Janice P. Dutcher, MD AFMR President

I wanted to share some information and updates with AFMR members.

Virtual Awards Ceremony a Great Success

On June 3rd, over 40 people, including leadership, celebrated AFMR 2020 national, Eastern, and Midwestern awardees during a virtual awards ceremony. The honorees were denied the opportunity to receive their awards in person due to the COVID cancellation of April regional meetings. All but one of the 15 winners made a three-minute presentation. Several received and answered questions from attendees. More

AFMR congratulates new national and regional leadership.

The election process, which was delayed due to COVID 19, included a month-long nomination process in May, followed by elections during the first two weeks of June.

Terms commenced on July 1, 2020. More

AFMR has launched a virtual portal, centralizing online educational content in one place to make it easier for members to take advantage of a wide range of information. More

AFMR members can now interact on social media not just on Twitter, but also LinkedIn.

It's easy to link up. Just go to the AFMR page and click on the blue "connect" button. AFMR will accept your request.

AFMR also has a LinkedIn discussion forum. Click the "request to join" button to become part of the group.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has a dedicated page devoted to global research on coronavirus.

Elements include:

• Update on Research Activities for Novel Coronavirus
• International Clinical Trials Registry Program
• COVID-19 Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL)
• "Solidarity" Clinical Trial for COVID-19 Treatments
• Ability to search or download the WHO COVID-19 database
• Other COVID-19 resources
• Related documents: Ethics and COVID-19: Resource allocation and priority setting

The NIH Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Information for NIH Applicants and Recipients of NIH Fund page offers a wide range of guidance on research funding.

The Guidance portion includes the following sections: Overview presentation (in PowerPoint and Word formats) Proposal Submission & Award Management Human Subjects & Clinical Trials Animal Welfare Peer Review FAQs (last updated April 13, 2020)

In the Funding section, there are two sections: Blog: COVID-19 Funding and Funding Opportunities List of NIH Funding Opportunities Specific to COVID-19

Learn more.

Listen to the podcast

Dr. John Dickinson, chair-elect of the AFMR Publications Committee, interviews Andre Kalil, MD of the University of Nebraska. Dr. Kalil is the PI of a Multi-Center Adaptive COVID19 Treatment Trial.

Journal of Investigative Medicine (JIM)

Faculty Development & Education

The Essential of a Faculty Development Program in the Setting of a New Medical School
Sanja Kupesic Plavsic, Zuber D Mulla; 10.1136/jim-2020-001341

Original Research

Prevalence of the BRAF p.v.600e Variant in Patients with Colorectal Cancer from Mexico and its Estimated Frequency in Latin American and Caribbean Populations
Jesús Arturo Hernández-Sandoval, Melva Guitérrez-Angulo, María Teresa Magaña-Torres, Carlos Rogelio Alvizo-Rodríquez, Helen Haydee Fernanda Ramírez-Plascencia, Beatriz Armida Flores-López, Jesús Alonso Valenzuela-Pérez, Jorge Peregrina-Sandoval, José Miguel Moreno-Ortiz, Mev Domínquez-Valentín, María de la Luz Ayala-Madrigal; 10.1136/jim-2020-001301

Incidence and risk factors for HPV-associated cancers in women with end-stage renal disease
Joan Han, Jennifer L Waller, Rhonda E Colombo, Vanessa Spearman, Lufei Young, Mufaddal F Kheda, Azeem Mohammed, Wendy B Bollag, Norris Stanley Nahman, Stephanie L Baer; 10.1136/jim-2019-01262

Brief Reports

Association between Metformin and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in Diabetic and Non-diabetic US Veterans
S Scott Sutton, Joseph Magagnoli, Tammy H Cummings, James W Hardin; 10.336/jim-2019-001177

Association between C Reactive Protein and Depression in a Population of Healthy Adults: The Cooper Center Longitudinal Study
Amber Kahn, David Leonard, Laura Defina, Carolyn E Barlow, Benjamin Willis, E Sherwood Brown; 10.1136/jim-2019-001254

Abstracts

Midwest Clinical and Translational Research Meeting of CSCTR and MWAFMR
10.1136/jim-2020-MW

JIM — High Impact Case Reports

COVID-19 Presented with Deep Vein Thrombosis: An Unusual Presenting
On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. The pneumonia was caused by a virus called SARS-Cov-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), which was later named coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19). The symptoms most commonly reported by patients affected by COVID-19 include fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath. In this report, we present a case of a 57-year-old woman who presented to the clinic’s infectious department with swelling, pain, warmth, and redness in the left leg who was treated with therapeutic heparin. There were no typical and distinguished symptoms of COVID-19, and she had no risk factor for deep vein thrombosis. Then chest X-ray revealed bilateral patchy ground-glass opacity, and computed tomography angiography was performed to rule out pulmonary thromboembolism, which showed no evidence of thrombosis. Left lower limb venous color Doppler ultrasound revealed dilatation and thrombosis in the external iliac and left iliac veins up to the level of the bifurcation of the common iliac veins, as well as thrombosis to the superficial and small saphenous veins. Because of ground-glass opacity and lymphopenia, nasal swabs were used for sampling, and SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This case aims to arouse the medical staff’s awareness of deep vein thrombosis as a clinical symptom of COVID-19 even if the patient has no typical symptoms of COVID-19.

The Coincidence of Two Epidemics: Coccidioidomycosis and SARS-CoV-2: A Case Report
In the middle of a pandemic, patients with cough and fever are thought to have SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2). It should be remembered that in the desert southwest of the United States, we have an ongoing epidemic of coccidioidomycosis (CM). There are additionally many other respiratory illnesses that could be confused with CoV-2 or overlooked. This is a case report of CoV-2 engrafted on chronic cavitary pulmonary CM. In a time where the coronavirus pandemic is becoming rampant, we demonstrate the case of a coinfection with cavitary pulmonary CM. In this case, the importance of detection of the coronavirus and treatment of the coinfection is explored.

COVID-19 and Acute Lupus Pneumonitis: Diagnostic and Treatment Dilemma
This article presents a case of a young female patient with previously diagnosed lupus pneumonitis, now with a flare and new superimposed COVID-19 infection that was treated with intravenous steroids. On computed tomography scans, she had extensive interstitial lung fibrosis in addition to a positive COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test requiring 6 L of oxygen via nasal cannula on admission. After administration of methylprednisolone, the patient improved and was weaned off her oxygen requirements and was discharged home.

News and information on COVID-19 are constantly changing.

Here are quick links to resources for coronavirus updates: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Johns Hopkins Corona Virus Resource Center, and World Health Organization:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
• Johns Hopkins Corona Virus Resource Center
  COVID-19 Interactive Map
  
• World Health Organization (WHO)

Dates have been set for AFMR Regional and Affiliate meetings for 2021. Meeting dates, locations, and abstract information are listed below based on date. Visit the AFMR website to get the latest updates on 2021 AFMR Meetings & Events.

Cherry Wongtrakool, MD VP of Meetings & Programs