Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Nurse Anesthesia Program in Belize.

Because of a critical shortage of anesthesia providers in Belize, the Belize Ministry of Health initiated support for the creation of a nurse anesthesia education program. Developed in collaboration with Health Volunteers Overseas and the University of Belize, the nurse anesthesia education program graduated 10 nurse anesthetists. This article describes the 24-month nurse anesthesia education program's design, implementation, and evaluation. Challenges and opportunities experienced during the program are outlined as lessons learned for planning similar programs.

Novel Somatic Copy Number Alteration Identified for Cervical Cancer in the Mexican American Population.

Cervical cancer affects millions of Americans, but the rate for cervical cancer in the Mexican American is approximately twice that for non-Mexican Americans. The etiologies of cervical cancer are still not fully understood. A number of somatic mutations, including several copy number alterations (CNAs), have been identified in the pathogenesis of cervical carcinomas in non-Mexican Americans. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate CNAs in association with cervical cancer in the Mexican American population. We conducted a pilot study of genome-wide CNA analysis using 2.5 million markers in four diagnostic groups: reference (n = 125), low grade dysplasia (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)-I, n = 4), high grade dysplasia (CIN-II and -III, n = 5) and invasive carcinoma (squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), n = 5) followed by data analyses using Partek. We observed a statistically-significant difference of CNA burden between case and reference groups of different sizes (>100 kb, 10-100 kb and 1-10 kb) of CNAs that included deletions and amplifications, e.g., a statistically-significant difference of >100 kb deletions was observed between the reference (6.6%) and pre-cancer and cancer (91.3%) groups. Recurrent aberrations of 98 CNA regions were also identified in cases only. However, none of the CNAs have an impact on cancer progression. A total of 32 CNA regions identified contained tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Moreover, the pathway analysis revealed endometrial cancer and estrogen signaling pathways associated with this cancer (p < 0.05) using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). This is the first report of CNAs identified for cervical cancer in the U.S. Latino population using high density markers. We are aware of the small sample size in the study. Thus, additional studies with a larger sample are needed to confirm the current findings.

Anesthesia 101: everything you need to know.

Successful patient outcomes from an operative procedure require vigilance, diligence, and teamwork among the various providers involved with the surgical procedure. An understanding of the responsibilities and appreciation for the complexities of each healthcare provider's role in the operative process is essential to a harmonious relationship among the perioperative team to improve the working environment and provide safe patient care. The information provided in this article is based on commonly observed practices in the anesthesia community with the caveat that the choices can vary considerably and are influenced by patient presentation and surgical requirements.