A Tool to Assess Patient and Surrogate Knowledge About the POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) Program

ContextIt is especially important that patients are well informed when making high-stakes, preference-sensitive decisions like those on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. However, there is currently no way to easily evaluate whether patients understand key concepts when making these important decisions.ObjectivesTo develop a POLST knowledge survey.MethodsExpert (n = 62) ratings of key POLST facts were used to select items for a POLST knowledge survey. The survey was administered to nursing facility residents (n = 97) and surrogate decision-makers (n = 112). A subset (n = 135) were re-administered the survey after a standardized advance care planning discussion to assess the scale's responsiveness to change.ResultsThe 19-item survey demonstrated adequate reliability (α = 0.72.). Residents' scores (x = 11.4, standard deviation 3.3) were significantly lower than surrogate scores (x = 14.7, standard deviation 2.5) (P < 0.001). Scores for both groups increased significantly after administration of a standardized advance care planning discussion (P < 0.001). Although being a surrogate, age, race, education, cognitive functioning, and health literacy were significantly associated with higher POLST Knowledge Survey scores in univariate analyses, only being a surrogate (P < 0.001) and being white (P = 0.028) remained significantly associated with higher scores in multivariate analyses.ConclusionThe 19-item POLST Knowledge Survey demonstrated adequate reliability and responsiveness to change. Findings suggest the survey could be used to identify knowledge deficits and provide targeted education to ensure adequate understanding of key clinical decisions when completing POLST.     

妊娠合并右心感染性心内膜炎的临床特征及母婴结局的文献分析

目的探讨妊娠合并右心感染性心内膜炎的临床特征、处理策略和母婴结局,为疾病的诊断和治疗提供理论依据。方法在中国知网、万方数据库、维普网、中国生物医学文献服务系统、PubMed、OVID、EMbase、ScienceDirect数据库检索相关文献,提取临床资料,分析妊娠合并右心感染性心内膜炎的临床表现、危险因素、赘生物位置、血培养结果、治疗策略和母婴结局等。结果纳入15篇文献,共18例患者。患者年龄为(27.7±4.8)岁,发病孕周为(27.8±6.9)周。发热(14例)、咳嗽(12例)、贫血(8例)、气短或呼吸困难(8例)是最常见的症状。心脏听诊时7例可闻及杂音,其中6例为收缩期杂音,1例未明确杂音类型,5例明确心脏听诊无杂音。9例合并肺栓塞和5例合并心力衰竭。危险因素主要为先天性心脏病(10/18)和静脉药瘾史(6/18)。赘生物附着位置以三尖瓣居多(10/18),其次为肺动脉瓣(4/18)。血培养阳性率高(15/16),主要包括葡萄球菌(9/15)及链球菌(3/15)。处理策略上,多以剖宫产适时终止妊娠,针对心内膜炎方面,在应用足量足疗程抗生素的基础上,11例患者行心脏手术,术式主要包括赘生物清除术、瓣膜修复或置换术以及先天性心脏病的手术等,根据患者的孕周、病情和心肺功能等具体情况决定手术在终止妊娠之前、之后或同期进行。18例患者全部存活,新生儿1例死亡(妊娠28周时行剖宫产分娩,因重度窒息死亡)。产妇随访情况基本良好。结论妊娠合并右心感染性心内膜炎临床少见且病情复杂,需及早诊断并实施个体化治疗方案。给予足量足疗程抗生素、选择合适的手术方案以及终止妊娠的时机,对于母婴结局具有重要意义。     

Failed B cell survival factor trials support the importance of memory B cells in multiple sclerosis

Clinical trials are probably the most informative experiments to help an understanding of multiple sclerosis (MS) biology. Recent successes with CD20‐depleting antibodies have focused attention towards B cell subsets as important mediators in MS. The trial of tabalumab (NTC00882999), which inhibits B cell activation factor (BAFF), is reported and reviewed and this trial is contrasted with the trial on the inhibition of a proliferation‐inducing ligand (APRIL) and BAFF using atacicept (NCT00642902). Both tabalumab and atacicept induce depletion of mature B cells and inhibit antibody formation, but they fail to deplete memory B cells and do not inhibit relapsing MS. Atacicept is reported to augment memory B cell responses and may precipitate relapse, suggesting the importance of APRIL. However, BAFF inhibition can enhance peripheral blood memory B cell responses, which was not associated with augmented relapse. Although other interpretations are possible, these data further support the hypothesis that memory B cells may be of central importance in relapsing MS, as they are the major CD20+ B cell subset expressing APRIL receptors. They also suggest that quantitative and/or qualitative differences in B cell responses or other factors, such as an immune‐regulatory effect associated with APRIL, may be important in determining whether MS reactivates following neutralization of peripheral B cell maturation and survival factors.     

Short timescale modulation of cortical and cerebellar activity in the early phase of motor sequence learning: an fMRI study

Brain Imaging and Behavior - Motor learning is a multi-stage process, in which the involvement of different brain regions is related to the specific stage. We aimed at characterising short...     

eTEP inferior access with tailored retromuscular dissection for small to mid-sized umbilical hernia repair with or without inguinal hernia: early experience

Hernia - The minimally invasive surgical repair of combined inguinal and ventral hernias often requires shifting from one approach or plane to another. The traditional enhanced-view totally...