Social Determinants of Health Impacting the Experience of Young Adults With Cancer at a Single Community Urban Hospital: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients receive palliative medicine consultation at a late stage and face diagnostic delays. Failure to address social determinants of health (SDOH) and AYA-specific needs can adversely impact patient experience. This retrospective observational cohort study used data from chart review to assess the frequency of SDOH impacting AYA patients and setting of initial diagnosis at a US urban safety-net hospital. The association of SDOH variables with delays in treatment, loss of follow-up, and no-shows was tested using Chi-square and t-tests. One hundred seventy five patient charts were reviewed. Sixty-two percent were diagnosed in acute care settings. Substance use disorders, financial, employment, and insurance issues were associated with delayed treatment, with weak to moderate effect sizes. Mental health diagnoses, substance use disorder, homelessness, and financial burdens were associated with patient no-shows, with moderate to large effect sizes. Twenty-five percent of patients received palliative medicine consultation; 70% of these occurred at end of life. This study demonstrates the impact of SDOH on AYA cancer care and the need for policy allowing for intervention on SDOH.

The spacing effect: Improving electrocardiogram interpretation.

BACKGROUND: Accurate electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation is critical for safe patient care, making this skill a necessary competency for medical school graduation. Improved long-term memory retention with repeated exposure to material is one of the most evidenced-based components of adult learning science. This curricular innovation aimed to determine if implementing spaced repetition and retrieval practice using ECG quizzes during the principal clinical year would improve ECG interpretation skills among medical students enrolled in a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC). APPROACH: The curricular innovation applied the spacing effect and retrieval practice. Cognitive science demonstrates enhanced long-term retention through repeated interval exposure to learned material. Studies of spaced retrieval indicate that memory retention is enhanced through tests involving effortful recall. LIC students in an intervention group were exposed to the spacing effect with periodic ECG quizzes throughout their clinical clerkship year. EVALUATION: The results of the 17-item post-test for 140 students were analysed: LIC intervention, N = 54; block control, N = 62; and LIC control, N = 24. The ANOVA test was significant (p < 0.001). Games-Howell post hoc testing showed that the mean score in the LIC intervention group was significantly higher compared with the LIC control group (p < 0.001) and the block control group (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the LIC control and block control groups (p = 0.59). IMPLICATIONS: Spaced repetition of material through ECG quizzes improved ECG interpretation skills on an ECG post-test and mitigates the forgetting curve, maintaining student competency in ECG interpretation.

Atypical Wenckebach without grouped beating due to dual AV nodal conduction.

A 31-year-old woman reported dizziness in the early postpartum period after receiving dexmedetomidine. The ECG was misinterpreted as complete heart block; however, more careful analysis revealed an atypical Wenckebach pattern with dual AV nodal conduction and termination of nonconducted P waves with junctional escape beats. The patient's rhythm returned to sinus after stopping dexmedetomidine. Atypical Wenckebach patterns account for greater than 50% of patients with Mobitz Type I AV block and can be misinterpreted as high-grade AV block. This case highlights the causes of atypical Wenckebach patterns and how careful analysis of intervals can help clinicians avoid misdiagnosis.

Preliminary Workforce Outcomes of an Urban Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship.

PURPOSE: The authors examined whether students participating in an urban longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) with a curriculum focused on care for underserved populations have a sustained commitment to urban underserved care through residency training and into practice. METHOD: This mixed-methods study collected data from medical student application essays to the Denver Health LIC (DH-LIC), end-of-course surveys, residency match outcomes, and postgraduation surveys annually for academic years 2014 to 2022. The authors analyzed students' responses to the surveys on interest in working with underserved patients, understanding the rewards and challenges of working in safety net institutions, working in the community to improve health, and working at DH. The authors qualitatively coded the 70 application essays of all selected students using summative content analysis. RESULTS: Seventy DH-LIC students were compared with 1,450 medical students between 2014 and 2022. Qualitative analysis of LIC application essays revealed 3 themes: interest in working with underserved populations, work experience with underserved populations, and personal experience with medical vulnerability. Fifty-seven DH-LIC participants (81.4%) expressed high levels of career interest in working with underserved populations, 45 (64.3%) had high levels of work experience with underserved populations, and 18 (25.7%) expressed high levels of personal experience. Graduates of the DH-LIC program demonstrated a high degree of continuing interest in practicing in urban underserved settings throughout medical school and postgraduate training. Ten graduates (71.4%) in practice work in urban underserved settings. Participants reported a high or very high level of interest and commitment to working with underserved populations (96.7%-100%), understanding the safety net health care system (91.7%-98.6%), and working in communities (95.0%-100%) at all time points studied. CONCLUSIONS: Early data indicate high rates of graduates working in urban underserved settings. These preliminary outcomes suggest the LIC may support the development of a committed workforce for urban underserved communities.

ETV2 primes hematoendothelial gene enhancers prior to hematoendothelial fate commitment.

Mechanisms underlying distinct specification, commitment, and differentiation phases of cell fate determination remain undefined due to difficulties capturing these processes. Here, we interrogate the activity of ETV2, a transcription factor necessary and sufficient for hematoendothelial differentiation, within isolated fate intermediates. We observe transcriptional upregulation of Etv2 and opening of ETV2-binding sites, indicating new ETV2 binding, in a common cardiac-hematoendothelial progenitor population. Accessible ETV2-binding sites are active at the Etv2 locus but not at other hematoendothelial regulator genes. Hematoendothelial commitment coincides with the activation of a small repertoire of previously accessible ETV2-binding sites at hematoendothelial regulators. Hematoendothelial differentiation accompanies activation of a large repertoire of new ETV2-binding sites and upregulation of hematopoietic and endothelial gene regulatory networks. This work distinguishes specification, commitment, and sublineage differentiation phases of ETV2-dependent transcription and suggests that the shift from ETV2 binding to ETV2-bound enhancer activation, not ETV2 binding to target enhancers, drives hematoendothelial fate commitment.

Detecting critical transition signals from single-cell transcriptomes to infer lineage-determining transcription factors.

Analyzing single-cell transcriptomes promises to decipher the plasticity, heterogeneity, and rapid switches in developmental cellular state transitions. Such analyses require the identification of gene markers for semi-stable transition states. However, there are nontrivial challenges such as unexplainable stochasticity, variable population sizes, and alternative trajectory constructions. By advancing current tipping-point theory-based models with feature selection, network decomposition, accurate estimation of correlations, and optimization, we developed BioTIP to overcome these challenges. BioTIP identifies a small group of genes, called critical transition signal (CTS), to characterize regulated stochasticity during semi-stable transitions. Although methods rooted in different theories converged at the same transition events in two benchmark datasets, BioTIP is unique in inferring lineage-determining transcription factors governing critical transition. Applying BioTIP to mouse gastrulation data, we identify multiple CTSs from one dataset and validated their significance in another independent dataset. We detect the established regulator Etv2 whose expression change drives the haemato-endothelial bifurcation, and its targets together in CTS across three datasets. After comparing to three current methods using six datasets, we show that BioTIP is accurate, user-friendly, independent of pseudo-temporal trajectory, and captures significantly interconnected and reproducible CTSs. We expect BioTIP to provide great insight into dynamic regulations of lineage-determining factors.

Acyclovir-induced neurotoxicity with a positive cerebrospinal fluid varicella zoster PCR result creating a management dilemma: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Varicella zoster virus central nervous system infections can present as aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, myelitis, and vasculopathy. Diagnosis is based on identification of varicella zoster virus deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the cerebrospinal fluid by polymerase chain reaction. Therapy for these infections is acyclovir or valacyclovir. However, acyclovir can have neurotoxic effects that can mimic the presentation of varicella zoster virus central nervous system disease. We present a rare presentation of a patient who had acyclovir-induced neurotoxicity who also had a false-positive cerebrospinal fluid varicella zoster virus polymerase chain reaction result, creating a management dilemma. We review the clinical characteristics of acyclovir-induced neurotoxicity. In addition, we present the diagnostic characteristics of the cerebrospinal fluid viral polymerase chain reaction and alternative methods to diagnose central nervous system varicella zoster virus disease. CASE PRESENTATION: A 68-year-old Hispanic man with end-stage renal disease was diagnosed with cutaneous zoster at an outside facility and was started on acyclovir 4 days prior to admission. His family noted worsening confusion, agitation, speech difficulty, and hallucinations, leading them to bring him to the emergency department. His cerebrospinal fluid varicella zoster virus polymerase chain reaction result was positive, indicating the presence of varicella zoster virus deoxyribonucleic acid in the cerebrospinal fluid; however, he did not have cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis typical of varicella zoster virus meningoencephalitis. Pharmacy records from the outside hospital revealed supratherapeutic acyclovir dosing. This led to a diagnostic dilemma over whether this patient had varicella zoster virus encephalitis or acyclovir-induced neurotoxicity. Acyclovir was discontinued, and the patient underwent two sessions of hemodialysis to remove acyclovir, which led to a full neurologic recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Varicella zoster virus encephalitis and acyclovir-induced neurotoxicity can have similar presentations. Varicella zoster virus deoxyribonucleic acid can be present in the cerebrospinal fluid during active cutaneous zoster in the absence of central nervous system disease. If concern for central nervous system varicella zoster virus disease remains high, additional testing with cerebrospinal fluid serology can be performed. Compared with central nervous system varicella zoster virus disease, acyclovir-induced neurotoxicity has a more predictable clinical resolution once drug therapy is discontinued or the patient undergoes hemodialysis, which can aid in making the diagnosis. Clinicians should be aware of this rare and dangerous complication of acyclovir. In addition, clinicians should have an understanding of the diagnostic limitations of cerebrospinal fluid viral polymerase chain reaction and have alternative approaches available to diagnose central nervous system varicella zoster virus disease when it is suspected.

Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia diagnosed by video capsule endoscopy in a patient with immunodeficiency presenting with Morganella morganii bacteraemia.

A 24-year-old woman with a medical history of chronic lower extremity oedema, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and recurrent pulmonary infections presented with sepsis from right lower extremity cellulitis. Blood cultures grew Morganella morganii Laboratory evaluation revealed lymphopaenia, hypogammaglobulinaemia, a low CD4+ T-cell count and nutritional deficiencies resulting from protein-losing enteropathy (PLE). CT showed small bowel wall thickening in the jejunum and ileum. Primary intestinal lymphangiectasia (PIL) was the likely diagnosis that explained her PLE and immunodeficiencies. Video capsule endoscopy is an important diagnostic tool for distal small bowel pathology and confirmed patchy areas of lymphangiectasia of the jejunum and ileum. Secondary causes of lymphangiectasia were ruled out. Clinically significant immunodeficiency from PIL has not been frequently documented, and this case adds to the literature of rare infections associated with PIL. Treatment with intravenous antibiotics resolved her septicaemia, while dietary modifications improved her oedema, abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

Cefepime-Induced Neurotoxicity Presenting with Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus Admitted as a Stroke Alert.

BACKGROUND Cefepime-induced neurotoxicity has been described in intensive care units (ICUs) and neuro ICU settings, occurring in patients started on cefepime for management of severe infections and sepsis. Most cases occur within 1 to 10 days after starting the drug. We publish a case that occurred on the general medical ward of a patient who had been on cefepime therapy for 4 weeks prior to admission. The aim of this study was to improve the knowledge of this serious condition to general internists as our patient was being managed on the general medical ward. CASE REPORT A 72-year-old female on prolonged intravenous antibiotics for sacral and pelvic osteomyelitis presented with acute encephalopathy and aphasia in the setting of an acute kidney injury. Due to the acute focal neurologic deficit, she was initially admitted as a stroke alert. After a negative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, an electroencephalogram (EEG) was pursued and showed nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). NCSE was likely a result of cefepime therapy in the setting of an acute kidney injury. CONCLUSIONS Cefepime-induced neurotoxicity should be suspected in any patient on cefepime therapy who develops acute changes in mental status, myoclonus, or evidence of seizures. Risk factors for the disease include older age, renal dysfunction, critical illness, and inappropriate dosing based upon renal function. A high index of suspicion is required and delays in diagnosis are common as there are frequently multiple possible causes for altered mental status in systemically ill patients requiring treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics.