in increased cleaved caspase-3 and PARP expression. In contrast, grafts in CO-UW had significantly reduced mitochondrial breakdown and caspase pathway activation. After KTx, recipient survival significantly improved with CO-UW with less TUNEL(+) cells and reduced mRNA upregulation for proinflammatory mediators (IL-6, TNF-α, iNOS). Furthermore, when nontransplantable human kidney grafts were stored in CO-UW for 24 h, graft PARP expression, TUNEL(+) cells, and proinflammatory mediators were less than those in control UW. CO in UW inhibited hypothermia-induced apoptosis and significantly improved kidney graft function and outcomes of KTx.