Cerebral epidural empyema due to Bartonella henselae: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Cat scratch disease frequently involves a benign, self-limited disease. Neurological forms associated with Bartonella henselae are uncommon, consisting mostly in neuroretinitis, encephalitis and meningitis. Cerebral epidural empyema has never described. CASE PRESENTATION: An adult patient was hospitalized for isolated headaches. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) identified typical features of cerebral epidural empyema. The diagnosis of B. henselae was performed incidentally by 16S rDNA gene sequencing on the abscess fluid, and confirmed by specific qPCR. We report here the first case, to our knowledge, of cerebral epidural empyema associated with B. henselae. Further follow-up visits allowed identifying frequent cat scratches on the scalp as the presumptive source of infection. CONCLUSIONS: This case report alerts about such atypical clinical presentation, which requires an extensive clinical investigation. It also emphasizes on the usefulness of additional molecular diagnosis techniques in such CNS infection cases.

A single-center qualitative study evaluating the safety and efficacy of a pharmacist-driven protocol for high-dose methotrexate management.

INTRODUCTION: Delayed methotrexate clearance in several patients admitted to the oncology unit at a regional medical center necessitated the development of a pharmacist-driven protocol for supportive therapy with high-dose methotrexate. This performance improvement project evaluated the impact of the protocol on inpatient length of stay, patient safety, and clinical outcomes. METHODS: Retrospective data were collected over 14 months pre-implementation and prospective data were collected over 19 months post-implementation. Primary outcomes included mean length of stay and incidence of kidney injury. Secondary outcomes included myelosuppression, treatment delays, mucositis, protocol adherence, and pharmacist interventions. Chi-squared and unpaired two sample t-test were used for data analysis. INTERVENTION: A literature review of consensus recommendations for supportive care post high-dose methotrexate administration was conducted to develop the protocol. Education on implementation was provided to involved disciplines. RESULTS: One-hundred ten high-dose methotrexate admissions for 23 patients were analyzed: 24 pre-protocol and 86 post-protocol. Mean length of stay was 5.17 nights pre-protocol and 3.91 nights post-protocol (p = 0.026). Incidence of kidney injury significantly decreased (16.7% pre-protocol versus 3.5% post-protocol; p = 0.0394). Lower incidences of all-grade anemia (83.3% versus 58.1%), neutropenia (62.5% versus 29.1%), and thrombocytopenia (58.3% versus 33.7%) as well as treatment delays (29.2% versus 11.6%; p = 0.036) were reported post protocol. No statistically significant difference in mucositis was detected. Pharmacist adherence to protocol was ≥80% resulting in 348 interventions with 99.4% provider acceptance. CONCLUSION: The implementation of a pharmacist-driven high-dose methotrexate management protocol resulted in a statistically significant decrease in inpatient length of stay and kidney injury. Further studies are needed to assess the impact on additional outcomes.

Expansion of pharmacist practice in oral oncolytic therapy with a collaborative practice agreement.

INTRODUCTION: Collaborative practice agreements have been utilized to expand pharmacist roles and improve patient care outcomes. A need to reduce the time providers spend reviewing oral oncolytic prescriptions for therapy continuation or dose adjustments was identified in the oncology clinics of a community health system. A collaborative practice agreement was created to decrease turnaround time for processing oral oncolytic prescriptions, improve provider satisfaction, and decrease patient prescription costs. METHODS: A three-month pilot was initiated to evaluate feasibility and provider satisfaction by comparing two provider groups. An additional three months of data were collected post-collaborative practice agreement implementation to evaluate impact. Primary endpoints included: interventions, turnaround time, and patient cost savings. A survey was conducted to determine provider satisfaction. RESULTS: The mean turnaround time for pharmacist interventions in the pilot group (n = 54) was 7 min, compared to 3311 min in the control group (n = 87), which was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Two interventions in the pilot group resulted in patient cost savings due to dose rounding by a pharmacist. The mean turnaround time of the post-collaborative practice agreement group (n = 197) was 6 min, which was statistically significant when compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Turnaround time was significantly shorter for prescriptions in the pilot and post-collaborative practice agreement groups compared to the control group. Provider satisfaction increased as the collaborative practice agreement resulted in less time reviewing oral oncolytic prescriptions. Patient costs were also reduced during the pilot phase due to dose rounding by pharmacists.

A Prospective Observational Cohort of Clinical Outcomes in Medical Inpatients prescribed Pharmacological Thromboprophylaxis Using Different Clinical Risk Assessment Models(COMPT RAMs).

The Caprini and Padua venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment models (RAMs) are used to assess VTE risk in surgical and in medical patients respectively. This study aims to compare the proportion of medical inpatients eligible for VTE prophylaxis using the hospital Caprini-based RAM to using the Caprini and Padua RAMs and to assess the associated clinical outcomes. In a prospective observational study, we assessed 297 adult medical inpatients for whom VTE thromboprophylaxis was initiated according to the hospital Caprini-based RAM, referred to as the Lebanese American University Medical Center RAM (LAUMC-RAM). The Padua, Caprini and IMPROVE bleeding risk scores were also assessed for all patients. Bleeding and thromboembolism were evaluated at 14 and 30 days post VTE risk assessment. Pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis was warranted in 97.6%, 99.7%, and 52.9% of patients using the Caprini-based, Caprini, and Padua RAMs respectively. The Caprini-based and Caprini RAMs were highly correlated (r = 0.873 p < 0.001) and were significantly less correlated with the Padua RAM. Major and overall bleeding occurred in 1.4% and 9.2% respectively. VTE was reported in 0.4% with no VTE related mortality. In hospitalized medical patients, the Caprini-based RAM can accurately distinguish low and high VTE risk without resulting in increased risk of bleeding.

Association Between Sedentary Lifestyle and Diastolic Dysfunction Among Outpatients With Normal Left Ventricular Systolic Function Presenting to a Tertiary Referral Center in the Middle East.

BACKGROUND: Sedentary lifestyle has become prevalent in our community. Recent data showed controversy on the effect of regular exercise on left ventricular compliance and myocardial relaxation. HYPOTHESIS: We sought to assess whether physical inactivity is an independent predictor of diastolic dysfunction in or community, after adjustment for several covariates. METHODS: Consecutive outpatients presenting to the echocardiography laboratory between July 2013 and June 2014 were prospectively enrolled. Clinical variables were collected prospectively at enrollment. Patients were considered physically active if they exercised regularly ≥3× a week, ≥30 minutes each time. The primary endpoint was presence of diastolic dysfunction. RESULTS: The final cohort included 1356 patients (mean age [SD] 52.9 [17.4] years, 51.3% female). Compared with physically active patients, the 1009 (74.4%) physically inactive patients were older, more often female, and had more comorbidities and worse diastolic function (51.3% vs 38.3%; P < 0.001). On univariate analysis, physical inactivity was associated with 70% increased odds of having diastolic dysfunction (odds ratio: 1.70, 95% confidence interval: 1.32-2.18, P < 0.001). There was significant interaction between physical activity and left ventricular mass index (LVMI; P = 0.026). On multivariate analysis, patients who were physically inactive and had LVMI ≥ median had significantly higher odds of having diastolic dysfunction (odds ratio: 2.82, 95% confidence interval: 1.58-5.05, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In a large, prospectively enrolled cohort from a single tertiary center in the Middle East, physically inactive patients with increased LVMI had 2- to 3-fold increased odds of having diastolic dysfunction after multivariate adjustment.

New hyperekplexia mutations provide insight into glycine receptor assembly, trafficking, and activation mechanisms.

Hyperekplexia is a syndrome of readily provoked startle responses, alongside episodic and generalized hypertonia, that presents within the first month of life. Inhibitory glycine receptors are pentameric ligand-gated ion channels with a definitive and clinically well stratified linkage to hyperekplexia. Most hyperekplexia cases are caused by mutations in the α1 subunit of the human glycine receptor (hGlyR) gene (GLRA1). Here we analyzed 68 new unrelated hyperekplexia probands for GLRA1 mutations and identified 19 mutations, of which 9 were novel. Electrophysiological analysis demonstrated that the dominant mutations p.Q226E, p.V280M, and p.R414H induced spontaneous channel activity, indicating that this is a recurring mechanism in hGlyR pathophysiology. p.Q226E, at the top of TM1, most likely induced tonic activation via an enhanced electrostatic attraction to p.R271 at the top of TM2, suggesting a structural mechanism for channel activation. Receptors incorporating p.P230S (which is heterozygous with p.R65W) desensitized much faster than wild type receptors and represent a new TM1 site capable of modulating desensitization. The recessive mutations p.R72C, p.R218W, p.L291P, p.D388A, and p.E375X precluded cell surface expression unless co-expressed with α1 wild type subunits. The recessive p.E375X mutation resulted in subunit truncation upstream of the TM4 domain. Surprisingly, on the basis of three independent assays, we were able to infer that p.E375X truncated subunits are incorporated into functional hGlyRs together with unmutated α1 or α1 plus ß subunits. These aberrant receptors exhibit significantly reduced glycine sensitivity. To our knowledge, this is the first suggestion that subunits lacking TM4 domains might be incorporated into functional pentameric ligand-gated ion channel receptors.