Outcomes of a Near-Peer Intern Orientation Boot Camp.

BACKGROUND: Interns experience challenges in their transition from medical school to residency. Orientation is traditionally delivered by faculty and administrators and often does not address practical skills needed by interns during the transition. OBJECTIVES: The objective is to address traditional orientation gaps and improve incoming interns' transition experience.  Methods: We identified opportunities with our intern orientation using a quality improvement methodology. Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle 1 consisted of a pilot boot camp. PDSA cycle 2 was conducted over two weeks, June 9-23, 2021, at the Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI. Participation was voluntary. Residents were assigned incoming interns on a 1:1 basis. Five virtual sessions were conducted addressing: daily workflow, documentation, presentation skills, and utilization of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). All participants received pre- and post-program surveys.  Results: Twenty-two rising second- and third-year residents (26%) and 22 incoming interns (58%) participated. There was a significant improvement in the understanding of daily workflow (mean improvement 0.957, p=0.003), and most tasks associated with EHR including comfort with the sign-out process (mean improvement 1.21; p=0.002), accessing specific team lists (mean improvement 1.75, p=0.001), writing orders (mean improvement 1.41; p=0.002), composing documentation (mean improvement 1.23; p=0.001). Writing notes improved significantly (mean improved by 0.52; p=0.04). Nearly all (93.2%) stated the program achieved its overall goals and believed (92.9%) the program should be continued for incoming intern classes. CONCLUSION: A targeted orientation bootcamp led by near-peers positively impacted the intern experience improving understanding of day-to-day responsibilities and comfort utilizing the electronic health record.

Metastatic Phyllodes Tumor in a Patient With Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome.

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) is an epigenetic disorder of imprinting on the chromosome 11p15 region that presents with clinical features, such as macroglossia, abdominal wall defects, neonatal hypoglycemia, hemihypertrophy, and embryonal tumors. Phyllodes tumors (PTs) are rare fibroepithelial tumors that account for 0.3% to 1% of breast tumors and present in women aged 35 to 55 years. Here we describe a rare case of metastatic malignant phyllodes tumor in a 27-year-old woman with BWS and uniparental disomy (UPD) of chromosome 11p15.5. To our knowledge, this is the first case report in literature to describe metastatic malignant phyllodes tumor in a woman with BWS.

Peptide-Based Scaffolds for the Culture and Transplantation of Human Dopaminergic Neurons.

Cell replacement therapy is a promising treatment strategy for Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the poor survival rate of transplanted neurons is a critical barrier to functional recovery. In this study, we used self-assembling peptide nanofiber scaffolds (SAPNS) based on the peptide RADA16-I to support the in vitro maturation and in vivo post-transplantation survival of encapsulated human dopaminergic (DA) neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. Neurons encapsulated within the SAPNS expressed mature neuronal and midbrain DA markers and demonstrated in vitro functional activity similar to neurons cultured in two dimensions. A microfluidic droplet generation method was used to encapsulate cells within monodisperse SAPNS microspheres, which were subsequently used to transplant adherent, functional networks of DA neurons into the striatum of a 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned PD mouse model. SAPNS microspheres significantly increased the in vivo survival of encapsulated neurons compared with neurons transplanted in suspension, and they enabled significant recovery in motor function compared with control lesioned mice using approximately an order of magnitude fewer neurons than have been previously needed to demonstrate behavioral recovery. These results indicate that such biomaterial scaffolds can be used as neuronal transplantation vehicles to successfully improve the outcome of cell replacement therapies for PD. Impact Statement Transplantation of dopaminergic (DA) neurons holds potential as a treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD), but low survival rates of transplanted neurons is a barrier to successfully improving motor function. In this study, we used hydrogel scaffolds to transplant DA neurons into PD model mice. The hydrogel scaffolds enhanced survival of the transplanted neurons compared with neurons that were transplanted in a conventional manner, and they also improved recovery of motor function by using significantly fewer neurons than have typically been transplanted to see functional benefits. This cell transplantation technology has the capability to improve the outcome of neuron transplantation therapies.