Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association
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The 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa has been the largest in recorded history. During this Ebola epidemic, the media has focused much attention to the magnitude of the problem in West Africa but has also overplayed the potential for an Ebola virus pandemic as patients have been transported for treatment to the United States and Europe causing panic and paranoia in the population. Knowledge of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, treatment, and prevention of this infection will allow a better understanding of the disease and decrease irrational fear of spread.
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Trans. Am. Clin. Climatol. Assoc. · Jan 2015
ReviewPersonalized Medicine: Genomics Trials in Oncology.
The era of genomics-based medicine promises to provide molecular tests that will permit precision medicine. However, in 2015, it is not clear what the terms genomics-based medicine, molecular tests, or precision medicine mean. In this report, we review the definitions of these terms and other important semantics relative to what it takes to get a tumor biomarker into standard clinical practice, and the potential clinical trial designs that are being considered to determine if tumor biomarker tests based on next-generation sequencing actually provide benefit to patients with cancer.
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Trans. Am. Clin. Climatol. Assoc. · Jan 2015
ReviewUsing Technology to Meet the Challenges of Medical Education.
Medical education is rapidly changing, influenced by many factors including the changing health care environment, the changing role of the physician, altered societal expectations, rapidly changing medical science, and the diversity of pedagogical techniques. Changes in societal expectations put patient safety in the forefront, and raises the ethical issues of learning interactions and procedures on live patients, with the long-standing teaching method of "see one, do one, teach one" no longer acceptable. ⋯ Technologies such as podcasts and videos with flipped classrooms, mobile devices with apps, video games, simulations (part-time trainers, integrated simulators, virtual reality), and wearable devices (google glass) are some of the techniques available to address the changing educational environment. This article presents how the use of technologies can provide the infrastructure and basis for addressing many of the challenges in providing medical education for the future.
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Chronic musculoskeletal pain is one of the most intractable clinical problems faced by clinicians and can be devastating for patients. Central pain amplification is perceived pain that cannot be fully explained on the basis of somatic or neuropathic processes and is due to physiologic alterations in pain transmission or descending pain modulatory pathways. In any individual, central pain amplification may complicate nociceptive or neuropathic pain. ⋯ Unfortunately, treatments for chronic pain are woefully inadequate and often worsen clinical outcomes. Developing new treatment strategies for patients with chronic pain is of utmost urgency. This essay provides a framework for thinking about chronic pain and developing new treatment approaches.