Publications by authors named "Aaron Espinosa"

Background: ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and Takotsubo syndrome (TS) are two distinct cardiac conditions that both result in sudden loss of cardiac dysfunction and that are difficult to distinguish clinically. This study compared plasma protein changes in 24 women with STEMI and 12 women with TS in the acute phase (days 0-3 post symptom onset) and the stabilization phase (days 7, 14, and 30) to examine the molecular differences between these conditions.

Methods: Plasma proteins from STEMI and TS patients were extracted during the acute and stabilization phases and analyzed via quantitative proteomics.

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Aims: Adequate animal models are necessary to understand human conditions, such as takotsubo syndrome (TS) characterized by the heart's transient regional wall motion abnormalities. This study aims to develop a reproducible, low-mortality TS model that closely mimics the human condition and addresses the limitations of existing models.

Methods And Results: We conducted six experiments using 309 Sprague Dawley rats, each approximately 300 g and aged 7-8 weeks.

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Modelling human diseases serves as a crucial tool to unveil underlying mechanisms and pathophysiology. Takotsubo syndrome (TS), an acute form of heart failure resembling myocardial infarction, manifests with reversible regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) of the ventricles. Despite its mortality and clinical similarity to myocardial infarction, TS aetiology remains elusive, with stress and catecholamines playing central roles.

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Therapeutic vaccines that elicit cytotoxic T cell responses targeting tumor-specific neoantigens hold promise for providing long-term clinical benefit to patients with cancer. Here we evaluated safety and tolerability of a therapeutic vaccine encoding 20 shared neoantigens derived from selected common oncogenic driver mutations as primary endpoints in an ongoing phase 1/2 study in patients with advanced/metastatic solid tumors. Secondary endpoints included immunogenicity, overall response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to improve the assessment of left ventricular wall motion abnormalities (WMAs) by introducing new measurement methods and comparing them to traditional scoring indices like the wall motion score index (WMSI).
  • Researchers analyzed 140 echocardiograms from patients with serious heart issues, focusing on various metrics for measuring wall motion, including the percentage of akinesia and hypokinesia.
  • Results showed that the new methods demonstrated low inter- and intra-observer variability, making them reliable alternatives for evaluating WMAs in echocardiographic exams.
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  • The study investigates the levels of cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and troponin I (hs-cTnI) during and after different durations of myocardial ischaemia (lack of blood flow) in both rats and human patients with heart attacks (STEMI).
  • Results show that after short periods of ischaemia, hs-cTnI and hs-cTnT levels rise similarly, leading to a ratio of around 1, indicating non-necrotic cTn release.
  • In contrast, longer ischaemia that results in heart tissue damage shows a significantly higher hs-cTnI/hs-cTnT ratio (3.6-5.5),
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread globally, highlighting the urgent need for safe and effective vaccines that could be rapidly mobilized to immunize large populations. We report the preclinical development of a self-amplifying mRNA (SAM) vaccine encoding a prefusion stabilized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike glycoprotein and demonstrate strong cellular and humoral immune responses at low doses in mice and rhesus macaques. The homologous prime-boost vaccination regimen of SAM at 3, 10 and 30 μg induced potent neutralizing antibody (nAb) titers in rhesus macaques following two SAM vaccinations at all dose levels, with the 10 μg dose generating geometric mean titers (GMT) 48-fold greater than the GMT of a panel of SARS-CoV-2 convalescent human sera.

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Aims: Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is an acute potentially reversible cardiac syndrome characterized by variable regional myocardial akinesia that cannot be attributed to a culprit coronary artery occlusion. TTS is an important differential diagnosis of acute heart failure where brain natriuretic peptides are elevated. Sacubitril/valsartan is a novel and effective pharmacological agent for the treatment of patients with heart failure.

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Article Synopsis
  • Takotsubo syndrome (TS) is a serious heart failure condition, with limited knowledge on risk factors for severe outcomes and no established high-risk ECG criteria.
  • A study using data from the Swedish Angiography and Angioplasty Registry tracked patients with TS to identify ECG patterns linked to in-hospital complications.
  • Results showed that T-wave inversion in ECG was often seen in TS patients and was associated with a reduced risk of major adverse cardiac events, particularly ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation.
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