Genome Sequences of 14 Siphophages That Infect Serratia marcescens.

We announce the complete genome sequences of 14 bacteriophages isolated from wastewater treatment plants. These phages define two previously undescribed types which we call the Carrot-like phage cluster (phages Carrot, BigDog, LittleDog, Niamh, Opt-148, Opt-169, PhooPhighters, Rovert, Serratianator, Stoker, Swain, and Ulliraptor) and Tlacuache-like phage cluster (Tlacuache and Opt-155).

Perceptions about participation in cancer clinical trials in New York state.

Background: Clinical trials are valuable in advancing cancer care through the investigation of ways in which to better prevent, detect and diagnose, and/or treat cancer. Recruitment of adults into clinical trials has historically been low.

Objective: To survey adult cancer patients who reside in New York state to better understand their participation in and attitudes about clinical trials.

Tadalafil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension: a double-blind 52-week uncontrolled extension study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term safety and durability of efficacy of tadalafil for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Tadalafil is an oral phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor approved for PAH treatment. In the multicenter, placebo-controlled, randomized, 16-week PHIRST (Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Response to Tadalafil) study, tadalafil 40 mg improved exercise capacity and delayed clinical worsening.

Tadalafil monotherapy and as add-on to background bosentan in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Tadalafil 40 mg orally once daily, was shown to be well-tolerated and efficacious for pulmonary arterial hypertension in a 16-week, double-blind, placebo (PBO)-controlled trial. Inclusion criteria included the option for background bosentan. Analyses of tadalafil in treatment-naive patients and as add-on to bosentan were pre-specified.

Tadalafil therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Treatment options for pulmonary arterial hypertension target the prostacyclin, endothelin, or nitric oxide pathways. Tadalafil, a phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor, increases cGMP, the final mediator in the nitric oxide pathway.

Methods And Results: In this 16-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 405 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (idiopathic or associated), either treatment-naive or on background therapy with the endothelin receptor antagonist bosentan, were randomized to placebo or tadalafil 2.

Micrococcus-associated central venous catheter infection in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Study Objectives: To determine the incidence of catheter-related infection in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) receiving epoprostenol (EPO), and to note an etiologic role for Micrococcus spp, which is rarely reported as a pathogen in the medical literature.

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Two PAH specialty treatment centers, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (Torrance, CA), and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University (New York, NY).

[Clinical study on long-term treatment of primary pulmonary hypertension with continuous intravenous epoprostenol infusion].

Objective: To observe the effects of treatment with long-term continuous epoprostenol (Epo) infusion on the survival and pulmonary artery pressure in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH).

Methods: Sixty nine patients with PPH and congestive heart failure of stage III or IV (classification by New York Heart Association) treated with Epo of initial dose of 2 - 62 ng x kg(-1) x min(-1) (the dosage was enhanced by 1 - 2 ng x kg(-1) x min(-1) every 2 months according to patient's response). All patients underwent right heart catheterization and Doppler echocardiography to measure the systolic pressure gradient between the right ventricle and right atrium (DeltaP) and the cardiac output (CO).

Coronary calcium scanning adds incremental value to patients with positive stress tests.

Background: The sensitivity of coronary calcification by electron beam tomography (EBT) for the detection of coronary atherosclerosis is well-established. Combining the anatomic information of EBT with the functional information of stress testing might reduce the high false-positive result rate seen with treadmill stress test (TMST) alone. No studies have reported the additive value of a negative EBT result (no coronary calcium) for excluding obstructive coronary artery disease (OCAD) in patients with a positive TMST result.

Ethnic differences in coronary atherosclerosis.

Objectives: The study was done to evaluate whether ethnic differences exist in the prevalence of coronary artery calcification (CAC), and to determine whether differences in calcification correlate with the degree of coronary obstruction.

Background: Electron beam tomography (EBT) can be used to quantitate the amount of CAC and assist in prognostication of future cardiac events. It is unclear whether ethnic differences in coronary mortality are related to differences in the prevalence of coronary obstruction and CAC.

Screening patients with chest pain in the emergency department using electron beam tomography: a follow-up study.

Objectives: The high sensitivity of electron beam tomography (EBT) in the detection of coronary artery calcium (CAC) and obstructive coronary artery disease prompted us to investigate the association between CAC detection and future cardiac events in patients with acute chest pain syndromes requiring hospitalization.

Background: Three studies have documented that EBT is a rapid and efficient screening tool for patients admitted to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain, but there is a paucity of long-term follow-up data on these chest pain patients.

Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study of 192 patients admitted to the ED of a large tertiary care hospital for chest pain syndromes.

Safety of EBCT contrast injection studies in severe pulmonary hypertension.

Purpose: There is considerable literature published on noninvasive contrast-enhanced techniques to diagnose pulmonary vascular abnormalities, however little data exists on the safety of contrast injections in patients with elevated pulmonary arterial pressures. We studied the safety of contrast-enhanced electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) in 29 patients with severe pulmonary hypertension. The mean dose of intravenous contrast used was 124 +/- 39 cc.

Accurate measures of left ventricular ejection fraction using electron beam tomography: a comparison with radionuclide angiography, and cine angiography.

Background: Quantitative determination of ejection fraction is predicated on precise measurement of end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes of the left ventricle. Contrast enhanced electron beam tomography (EBT), with excellent temporal and spatial resolution, has the potential for highly accurate measures of ejection fraction.

Methods: EBT protocol used a short axis scan of the left ventricle (8-12 levels, apex to base) during infusion of iodinated contrast.

A simple single slice method for measurement of left and right ventricular enlargement by electron beam tomography.

Rationale And Objective: We devised to test the feasibility of measuring the left and right ventricular sizes by non-contrast electron beam tomographic images.

Methods: Ventricular sizes consist of the sum of the intracavitary cavity and myocardial mass for each ventricle. A total of 50-image studies from subjects undergoing contrast-enhanced studies were used to develop the measurement methodology.

Gas exchange responses to continuous incremental cycle ergometry exercise in primary pulmonary hypertension in humans.

In patients suffering from primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH), a raised pulmonary vascular resistance may limit the ability to increase pulmonary blood flow as work rate increases. We hypothesised that oxygen uptake (VO2) may not rise appropriately with increasing work rate during incremental cardiopulmonary exercise tests. Nine PPH patients and nine normal subjects performed symptom-limited maximal continuous incremental cycle ergometry exercise.

Preview method for electron-beam CT scanning of the coronary arteries.

Rationale And Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a method that uses electron-beam computed tomography to obtain the most appropriate starting level for complete imaging of the coronary tree and to compare it with the existing method. A second aim was to evaluate the spatial location of the coronary arteries relative to different anatomic cardiac and chest landmarks.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred forty consecutive patients were randomly assigned to imaging with either a six-level preview (new) method or the traditional preview method.

Responses to constant work rate bicycle ergometry exercise in primary pulmonary hypertension: the effect of inhaled nitric oxide.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the responses of patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) to constant work rate exercise and to examine the effect of nitric oxide (NO) inhalation.

Background: Maximal exercise tolerance is reduced in PPH, but gas exchange responses to constant work rate exercise have not been defined. We hypothesized that increased pulmonary vascular resistance in PPH would reduce the rate of rise of minute oxygen consumption in response to a given work rate.

Exercise testing and electron beam computed tomography in the evaluation of coronary artery disease.

Objectives: This study compared coronary artery calcium (CC) as detected by electron beam computed tomography (EBCT) with conventional stress testing in the evaluation of patients with symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease (CAD).

Background: Exercise electrocardiogram treadmill stress testing (treadmill-ECG) is limited by its requirement of a normal resting ECG and the ability of the patient to exercise adequately. The addition of myocardial imaging agents such as technetium improves the sensitivity and specificity but substantially increases the cost and prolongs the testing time.

Rates of progression of coronary calcium by electron beam tomography.

In this study, we sought to determine the rate of progression of atherosclerosis using coronary calcium scores derived from electron beam tomography (EBT). We studied a variety of disease states (hypertension, high cholesterol, tobacco use, diabetes mellitus) followed for 1 to 6.5 years.

Continuous intravenous epoprostenol for pulmonary hypertension due to the scleroderma spectrum of disease. A randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive and often fatal complication of the scleroderma spectrum of disease for which no treatment has been proven effective in a randomized trial.

Objective: To determine the effect of epoprostenol on pulmonary hypertension secondary to the scleroderma spectrum of disease.

Design: Randomized, open-label, controlled trial.