Chronic Dermatographic Urticaria Secondary to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) poses significant challenges in diagnosis and management due to its diverse clinical manifestations, including various skin abnormalities. Chronic dermatographic urticaria, although less recognized, has been suggested to have an association with SLE; however, evidence supporting this connection remains limited. We present a case of chronic dermatographic urticaria secondary to SLE in a 26-year-old female. Despite ineffective conventional treatments, the initiation of hydroxyzine resulted in notable symptom improvement without adverse effects. This case underlines the importance of recognizing and addressing less common dermatological manifestations in SLE, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive approach to optimize patient outcomes. It highlights the potential utility of hydroxyzine in managing the refractory symptoms of chronic dermatographic urticaria in SLE patients. This report contributes to the expanding evidence regarding the complex interplay between SLE and dermatographic urticaria, necessitating further research to understand underlying mechanisms and establish optimal treatment strategies. Enhanced awareness and understanding of such associations are crucial for facilitating early diagnosis and tailored management approaches in patients with SLE, ultimately improving their quality of life and clinical outcomes.

Beyond the Surface: A Clinical Insight Into a 60-Year-Old Male With Pemphigus vulgaris.

Pemphigus vulgaris, a rare and life-threatening autoimmune disorder, presents with painful skin and mucosal lesions, leading to blistering sores attributed to acantholysis. This study delves into the clinical manifestations, risk factors, and diagnostic intricacies associated with pemphigus vulgaris, with a focus on a representative case highlighting the challenges in its recognition and management. We explore the case of a 60-year-old male with pemphigus vulgaris, whose initial presentation involved yellow-crusting lesions on the scalp progressing to non-pruritic lesions on the chest, neck, and inguinal areas. A multidisciplinary medical workup was conducted, encompassing serological tests, imaging, and consultations with infectious disease and dermatology specialists. The definitive diagnosis was established through histopathological examination of three 4-mm punch biopsies. The case underscores the polymorphic nature of pemphigus vulgaris, with diverse clinical presentations and diagnostic challenges. The positive Nikolsky sign on the chest and neck lesions, coupled with oral mucosal involvement observed during a routine dental procedure, exemplifies the complexity of its manifestations. Diagnostic intricacies involved negative results for infectious diseases, declined kidney function, and elevated inflammatory markers, necessitating a collaborative approach for accurate diagnosis. Pemphigus vulgaris demands a comprehensive understanding of its varied presentations and collaboration among medical specialties for accurate diagnosis and tailored management. Treatment involves systemic glucocorticoids and immunomodulators. The presented case underscores the need for continued research to enhance diagnostic accuracy and refine therapeutic interventions for this rare autoimmune disorder.

When Is My Care Team Rounding? A Simple Signage Intervention to Increase Awareness of Rounding Times.

Patient and caregiver awareness of multidisciplinary rounds (MDR) times, and their subsequent involvement in MDR, aids in decreasing adverse health outcomes, reducing average length of stay, and increasing satisfaction. The objective of this study was to increase patient and caregiver awareness of MDR times using signage interventions and to assess the state of rounding processes with patient and caregiver satisfaction pre- and post-intervention. We administered survey questions to assess MDR interaction and awareness regarding MDR times. Patient and caregiver awareness of rounding times increased significantly by 25.87% (P = .0043) post-intervention. Although patients' confidence in the physician remained largely unchanged after the intervention due to high initial confidence levels, MDR satisfaction metrics increased slightly post-intervention. Thus, our signage intervention increased rounding time awareness in the MDR process.

Using Intern-Led Quality Improvement to Reduce Readmissions for Specialty Service Patients Within an Academic Medical Center.

Introduction: Postdischarge patient calls are an effective intervention to decrease unplanned readmissions. Despite its efficacy, calls are time consuming and compete with other clinical obligations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the viability of intern-led quality improvement (QI) on conducting initial postdischarge calls to filter patients who require clinical or nurse follow-up. Methods: QI interns from an academic medical center's QI program completed postdischarge patient calls within 72 hours of patient discharge from a neurosurgery service between June 2018 and July 2019. QI interns filtered patients who required follow-up calls from a clinical service or nurse department. The departments called patients within 48 hours of requests. Unplanned readmission rate was compared between the cohort of patients who requested and received a follow-up call versus a cohort of patients who requested and did not receive a follow-up call (control). Results: QI interns completed 83.8% postdischarge patient calls within 72 hours of discharge. Reasons for unsuccessful calls included patient unresponsiveness (74.6%), wrong phone number on file (13.9%), and request to be called at a different time (11.5%). Nurses completed 57.2% follow-up requests within the targeted 48 hours and completed remaining requests within 7 days. QI intern postdischarge follow-up calls, in conjunction with nurse follow-up intervention, showed a significant (risk ratio = -3.31, p = 0.012) preventive effect on unplanned readmission rate. Conclusions: QI interns are a viable alternative to nurses to conduct the first contact of postdischarge patient follow-up calls. This system of QI interns filtering calls to the correct clinical service or nurse department increased postdischarge patient follow-up calls success rate and decreased readmission rates.

Serum-Based Phospho-Neurofilament-Heavy Protein as Theranostic Biomarker in Three Models of Traumatic Brain Injury: An Operation Brain Trauma Therapy Study.

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1), markers of glial and neuronal cell body injury, respectively, have been previously selected by the Operation Brain Trauma Therapy (OBTT) pre-clinical therapy and biomarker screening consortium as drug development tools. However, traumatic axonal injury (TAI) also represents a major consequence and determinant of adverse outcomes after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Thus, biomarkers capable of assessing TAI are much needed. Neurofilaments (NFs) are found exclusively in axons. Here, we evaluated phospho-neurofilament-H (pNF-H) protein as a possible new TAI marker in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) across three rat TBI models in studies carried out by the OBTT consortium, namely, controlled cortical impact (CCI), parasagittal fluid percussion (FPI), and penetrating ballistics-like brain injury (PBBI). We indeed found that CSF and serum pNF-H levels are robustly elevated by 24 h post-injury in all three models. Further, in previous studies by OBTT, levetiracetam showed the most promising benefits, whereas nicotinamide showed limited benefit only at high dose (500 mg/kg). Thus, serum samples from the same repository collected by OBTT were evaluated. Treatment with 54 mg/kg intravenously of levetiracetam in the CCI model and 170 mg/kg in the PBBI model significantly attenuated pNF-H levels at 24 h post-injury as compared to respective vehicle groups. In contrast, nicotinamide (50 or 500 mg/kg) showed no reduction of pNF-H levels in CCI or PBBI models. Our current study suggests that pNF-H is a useful theranostic blood-based biomarker for TAI across different rodent TBI models. In addition, our data support levetiracetam as the most promising TBI drug candidate screened by OBTT to date.