sj-pdf-1-jnp-10.1177_23993693231160612 – Supplemental material for Bisphosphonate versus non-bisphosphonate treatment for hypercalcemia of malignancy in patients with renal dysfunction

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-jnp-10.1177_23993693231160612 for Bisphosphonate versus non-bisphosphonate treatment for hypercalcemia of malignancy in patients with renal dysfunction by Christy J Khouderchah, Victoria R Nachar, Rachel L McDevitt and Allison J Schepers in Journal of Onco-Nephrology</p

Utility of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nasal screening in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

BackgroundCurrent literature has demonstrated the utility of the MRSA nasal screen as a de‐escalation tool to decrease unnecessary anti‐MRSA antibiotic therapy. However, data on the applicability of this test in patients with hematologic malignancy is lacking.MethodsThis is a single‐center, retrospective cohort study of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with or without a history of hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), with pneumonia and MRSA nasal screening with respiratory cultures obtained. The primary outcome was to determine the negative predictive value (NPV) of the MRSA nasal screen for MRSA pneumonia. Secondary outcomes included sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) of the MRSA nasal screen and prevalence of MRSA pneumonia.ResultsOf 98 patients with AML and pneumonia, the prevalence of MRSA pneumonia was 4.1% with confirmed positive MRSA respiratory cultures observed in 4 patient cases. In patients with confirmed MRSA pneumonia, 3 had positive MRSA nasal screens while 1 had a false negative result, possibly due to a long lag time (21 days) between MRSA nasal screen and pneumonia diagnosis. Overall, the MRSA nasal screen demonstrated 75% sensitivity and 100% specificity, with a PPV of 100% and a NPV of 98.9%.ConclusionsGiven the low prevalence, empiric use of anti‐MRSA therapy in those AML and HCT patients with pneumonia may not be warranted in clinically stable patients. For patients in whom empiric anti‐MRSA antibiotics are initiated, nasal screening for MRSA may be utilized to de‐escalate anti‐MRSA antibiotics in patients with AML with or without HCT.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/170282/1/tid13612.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/170282/2/tid13612_am.pd

The PANDA DIRC detectors at FAIR

The PANDA detector at the international accelerator Facility for Antiproton and IonResearch in Europe (FAIR) addresses fundamental questions of hadron physics. An excellenthadronic particle identification (PID) will be accomplished by two DIRC (Detection of InternallyReflected Cherenkov light) counters in the target spectrometer. The design for the barrel regioncovering polar angles between 22deg to 140deg is based on the successful BABAR DIRC with severalkey improvements, such as fast photon timing and a compact imaging region. The novel EndcapDisc DIRC will cover the smaller forward angles between 5deg (10deg) to 22deg in the vertical (horizontal)direction. Both DIRC counters will use lifetime-enhanced microchannel plate PMTs for photondetection in combination with fast readout electronics. Geant4 simulations and tests with severalprototypes at various beam facilities have been used to evaluate the designs and validate the expectedPID performance of both PANDA DIRC counters