Party Conventions Are a Free-For-All for Influence Peddling: The Soft Money Loophole for Lobbyists

The Democratic and Republican national conventions are supposed to be publicly financed electoral events with reasonable ethics restrictions on influence-peddling by lobbyists. However, the conventions have become mostly privately financed soirees funded by corporations and lobbying firms that seek favors from the federal government. The unlimited soft money donations from special interests to pay for the conventions, and the lavish parties and wining and dining at the conventions, run counter to the federal election law and congressional ethics rules

WSES guidelines for management of Clostridium difficile infection in surgical patients

In the last two decades there have been dramatic changes in the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), with increases in incidence and severity of disease in many countries worldwide. The incidence of CDI has also increased in surgical patients. Optimization of management of C difficile, has therefore become increasingly urgent. An international multidisciplinary panel of experts prepared evidenced-based World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) guidelines for management of CDI in surgical patients

WSES guidelines for management of Clostridium difficile infection in surgical patients

In the last two decades there have been dramatic changes in the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), with increases in incidence and severity of disease in many countries worldwide. The incidence of CDI has also increased in surgical patients. Optimization of management of C difficile, has therefore become increasingly urgent. An international multidisciplinary panel of experts prepared evidenced-based World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) guidelines for management of CDI in surgical patients.Peer reviewe

MicroRNA-Based Cancer Mortality Risk Scoring System and hTERT Expression in Early-Stage Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

We have previously constructed a novel microRNA (miRNA)-based prognostic model and cancer-specific mortality risk score formula to predict survival outcome in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients who are already categorized into “early-stage” by the TNM staging system. A total of 836 early-stage OSCC patients were assigned the mortality risk scores. We evaluated the efficacy of various treatment regimens in terms of survival benefit compared to surgery only in patients stratified into high (risk score ≥0) versus low (risk score <0) mortality risk categories. For the high-risk group, surgery with neck dissection significantly improved the 5-year survival to 75% from 46% with surgery only (p<0.001); a Cox proportional hazard model on time-to-death demonstrated a hazard ratio of 0.37 for surgery with neck dissection (95% CI: 0.2–0.6; p=0.0005). For the low-risk group, surgery only was the treatment of choice associated with 5-year survival benefit. Regardless of treatment selected, those with risk score ≥2 may benefit from additional therapy to prevent cancer relapse. We also identified hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) as a gene target common to the prognostic miRNAs. There was 22-fold increase in the hTERT expression level in patients with risk score ≥2 compared to healthy controls (p<0.0005). Overexpression of hTERT was also observed in the patient-derived OSCC organoid compared to that of normal organoid. The DNA cancer vaccine that targets hTERT-expressing cells currently undergoing rigorous clinical evaluation for other tumors can be repurposed to prevent cancer recurrence in these high-risk early-stage oral cancer patients

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Disorders of sex development: insights from targeted gene sequencing of a large international patient cohort

DSD gene variants. Each variant found in a diagnostic gene (after the filtering and curation process) is shown. In some cases where the gene is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, two variants are grouped together. Inheritance has been indicated where familial samples were available: negative indicates negative for variant and N/A sample not available. De novo events have only been noted where both parental samples were available and found to be negative for the change. Previously reported refers to a variant being described in either ClinVar, HGMD, or a publication in a peer-reviewed journal via a PubMed search. Variants were classified consistent with previous MPS publications of DSD cohorts [8, 10] which were based on ACMG guidelines [15]. VUS were called for three reasons: 1 = fits phenotype but predicted to be benign; 2 = damaging but doesn’t fit phenotype; or 3 = variant in the AR repetitive region. Patients marked with an asterisk were identified to have two or more diagnostic gene variants. Null variants (frameshifts, splice sites mutations, and premature stop codons) are shown in bold. Patients have been classified based on clinical notes provided, according to the recommended classification of DSD in the Chicago consensus report. Classifications: CGD complete gonadal dysgenesis, DASA disorders of androgen synthesis or action, DSD DSD of “unknown” origin; hypospadias, LCH Leydig cell hypoplasia, OT ovotesticular DSD, PGD partial gonadal dysgenesis, PMDS persistent Müllerian duct syndrome; syndromic, T testicular DSD. Related affected individuals are indicated. File is in Excel spreadsheet format. (XLSX 47 kb

sj-pdf-1-dst-10.1177_19322968221085273 – Supplemental material for A Glycemia Risk Index (GRI) of Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia for Continuous Glucose Monitoring Validated by Clinician Ratings

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-dst-10.1177_19322968221085273 for A Glycemia Risk Index (GRI) of Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemia for Continuous Glucose Monitoring Validated by Clinician Ratings by David C. Klonoff, Jing Wang, David Rodbard, Michael A. Kohn, Chengdong Li, Dorian Liepmann, David Kerr, David Ahn, Anne L. Peters, Guillermo E. Umpierrez, Jane Jeffrie Seley, Nicole Y. Xu, Kevin T. Nguyen, Gregg Simonson, Michael S. D. Agus, Mohammed E. Al-Sofiani, Gustavo Armaiz-Pena, Timothy S. Bailey, Ananda Basu, Tadej Battelino, Sewagegn Yeshiwas Bekele, Pierre-Yves Benhamou, B. Wayne Bequette, Thomas Blevins, Marc D. Breton, Jessica R. Castle, James Geoffrey Chase, Kong Y. Chen, Pratik Choudhary, Mark A. Clements, Kelly L. Close, Curtiss B. Cook, Thomas Danne, Francis J. Doyle, Angela Drincic, Kathleen M. Dungan, Steven V. Edelman, Niels Ejskjaer, Juan C. Espinoza, G. Alexander Fleming, Gregory P. Forlenza, Guido Freckmann, Rodolfo J. Galindo, Ana Maria Gomez, Hanna A. Gutow, Lutz Heinemann, Irl B. Hirsch, Thanh D. Hoang, Roman Hovorka, Johan H. Jendle, Linong Ji, Shashank R. Joshi, Michael Joubert, Suneil K. Koliwad, Rayhan A. Lal, M. Cecilia Lansang, Wei-An (Andy) Lee, Lalantha Leelarathna, Lawrence A. Leiter, Marcus Lind, Michelle L. Litchman, Julia K. Mader, Katherine M. Mahoney, Boris Mankovsky, Umesh Masharani, Nestoras N. Mathioudakis, Alexander Mayorov, Jordan Messler, Joshua D. Miller, Viswanathan Mohan, James H. Nichols, Kirsten Nørgaard, David N. O’Neal, Francisco J. Pasquel, Athena Philis-Tsimikas, Thomas Pieber, Moshe Phillip, William H. Polonsky, Rodica Pop-Busui, Gerry Rayman, Eun-Jung Rhee, Steven J. Russell, Viral N. Shah, Jennifer L. Sherr, Koji Sode, Elias K. Spanakis, Deborah J. Wake, Kayo Waki, Amisha Wallia, Melissa E. Weinberg, Howard Wolpert, Eugene E. Wright, Mihail Zilbermint and Boris Kovatchev in Journal of Diabetes Science and Technolog