Project description:ImportanceThere has been a growth in the use of performance-based payment models in the past decade, but inherently noisy and stochastic quality measures complicate the assessment of the quality of physician groups. Examining consistently low performance across multiple measures or multiple years could potentially identify a subset of low-quality physician groups.ObjectiveTo identify low-performing physician groups based on consistently low performance after adjusting for patient characteristics across multiple measures or multiple years for 10 commonly used quality measures for diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional study used medical and pharmacy claims and laboratory data for enrollees ages 18 to 65 years with diabetes or CVD in an Aetna health insurance plan between 2016 and 2019. Each physician group's risk-adjusted performance for a given year was estimated using mixed-effects linear probability regression models. Performance was correlated across measures and time, and the proportion of physician groups that performed in the bottom quartile was examined across multiple measures or multiple years. Data analysis was conducted between September 2020 and May 2021.ExposuresPrimary care physician groups.Main outcomes and measuresPerformance scores of 6 quality measures for diabetes and 4 for CVD, including hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) testing, low-density lipoprotein testing, statin use, HbA1c control, low-density lipoprotein control, and hospital-based utilization.ResultsA total of 786 641 unique enrollees treated by 890 physician groups were included; 414 655 (52.7%) of the enrollees were men and the mean (SD) age was 53 (9.5) years. After adjusting for age, sex, and clinical and social risk variables, correlations among individual measures were weak (eg, performance-adjusted correlation between any statin use and LDL testing for patients with diabetes, r = -0.10) to moderate (correlation between LDL testing for diabetes and LDL testing for CVD, r = .43), but year-to-year correlations for all measures were moderate to strong. One percent or fewer of physician groups performed in the bottom quartile for all 6 diabetes measures or all 4 cardiovascular disease measures in any given year, while 14 (4.0%) to 39 groups (11.1%) were in the bottom quartile in all 4 years for any given measure other than hospital-based utilization for CVD (1.1%).Conclusions and relevanceA subset of physician groups that was consistently low performing could be identified by considering performance measures across multiple years. Considering the consistency of group performance could contribute a novel method to identify physician groups most likely to benefit from limited resources.

Project description:The outcome of patients with anaplastic gliomas varies considerably depending on histology and single molecular markers such as codeletion of 1p/19q and mutations of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) gene. Whether a molecularly-based classification of anaplastic gliomas based on large scale genomic or epigenomic analyses is superior to histopathology, may reflect distinct biological subtypes, predict outcome and guide therapy decisions had yet to be determined. Epigenome-wide DNA methylation analysis, which also allows for the detection of copy-number aberrations, was performed in a cohort of 228 patients with anaplastic gliomas (astrocytomas, oligoastrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas), including 115 patients of the NOA-04 trial. We further compared these tumors with a group of 55 glioblastomas. Unsupervised clustering demonstrated two main groups based on IDH mutation status: CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) positive (77.5%) or negative (22.5%). CIMP+ (IDH mutant) tumors showed a further separation based on copy-number status of chromosome arms 1p and 19q, but not based on histopathology. CIMP- (IDH wild type) tumors on the other hand showed hallmark copy-number alterations of glioblastomas. These tumors clustered together with CIMP- glioblastomas without forming separate groups based on WHO grade. There was no Tumor classification based on CIMP and 1p/19q status was significantly associated with survival allowing a better prediction of outcome than the current histopathological classification alone: Patients with CIMP+ tumors with 1p/19q codeletion had the best prognosis, followed by patients with CIMP+ but intact 1p/19q status. Patients with CIMP- anaplastic gliomas had the worst prognosis. Collectively, our data suggest that anaplastic gliomas can be grouped into three molecular subtypes with clear association to underlying biology and clinical outcome based on IDH and 1p/19q status. The data do not provide a molecular basis for the diagnosis of anaplastic oligoastrocytoma.

Project description:Glioblastoma (GBM) heterogeneity, aggressiveness and infiltrative growth drastically limit success of current standard of care drugs and efficacy of various new therapeutic approaches. There is a need for new therapies and models reflecting the complex biology of these tumors to analyze the molecular mechanisms of tumor formation and resistance, as well as to identify new therapeutic targets. We established and screened a panel of 26 patient-derived subcutaneous (s.c.) xenograft (PDX) GBM models on immunodeficient mice, of which 15 were also established as orthotopic models. Sensitivity toward a drug panel, selected for their different modes of action, was determined. Best treatment responses were observed for standard of care temozolomide, irinotecan and bevacizumab. Matching orthotopic models frequently show reduced sensitivity, as the blood-brain barrier limits crossing of the drugs to the GBM. Molecular characterization of 23 PDX identified all of them as IDH-wt (R132) with frequent mutations in EGFR, TP53, FAT1, and within the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Their expression profiles resemble proposed molecular GBM subtypes mesenchymal, proneural and classical, with pronounced clustering for gene sets related to angiogenesis and MAPK signaling. Subsequent gene set enrichment analysis identified hallmark gene sets of hypoxia and mTORC1 signaling as enriched in temozolomide resistant PDX. In models sensitive for mTOR inhibitor everolimus, hypoxia-related gene sets reactive oxygen species pathway and angiogenesis were enriched. Our results highlight how our platform of s.c. GBM PDX can reflect the complex, heterogeneous biology of GBM. Combined with transcriptome analyses, it is a valuable tool in identification of molecular signatures correlating with monitored responses. Available matching orthotopic PDX models can be used to assess the impact of the tumor microenvironment and blood-brain barrier on efficacy. Our GBM PDX panel therefore represents a valuable platform for screening regarding molecular markers and pharmacologically active drugs, as well as optimizing delivery of active drugs to the tumor.

Project description:The outcome of patients with anaplastic gliomas varies considerably depending on histology and single molecular markers such as codeletion of 1p/19q and mutations of the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) gene. Whether a molecularly-based classification of anaplastic gliomas based on large scale genomic or epigenomic analyses is superior to histopathology, may reflect distinct biological subtypes, predict outcome and guide therapy decisions had yet to be determined. Epigenome-wide DNA methylation analysis, which also allows for the detection of copy-number aberrations, was performed in a cohort of 228 patients with anaplastic gliomas (astrocytomas, oligoastrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas), including 115 patients of the NOA-04 trial. We further compared these tumors with a group of 55 glioblastomas. Unsupervised clustering demonstrated two main groups based on IDH mutation status: CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) positive (77.5%) or negative (22.5%). CIMP+ (IDH mutant) tumors showed a further separation based on copy-number status of chromosome arms 1p and 19q, but not based on histopathology. CIMP- (IDH wild type) tumors on the other hand showed hallmark copy-number alterations of glioblastomas. These tumors clustered together with CIMP- glioblastomas without forming separate groups based on WHO grade. There was no Tumor classification based on CIMP and 1p/19q status was significantly associated with survival allowing a better prediction of outcome than the current histopathological classification alone: Patients with CIMP+ tumors with 1p/19q codeletion had the best prognosis, followed by patients with CIMP+ but intact 1p/19q status. Patients with CIMP- anaplastic gliomas had the worst prognosis. Collectively, our data suggest that anaplastic gliomas can be grouped into three molecular subtypes with clear association to underlying biology and clinical outcome based on IDH and 1p/19q status. The data do not provide a molecular basis for the diagnosis of anaplastic oligoastrocytoma. We investigated a subset of 228 anaplastic gliomas using the Illumina 450k methylation array.

Project description:Biological processes that govern bacterial proliferation and survival in the host-environment(s) are likely to be vastly different from those that are required for viability in nutrient-rich laboratory media. Consequently, growth-based antimicrobial screens performed in conditions modeling aspects of bacterial disease states have the potential to identify new classes of antimicrobials that would be missed by screens performed in conventional laboratory media. Accordingly, we performed screens of the Selleck library of 853 FDA approved drugs for agents that exhibit antimicrobial activity toward the Gram-negative bacterial pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii during growth in human serum, lung surfactant, and/or the organism in the biofilm state and compared those results to that of conventional laboratory medium. Results revealed that a total of 90 compounds representing 73 antibiotics and 17 agents that were developed for alternative therapeutic indications displayed antimicrobial properties toward the test strain in at least one screening condition. Of the active library antibiotics only four agents, rifampin, rifaximin, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline, exhibited antimicrobial activity toward the organism during all screening conditions, whereas the remainder were inactive in ≥ 1 condition; 56 antibiotics were inactive during serum growth, 25 and 38 were inactive toward lung surfactant grown and biofilm-associated cells, respectively, suggesting that subsets of antibiotics may outperform others in differing infection settings. Moreover, 9 antibiotics that are predominantly used for the treatment Gram-positive pathogens and 10 non-antibiotics lacked detectable antimicrobial activity toward A. baumannii grown in conventional medium but were active during ≥ 1 alternative growth condition(s). Such agents may represent promising anti-Acinetobacter agents that would have likely been overlooked by antimicrobial whole cell screening assays performed in traditional laboratory screening media.

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Stratifying Patients with Diabetes into Clinically Relevant Groups by Combination of Chronic Conditions to Identify Gaps in Quality of Care.

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Stratifying Patients with Diabetes into Clinically Relevant Groups by Combination of Chronic Conditions to Identify Gaps in Quality of Care.

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