Patient's values and preferences regarding the relative importance of preventing strokes and avoiding bleeding are now recognised to be of great importance in deciding on therapy for the prevention of stroke due to atrial fibrillation (SPAF). We used an iPad questionnaire to determine the minimal clinically important difference (Treatment Threshold) and the maximum number of major bleeding events that a patient would be willing to endure in order to prevent one stroke (Bleeding Ratio) for the initiation of antithrombotic therapy in 172 hospital in-patients with documented non-valvular atrial fibrillation in whom anticoagulant therapy was being considered. Patients expressed strong opinions regarding SPAF. We found that 12% of patients were "medication averse" and were not willing to consider antithrombotic therapy; even if it was 100% effective in preventing strokes. Of those patients who were willing to consider antithrombotic therapy, 42% were identified as "risk averse" and 15% were "risk tolerant". Patients required at least a 0.8% (NNT=125) annual absolute risk reduction and 15% relative risk reduction in the risk of stroke in order to agree to initiate antithrombotic therapy, and patients were willing to endure 4.4 major bleeds in order to prevent one stroke. In conclusion, there was a substantial amount of inter-patient variability, and often extreme differences in opinion regarding tolerance of bleeding risk in the context of stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. These findings highlight the importance of considering patient preferences when deciding on SPAF therapy.
Context.— The use of neoadjuvant therapy in the management of early-stage invasive breast cancer is increasing. Residual Cancer Burden and other similar tools use pathologic characteristics of post-neoadjuvant therapy breast tumors to determine long-term outcome. However, there are no standardized guidelines for the pathologic evaluation of these specimens in the routine clinical setting. Objective.— To assess current practices among Canadian pathologists and pathology assistants with regard to the processing and reporting of post-neoadjuvant therapy breast specimens. Design.— An electronic survey was distributed to pathologists and pathology assistants across Canada. Results.— Sixty-three responses were obtained. A total of 48% (15 of 31) of surveyed pathologists reported familiarity with the Residual Cancer Burden tool. A total of 40% (25 of 63) of respondents reported a lack of routine use of specimen photography, and 35% (22 of 63) reported a lack of routine use of grossing diagrams. There was significant variation with respect to tumor bed sampling; the most common method was to submit 1 block per centimeter of tumor (20 of 63; 32%). There was also significant variation in the method of measuring residual tumor; the most common method was to measure the largest cross-section of residual tumor (16 of 32; 50%). Conclusions.— There is a need for standardization of the evaluation of post-neoadjuvant therapy breast specimens in the routine clinical setting in Canada. We recommend the routine use of specimen mapping, submitting the largest cross section of tumor bed in toto, reporting tumor size as per American Joint Committee on Cancer and Residual Cancer Burden guidelines, and routinely including measurements of residual tumor cellularity and in situ disease in the final pathology report as per Residual Cancer Burden guidelines.
A major component of academic development is the improvement of teaching by helping students to consolidate information from short‐term to long‐term memory. Recent advances in Memory and Cognitive Load Theory would seem to be pertinent to the teaching and learning of anatomy. In order to test the efficacy of these learning techniques, students in a large gross anatomy class (n = 280) were exposed to the following teaching innovations ‐ testing for learning, delayed practice, interleaving, and spiral learning. The performance of the students will be analyzed by comparing the marks to a previous class that took the same final exam. Comparisons will be made between the whole class, but also between the lower third, the middle third and the upper third. These results will be tabulated and analyzed by January 2013. The hypothesis is that there will be an increase in test scores, particularly in the lower third.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.