One Size Does Not Fit All: Choosing Practical Cognitive Screening Tools for Your Practice

Every year, millions of patients worldwide undergo cognitive testing. Unfortunately, new barriers to the use of free open access cognitive screening tools have arisen over time, making accessibility of tools unstable. This article is in follow-up to an editorial discussing alternative cognitive screening tools for those who cannot afford the costs of the Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (see www.dementiascreen.ca ). The current article outlines an emerging disruptive “free-to-fee” cycle where free open access cognitive screening tools are integrated into clinical practice and guidelines, where fees are then levied for the use of the tools, resulting in clinicians moving on to other tools. This article provides recommendations on means to break this cycle, including the development of tool kits of valid cognitive screening tools that authors have contracted not to charge for (i.e., have agreed to keep free open access). The PRACTICAL.1 Criteria ( PRACTI cing C linician A ccessibility and L ogistical Criteria Version 1 ) are introduced to help clinicians select from validated cognitive screening tools, considering barriers and facilitators, such as whether the cognitive screening tools are easy to score and free of cost. It is suggested that future systematic reviews embed the PRACTICAL.1 criteria, or refined future versions, as part of the standard of review. Methodological issues, the need for open access training to insure proper use of cognitive screening tools, and the need to anticipate growing ethnolinguistic diversity by developing tools that are less sensitive to educational, cultural, and linguistic bias are discussed in this opinion piece. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:2207–2213, 2020.     

Effects of Meal Size on the Release of GLP-1 and PYY After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery in Obese Subjects With or Without Type 2 Diabetes

Changes in gastrointestinal peptide release may play an important role in improving glucose control and reducing body weight following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), but the impact of low caloric intake on gut peptide release post-surgery has not been well characterized. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between low caloric intake and gut peptide release and how they were altered by RYGB. Obese females including ten normoglycemic (ON) and ten with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (OD) were studied before, 1 week, and 3 months after RYGB. Nine lean, normoglycemic women were studied for comparison. Subjects were given three separate mixed meal challenges (MMCs; 75, 150, and 300 kcal). Plasma glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and peptide YY (PYY) were analyzed. Prior to surgery, only minimal increases in GLP-1 and PYY were observed in response to the MMCs. After surgery, the peak GLP-1 concentration was progressively elevated in response to increasing meal sizes. The meal sizes had a statistically significant impact on elevation of GLP-1 incremental areas under the curve (ΔAUC) in both ON and OD at 1 week and 3 months post-surgery visits (p?<?0.05 for all comparisons). The PYY ?AUC was also significantly increased in a meal size-dependent manner in both ON and OD at both post-surgery visits (p?<?0.05 for all comparisons). Meal sizes as small as 75–300 kcal, which cause minimal stimulation in GLP-1 or PYY release in the subjects before RYGB, are sufficient to provide statistically significant, meal size-dependent increases in the peptides post-RYGB both acutely and after meaningful weight loss occurred.     

Right ventricular outflow tract obstruction caused by a right coronary cusp prolapse: An unusual finding

Patients with large sub-pulmonic ventricular septal defect (VSD) present early as a results of their complications. Some present late, due to the restriction of VSD by the right coronary cusp (RCC) due to its prolapse. In this report, we present a rare case of sub-pulmonic VSD in a 33-year-old man who developed a sub-pulmonic stenosis due to the prolapse of the RCC into the right ventricular outflow tract.     

Unexpected mechanism of mitral regurgitation in a patient post ALCAPA repair: Added value of three-dimensional echocardiography

Accurate assessment of etiology of mitral regurgitation (MR) is one of the key steps in the decision-making process and further clinical management of patients with severe MR. Our clinical case illustrates the added value of three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) in assessment of mitral valve morphology and identification of an unexpected mechanism of MR which was not previously diagnosed using conventional echocardiography. 3DE helped to choose appropriate management strategy in this patient.     

Epstein-Barr virus lymphoproliferation after bone marrow transplantation

We review 15 cases of secondary B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders that occurred among 2,475 patients who received allogeneic bone marrow transplants (BMTs) at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle) between 1969 and 1987. The histopathologic findings in 14 of the 15 patients spanned a wide spectrum of lymphoproliferative lesions. One patient had features characteristic of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genomic sequences were identified by Southern blot analysis in each of the 13 patients evaluated. Ten of the 12 lesions evaluated originated in donor cells. In two patients, who had mixed chimerism after transplantation, the lesions originated in host cells. The combined evidence from immunoglobulin light chain staining and the analysis of immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement indicated that the lesions in most patients represented polyclonal proliferations that gave rise to clonal subpopulations. The results indicate an overall actuarial incidence of 0.6% for this complication in BMT recipients. Anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) treatment of acute graft-v-host disease (GVHD) and T cell depletion of the donor marrow were statistically significant risk factors, and GVHD appeared to play a contributing role, particularly in the setting of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) disparity. Two patients had no identifiable risk factors. Prophylaxis or treatment with acyclovir had no detectable effect in the patients; all but two died with uncontrolled lymphoproliferation.