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  • Fuller Mcintyre posted an update 1 week, 1 day ago

    Introduction Podcasts are increasingly being used for medical education. Studies have found that the assessment of the quality of online resources can be challenging. We sought to determine the reliability of gestalt quality assessment of education podcasts in emergency medicine. Methods An international, interprofessional sample of raters was recruited through social media, direct contact, and the extended personal network of the study team. Each participant listened to eight podcasts (selected to include a variety of accents, number of speakers, and topics) and rated the quality of that podcast on a seven-point Likert scale. Phi coefficients were calculated within each group and overall. Decision studies were conducted using a phi of 0.8. Results A total of 240 collaborators completed all eight surveys and were included in the analysis. ATM inhibitor Attendings, medical students, and physician assistants had the lowest individual-level variance and thus the lowest number of required raters to reliably evaluate quality (phi >0.80). Overall, 20 raters were required to reliably evaluate the quality of emergency medicine podcasts. Discussion Gestalt ratings of quality from approximately 20 health professionals are required to reliably assess the quality of a podcast. This finding should inform future work focused on developing and validating tools to support the evaluation of quality in these resources.Strategies to immobilize the individual enzymes are crucial for enhancing catalytic applicability and require a controlled immobilization process. Herein, protocol for immobilizing Candida rugosa lipase (CRL) onto modified magnetic silica derived from oil palm leaves ash (OPLA) was optimized for the effects of concentration of CRL, immobilization time, and temperature, monitored by titrimetric and spectrometric methods. XRD and TGA-DTG spectrometric observations indicated that OPLA-silica was well coated over magnetite (SiO2-MNPs) and CRLs were uniformly bound by covalent bonds to SiO2-MNPs (CRL/Gl-A-SiO2-MNPs). The optimized immobilization protocol showed that in the preparation of CRL/Gl-A-SiO2-MNPs, CRL with 68.3 mg/g protein loading and 74.6 U/g specific activity was achieved using 5 mg/mL of CRL, with an immobilization time of 12 h at 25 °C. The present work also demonstrated that acid-pretreated OPLA is a potential source of renewable silica, envisioning its applicability for practical use in enzymatic catalysis on solid support.Purpose of review To review the nature, current evidence of efficacy, recent developments, and future prospects for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and gut-directed hypnotherapy, the two best established psychological interventions for managing gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Recent findings New large randomized controlled trials are showing that cost-effective therapy delivery formats (telephone-based, Internet-based, fewer therapist sessions, or group therapy) are effective for treating GI disorders. CBT and hypnotherapy can produce substantial improvement in the digestive tract symptoms, psychological well-being, and quality of life of GI patients. However, they have long been hampered by limited scalability and significant cost, and only been sufficiently tested for a few GI health problems. Through adoption of more cost-effective therapy formats and teletherapy, and by expanding the scope of efficacy testing to additional GI treatment targets, these interventions have the potential to become widely available options for improving clinical outcomes for patients with hard-to-treat GI disorders.Background Intermittent renal replacement therapy (IRRT) is prescribed across intensive care units (ICU) worldwide. While research regarding the prescribed dialysis dose has not yielded results concerning mortality, it is still unknown whether the same applies to the actual delivered dose. Methods We retrospectively analyzed two different cohorts of patients (562 IRRT sessions) who were admitted to the intensive care units at Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and required renal replacement therapy with IRRT. The first cohort included patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) (n = 42) and the second included patients already on chronic hemodialysis (CKD 5D) (n = 47). Only patients who had at least 3 recorded hemodialysis sessions in the ICU and with no previous continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) were included. The achieved dose was measured as Kt (L) by ionic dialysance and the primary endpoint was 90-day mortality. Results Ninety-day mortality was 40.5% (n = 17) in the AKI cohort and 23.9% (n = 11) in the CKD 5D cohort with mean Kt of 43 ± 8.27 L and 47 ± 9.65 L respectively. Kt dose of IRRT was associated with 90-day mortality in the AKI cohort in a multivariate surveillance analysis adjusted for confounding factors (HR 0.935 [0.88-0.99], p = 0.02). Only the Kt dose and age remained statistically associated with the outcome in the AKI cohort. Conclusions Delivered dialysis dose as measured by ionic-dialysance Kt may be associated with survival in critically-ill patients with AKI, while it does not seem to affect outcomes in critically-ill CKD 5D patients. This exploratory analysis will need confirmation in larger prospective studies.Italy was the first Western country to face the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we report the results of a national survey on kidney transplantation activity in February and March 2020, and the results of a three-round Delphi consensus promoted by four scientific societies the Italian Society of Organ Transplantation, the Italian Society of Nephrology, the Italian Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, and the Italian Group on Antimicrobial Stewardship. All 41 Italian transplant centers were invited to express their opinion in the Delphi rounds along with a group of seven experts. The survey revealed that, starting from March 2020, there was a decline in kidney transplantation activity in Italy, especially for living-related transplants. Overall, 60 recipients tested positive for SARS-CoV2 infection, 57 required hospitalization, 17 were admitted to the ICU, and 11 died. The online consensus had high response rates at each round (95.8%, 95.8%, and 89.5%, respectively). Eventually, 27 of 31 proposed statements were approved (87.