Cancer patients, due to their immunocompromised status, are at an increased risk for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Since severe SARS-CoV-2 infection causes multiple organ damage through IL-6-mediated inflammation while stimulating hypoxia, and malignancy promotes hypoxia-induced cellular metabolic alterations leading to cell death, we propose a mechanistic interplay between both conditions that results in an upregulation of IL-6 secretion resulting in enhanced cytokine production and systemic injury. Hypoxia mediated by both conditions results in cell necrosis, dysregulation of oxidative phosphorylation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. This produces free radicals and cytokines that result in systemic inflammatory injury. Hypoxia also catalyzes the breakdown of COX-1 and 2 resulting in bronchoconstriction and pulmonary edema, which further exacerbates tissue hypoxia. Given this disease model, therapeutic options are currently being studied against severe SARS-COV-2. In this study, we review several promising therapies against severe disease supported by clinical trial evidence—including Allocetra, monoclonal antibodies (Tixagevimab–Cilgavimab), peginterferon lambda, Baricitinib, Remdesivir, Sarilumab, Tocilizumab, Anakinra, Bevacizumab, exosomes, and mesenchymal stem cells. Due to the virus’s rapid adaptive evolution and diverse symptomatic manifestation, the use of combination therapies offers a promising approach to decrease systemic injury. By investing in such targeted interventions, cases of severe SARS-CoV-2 should decrease along with its associated long-term sequelae and thereby allow cancer patients to resume their treatments.
Introduction: Social media has emerged as a formidable outlet for medical information through its vast global reach of individuals of all educational levels and socioeconomic statuses but especially those in resource limited regions. However, misinformation has presented a universal challenge and contributed to adverse medical outcomes. MedNews Week, a virtual education platform, was developed to combat medical misinformation, especially within hematology-oncology, and contribute to global health education by providing the mainstream public with free access to its weekly programming. Keynote Conference is a weekly show featuring live presentations from hematology-oncology’s premier global leaders discussing the latest developments in their field before a global mainstream audience. The goal of this study was to assess the global reach and impact of MedNews Week’s programming. Methods: From January to June 2022, MedNews Week hosted 22 global leaders (h-index = 60) as Keynote Speakers discussing the latest developments in oncology. Viewership, impressions, and outreach data was collected from MedNews Week's and its respective members’ social media accounts and with the help of Symplur, data was analyzed to provide insight on global reach and engagement. A mixed-method approach was used to analyze engagement. Results: MedNews Week generated over 11.9K tweets, 5.7K retweets, and 41 million Twitter impressions over this six-month time period reaching over 54 countries. A network analysis of MedNews Week's main accounts demonstrated cross-community engagement on Twitter. Hashtags successfully showcased Keynote Conferences, expanded global audience viewership, and enhanced overall engagement. To estimate the level of incoming and outgoing communications between MedNews Week and our audience, we focused our analysis on the MedNews Week Twitter chat organizers (@yleyfman and @CParkMD) and supporting researcher (@ShimaghavimiMD). We identified these usernames on the network map. Not all other participants were identified. We have also noticed a steady increase in the number of attendees at Keynote Conference. Conclusion: Given MedNews Week’s continued growth in global viewership and international reach, it has emerged as a viable platform to combat medical misinformation, especially in lower socioeconomic regions. Although internet access is one of the main barriers to high quality medical information, as technology involves and internet access becomes more widespread, the positive impact of medical education platforms like MedNews Week will continue to grow. The platform’s ability to showcase global leaders to a mainstream audience for free offers a practical approach to combat educational inequity. MedNews Week has the potential to positively impact global hematology-oncology education. Citation Format: Yan Leyfman, William B. Wilkerson, Shubhadarshini G. Pawar, Muskan Joshi, Gayathri P. Menon, Pallavi Pai, Sean Jackewicz, Alexandra van de Kieft, Chandler Park. Development of a virtual platform to improve global access to oncology education & combat healthcare inequities. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 4187.
132 Background: Social media has emerged as a powerful vehicle for the dissemination of medical information, especially in resource-limited regions, due to its mass global reach. However, 1/3 of social media posts contain misinformation with 76.9% of them containing harmful information leading to adverse outcomes that are a detriment to global public health. To address this, MedNews Week (MNW), a free, digital medical education platform dedicated to combating healthcare misinformation, was developed to contribute to global oncology education through biweekly programming. Its main show, Keynote Conference, features live virtual presentations from oncology’s premier global leaders discussing the latest developments in cancer before a mainstream global audience. The aim of this study was to assess the worldwide reach and impact of this cost-free, virtual oncology education platform. Methods: From January 2022 to 2023, MNW hosted 25 global oncology leaders as Keynote Speakers (Mean H-index=50.09). Viewership, impressions, and outreach data were collected from MNW’s social media accounts and TweepMaps. Data was analyzed to assess MNW’s global reach and engagement and stratified based on engagement sentiment, gender, age group, and occupation. Results: During this period, MNW generated a Healthcare Social Graph Score of 92.77% (top 7.33 percentile of global healthcare influencers) with over 109,128 Twitter impressions and 4,731 engagements reaching 1.9 million accounts globally over 12 months (Table). Most of the followers were from non-healthcare fields with slightly more males than females. Those who engaged conveyed positive sentiments (59.9% likes and 26.2% mentions) contributing to a viewership increase from 72,136 (6 months) to 157,559 (1 year). The platform reached 100 cities and 57 countries of which 16 were of low-to-middle socioeconomic (SE) status. Conclusions: MNW has demonstrated an ability to attract and sustain a diverse, global, growing audience. Given MNW’s continued growth, it provides an innovative model to engage and disseminate medical information to mainstream audiences. The platform’s ability to showcase global leaders to mainstream audiences gratuitously, especially in lower SE regions that have been historically underserved, offers a practical approach to combat educational inequity. Thus, MNW represents a novel approach with promising potential to positively impact global oncology education.[Table: see text]
139 Background: While the popularity of social media has grown as a source of healthcare news, studies have shown that one third of social media posts contain misinformation with 76.9% of them containing harmful information leading to adverse outcomes. As a result, MedNews Week (MNW), a digital platform dedicated to combating misinformation, was developed to contribute to global oncology education through its free programming. In its first year, MNW has connected 193,000 live viewers from 57 countries with opportunities to learn from and engage live with oncology’s global leaders during their Keynote Lectures. The goal of this study was to assess whether Twitter Impressions, LinkedIn Impressions and Speaker H-Index significantly predicted the number of live attendees at Keynote Lectures as a marker for the utilization of medical information resources by a global network of patients and patient advocates. Methods: In 2022, MNW hosted 32 distinguished physician-researchers as Keynote Speakers for live streamed virtual lectures of which 25 spoke on oncology topics. Twitter and LinkedIn promotional posts for each Keynote Lecture began one week before every event and the number of impressions were collected. The number of virtual attendees at each live lecture and speaker h-index (a common metric of scholarly impact) were recorded for each lecturer for statistical testing. Multiple linear regression was performed using R. Results: Results showed that the overall regression was statistically significant (R2 = 0.9977, F(3, 18) = 2650, p-value < 0.001). Twitter and LinkedIn Impressions significantly predicted the number of live attendees at Keynote Lectures (p-value < 0.001). However, the speaker H-index did not significantly predict the number of live Keynote attendees (p-value = 0.258 > 0.05). Conclusions: There is very strong evidence to support social media engagement as a predictor of health resource utilization as evident by Keynote Lecture attendance. However, a speaker’s H-index was not found to be a good predictor of health resource utilization by patients and patient advocates. The results of this analysis highlight the importance of traditional resources of medical knowledge adapting to the current digital climate, as platforms like MNW and COSMO demonstrate the growing impact of social media as an outlet for patient education and outreach – particularly in underserved regions globally.[Table: see text]
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