A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine AI examines the use of language models for value-informed proxy support.
“This research establishes the potential advantages of providing support for the family members and loved ones who are making medical decisions for patients who have lost decision-making capacity and identifies the conditions under which decision support can be provided safely and effectively while honoring the wishes and values of the patient,” said Tyler Loftus, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of surgery and senior author on the study.
This and more in our August research roundup.
Congratulations to all department members who were published in August! Published faculty in August were Doctors Guoshuai Cai, Amalia Cochran, Sergio Duarte, Philip Efron, Lindsey Goldstein, Steven Hughes, Jeffrey Jacobs, Eric Jeng, Tyler Loftus, Ibrahim Nassour, Salvatore Scali, Samir Shah, Krista Terracina, Patrick Underwood, Gilbert Upchurch Jr, and Ali Zarrinpar.
American Journal of Surgery
- Polcz VE, Cochran A, Upchurch GR Jr. Closing the gender gap in support for surgical parenthood. Am J Surg. 2026 Aug 17:117201. doi: 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2026.117201. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42660777.
The American Surgeon
- Mazirka P, Ghandour Z, Terracina KP, Goldstein LE, Nordenstam J, Read TE. Sigmoid Adenocarcinoma Occurring 72 Years After Ureterosigmoidostomy: Implications for Lifelong Surveillance. Am Surg. 2026 Aug 23:31348261480831. doi: 10.1177/00031348261480831. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42634452.
Annals of Thoracic Surgery
- Nelson JS, Ashfaq A, St Louis JD, Lu JC, Stephens E, Kwon MH, Kamp A, Rossi C, Sood P, Khanna AD, Bhamidipati C, Zampi JD, Lotto AA, Tchervenkov C, Sarris G, Jacobs JP. Executive Summary for The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) / World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (WSPCHS) / European Congenital Heart Surgeons Association (ECHSA) 2026 (1) Clinical Practice Guidelines on Indications and Timing of Pulmonary Valve Replacement in Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot; (2) Expert Consensus Document on Timing, Indications, and Options for Pulmonary Valve Replacement in Children with Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot; and (3) Expert Opinion on The Role of Exercise Testing in Determining Optimal Timing of Pulmonary Valve Replacement in Tetralogy of Fallot. Ann Thorac Surg. 2026 Aug 19:S0003-4975(26)00828-3. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2026.08.002. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42617965.
Cancers
- Palaz F, Yu X, Bruner J, Feely M, Cai G, Duarte S, Zarrinpar A. Independent Multi-Cohort RNA-Seq Analysis Does Not Support Recurrent DNAJB1::PRKACA Fusion in Hepatoblastoma or Biliary Atresia. Comment on Fleifil et al. DNAJB1-PKAc Kinase Is Expressed in Young Patients with Pediatric Liver Cancers and Enhances Carcinogenic Pathways. Cancers 2025, 17, 83. Cancers (Basel). 2026 Aug 19;18(16):2681. doi: 10.3390/cancers18162681. PMID: 42649992; PMCID: PMC13511131.
- Yasinzai AQK, McKean JA, Thompson GR, Paniccia A, Parrish AM, Underwood PW, Gim G, Hughes SJ, George TJ, Nassour I. Pancreatoblastoma: A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Using SEER Data. Cancers (Basel). 2026 Aug 16;18(16):2642. doi: 10.3390/cancers18162642. PMID: 42649954; PMCID: PMC13510784.
Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine
- Murphy SJ, Brand S, Neal D, Kerensky R, Mehta J, Badiye A, Shah KB. Off-label use of microaxial left ventricular assist devices is associated with higher mortality despite use in younger patients with fewer comorbidities. Cardiovasc Revasc Med. 2026 Aug 8:S1553-8389(26)00340-4. doi: 10.1016/j.carrev.2026.08.005. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42601269.
Case Reports in Cardiology
- van Nispen J, Massoomi M, Jeng E. Treatment of Early Trilogy Valve Aortic Insufficiency With Valve-in-Valve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement. Case Rep Cardiol. 2026 Aug 24;2026:6773549. doi: 10.1155/cric/6773549. PMID: 42639040; PMCID: PMC13501502.
Cell Reports. Medicine
- Mack ZT, Yastrebova M, Lim CU, Ding X, Li J, Khamidullina A, Sharko AC, Saint-Antoine M, Hilimire TA, Schools GP, Digsby K, Eckstrom A, Belcher E, Madiot G, Ji H, Sikirzhitski V, Cai C, Cai G, Singh A, Tatarskiy V, Chen M, Roninson IB, Broude EV. CDK8/19 inhibition prevents adaptive resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors in vitro and in vivo. Cell Rep Med. 2026 Aug 19:103004. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2026.103004. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42617601.
Critical Care Medicine
- Klingensmith NJ, Leonard JM, Martinez-Quinones P, Chang CWJ, Nagpal R, Efron PA, Ostermann M, Cresci GAM, Keskey RC, Alverdy JC, Coopersmith CM, Kaplan LJ. The Microbiome in Critical Illness. Crit Care Med. 2026 Aug 26. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000007327. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42644690.
European Journal of Pediatrics
- McMahon CJ, Oketcho M, Zheleva B, Magee A, Shaughnessy L, Yao NA, Little S, Hjortal V, Jacobs JP. The Mission-to-System Continuum: international partnerships for sustainable paediatric cardiac programme development in low- and middle-income countries. Eur J Pediatr. 2026 Aug 19;185(9):676. doi: 10.1007/s00431-026-07347-x. PMID: 42613381.
European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
- Peters F, Schlichting H, Besch A, Lübcke J, Cotta L, Adili F, Trenner M, Scali S, Stone D, Behrendt CA. Association of Annual Caseload and Short Term Outcomes after Elective Open Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in Germany. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2026 Aug 7:S1078-5884(26)00750-1. doi: 10.1016/j.ejvs.2026.08.001. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42567303.
JAMA
- Spinella PC, Zantek ND, VanBuren JM, Nicolson SC, Khanna AK, Klompas AM, Boisen ML, Williams TM, Monteleone M, Bashir DA, Pavey W, Smith BB, Ahmed MI, Niebler RA, Jeng E, Flynn BC, Joshi RV, Preuss JF, Goswami D, Yamada C, Lewis C, Cohn CS, Tint H, Kwak J, Sodha N, Simon ER, Van PY, Greilich PE, Booth FVM, Carter CP, Keegan A, Cap AP, Matuk J, McGlothlin A, Berry NS, Lewis RJ, Steiner ME; CHIPS Investigator Group. Cold and Room-Temperature Platelets in Cardiac Surgery: The CHIPS Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2026 Aug 17:e2613328. doi: 10.1001/jama.2026.13328. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42606886; PMCID: PMC13482631.
JAMA Surgery
- Adler RR, Chunga RE, Centracchio JA, Ahmad ZN, Sepucha KR, Sheu C, Shah SK, Clark C, Kim D, Mitchell SL, Finlayson E, Cooper Z, Hsu J, Flood KL, Ryan S, Flys T, Yates AJ Jr, Wingfield SA, Gangavati A, Weissman JS, Traeger L. Clinician Considerations Regarding Surgical Decision-Making in the Context of Dementia. JAMA Surg. 2026 Aug 19:10.1001/jamasurg.2026.3729. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2026.3729. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42616509; PMCID: PMC13491235.
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
- Daveluy SD, Swerlick RA, Parra SL, Kaye T, Aninos A, Tran A, Etkin CD, Jacobs JP. The 2025 Annual Report of DataDerm: The database of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). J Am Acad Dermatol. 2026 Aug 26:S0190-9622(26)03146-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2026.07.040. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42658149.
JTCVS Techniques
- Jimenez Contreras F, Bilgili A, Brinkley LM, Van Nisspen J, Jeng EI. Anatomic implantation technique for biventricular support with dual ventricular assist devices. JTCVS Tech. 2026 Apr 3;38:102382. doi: 10.1016/j.xjtc.2026.102382. PMID: 42576975; PMCID: PMC13453657.
JVS Vascular Science
- Scali ST. Rethinking intraluminal thrombus in abdominal aortic aneurysm. JVS Vasc Sci. 2026 Jul 11;7:100431. doi: 10.1016/j.jvssci.2026.100431. PMID: 42604087; PMCID: PMC13476710.
Methods in Molecular Biology
- Zhou M, Gauthier ML, Nabilsi NH, Murray KO, Morse DA, Efron PA, Riva A, Concannon P, Clanton TL, Brant JO, Bacher R, Kladde MP. FENGC: Targeted, Multiplexed, and Integrated Single-Molecule Profiling of Chromatin Accessibility and DNA Methylation. Methods Mol Biol. 2026;3005:23-56. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-5072-1_2. PMID: 42642588.
NEJM AI
- Nolan VJ, Brown MM, Balch JA, Katukota AV, Abbas S, Devaguptapu PL, Baskaran N, Abbott KL, Hong P, Shickel B, Efron PA, Upchurch GR Jr, Bihorac A, Sharadin N, Tignanelli CJ, Moseley RE, Loftus TJ. Language Models for Value-Informed Proxy Decision Support. NEJM AI. 2026 Aug 20;3(9). doi: 10.1056/AIcs2500562.