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Background Methods Results Conclusion Accurate conflict of interest (COI) information is essential for promoting transparency and trust in research. We aim to assess COI disclosure patterns in monoclonal antibodies (MABs) research for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) using the Open Payments Database (OPD).Studies on FDA‐approved MABs for CRSwNP (dupilumab, omalizumab, mepolizumab) published between 2019 and 2021 with at least one US author were identified through PubMed. Industry‐reported payments from the manufacturers (Sanofi, Regeneron, Genentech, Novartis, and GlaxoSmithKline) between 2018 and 2021 in OPD's General Payments category were collected. Authors were cross‐checked against OPD metadata using a previously published ChatGPT‐based algorithm. Additionally, this novel algorithm analyzed COI statements for relevant author‒company specific disclosures, identifying disclosed and undisclosed payments made 3‒15 months prior to publication.A total of 214 unique authors from 76 studies were included. Of 30 articles that received at least one relevant payment, 21 (70%) were found to have an undisclosed COI, with a mean total undisclosed payment of $4890 and a median of $10,331. Fifty‐six authors had relevant OPD payments and 40 (71.4%) authors did not declare a potential COI. Interestingly, 158 authors had no relevant payments and 62 (39.2%) declared a potential COI. Author order was not significantly associated with potential under‐ or over‐disclosure.This study characterizes COI disclosure patterns in rhinosinusitis‐relevant MABs research using a novel automated approach. Given the discrepancy between disclosures and industry‐reported payments, our findings suggest a need for improved disclosure education and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Skull base fracture management depends on location, severity, and can range from observation to surgical intervention. A comparison between the different locations of skull base fractures, namely anterior versus lateral, with regards to hospital length of stay (LOS), need for intensive care, and surgery has not been studied. Methods: Patients with skull base fractures between 2012 and 2019 were reviewed. Demographics and inpatient events were collected. Multivariate logistic and linear regressions evaluated the association between fracture location, multiple traumas, loss of consciousness, and mechanism of injury with hospital course and sequalae. Results: There were 134 patients (74.6% male) with skull base fractures (67 anterior and 67 lateral), with an average age of 44.2 years. The mechanism of injury was more likely to be MVCs in anterior fractures and falls in lateral fractures (MVC: 56.7% vs 34.3%; falls: 28.4% vs 44.8%, P =.03). Patients with anterior fractures were more likely to undergo any surgery (P <.002), and surgeries for facial fractures (P <.005), but less likely to need ICU care (P =.01). When admitted, patients with anterior skull base fractures had longer ICU stays (P =.03). They were also more likely to experience vision difficulties whereas patients with lateral fractures were more likely to experience hearing loss (P =.02). Conclusion: Patients with lateral skull base fractures are more likely to require an ICU admission compared to anterior fractures, but anterior fractures are more likely to need surgery and have longer ICU stays when admitted. A better understanding of the expected hospital course for patients based on skull base fracture location can improve care-coordination, hospital resource management and patient counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widely varying prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has been reported in patients presenting for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The primary aim of this study was to determine vitamin D levels in TKA patients and to compare to patients already routinely evaluated for vitamin D levels, patients with fragility fractures of the distal radius (DRF). There is significant overlap between patients presenting for TKA and with DRF, both in terms of medical comorbidities and overall health status, making these populations suitable comparative cohorts. Wefound that all patients presenting for TKA consultation had vitamin D insufficiency and 33% had vitamin D deficiency, compared to only 37% and 14% in the DRF cohort, a patient population routinely evaluated for vitamin D due to the high risk of deficiency. Furthermore, patients with DRF had higher levels of vitamin D before (38 ± 16 vs. 23 ± 5) and after vitamin D supplementation (39 ± 17 vs. 33 ± 10), suggesting that patients presenting for TKA are at even higher risk of vitamin D insufficiency than patients presenting with DRF. Reassuringly, supplementation successfully corrected 39.0% and 55.8% of patients in the DRF and TKA cohorts, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services "OpenPayments" database tracks industry payments to US physicians to improve research conflicts of interest (COIs) transparency, but manual cross‐checking of articles' authors against this database is labor‐intensive. This study aims to assess the potential of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to automate COI data analysis in medical publications. Study Design: An observational study analyzing the accuracy of ChatGPT in automating the cross‐checking of COI disclosures in medical research articles against the OpenPayments database. Setting: Publications regarding Food and Drug Administration‐approved biologics for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis: omalizumab, mepolizumab, and dupilumab. Methods: First, ChatGPT evaluated author affiliations from PubMed to identify those based in the United States. Second, for author names matching 1 or multiple payment recipients in OpenPayments, ChatGPT undertook a comparative analysis between author affiliation and OpenPayments recipient metadata. Third, ChatGPT scrutinized full article COI statements, producing an intricate matrix of disclosures for each author against each relevant company (Sanofi, Regeneron, Genentech, Novartis, and GlaxoSmithKline). A random subset of responses was manually checked for accuracy. Results: In total, 78 relevant articles and 294 unique US authors were included, leading to 980 LLM queries. Manual verification showed accuracies of 100% (200/200; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 98.1%‐100%) for country analysis, 97.4% (113/116; 95% CI: 92.7%‐99.1%) for matching author affiliations with OpenPayments metadata, and 99.2% (1091/1100; 95% CI: 98.5%‐99.6%) for COI statement data extraction. Conclusion: LLMs have robust potential to automate author‐company‐specific COI cross‐checking against the OpenPayments database. Our findings pave the way for streamlined, efficient, and accurate COI assessment that could be widely employed across medical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung diseases, including lung cancer, are rising causes of global mortality. Despite novel imaging technologies and the development of biomarker assays, the detection of lung cancer remains a significant challenge. However, the lung communicates directly with the external environment and releases aerosolized droplets during normal tidal respiration, which can be collected, stored and analzsed as exhaled breath condensate (EBC). A few studies have suggested that EBC contains extracellular vesicles (EVs) whose microRNA (miRNA) cargos may be useful for evaluating different lung conditions, but the cellular origin of these EVs remains unknown. In this study, we used nanoparticle tracking, transmission electron microscopy, Western blot analyses and super resolution nanoimaging (ONi) to detect and validate the identity of exhaled EVs (exh‐EVs). Using our customizable antibody‐purification assay, EV‐CATCHER, we initially determined that exh‐EVs can be selectively enriched from EBC using antibodies against three tetraspanins (CD9, CD63 and CD81). Using ONi we also revealed that some exh‐EVs harbour lung‐specific proteins expressed in bronchiolar Clara cells (Clara Cell Secretory Protein [CCSP]) and Alveolar Type II cells (Surfactant protein C [SFTPC]). When conducting miRNA next generation sequencing (NGS) of airway samples collected at five different anatomic levels (i.e., mouth rinse, mouth wash, bronchial brush, bronchoalveolar lavage [BAL] and EBC) from 18 subjects, we determined that miRNA profiles of exh‐EVs clustered closely to those of BAL EVs but not to those of other airway samples. When comparing the miRNA profiles of EVs purified from matched BAL and EBC samples with our three tetraspanins EV‐CATCHER assay, we captured significant miRNA expression differences associated with smoking, asthma and lung tumor status of our subjects, which were also reproducibly detected in EVs selectively purified with our anti‐CCSP/SFTPC EV‐CATCHER assay from the same samples, but that confirmed their lung tissue origin. Our findings underscore that enriching exh‐EV subpopulations from EBC allows non‐invasive sampling of EVs produced by lung tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined the role of accounting education in the provision of soft skills to accounting graduates, and how this may be affected by the recent changes in academic requirements initiated by NZICA. A qualitative research method utilizing in-depth interviews was conducted with accounting graduates, partners of the Big4 accounting firms, and two NZICA representatives. A literature review was conducted in order to review research regarding the purpose of tertiary accounting education, the issues in accounting education, and the provision of soft skills in accounting education. Included in this paper is a brief history of NZICA which focuses on its establishment and the changing academic requirements to become a qualified CA. The research found that overall, the majority of participants in this study were of the opinion that tertiary accounting education plays an important role in soft skills development for accounting graduates. The majority of participants also perceived that a three year degree should not diminish the quality of soft skills development at tertiary level since the fourth year did not provide additional soft skills development for them. The implications of the 2010 academic changes may not be witnessed for a few years; therefore, it would be ideal for NZICA to conduct a review of the academic changes commencing from 2013 to see whether the changes have improved the students' education experience, practitioners' pool of graduates and the profession's pool of members. Such a review will be important to gather feedback and determine whether further academic changes will need to be made to ensure a quality tertiary level accounting education.