A reply to ‘The impact of incomplete clinical information and initial biopsy technique on the histopathologic diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma’

Abstract Background: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) are common tumors around the world. However, the prognosis in advanced patients is poor. Because NLRP3 was not extensively studied in cancers, so that we aimed to identify the impact of NLRP3 on LUAD and SKCM through bioinformatics analyses. Methods: TCGA and TIMER database were utilized in this study. We compared the expression of NLRP3 in different cancers and evaluated its influence on survival of LUAD and SKCM patients. The correlations between clinical information and NLRP3 expression were analyzed using logistic regression. Clinicopathologic characteristics associated with overall survival in were analyzed by Cox regression. In addition, we explored the correlation between NLRP3 and immune infiltrates. GSEA and co-expressed gene with NLRP3 were also done in this study. Results: NLRP3 expressed disparately in tumor tissues and normal tissues. Cox regression analysis indicated that up-regulated NLRP3 was an independent prognostic factor for good prognosis in LUAD and SKCM. Logistic regression analysis showed increased NLRP3 expression was significantly correlated with favorable clinicopathologic parameters such as no lymph node invasion and no distant metastasis. Specifically, a positive correlation between increased NLRP3 expression and immune infiltrating level of various immune cells was observed. Conclusion: Together with all these findings, increased NLRP3 expression correlates with favorable prognosis and increased proportion of immune cells in LUAD and SKCM. These conclusions indicate that NLRP3 can serve as a potential biomarker for evaluating prognosis and immune infiltration level.

Download Full-text

Improving knowledge and confidence in the acute management of eating disorders and resulting complications

BJPsych Open ◽

10.1192/bjo.2021.503 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (S1) ◽

pp. S186-S186

Author(s):

Sarah Fynes-Clinton ◽

Clare Price ◽

Louisa Beckford ◽

Maisha Shahjahan ◽

Brendan McKeown

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Clinical Information ◽

Easy Access ◽

Average Score ◽

Junior Doctors ◽

Refeeding Syndrome ◽

Improvement Project ◽

Positive Effects ◽

The Creation ◽

The Impact

AimsThis project aimed to improve the knowledge and confidence of doctors at all levels when managing patients with eating disorders while on call.BackgroundA recent survey found just 1% of doctors have the opportunity for clinical experience on eating disorders. Anecdotally, a number of junior doctors within our trust had mentioned that they felt unsure when asked to manage patients with eating disorders during their out of hours shifts.MethodThis project aimed to ascertain levels of confidence with managing patients with eating disorders, and to collect suggestions to improve this. This was achieved using a survey sent out to 97 doctors working in a Mental Health Trust.We then utilised two of the suggestions to improve the identified areas of concern. The first method involved direct lectures. This was followed up with the creation of a poster highlighting the pertinent information which was displayed in key clinical areas. The second avenue was the creation of an information booklet covering key clinical information that is available to all on call doctors.ResultThe response rate for the survey was 37.11%. The survey found that doctors lacked confidence in the management of common conditions that arise in patients admitted with eating disorders. Refeeding syndrome was identified as the greatest area of concern by responding doctors.To assess the impact of the lectures, MCQs were given out before and after the presentation. The results were compared, and showed a clear improvement in overall knowledge, with results going from an average score of 56.6% to 80%.ConclusionBy using multiple methods to improve doctors confidence, (lectures, written information and visual posters), this quality improvement project achieved its aims in improving doctors knowledge, and through having easy access to important information, will have long term positive effects on patient care.

Download Full-text

Data-driven approach to Early Warning Score-based alert management

BMJ Open Quality ◽

10.1136/bmjoq-2017-000088 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. e000088 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Muge Capan ◽

Stephen Hoover ◽

Kristen E Miller ◽

Carmen Pal ◽

Justin M Glasgow ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Patient Safety ◽

Early Warning ◽

Early Recognition ◽

Clinical Information ◽

Patient Characteristics ◽

The Elderly ◽

Early Warning Score ◽

The Right ◽

The Impact ◽

Alerting Systems

BackgroundIncreasing adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) with integrated alerting systems is a key initiative for improving patient safety. Considering the variety of dynamically changing clinical information, it remains a challenge to design EHR-driven alerting systems that notify the right providers for the right patient at the right time while managing alert burden. The objective of this study is to proactively develop and evaluate a systematic alert-generating approach as part of the implementation of an Early Warning Score (EWS) at the study hospitals.MethodsWe quantified the impact of an EWS-based clinical alert system on quantity and frequency of alerts using three different alert algorithms consisting of a set of criteria for triggering and muting alerts when certain criteria are satisfied. We used retrospectively collected EHRs data from December 2015 to July 2016 in three units at the study hospitals including general medical, acute care for the elderly and patients with heart failure.ResultsWe compared the alert-generating algorithms by opportunity of early recognition of clinical deterioration while proactively estimating alert burden at a unit and patient level. Results highlighted the dependency of the number and frequency of alerts generated on the care location severity and patient characteristics.ConclusionEWS-based alert algorithms have the potential to facilitate appropriate alert management prior to integration into clinical practice. By comparing different algorithms with regard to the alert frequency and potential early detection of physiological deterioration as key patient safety opportunities, findings from this study highlight the need for alert systems tailored to patient and care location needs, and inform alternative EWS-based alert deployment strategies to enhance patient safety.

Download Full-text

Abstract 16084: Relationship Between Diastolic Interventricular Septal Flattening and Prognosis in Patients With Severe Tricuspid Regurgitation

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.142.suppl_3.16084 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽

Author(s):

Omori Taku ◽

Goki Uno ◽

Shunsuke Shimada ◽

Takahiro Shiota

Keyword(s):

Tricuspid Regurgitation ◽

Cardiac Death ◽

Surrogate Marker ◽

Clinical Information ◽

Right Atrial ◽

Cardiac Events ◽

Severe Tricuspid Regurgitation ◽

Kaplan Meier ◽

Advanced Therapy ◽

The Impact

Introduction: Diastolic interventricular septal flattening is one of the major findings in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR). However, the relationship between diastolic interventricular septal flattening and outcome in patients with severe TR is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the impact of diastolic interventricular septal flattening on cardiac events in patients with severe TR. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent 2 dimensional echocardiography and were diagnosed as severe TR in 2014. Eccentricity index in end-diastole (EI-ED) was measured as septal wall configuration (Figure). Cardiac events investigated as endpoints were cardiac death and heart failure (HF) admission. Results: 376 patients were diagnosed as severe TR. We excluded 15 patients on mechanical respiratory support during echocardiography and 20 with missing data of clinical information. Remaining 341 severe TR patients (75 ± 16 years, 191 (56%) female) were investigated in this study.232 (68%) patients showed abnormal EI-ED (defined as over 1.0). During a follow-up period (median, 183 days; range. 40 to 983 days), 119 (34%) patients experienced cardiac events (29 cardiac death and 90 HF admission). By the Cox proportional hazard model, the presence of abnormal EI-ED and right atrial pressure (RAP) elevation on echocardiography (defined as more than 8mmHg) were independent predictors for cardiac events with a hazard ratio of 2.71 (95% Confidential interval (CI), 1.25 to 5.86; p=0.011) and of 3.02 (95%CI, 1.08 to 8,47; p=0.036) respectively. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed that severe TR patients with abnormal EI-ED and RAP elevation were at higher risk for cardiac event (Figure). Conclusions: The presence of abnormal EI-ED is an important predictor for cardiac events in patients with severe TR. The presence of abnormal EI-ED and RAP elevation can be a potential surrogate marker of advanced therapy for severe TR.

Download Full-text