Faculty Bibliography

The acceptance of students to a medical school places a considerable emphasis on performance in standardized tests and undergraduate grade point average (uGPA). Traditionally, applicants may be judged as a homogeneous population according to simple quantitative thresholds that implicitly assume a linear relationship between scores and academic success. This 'one-size-fits-all' approach ignores the notion that individuals may show distinct patterns of achievement and follow diverse paths to success. In this study, we examined a dataset composed of 53 variables extracted from the admissions application records of 1,088 students matriculating to NYU School of Medicine between the years 2006-2014. We defined training and test groups and applied K-means clustering to search for distinct groups of applicants. Building an optimized logistic regression model, we then tested the predictive value of this clustering for estimating the success of applicants in medical school, aggregating eight performance measures during the subsequent medical school training as a success factor. We found evidence for four distinct clusters of students-we termed 'signatures'-which differ most substantially according to the absolute level of the applicant's uGPA and its trajectory over the course of undergraduate education. The 'risers' signature showed a relatively higher uGPA and also steeper trajectory; the other signatures showed each remaining combination of these two main factors: 'improvers' relatively lower uGPA, steeper trajectory; 'solids' higher uGPA, flatter trajectory; 'statics' both lower uGPA and flatter trajectory. Examining the success index across signatures, we found that the risers and the statics have significantly higher and lower likelihood of quantifiable success in medical school, respectively. We also found that each signature has a unique set of features that correlate with its success in medical school. The big data approach presented here can more sensitively uncover success potential since it takes into account the inherent heterogeneity within the student population.

Guillain-Barré Syndrome is a popular eponym that comes from a 1916 paper by Drs. Guillain, Barré, and Strohl. These physicians described two soldiers in the French Sixth Army during World War I who developed acute progressive motor weakness. Although Drs. Guillain and Barré have continued to be included in the syndrome's eponym, Dr. Strohl has been forgotten despite having strongly contributed to the original paper. The reasons previously mentioned for Dr. Strohl's absence appear trivial in contemporary practice and thus, his name deserves to be reintroduced to Guillain-Barré-Strohl Syndrome.

Background: CANA slows progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in people with type 2 diabetes. CANA also induces a reversible acute decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), which is believed to be a hemodynamic effect. Predictors of the initial decline and its association with long-term eGFR trajectories and safety outcomes are unknown.
Method(s): This post hoc study of CREDENCE included 4289 patients with type 2 diabetes and CKD who had eGFR measured at both baseline and week 3. Participants were categorized by percentage decline in eGFR at week 3: greater than 10% decline; between 0 and 10% decline; and no decline. Baseline characteristics associated with acute eGFR drop >10% were evaluated using logistic regression. Long-term eGFR decline and safety outcomes were estimated in each eGFR decline category by linear mixed effects models and Cox regression after adjustment for laboratory measures and medication use.
Result(s): More participants in the CANA (956 [45%]) versus placebo (PBO) group (450 [21%]) had an acute eGFR decline >10% (p<0.001). A >30% decline occurred infrequently (89 [4%] with CANA and 39 [2%] with PBO; p<0.001). In the CANA but not in the PBO group, older age (OR CANA 1.17, 95% CI 1.05-1.31; per 10 years) and history of heart failure (OR CANA 0.77, 0.59-0.99) were associated with a higher and lower likelihood of an acute eGFR decline >10%, respectively (both p interaction<0.05). Following the initial eGFR change, long-term eGFR trajectories were similar across eGFR decline categories (all p>0.05). Safety profiles were also similar except when the drop unusually exceeded 30%, in which case adverse events and renal related adverse events occurred more frequently. Results were consistent in subgroup analysis by baseline eGFR (30-<45, 45-<60, and 60-<90 mL/min/1.73m²).
Conclusion(s): Although acute eGFR declines >10% occurred in nearly half of all patients following initiation of CANA, the benefit of CANA compared with PBO was observed regardless of the acute eGFR decline and safety profiles were similar

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:gene amplification, which occurs in approximately half of GBM, with dacomitinib, a second-generation, irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor that penetrates the blood-brain barrier, in a multicenter phase II trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS/METHODS:gene amplification could predict response to dacomitinib, and in a predefined subset of patients, we measured post-treatment intratumoral dacomitinib levels to verify tumor penetration. RESULTS:ECD missense mutation was not associated with clinical benefit. We evaluated the pretreatment transcriptome in circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) by RNA sequencing in a subset of patients and identified a signature that distinguished patients who had durable benefit versus those with rapid progression. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:ECD mutation status in archival tumors did not predict clinical benefit. RNA signatures in circulating EVs may warrant investigation as biomarkers of dacomitinib efficacy in GBM.