Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Adverse effects from chemotherapy such as high dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) are seen during and after chemotherapy. During this coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic ...period, COVID-19 infection symptoms following chemotherapy due to immune compromise could mimic chemotherapy associated side effects. Differentiation on time is needed for correct management.
CASE REPORT
A 50-year old male with clinical history of ocular lymphoma underwent HD-MTX therapy. Before admission, his routine COVID-19 test was negative. After receiving HD-MTX, he developed fatigue, nausea and vomiting. The symptoms resolved before discharge. Next day after discharge, he developed diarrhea, fatigue, subjective fever and feeling cold. His temperature was normal. His symptoms have been persistent for 4-5 days and have resolved gradually and spontaneously. Family members have had no symptoms. The patient denies COVID-19 contact history. The above symptoms were considered adverse effects from chemotherapy. The patient did not seek medical attention. Prior to admission for next cycle of HD-MTX, COVID-19 test was found positive. Chemotherapy was on hold. The patient started home quarantine. The patient has been doing well and practiced COVID-19 infection precaution at home.
DISCUSSION
The fatigue, nausea and vomiting during HD-MTX treatment are adverse effects from chemotherapy while the diarrhea, fatigue, subjective fever and chills developed after discharge are symptoms of COVID-19 infection. Our case highlights the importance of keeping in mind and differentiating between side effects from chemotherapy and symptoms of COVID-19 viral infection in cancer patients who receive chemotherapy.
To test the diagnostic accuracy of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended food insecurity screener.
We conducted prospective diagnostic accuracy studies between July and November 2016 ...in Chicago, Illinois. We recruited convenience samples of adults from adult and pediatric emergency departments (12-month recall study: n = 188; 30-day recall study: n = 154). A self-administered survey included the 6-item Household Food Security Screen (gold standard), the validated 2-item Hunger Vital Sign (HVS; often, sometimes, never response categories), and the 2-item AAP tool (yes-or-no response categories).
Food insecurity was prevalent (12-month recall group: 46%; 30-day group: 39%). Sensitivity of the AAP tool using 12-month and 30-day recall was, respectively, 76% (95% confidence interval CI = 65%, 85%) and 72% (95% CI = 57%, 84%). The HVS sensitivity was significantly higher than the AAP tool (12-month: 94% 95% CI = 86%, 98%; P = .002; 30-day: 92% 95% CI = 79%, 98%; P = .02).
The AAP tool missed nearly a quarter of food-insecure adults screened in the hospital; the HVS screening tool was more sensitive. Public health implications. Health care systems adopting food insecurity screening should optimize ease of administration and sensitivity of the screening tool.
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive malignant brain tumor in adults with poor prognosis. Effective treatment is urgently needed. Recent studies demonstrated neurogliomal ...synaptic communication through AMPA and NMDA receptors promotes glioma invasion and progression in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, dual blocking AMPA and NMDA receptor therapy is a potential enhancing strategy to prevent and to treat GBM progression given the two blockers act through different anti-glioma mechanisms.
OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS
We hypothesize that adding AMPA blocker Perampanel (An anti-seizure medication) and NMDA blocker Memantine (An anti-dementia medication) to standard temozolomide plus radiation therapy (Stupp’s regimen) for the treatment of newly diagnosed GBM may prevent tumor progression. It may also reduce the frequency of onset/recurrence of seizure episodes and possibly improve radiation related cognition impairment.
STUDY DESIGN
This is a randomized, active controlled, open label, two arm phase II study of efficacy of treatment of GBM with combination therapy (dual AMPA and NMDA receptor blockers plus standard therapy) versus standard therapy. In the combination therapy arm, patients take Perampanel 2 mg daily and Memantine 5 mg bid, starting from -14 days to +14 days from initiation of concurrent chemo-radiation therapy. Titrating up at a 2 mg increment for Perampanel and 5 mg bid increment for Memantine until reaching MTD. If the patient has AE >= grade 2, then reduce doses at a decrement of 2 mg for Perampanel and decrement of 5 mg bid for Memantine. In the standard therapy arm, the patients are treated with Stupp’s regimen.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ENDPOINTS
PFS, 12, 24 month survival rates and response duration. Safety will be assessed by CTCAE V5. We will use Kaplan-Meier estimates for survival data and a stratified log-rank test for the randomization strata.
Emergency department (ED) visits for psychiatric care in the US reportedly declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work, however, does not control for strong temporal patterning in visits before ...the pandemic and does not examine a potential “rebound” in demand for psychiatric care following the relaxation of initial societal restrictions. Here, we examine COVID-19-related perturbations in psychiatric care during and after the 1st stage of societal restrictions in the largest safety-net hospital in Los Angeles. We retrieved psychiatric ED visit data (98,888 total over 156 weeks, Jan 2018 to Dec 2020) from Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center. We applied interrupted time series methods to identify and control for autocorrelation in psychiatric ED visits before examining their relation with the 1st stage of societal restrictions (i.e., March 13 to May 8, 2020), as well as the subsequent “rebound” period of relaxed restrictions (i.e., after May 8, 2020). Psychiatric ED visits fell by 78.13 per week (i.e., 12%) during the 1st stage of societal restrictions (SD = 23.99, p < 0.01). Reductions in ED visits for alcohol use, substance use, and (to a lesser extent) anxiety disorders accounted for the overall decline. After the 1st stage of societal restrictions, however, we observe no “rebound” above expected values in psychiatric ED visits overall (coef = − 16.89, SD = 20.58, p = 0.41) or by diagnostic subtype. This pattern of results does not support speculation that, at the population level, foregoing ED care during initial societal restrictions subsequently induced a psychiatric “pandemic” of urgent visits.
To compare the severity of inpatient hospitalizations between undocumented immigrants and Medi-Cal patients in a large safety-net hospital in Los Angeles, California.
We conducted a retrospective ...analysis of all 2019 inpatient stays at a Los Angeles hospital (n = 22 480), including patients of all races/ethnicities. We examined 3 measures by using insurance status to approximate immigration status: illness severity, length of hospital stay, and repeat hospitalizations. We calculated group differences between undocumented and Medi-Cal patients by using inverse probability weighted regression adjustment separately for patients aged 18 to 64 years and those aged 65 years and older.
Younger undocumented patients had less severe illness and shorter lengths of stay than their Medi-Cal counterparts. Older undocumented immigrants also had less severe illness, but had similar lengths of stay and were more likely to have repeated hospitalizations.
While existing work suggests that undocumented immigrants could have more severe health care needs on account of their poorer access to medical care, we did not see clear health disadvantages among hospitalized undocumented immigrants, especially younger patients. There were fewer differences between undocumented and Medi-Cal patients who were older. (
. 2021;111(11):2019-2026. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306485).
Little is known about the inpatient mental health needs of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Based on existing literature, we hypothesized that undocumented patients would have fewer ...psychiatric admissions than documented patients. We reviewed 2019 inpatient admission data for Hispanic/Latino patients at an urban hospital. Patients were coded as undocumented or documented using insurance proxies. Multivariable logistic regression was used to report odds ratio of admission diagnoses of interest by documentation status. There were no significant differences in psychiatric admissions between undocumented patients (2.1%) and documented patients (2.8%) (p=.77). Compared with documented counterparts, undocumented patients were more likely to be admitted for alcohol-related disorders (AOR=1.59, 95%CI=1.31-1.93) but had lower proportions of admission for substance-related disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and suicide and intentional self-inflicted injury among others. Future studies should examine factors contributing to alcohol use disorder and barriers to accessing and using mental health care.
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive malignant brain tumor in adults with poor prognosis. Effective treatment is urgently needed. Recent studies demonstrated cross-talk ...between neuron and glioma through neuro-transmitter glutamate receptors (AMPA and NMDA receptors) promotes glioma invasion and progression in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, dual blocking AMPA and NMDA receptor therapy is a potential strategy to prevent and treat GBM progression, particularly given the fact that the two blockers act through different anti-glioma mechanism. OBJECTIVE/
HYPOTHESIS
We hypothesize that adding Perampanel (an AMPA receptor blocker) and Memantine (a NMDA receptor antagonist) to standard temozolomide plus radiation therapy for the treatment of newly diagnosed GBM patients may be well tolerated and have a safe profile to prevent tumor progression, seizure recurrence or cognition impairment from radiation.
STUDY DESIGN
3 + 3 DESIGN: Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) is dose level at which 0/3 or 1/6 patients experience DLT with the next higher dose having at least 2/3 or 2/6 patients encountering DLT. MTD will not be more than FDA approved maximized doses for Perampanel (12 mg daily) and Memantine (20 mg bid) for the treatment of neurological diseases. Once the MTD is found, the patient will continue at MTD for the completion of concurrent chemoradiation therapy plus completion of 6 cycles of adjuvant temozolomide therapy.
SUMMARY
A Phase I trial to study the safety and toxicity of combined Perampanel and Memantine with standard chemo-radiation therapy to treat patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM). To find Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD) Levels of Perampanel and Memantine at concurrent chemoradiation therapy phase and adjuvant chemotherapy phase to prepare for future phase II or III trial.
Emergency department (ED) visits for conditions unrelated to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic decreased during the early pandemic, raising concerns about critically ill patients ...forgoing care and increasing their risk of adverse outcomes. It is unclear if Hispanic and Black adults, who have a high prevalence of chronic conditions, sought medical assistance for acute emergencies during this time. This study used 2018–2020 ED visit data from the largest safety net hospital in Los Angeles County to estimate ED visit differences for cardiac emergencies, diabetic complications, and strokes, during the first societal lockdown among Black and Hispanic patients using time series analyses. Emergency department visits were lower than the expected levels during the first societal lockdown. However, after the lockdown ended, Black patients experienced a rebound in ED visits while visits for Hispanics remained depressed. Future research could identify barriers Hispanics experienced that contributed to prolonged ED avoidance.
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