Pediatric dermatologists versus AI bots: Evaluating the medical knowledge and diagnostic capabilities of ChatGPT.

This study evaluates the clinical accuracy of OpenAI's ChatGPT in pediatric dermatology by comparing its responses on multiple-choice and case-based questions to those of pediatric dermatologists. ChatGPT's versions 3.5 and 4.0 were tested against questions from the American Board of Dermatology and the "Photoquiz" section of Pediatric Dermatology. Results show that human pediatric dermatology clinicians generally outperformed both ChatGPT iterations, though ChatGPT-4.0 demonstrated comparable performance in some areas. The study highlights the potential of AI tools in aiding clinicians with medical knowledge and decision-making, while also emphasizing the need for continual advancements and clinician oversight in using such technologies.

Regimen for accelerated propranolol initial dosing (RAPID).

BACKGROUND: Infantile hemangiomas are common vascular tumors in children. Propranolol has proven effective in treating infantile hemangiomas and while generally safe, has potential risk for more serious side effects of hypoglycemia, hypotension, bradycardia, bronchospasm, and cardiovascular or respiratory compromise. Current prescribing guidelines recommend initiating propranolol doses at 1 mg/kg/day, with up-titration to 2 mg/kg/day. This study aims to compare the incidence of adverse events in infants and children treated with propranolol initiated at 1 mg/kg/day versus being initiated directly at 2 mg/kg/day. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using medical records of patients receiving propranolol therapy for infantile hemangiomas between October 2018-March 2021 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Patients were categorized by initial propranolol dosage: 1 or 2 mg/kg/day. The primary outcome measures included parent-reported adverse events, hypotension (defined by the Pediatric Advanced Life Support criteria), and bradycardia (defined as <1st percentile for age) following propranolol initiation. RESULTS: Out of the 244 patients identified, 123 were initiated at the 1 mg/kg/day dose, and 121 at the 2 mg/kg/day dose. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between the two groups (p = .057). Additionally, among patients initiated at 2 mg/kg/day, there were no significant differences in the incidence of age-related or weight-related adverse events for those younger than 2 months or those in the 1st or 2nd quartile for weight (p = .53). CONCLUSION: Infants and children initiated at 2 mg/kg/day did not demonstrate an increased incidence of adverse events associated with propranolol compared to those initiated at 1 mg/kg/day. These findings provide clinical evidence for the practice of accelerated propranolol initiation dosing.

Hidradenitis suppurativa disease control associated with type of hormonal contraceptive use.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a painful chronic skin condition of apocrine gland regions. This retrospective cohort study aimed to assess the impact of hormonal contraception type on HS disease control in adult women. In total, 160 patients were included, with the majority identifying as Black or African American (73.1%). Multivariate logistic regression showed that oestrogen-progesterone users were 3.14 times more likely to experience stable or improved HS than progesterone-only users (adjusted odds ratio 3.14, 95% CI 1.18-8.35; P = 0.02). Further investigation is needed to elucidate the antiandrogenic mechanisms affecting HS symptom response to hormonal contraceptives.

Race is a Risk Factor for the Deferral of Resection and Radiation for Early-Stage Lung Cancer.

PURPOSE: There remain profound race-related disparities in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Deferral of operative management for early-stage disease is recognized as driver of this disparity. Black race has been associated with higher rates of surgical deferral. It remains unclear how race impacts likelihood of receiving radiation therapy after declining surgical management of NSCLC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort analysis was completed using data from the National Cancer Database (NCBD) for patients 18 and over with stage I NSCLC offered surgical resection from 2004 to 2015 (N = 89,462). Multivariable logistic regression identified predictors of surgical deferral and predictors for deferral of radiation after deferral of surgery. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis with log-rank tests and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regressions were performed. RESULTS: 87,293 (97.6%) patients underwent surgery, 2169 (2.4%) deferred. Patients who deferred had 2.1 times higher hazard ratio for mortality, (HR = 2.08, [1.97, 2.29], P < .001). Of those that deferred, 1250 (57.6%) received postdeferral radiation. Compared to White patients, Black patients had OR of 1.82 for deferring both surgery and radiation (aOR: 1.82, [1.31, 2.53], P < .001) and Asian and Pacific Island (API) patients had an OR of 2.67 (aOR: 2.67, [1.27, 4.64], P = .008). Other predictors of deferral of therapy included: Medicare or lack of insurance, and treatment at nonacademic medical centers. CONCLUSION: Insurance status and Black race, and API race are associated with deferring surgical therapy and radiation therapy for NSCLC. These findings are consistent with the large body of work showing worse outcomes for treatment of NSCLC in minority patients.

Whole-transcriptome sequencing-based concomitant detection of viral and human genetic determinants of cutaneous lesions.

Severe viral infections of the skin can occur in patients with inborn errors of immunity (IEI). We report an all-in-one whole-transcriptome sequencing-based method by RNA-Seq on a single skin biopsy for concomitantly identifying the cutaneous virome and the underlying IEI. Skin biopsies were obtained from healthy and lesional skin from patients with cutaneous infections suspected to be of viral origin. RNA-Seq was utilized as the first-tier strategy for unbiased human genome-wide rare variant detection. Reads unaligned to the human genome were utilized for the exploration of 926 viruses in a viral genome catalog. In 9 families studied, the patients carried pathogenic variants in 6 human IEI genes, including IL2RG, WAS, CIB1, STK4, GATA2, and DOCK8. Gene expression profiling also confirmed pathogenicity of the human variants and permitted genome-wide homozygosity mapping, which assisted in identification of candidate genes in consanguineous families. This automated, online, all-in-one computational pipeline, called VirPy, enables simultaneous detection of the viral triggers and the human genetic variants underlying skin lesions in patients with suspected IEI and viral dermatosis.

Application of the continuous variation method to cooperative interactions: mechanism of Fe(II)-ferrozine chelation and conditions leading to anomalous binding ratios.

The method of continuous variation, often known as the Job plot, has long been used for determining the stoichiometry of two interacting components. The correct binding ratio, n, is generally obtained when the total concentration of the reactants, C(o), is much greater than the dissociation constants involved. For non-cooperative binding systems, the stoichiometry varies between one and n as C(o) increases; whereas for positive cooperative systems, values larger than n may be observed at low C(o). In this report, we present examples to illustrate how the changing apparent stoichiometries as a function of C(o) can provide clues for differentiating various binding mechanisms. To test these concepts, we examined the chelation of Fe(II) with ferrozine in the range of C(o)=7 to 210 microM with Fe(II) expressed in molar concentration or in terms of its binding equivalents (three in this case). The results were analyzed according to several models and found to be most consistent with the mechanism of one-step complex formation or infinite cooperativity with a K(d) of 8 microM.