Background An urgent need exists in the United States to establish treatment goals in psoriasis. Objective We aim to establish defined treatment targets toward which clinicians and patients with ...psoriasis can strive to inform treatment decisions, reduce disease burden, and improve outcomes in practice. Methods The National Psoriasis Foundation conducted a consensus-building study among psoriasis experts using the Delphi method. The process consisted of: (1) literature review, (2) pre-Delphi question selection and input from general dermatologists and patients, and (3) 4 Delphi rounds. Results A total of 25 psoriasis experts participated in the Delphi process. The most preferred instrument was body surface area (BSA). The most preferred time for evaluating patient response after starting new therapies was at 3 months. The acceptable response at 3 months postinitiation was either BSA 3% or less or BSA improvement 75% or more from baseline. The target response at 3 months postinitiation was BSA 1% or less. During the maintenance period, evaluation every 6 months was most preferred. The target response at every 6 months maintenance evaluation is BSA 1% or less. Limitations Although BSA is feasible in practice, it does not encompass health-related quality of life, costs, and risks of side effects. Conclusion With defined treatment targets, clinicians and patients can regularly evaluate treatment responses and perform benefit-risk assessments of therapeutic options individualized to the patient.
Summary Encephalitis is a severe inflammatory disorder of the brain with many possible causes and a complex differential diagnosis. Advances in autoimmune encephalitis research in the past 10 years ...have led to the identification of new syndromes and biomarkers that have transformed the diagnostic approach to these disorders. However, existing criteria for autoimmune encephalitis are too reliant on antibody testing and response to immunotherapy, which might delay the diagnosis. We reviewed the literature and gathered the experience of a team of experts with the aims of developing a practical, syndrome-based diagnostic approach to autoimmune encephalitis and providing guidelines to navigate through the differential diagnosis. Because autoantibody test results and response to therapy are not available at disease onset, we based the initial diagnostic approach on neurological assessment and conventional tests that are accessible to most clinicians. Through logical differential diagnosis, levels of evidence for autoimmune encephalitis (possible, probable, or definite) are achieved, which can lead to prompt immunotherapy.
Summary Background Microcystic macular oedema (MMO) of the retinal inner nuclear layer (INL) has been identified in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) by use of optical coherence tomography (OCT). ...We aimed to determine whether MMO of the INL, and increased thickness of the INL are associated with disease activity or disability progression. Methods This retrospective study was done at the Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore, MD, USA), between September, 2008, and March, 2012. Patients with MS and healthy controls underwent serial OCT scans and clinical assessments including visual function. OCT scanning, including automated intraretinal layer segmentation, yielded thicknesses of the retinal nerve fibre layer, the ganglion cell layer plus inner plexiform layer, the INL plus outer plexiform layer (the combined thickness of these layers was used as a surrogate measure of INL thickness), and the outer nuclear layer. Patients with MS also underwent annual brain MRI scans. Disability scores were compared with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Mixed-effects linear regression was used to compare OCT measures and letter-acuity scores. Logistic regression was used to examine the relations of baseline OCT thicknesses with clinical and radiological parameters. Findings 164 patients with MS and 60 healthy controls were assessed. Mean follow-up was 25·8 months (SD 9·1) for patients with MS and 22·4 months (11·4) for healthy controls. Ten (6%) patients with MS had MMO during at least one study visit; MMO was visible at baseline in four of these patients. Healthy controls did not have MMO. Patients with MS and MMO had higher baseline MS severity scores (median 5·93 range 2·44–8·91) than those who did not have MMO at any time during the study (151 patients; 3·81 0·13–9·47; p=0·032), although expanded disability status scale (EDSS) scores were not significantly different (5·2 1·0–6·5 for patients with MS and MMO vs 2·5 0·0–8·0 for those without MMO; p=0·097). The eyes of patients with MS and MMO (12 eyes) versus those without MMO (302 eyes) had lower letter-acuity scores (100% contrast, p=0·017; 2·5% contrast, p=0·031; 1·25% contrast, p=0·014), and increased INL thicknesses (p=0·003) at baseline. Increased baseline INL thickness in patients with MS was associated with the development of contrast-enhancing lesions (p=0·007), new T2 lesions (p=0·015), EDSS progression (p=0·034), and relapses in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (p=0·008) during the study. MMO was not associated with disease activity during follow-up. Interpretation Increased INL thickness on OCT is associated with disease activity in MS. If this finding is confirmed, INL thickness could be a useful predictor of disease progression in patients with MS. Funding National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Eye Institute, Braxton Debbie Angela Dillon and Skip Donor Advisor Fund.
To date, the majority of studies have focused on the adverse effect of opioid overutilization on outcomes, risk factors for overutilization and dependence, and the development of procedure-specific ...guidelines. We present the results of a multiphased approach to reducing opioid prescribing.
A retrospective pre-post study of opioid prescriptions across 386,393 patient encounters was conducted. The preintervention cohort included patient encounters from November 2016 to March 2017, and the post-intervention cohort included encounters from April 2017 to October 2019.
Single-institution orthopedic practice.
386,393 patient encounters.
Multiple prescribing reduction interventions were implemented from April 2017 to July 2018.
Average morphine milligram equivalent (MME) per patient encounter.
Implementation of the interventions resulted in an average reduction of 15.2 MME per encounter (54.5 percent) compared to the preimplementation cohort (pre: avg. MME = 27.9, SD 113.6; post: avg. MME = 12.7, SD 66.1; p < 0.001). The number of pills per opioid prescription was reduced by 13.4 (29.5 percent) (pre: avg. pill count = 45.5, S.D. 25.1; post: avg. pill count = 32.1, SD 21.1; p < 0.001), and the percent of patients receiving opioids was reduced from 8.3 percent to 5.8 percent (p < 0.001). Prescribing compliance was evaluated for 7,664 surgical encounters, with 98.2 percent of prescriptions meeting stated guidelines; 5.5 percent of these encounters required second prescriptions.
The use of a multiphase approach effectively reduced the opioid prescribing patterns of a large orthopedic practice and was successful across subspecialties. This approach provides a template that other institutions may use to reduce opioid overprescribing in orthopedic practices.
Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Helmick, Charles G., MD; Sacks, Jeffrey J., MD, MPH; Gelfand, Joel M., MD, MSCE ...
American journal of preventive medicine,
April 2013, Letnik:
44, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Background and purpose
Autoimmune encephalopathies (AEs) are a heterogeneous group of neurological disorders that affect cognition. Although memory difficulties are commonly endorsed, few reports of ...AEs inclusively assess all cognitive domains in detail. Our aim was to perform an unbiased cognitive evaluation of AE patients with voltage‐gated potassium channel complex antibodies (VGKCC‐Abs) in order to delineate cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
Methods
Serial VGKCC‐Ab AE subjects (n = 12) were assessed with a comprehensive evaluation of memory, executive functions, visuospatial skills and language. Clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (n = 10/12) was evaluated. Five subjects had serial cognitive testing available, permitting descriptive analysis of change.
Results
Subjects demonstrated mild to moderate impairment in memory (mean Z = −1.9) and executive functions (mean Z = −1.5), with variable impairments in language and sparing of visuospatial skills. MRI findings showed T2 hyperintensities in medial temporal lobe (10/10) and basal ganglia (2/10). Serial cognitive examination revealed heterogeneity in cognitive function; whereas most patients improved in one or more domains, residual impairments were observed in some patients.
Conclusions
This study augments previous neuropsychological analyses in VGKCC‐Ab AE by identifying not only memory and executive function deficits but also language impairments, with preservation of visuospatial functioning. The study further highlights the importance of domain‐specific testing to parse out the complex cognitive phenotypes of VGKCC‐Ab AE.
As bacteria grow and proliferate, they release a variety of volatile compounds that can be profiled and used for speciation, providing an approach amenable to disease diagnosis through quick analysis ...of clinical cultures as well as patient breath analysis. As a practical alternative to mass spectrometry detection and whole cell pyrolysis approaches, we have developed methodology that involves detection via a sensitive, micromachined differential mobility spectrometer (microDMx), for sampling headspace gases produced by bacteria growing in liquid culture. We have applied pattern discovery/recognition algorithms (ProteomeQuest) to analyze headspace gas spectra generated by microDMx to reliably discern multiple species of bacteria in vitro: Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus thuringiensis, and Mycobacterium smegmatis. The overall accuracy for identifying volatile profiles of a species within the 95% confidence interval for the two highest accuracy models evolved was between 70.4 and 89.3% based upon the coordinated expression of between 5 and 11 features. These encouraging in vitro results suggest that the microDMx technology, coupled with bioinformatics data analysis, has potential for diagnosis of bacterial infections.
To study interleukin (IL)-1β gene expression, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used on 25-µL whole blood samples from 11 healthy subjects. Coagulated and unclotted whole blood was ...compared. There was no evidence of IL.1β gene expression in any time zero samples (i.e., whole blood from which mRNA was immediately extracted) from 11 subjects, whereas a 388-bp band representing IL-1β mRNA was detected in all coagulated samples. No mRNA for IL-1β was detected in EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood, although in these samples the addition of lipopolysaccharide as a positive control induced the expression of IL-1β. In time course studies on samples allowed to clot, mRNA for IL-1β was detectable after 30 min. These findings demonstrate that IL-1β gene expression is not present in circulating cells of healthy subjects and that coagulation is a stimulus for IL-1β gene expression. This may be a mechanism by which thrombosis produces inflammation and fever.
PDF
