Objectivity in Medicine vs Inference in Poetry

A compelling aspect of both medicine and poetry is how each incites us to articulate our perceptions through specific applications of expressive language. In medicine, words are firmly grounded upon what we directly observe; assumptions are discouraged, for concern that unconscious biases might lead to erroneous conclusions. In poetry, on the other hand, what we see is often just a touchstone for what we can infer, our imaginations unbounded by an idiom that senses as much as it describes. These two modes of comprehending are instructively contrasted in “The Morning After the Election.” We are at first dropped into a narrative about a father and a daughter, reckoning momentarily that the daughter “who had once been his son” and now living far away has been rejected by her family—until the poetically appreciated detail of “the mustache obscuring his lip quivered” as he describes her new imperilment leads us to a deeper inference instead that he must accept and love her. Additional surprising implications that further test objectivity follow, from the reference to another “perfect” son whose death during childbirth ended the patient’s marriage, which underscores how the speaker may have wrongly construed that the transgender child caused familial strife, to the oversimplified and also partly true (yet in retrospect not entirely so, and thus all the more poignant) reason for the patient’s clinic visit as solely “because his blood pressure is high.” Poetry, by transcending the ostensible and harkening to the intuited, allows us to more fully grasp the complexities of our patients’ experiences.

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Time to Study Implementation of AI-Generated Discharge Summaries

Discharge summaries are a form of communication between hospital-based and outpatient clinicians. In addition to providing an overview of the hospital course, discharge summaries frequently include information such as abnormal test results, necessary follow-up testing, and medication changes—critical information for ensuring safe continuity of care. Although discharge summaries are a recognized patient safety tool, they are also time-consuming to generate and contribute to the substantial administrative burden placed on clinicians—2 factors strongly associated with the national physician burnout crisis. Enter large language models (LLMs).

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Increasing Colorectal Cancer Screening Participation

Although national guidelines have recommended colorectal cancer (CRC) screening for nearly 3 decades, only about 72% of adults aged 50 to 74 years are up to date on screening. Persistent underuse of CRC screening presents an opportunity for applying the principles of implementation science to improve appropriate screening practices. The primary care setting is an ideal focus for these efforts. Before patients complete a primary care appointment, their eligibility for CRC should be ascertained, they should be informed about screening options, and testing should be ordered for those who are interested.

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Blood-Based Colorectal Cancer Screening

Despite a significant decline in colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality over the past several decades in the US, CRC remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths. Most of these deaths could be prevented if the 42% of Americans aged 45 to 75 years who are not up to date with screening would participate. There is strong evidence supporting screening with lower intestinal endoscopy (ie, colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy) or repeated rounds of occult blood–based stool screening tests. These screening tests are effective in detecting cancer at early, curable stages as well as preventing cancer through detection and removal of advanced precancerous lesions, including adenomas and serrated colorectal lesions. Despite public awareness campaigns, organized screening (eg, programmatic mailed stool-based tests), and patient decision aids and navigation, participation is suboptimal, and closing the screening gap remains elusive. This gap may result from reluctance to complete screening due to inconvenience, discomfort, embarrassment, aversion to handling stool, or fear of complications. The ideal CRC screening test would be noninvasive and acceptable to those being screened, be highly sensitive for both early cancer and advanced precancerous lesions, have excellent specificity, and be widely accessible. All of the currently available CRC screening test options fall short of this ideal in at least 1 way, limiting their effectiveness. Thus, there is an ongoing search for more agreeable screening test options.

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Challenges in Shared Care Research in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation—Reply

In Reply We appreciate the interest from Chan et al in our study. We agree that our work has some of the limitations that they underscore, most of which have been presented and discussed in the article text. Importantly, shared care is an applied care delivery strategy. For those who were randomized to shared care, they had a local team that would begin to follow up with them once engraftment occurred with the plan to alternate follow-up visits with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute team; however, sometimes they might be seen a bit more often locally (eg, if inclement weather made it difficult to get into Boston, Massachusetts) or at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (eg, if they needed follow-up with another Dana-Farber specialty consultant). Although this is admittedly a limitation in terms of absolute standardization of shared care, when we held our preprotocol focus groups with transplant patients and clinicians, they were clear that, given the complexity of posttransplant care, it would never be possible to mandate that patients in the shared care arm rigidly share care every other week. Indeed, we argue this is also a potential strength of our analysis, because shared care, when applied to the routine clinical care delivery setting will also need to have similar flexibility.

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Errors in Results, Figure, and Table

In the Research Letter titled “USPSTF Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines and Disparities in Screening Adherence,” published online March 20, 2025, a coding issue resulted in the inclusion of ever-screened data for 2022 to 2023 instead of up-to-date screening for that time period. This affected the adjusted odds ratios reported in the Results section and Figure, as well as demographic data reported in the Table. However, these errors do not alter the conclusions of the study. This article was corrected online.

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A World Without WHO—Reply

In Reply We greatly appreciate the thoughtful Letter by Mr Blakley and Dr Schluger about our recent Viewpoint, “A World Without WHO—A Crossroads for US Global Health Leadership.” Our Viewpoint was developed in the uncertain days leading up to the presidential transition, and we are grateful for this opportunity to consider the global health challenges that have arisen rapidly in President Trump’s second term.

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Coding Errors in Study of Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines and Adherence

To the Editor On behalf of my coauthors, I write to alert readers to errors in our Research Letter, “USPSTF Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines and Disparities in Screening Adherence,” published online March 20, 2025, in JAMA Oncology. Following publication, I revisited our analyses and discovered that a coding issue had led to the inclusion of ever-screened data for 2022 to 2023 instead of up-to-date screening for that time period. This affected the adjusted odds ratios reported in the Results section and the Figure.

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Identifying and reporting modifications to surgical innovation: a systematic review of IDEAL/IDEAL-D studies

Objectives
The Idea, Development, Evaluation, Assessment and Long-term follow-up (IDEAL) framework was designed to improve the quality of surgical research and evaluation of surgical innovation. It has become a widely cited tool for evaluating innovative devices and procedures, yet challenges remain concerning the definition and reporting of incremental innovative modifications, hindering evolution and evaluation of innovations and potentially risking patient safety. This systematic review examined IDEAL studies to identify such modifications and establish recent practices around modification reporting to inform the development of future guidance to facilitate safe, transparent and efficient surgical innovation.

Design
Systematic review and thematic synthesis of studies reporting surgical innovation.

Data sources
Web of Science and Scopus were searched in July 2023 using citation tools to identify studies following the IDEAL framework (citing any of 13 key IDEAL/IDEAL framework publications and guideline papers).

Eligibility criteria
Primary research studies of any design that involved invasive innovative devices or procedures.

Data extraction and synthesis
Study characteristics and verbatim text for all reported modifications, including contextual information, were extracted. Data were analysed and synthesised using thematic synthesis.

Results
Of 1071 records screened, 104 studies published between 2011–2023 were included (n=87 (83.6%) study reports; n=17 (16.3%) protocols). 425 modifications were reported in 76 (73.1%) studies, including modifications to procedures (n=283, 66.6%), devices (n=94, 22.1%) and patient selection (n=48, 11.3%). Procedure/device modifications included technical, non-technical and cessation (conversion to other procedures or abandonment). Modifications were most often reported within IDEAL stage 2a (n=30/44, 68.2%), whereas there was considerable variation across other stages, such as stage 0 (n=2/3, 66%) and stage 2b (n=4/12, 33.3%).

Conclusion
Reporting modifications is imperative for evaluating surgical innovation. However, this review found inconsistent approaches to reporting and describing modifications. Findings will inform the development of a checklist for reporting modifications that aims to complement the IDEAL framework and further promote shared learning, avoiding the repetition of harmful/ineffective modifications and enhancing patient safety.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42023427704.

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Comparative efficacy and acceptability of nonpharmacological interventions for sleep disturbance among pregnant women: protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Introduction
Sleep disturbance is prevalent in pregnancy and can result in significant adverse outcomes for women and their infants. Numerous clinical trials of various nonpharmacotherapies for preventing or treating sleep disturbances have been conducted previously; however, previous systematic reviews with direct comparisons have failed to demonstrate the best options for different kinds of treatments. This systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) aims to explore the comparative efficacy and acceptability of nonpharmacological interventions for sleep disturbances in pregnancy and to assist clinical decision-making through ranking interventions concerning critical clinical outcomes.

Methods and analysis
We will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Two reviewers will systematically search five major bibliographic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) and registries for published and unpublished randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of any nonpharmacological interventions for sleep disturbances from inception to 24 June 2025. To ensure the search is up to date, we will also perform an updated search up to the time of final analysis submission. Primary outcomes will consider efficacy (the overall mean change of any predefined sleep disturbances, including sleep quality, sleep duration and sleep-specific symptoms) and acceptability (all-cause discontinuation). The risk of bias of each included RCT will be assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 Tool (RoB2). Traditional pairwise meta-analyses and NMAs will be performed to compare the efficacy and acceptability of different nonpharmacological interventions. Surface under the cumulative ranking curve for the outcomes of interest will be used to rank the competing interventions. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation system will be used to assess the quality of evidence associated with the main results.

Ethics and dissemination
This review is a secondary analysis of published data and, therefore, does not require ethical approval. The results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal.

PROSPERO registration number
CRD42024546340.

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Qualitative study on postbariatric surgery follow-up in France: a new patient-physician relationship

Background
Most studies on bariatric patients to date have only examined mortality and morbidities in terms of surgery or no surgery. Few have investigated loss to follow-up in post-surgery patients.

Purpose
This study aimed to describe the dynamics behind non-adherence to follow-up in bariatric patients postsurgery.

Design
Using semi-structured interviews, we performed a qualitative study. Using a thematic analysis, we described themes involved in patient adherence to postsurgery follow-up.

Setting
Participants were recruited from a university hospital near Paris and via social networks.

Participants
17 patients who had undergone surgery, some of whom were lost to follow-up, 15 women and 2 men, were interviewed, during a mean time of 90 min. 10 were adherent, and 7 were lost to follow-up.

Results
Follow-up was seen as a support in which the care provider–patient relationship can act on the four following themes: (1) regaining control, (2) knowledge acquisition, (3) management of fears and (4) overall restructuring of one’s life postsurgery.

Conclusions
Patients’ experiences and representations of postsurgery follow-up should be documented in detail in order to define the specific roles of the various care providers offering support to this population, and to strengthen the coordination of care pathways between these actors. In addition, improving the quality of communication could improve adherence to follow-up after bariatric surgery.

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Protocol for a multicentre, open-label, dose-escalation phase I/II study evaluating the tolerability, safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of repeated continuous intravenous PPMX-T003 in patients with aggressive natural killer cell leukaemia

Introduction
Aggressive natural killer cell leukaemia (ANKL) is a rare form of NK cell lymphoma with a very low incidence and poor prognosis. While multi-agent chemotherapy including L-asparaginase has been used to treat ANKL patients, they often cannot receive adequate chemotherapy at diagnosis due to liver dysfunction. PPMX-T003, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting the transferrin receptor 1, shows promise in treating ANKL by helping patients recover from fulminant clinical conditions, potentially enabling a transition to chemotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate the tolerability, safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of repeated continuous intravenous PPMX-T003 in patients with ANKL.

Methods and analysis
This multicentre, open-label, dose-escalation phase I/II study will be conducted at nine hospitals in Japan. Patients diagnosed with ANKL (whether as a primary or recurrent disease) and exhibiting abnormal liver function or hepatomegaly due to the primary disease will be included. The primary endpoint is the tolerability and safety of repeated continuous intravenous administration of PPMX-T003 in the first course, based on adverse events and dose-limiting toxicities. PPMX-T003 will be administered as a continuous intravenous infusion every 24 hours for five consecutive days, followed by a 2-day break. Pretreatment will be provided to minimise the risk of infusion-related reactions. Initial doses of PPMX-T003 will be 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/kg, with subsequent dose increases determined by the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee. The sample size is set at seven participants, with enrolment increased to up to 12 participants if dose-limiting toxicities occur, based on feasibility due to the rarity of ANKL. Descriptive statistics will summarise data according to initial dose, and pharmacokinetic analysis will be conducted based on administered dose.

Ethics and dissemination
This study was approved by the institutional review boards at participating hospitals. The results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals.

Trial registration number
jRCT2061230008 (jRCT); NCT05863234 (ClinicalTrials.gov).

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Predictive accuracy of ophthalmic artery Doppler for pre-eclampsia: a systematic review

Objectives
This systematic review investigated available evidence on the stand-alone and incremental predictive performance of ophthalmic artery Doppler (OAD) for pre-eclampsia.

Design
Systematic review.

Data sources
We conducted a literature search from PubMed (Medline), the Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE and Scopus from inception to 8 April 2025.

Eligibility criteria
Studies eligible for inclusion were prospective or retrospective cohort studies, case-control studies or randomised controlled trials that reported on the predictive performance of OAD for pre-eclampsia in singleton pregnancies; and conducted in either high-income country (HIC) or low- and middle-income country (LMIC).

Data extraction and synthesis
Two reviewers independently screened and assessed articles for inclusion. One reviewer then extracted data using a standardised data extraction sheet, and any uncertainties were discussed with a second reviewer. The Prediction model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool was used for quality and risk of bias assessment. Findings were summarised and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses statement and synthesised qualitatively.

Results
We identified and included 11 observational studies (3 from HIC and 8 from LMICs) with a total of 12 150 singleton pregnancies, of which 517 (4.3%) were complicated by pre-eclampsia at end of follow-up. The included studies were of varied quality, with three at low risk of bias, four at unclear risk and four at high risk. No interventional study was identified. Three studies (27.3%) recruited high-risk pregnancies (defined according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) criteria as one or more of the following: chronic hypertension, personal or family history of pre-eclampsia, early (≤18 years) or late (≥40 years) first pregnancy, primipaternity, chronic kidney disease, increased body mass index >30 kg/m2, presence of diabetes mellitus prior to pregnancy, autoimmune disease and thrombophilia), while eight studies (72.7%) recruited undetermined risk pregnancies. Stand-alone performance of OAD (interpreted by area under the receiver operating curve at 95% CI) showed that in the first trimester, the peak systolic velocity (PSV) ratio demonstrated very good predictive ability (0.97, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.0) (n=1 study), and the second PSV (PSV2) demonstrated very good predictive ability (0.91, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.99) (n=1 study). Also, PSV2 demonstrated fair predictive ability (0.61, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.79; and 0.53, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.66) for early and late pre-eclampsia, respectively (n=1 study). In the second trimester, the PSV ratio demonstrated very good predictive ability (0.88, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.91) (n=1 study), and PSV2 demonstrated good predictive ability (0.73, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.81; and 0.76, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.81) for pre-eclampsia (n=2 studies). In the third trimester, the PSV ratio demonstrated good predictive ability (0.82, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.89; and 0.77, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.82) for preterm and term pre-eclampsia, respectively (n=1 study). Also, PSV2 demonstrated good predictive ability 0.70 (0.57 to 0.84) (n=1 study).
Subsequently, in the second trimester, PSV ratio demonstrated better incremental predictive performance than uterine artery pulsatility index for preterm pre-eclampsia, when added to maternal factors and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (56.1%–80.2% vs 56.1%–74.8% detection rate (DR) at 10% FPR) (n=1 study). Also in the third trimester, adding PSV ratio to maternal factors and MAP was superior to soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1/placental growth factor ratio in predicting pre-eclampsia at

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Prevalence of low-level viremia in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives
Low-level viremia (LLV) is a risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The objective of this study was to systematically assess the prevalence of LLV, thereby providing robust evidence-based medical insights into effective clinical interventions and preventative measures against LLV.

Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data sources
A comprehensive literature search was conducted across various databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data (Wanfang), China Science And Technology Journal Database (VIP-CSTJ), China Biology Medicine disc (CBMdisc), PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library, spanning from the inception of these databases up to 5 January 2024.

Eligibility criteria
The research type included either a cross-sectional study or a cohort study focusing on the Chinese population, with the outcome being LLV. The languages were limited to both Chinese and English. Studies with any of the following were excluded: subjects with other comorbidities, original articles inaccessible or data unavailable, and duplicate publications.

Data extraction and synthesis
Literature management used EndNote X9.1, and an information extraction table was created using Microsoft Excel to record research information, including first author, year of publication and study type. The prevalence of LLV was assessed via meta-analysis. Meta-analyses were conducted in RStudio using the ‘metaprop ()’ function. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to identify sources of heterogeneity, and funnel plots and AS-Thompson tests were employed to evaluate publication bias.

Results
18 studies, encompassing a total sample of 9773 patients, were included in the analysis. Of these, 3336 patients were identified with LLV. The meta-analysis revealed that the prevalence of LLV among treated CHB patients stands at 33.6% (95% CI 30.2 to 37.0). The antigen status, antiviral treatment regimen (type of drugs and nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs)), treatment duration, medication adherence and baseline hepatitis B virus DNA levels all affected the prevalence of LLV. Sensitivity analysis further corroborated the stability of these meta-analysis findings. The funnel plot and AS-Thompson test indicated no significant publication bias (t = –0.01, p=0.995).

Conclusions
The prevalence of LLV among CHB patients was established at 33.7% (95% CI 29.8% to 37.6%). Thus, it is imperative for clinical decision-makers to consider the various influencing factors of LLV when formulating treatment plans in order to mitigate any potential adverse outcomes.

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