Applicant-Fellow Virtual Sessions in Recruitment for Gastroenterology Fellowship.

BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, virtual interviews have become a norm for gastroenterology (GI) fellowship recruitment. Most interviews hold a session for applicant and current fellow interaction. There is wide variability of the sessions across programs. There are a paucity of data on the influence of these sessions on applicants' ranking of programs. AIMS: We aim to describe applicants' experiences and perceptions of virtual happy hours (i.e., applicant-fellow sessions) during the GI fellowship application process. METHODS: We surveyed applicants participating in the 2022 GI fellowship match cycle to understand their experience with virtual fellow-only happy hours. Mixed methods analyses were performed. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 68 (13.91%) applicants, of which, 75% reported that at least half of the interviews they attended had conducted a virtual, fellow-only happy hour. Most respondents preferred that the virtual happy hours should be conducted prior to the interview day (58%) and that breakout rooms with a smaller ratio of applicants to fellows are helpful (78%). The majority (87%) of respondents reported attending these sessions at least 75% of the time. Nearly half (44%) of respondents reported that these sessions influenced/altered their ranking decisions with respect to programs. CONCLUSION: Given the advantages associated with virtual interviews and their ongoing support by professional societies, the virtual platform is likely here to stay in future. Virtual fellow-only happy hours help provide a representation of the program's mission and when successfully implemented, can be leveraged to optimize recruitment and attract qualified, diverse candidates.

Liver transplantation for people of minoritised sexual and gender identities in the USA.

The number of people who report to be of minoritised sexual or gender identities in the USA, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexuality-diverse and gender-diverse identities, has been increasing in the past decade. This diverse and unique population continues to experience not only health disparities but also psychosocial, economic, and legal disparities in accessing and receiving health care, including liver transplantations. As liver transplantation is life-saving for people with end-stage liver disease, understanding the factors that can affect access to and quality of liver transplantation care in people of minoritised sexual and gender identities in the USA, including differential social supports, insurance coverage, and medical and psychiatric comorbidities, is crucial. Actions, such as collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data, implementing inclusive language, recognising implicit biases, building diverse teams, providing a safer environment, and supporting further research to understand the unique health challenges are needed to ensure equitable access to high-quality liver transplantation care for people of minoritised sexual and gender identities.

Quantitative assessment of portal hypertension with bi-parametric dual-frequency hepatic MR elastography in mouse models.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the potential of bi-parametric dual-frequency hepatic MR elastography (MRE) for predicting portal pressure (PP) in mouse models of portal hypertension (PHTN) with the presence of varying hepatic fibrosis. METHODS: We studied 73 wild-type male mice, including 22 mice with hepatic congestion, 20 mice with cholestatic liver injury, and 31 age-matched sham mice. Hepatic shear stiffness (SS) and volumetric strain (VS) were calculated by 3D MRE acquired at 80 and 200 Hz. We measured PP immediately after MRE. Liver fibrosis was verified by hydroxyproline assay. We predicted PP by fitting generalized linear models with single- and dual-frequency SS and VS, respectively. The relationship between predicted and actual PP was evaluated by Spearman's correlation. We compared the prediction accuracy of portal hypertension for all models with DeLong tests at a significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: Animals with congestive or cholestatic liver disease developed significant PHTN and hepatic fibrosis to varying degrees. In both models, SS increased, while VS decreased significantly compared with shams. All bi-parametric models had high diagnostic accuracy for PHTN. The dual-frequency models (AUCs: 0.90 [81-95%], 0.91 [81-95%]) had substantially or significantly higher accuracy than single-frequency ones (AUCs: 0.83 [71-91%], and 0.78 [66-87%]). The predicted PP of dual-frequency models also showed stronger correlations with actual PP than single-frequency predictions. CONCLUSIONS: The bi-parametric dual-frequency model improved the diagnostic accuracy of liver MRE in diagnosing PHTN in preclinical models. This technical advance has the potential to monitor PHTN progression and treatment efficacy in the presence of varying fibrosis. KEY POINTS: • Bi-parametric hepatic MR elastography can predict portal pressure. • The prediction models of shear stiffness and volumetric strain with dual-frequency measurements demonstrate high diagnostic accuracy (AUCs > 0.9) in two different portal hypertension mouse models with varying fibrosis.