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Background and Aims: A rapid increase in the use of telemedicine for delivering healthcare has occurred since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. There is evidence for using telemedicine to facilitate cancer care delivery for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Examining how telemedicine can be used to communicate multidisciplinary tumor board (MTB) recommendations for HCC has not been studied. This study has two specific aims: (1) to evaluate the patient perspective of the MTB review process and identify best strategies for communicating treatment recommendations for HCC and (2) to pilot test a telemedicine intervention following MTB review to assess patient feasibility and satisfaction with using telemedicine to facilitate treatment decision-making and treatment referral. Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study. First, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted among patients diagnosed with HCC who were discussed in MTB review at one of three VA Medical Centers (VAMC). We collected information about the MTB process from the patient perspective and identified strategies for improving communication and delivery of care. Rapid qualitative analysis was used to inform intervention development. Using our qualitative data, a MTB telemedicine pilot intervention was developed and implemented to assess the feasibility of using this approach for patients with HCC. Results: Almost all patients (94%) in the pilot study would recommend telemedicine to other patients with HCC, and half of the patients (50%) preferred telemedicine over in-person visits. Many patients (81%) found communication through telemedicine an acceptable platform to deliver difficult cancer information. Overall, patients felt they understood their treatment recommendations and found them clear and useful. Further, patients reported that they enjoyed being included in the decision-making process and appreciated being able to have family members easily join them for the telemedicine visit. Conclusions: Using telemedicine to communicate treatment recommendations following MTB review was found to be feasible and an acceptable alternative to an in-person visit for patient with HCC. Future studies could include expanding this approach for communicating MTB recommendations to patients with other types of cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prehospital hemorrhagic shock accounts for approximately 25,000 civilian deaths annually in the United States. A balanced, blood-based resuscitation strategy is hypothesized to be the optimal treatment for these patients. Due to logistical constraints, delivering a balanced, blood-based resuscitation is difficult in the prehospital setting. A low titer O+ whole blood (LTO+ WB) ground ambulance initiative, may help alleviate this capability gap.Case Report: A 37-year-old female was involved in a motor vehicle collision at approximately 16:30. While she was trapped inside the vehicle, her mental status deteriorated. The patient was successfully extricated at 17:04 and found to be in cardiac arrest. The paramedics and firefighters quickly secured her airway and applied a mechanical CPR device. The first responder team obtained return of spontaneous circulation, but the patient's blood pressure was 43/27 mmHg. The paramedics transfused one unit of LTO+ WB. Twenty-one minutes after the initial LTO+ WB transfusion, the air ambulance team transfused a second unit of LTO+ WB. Upon hospital arrival, the transfusion was completed, and the patient's shock index improved to 1.0. The trauma team identified a grade 5 splenic injury with active extravasation. Interventional radiology performed an angiogram and successfully embolized the tertiary branches of the inferior splenic pole. She was extubated on postinjury Day one and discharged to her home neurologically intact on postinjury Day 12.Conclusion: The prehospital availability of LTO+ WB may enhance the resuscitation of critically ill trauma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pinless friction stir spot welding tool with a scrolled convex shoulder is used to create spot welds on aluminum alloy plates. The effects that the rotation rate, the dwell time, the plunge depth, and the plunge rate have on the spot welding process are investigated. A strong correlation was found to exist between the joint strength versus the tool rotation rate and the joint strength versus the dwell time. Low rotation rates and short dwell times resulted in significantly stronger welds and, conversely, higher rotation rates and longer dwell times resulted in spot welds with hooking defects and lower joint strengths. Using shear tests and macrosection analysis on the spot welds, the dependences of the joint strength, the spindle torque, the temperature and the axial force on the identified process parameters are discussed. A computational fluid dynamics model is created to simulate the effect that the tool rotation rate has on the heat generated and the material flow during spot welding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer with a high rate of recurrence. We propose a novel oncolytic vaccinia virus (VACV)-based therapy using expression of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-4 for treating GBM and preventing recurrence. Methods: We have utilized clinically relevant, orthotopic xenograft models of GBM based on tumor-biopsy derived, primary cancer stem cell (CSC) lines. One of the cell lines, after being transduced with a cDNA encoding firefly luciferase, could be used for real time tumor imaging. A VACV that expresses BMP-4 was constructed and utilized for infecting several primary glioma cultures besides conventional serum-grown glioma cell lines. This virus was also delivered intracranially upon implantation of the GBM CSCs in mice to determine effects on tumor growth. Results: We found that the VACV that overexpresses BMP-4 demonstrated heightened replication and cytotoxic activity in GBM CSC cultures with a broad spectrum of activity across several different patient-biopsy cultures. Intracranial inoculation of mice with this virus resulted in a tumor size equal to or below that at the time of injection. This resulted in survival of 100% of the treated mice up to 84 days post inoculation, significantly superior to that of a VACV lacking BMP-4 expression. When mice with a higher tumor burden were injected with the VACV lacking BMP-4, 80% of the mice showed tumor recurrence. In contrast, no recurrence was seen when mice were injected with the VACV expressing BMP-4, possibly due to induction of differentiation in the CSC population and subsequently serving as a better host for VACV infection and oncolysis. This lack of recurrence resulted in superior survival in the BMP-4 VACV treated group. Conclusions: Based on these findings we propose a novel VACV therapy for treating GBM, which would allow tumor specific production of drugs in the future in combination with BMPs which would simultaneously control tumor maintenance and facilitate CSC differentiation, respectively, thereby causing sustained tumor regression without recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]