Transitioning to virtual academic detailing amid COVID-19: A case study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health protocols required medical educators to rapidly move curricula online. This included academic detailing (AD), a form of one-to-one or small group educational outreach for primary care providers (PCPs). OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to contribute to the sparse evidence base exploring virtual AD by exploring strengths, challenges, and best practices. METHODS: This case study drew on 3 methods: (1) observations of AD visits (n = 5 sessions), (2) group (n = 6 detailers) and one-on-one interviews (n = 5 PCPs, n = 3 detailing staff), and (3) document analysis of curriculum and policy documents (n = 10 documents). RESULTS: Our analysis identified several strengths of virtual detailing: (1) inherent benefits of virtual programming, (2) pre-existing strengths in program leadership, (3) global move toward telehealth amid COVID, (4) pre-existing detailing relationships, and (5) pre-existing roles and attributes of pharmacists. Several challenges were also identified: (1) virtual presence in group visits, (2) establishing consistency across modalities, and (3) technological issues. CONCLUSION: Virtual detailing has posed unique challenges and opportunities for innovation. Our study supports a blended model moving forward-one that balances strengths and challenges of virtual and in-person delivery and considers logistics, efficiencies, environmental impacts, and unique participant needs.

Effects of Photon Radiation on DNA Damage, Cell Proliferation, Cell Survival, and Apoptosis of Murine and Human Mesothelioma Cell Lines.

Purpose: To characterize the cellular responses of murine and human mesothelioma cell lines to different doses of photon radiation with a long-term aim of optimizing a clinically relevant in vivo model in which to study the interaction of radiation therapy and immunotherapy combinations. Methods and Materials: Two murine mesothelioma cell lines (AB1 and AE17) and 3 human cell lines (BYE, MC, and JU) were used in the study. Cells were treated with increasing doses of photon radiation. DNA damage, DNA repair, cell proliferation, and apoptosis at different time points after irradiation were quantified by flow cytometry, and cell survival probability was examined using clonogenic survival assay. Results: DNA damage increased with escalating dose in all cell lines. Evident G2/M arrest and reduced cell proliferation were observed after irradiation with 8 Gy. DNA repair was uniformly less efficient at higher compared with lower radiation-fraction doses. The apoptosis dose response varied between cell lines, with greater apoptosis observed at 16 Gy with human BYE and murine AB1 cell lines but less for other studied cell lines, regardless of dose and time. The α/ß ratio from the cell survival fraction of human mesothelioma cell lines was smaller than from murine ones, suggesting human cell lines in our study were more sensitive to a change of dose per fraction than were murine mesothelioma cell lines. However, in all studied cell lines, colony formation was completely inhibited at 8 Gy. Conclusions: A threshold dose of 8 Gy appeared to be appropriate for hypofractionated radiation therapy. However, the radiation therapy doses between 4 and 8 Gy remain to be systematically analyzed. These observations provide an accurate picture of the in vitro response of mesothelioma cell lines to photon irradiation and characterize the heterogeneity between human and murine cell lines. This information may guide in vivo experiments and the strengths and limitations of extrapolation from murine experimentation to potential human translation.

In vivo noninvasive preclinical tumor hypoxia imaging methods: a review.

Tumors exhibit areas of decreased oxygenation due to malformed blood vessels. This low oxygen concentration decreases the effectiveness of radiation therapy, and the resulting poor perfusion can prevent drugs from reaching areas of the tumor. Tumor hypoxia is associated with poorer prognosis and disease progression, and is therefore of interest to preclinical researchers. Although there are multiple different ways to measure tumor hypoxia and related factors, there is no standard for quantifying spatial and temporal tumor hypoxia distributions in preclinical research or in the clinic. This review compares imaging methods utilized for the purpose of assessing spatio-temporal patterns of hypoxia in the preclinical setting. Imaging methods provide varying levels of spatial and temporal resolution regarding different aspects of hypoxia, and with varying advantages and disadvantages. The choice of modality requires consideration of the specific experimental model, the nature of the required characterization and the availability of complementary modalities as well as immunohistochemistry.