October 26, 2018

Antibiotics and Cure Rates in Childhood Febrile Urinary Tract Infections in Clinical Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections encountered by primary care physicians. Although antibiotics are the first treatment choice for UTI, antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli, the most common cause of UTI, are increasing worldwide. CPCE Director Dr. Theoklis Zaoutis and colleagues reviewed the antimicrobials used for febrile UTIs in pediatric clinical trials and analyzed observed cure rates and reasons for treatment failure. Their findings suggest that future research should prioritize observational studies and clinical trials on children with multi-drug-resistant infections.

Child-onset systemic lupus erythematosus is associated with a higher incidence of myopericardial manifestations compared to adult-onset disease.

In this study, Dr. Pamela Weiss and colleagues establish baseline estimates of the incidence and prevalence of pericarditis and myocarditis in child-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which is substantially higher than that of adult-onset SLE. Prospective echocardiographic evaluations are needed to validate incidence measures and characterize the natural history of acute cardiac manifestations in child-onset SLE, as well as identify risk factors for poor cardiac outcomes to inform screening and management.

A standardized low-cost peer role-playing training intervention improves medical student competency in communicating bad news to patients in Botswana.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate effectiveness of an educational training workshop using role-playing to teach medical students in Botswana to deliver bad news. The workshop was effective in increasing medical student skill and confidence in delivering bad news. This research from Dr. Andrew Steenhoff, Dr. Elizabeth Lowenthal, and colleagues shows that standardized role-playing communication workshops integrated into medical school curricula could be a low-cost, effective, and easily implementable strategy to improve communication skills of doctors.

Weaning of Moderately Preterm Infants from the Incubator to the Crib: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

This trial, conducted in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health, and Human Development Neonatal Research Network, assessed whether length of hospital stay is decreased among moderately preterm infants weaned from incubator to crib at a lower vs higher weight. Among moderately preterm neonates, weaning from incubator to crib at a lower weight did not decrease length of stay, but was safe and was accompanied by higher weight gain after weaning.

Pediatric Stone Disease.

Once considered rare, pediatric nephrolithiasis (kidney stones) has become a critical field of study in the last decade due to the rapid increase in incidence. Understanding the changing epidemiology and lifelong implications of pediatric stone disease is critically important to effectively manage the individual patient as well as identify risk factors for childhood onset that could be modified. Dr. Gregory Tasian’s pediatric kidney stone research at CPCE is focused on the epidemiology of kidney stones among children and adults and how to effectively decrease recurrence for patients whose first stone developed during childhood.

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RWJF Culture of Health Prize (due November 1)

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has issued a Call for Applications for its 2018 Culture of Health Prize, an annual program that honors outstanding community efforts and partnerships that are helping people live healthier lives. Through the program, up to ten communities will be awarded a $25,000 cash prize and have their accomplishments celebrated and shared broadly, with the goal of raising awareness and inspiring locally driven change across the country. Community partners can decide together how to use the funds to benefit their community.

Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation (due November 1)

Grants of up to $20,000 are available to help support the research of faculty members or post-doctoral researchers affiliated with non-profit human service organizations in the United States and Canada. Areas of interest to the Fund are: studies to develop, refine, evaluate, or disseminate innovative interventions designed to prevent or ameliorate major social, psychological, behavioral or public health problems affecting children, adults, couples, families, or communities.

 

Gerber Foundation Pediatric Research Grants (concept paper due November 15)

The Gerber Foundation is accepting concept papers for research projects focused on improving the health, nutrition, and/or development of infants and young children. In particular, the foundation is looking for practical solutions that can be rapidly implemented on a broad scale and within a predictable time frame to clinical application. Major target areas include new diagnostic tools, new treatment regimens, symptom relief, preventative measures, assessment of deficiencies or excesses (vitamins, minerals, drugs, etc.), and risk assessment tools or measures for environmental hazards, trauma, etc. Grant amounts will range up to $350,000.

American Kidney Fund Clinical Scientist in Nephrology Program (due November 30)

The goal of the American Kidney Fund Clinical Scientist in Nephrology (CSN) fellowship program is to improve the quality of care provided to kidney patients and to promote clinical research in nephrology. The CSN program enhances the training of nephrologists who wish to pursue an academic career and whose primary professional commitment is to scholarship in the provision of patient care. The fellowship may be granted yearly, with a maximum duration of two years for each fellowship. The maximum level of funding of $80,000 per year shall be used principally to support the candidate and his or her career development, including salary.

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Physician-Scientist Training Award (due December 3)

The annual program provides physicians who wish to pursue a career in cancer research with the opportunity for a protected research training experience under the mentorship of a highly qualified mentor after they have completed their clinical training. The award program will provide up to $460,000 over four years in financial support. In addition, the foundation will retire up to $100,000 of any outstanding medical school debt owed by a grant recipient.

ACOG Women's Health Policy Research Award (due December 15)

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is accepting applications for the 2015 Warren H. Pearse Women's Health Policy Research Award. The annual program includes a single grant of $10,000 for research that explores an aspect of healthcare policy that assists, defines, or restricts the ability of a physician to deliver health care to women in either the general population or a specific area. Applicants must be a junior fellow or fellow of the college at the time of application.

OnPAR Program for Unfunded NIH Proposals

Last year, the NIH received approximately $30 billion in federal support. In spite of this amount, about 42,500 grants were not funded. To address these unfunded proposals, the NIH has a new Pilot Program that is designed to match researchers with nonprofit disease Foundations or with investments from private companies. Through a new collaboration between the NIH and the private contractor Leidos, researchers can now upload their unfunded NIH Proposals into an online portal at the Online Partnership to Accelerate Research (OnPAR). Foundations and other potential funders can review the NIH scores, and decide whether they might be interested in funding the Projects. Currently, this Pilot Program allows researchers with priority scores better than the 30th percentile to submit their abstracts. Interested Foundations might ask that a researcher send their full NIH Application along with its scores. The consensus opinion is that there are a lot of worthy grants being submitted to the NIH, but there is only so much funding available. OnPAR is one way of trying to match researchers with private Foundations.