Frailty and chronic kidney disease: associations and implications.

Introduction: Frailty and its association with chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been established previously. The present study examined this association further by studying the distribution of frailty among groups defined by different stages of the disease. It also identified associated health deficits and explored their association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urine albumin creatinine ratio (UACR).

Impact of PAP therapy on hospitalization rates in Medicare beneficiaries with COPD and coexisting OSA.

Objective: Growing evidence supports that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and coexisting obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have poor prognosis. This association is described as overlap syndrome. Positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy is now the preferred treatment for OSA.

Validation of claims-based algorithms for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Administrative claims studies do not adequately distinguish pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) from other forms of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Our aim is to develop and validate a set of algorithms using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes and electronic medical records (EMR), to identify patients with PAH. From January 2012 to August 2015, the EMRs of patients with ICD-9-CM codes for PH with an outpatient visit at the University of Texas Medical Branch were reviewed.

RNA-Seq analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells reveals unique transcriptional signatures associated with disease progression in dengue patients.

Patients infected with Dengue virus usually present a mild, self-limiting febrile dengue infection (DI) that occasionally leads to a potentially lethal complication, called the severe dengue (DS). The ability to identify the prognostic markers of DS could allow an improved disease intervention and management. To identify the transcriptional signatures associated with the dengue disease progression, we carried out the high-throughput sequencing of the RNA isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of the dengue patients of varying severity and compared with that in the patients with other febrile illnesses (OFIs) or the healthy controls.

Process and Outcome Measures among COPD Patients with a Hospitalization Cared for by an Advance Practice Provider or Primary Care Physician.

Objectives: To examine the process and outcomes of care of COPD patients by Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) and primary care physicians.

Methods: We conducted a cross sectional retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with COPD who had at least one hospitalization in 2010. We examined the process measures of receipt of spirometry evaluation, influenza and pneumococcal vaccine, use of COPD medications, and referral to a pulmonary specialist visit.

Successful treatment of aortic root abscess in a patient with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Continuous prostanoid infusion is an established treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension that has led to improvements in symptoms, exercise tolerance, and survival. Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) who develop sepsis frequently experience clinical and hemodynamic deterioration associated with poor outcomes. Successful management of sepsis involves identification of the source of infection, early antimicrobial administration, judicious fluid resuscitation, and continuation of specific PAH therapies.

Esophageal dilations in eosinophilic esophagitis: a single center experience.

Aim: To diagnose the clinical and histologic features that may be associated with or predictive of the need for dilation and dilation related complications; examine the safety of dilation in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).

Methods: The medical records of all patients diagnosed with EoE between January 2002 and July 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. Esophageal biopsies were reexamined by an experienced pathologist to confirm the diagnosis (≥ 15 eos/hpf per current guidelines).