Publications by authors named "Carrington M"

The gut microbiota is a crucial link between diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Using fecal metaproteomics, a method that concurrently captures human gut and microbiome proteins, we determined the crosstalk between gut microbiome, diet, gut health, and CVD. Traditional CVD risk factors (age, BMI, sex, blood pressure) explained < 10% of the proteome variance.

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  • Natural killer (NK) cells interact with diseased and foreign cells through specific receptors (NKG2A/HLA-E and KIR/HLA-ABC), which may play a role in kidney transplant pathology independent of antibodies.
  • A study using CyTOF identified diverse NK cell subsets in transplant recipients, with NKG2A+KIR+ NK cells showing a particularly strong response that continued post-transplant despite immunosuppressive treatment.
  • The release of a cytotoxicity mediator, Ksp37, by NKG2A+ NK cells before transplantation was linked to poorer long-term kidney function, suggesting a potential role for analyzing Ksp37 as a biomarker for transplant
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Vaccine-elicited T cell responses can contribute to immune protection against emerging infectious disease risks such as antimicrobials-resistant (AMR) microbial pathogens and viruses with pandemic potential, but rapidly identifying appropriate targets for T cell priming vaccines remains challenging. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of peptides presented on major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs) can identify potential targets for protective T cell responses in a proteome-wide manner. However, pathogen-derived peptides are outnumbered by self peptides in the MHC repertoire and may be missed in untargeted MS analyses.

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Background: Accurate risk stratification is vital for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, traditional tools such as the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) may underperform within the diverse intermediate-risk group, which includes individuals requiring distinct management strategies.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop a lipidomic-enhanced risk score (LRS), specifically targeting risk prediction and reclassification within the intermediate group, benchmarked against the FRS.

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class I variation has the strongest effect genome-wide on outcome after HIV infection, and as such, an understanding of the impact of polymorphism on response to HIV vaccination may inform vaccine design. We sought associations with HIV-directed immunogenicity in the phase 1/2a APPROACH vaccine trial, which tested vaccine regimens containing mosaic inserts in Ad26 and MVA vectors, with or without a trimeric gp140 protein. While there were no allelic associations with the overall cellular immune response to the vaccine assessed by ELISpot (Gag, Pol, and Env combined), significant associations with differential response to Gag compared to Env antigens were observed.

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Background: The use of mobile health (mHealth, wireless communication devices, and/or software technologies) in health care delivery has increased rapidly in recent years. Their integration into disease management programs (DMPs) has tremendous potential to improve outcomes for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), yet a more robust evaluation of the evidence is required.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis of mHealth-enabled DMPs to determine their effectiveness in reducing readmissions and mortality in patients with CAD.

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  • Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common heart rhythm disorder, and cardioversion is a method used to return the heart to its normal rhythm through medications or electrical shocks.
  • The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of both pharmacological and electrical cardioversion treatments for AF and related conditions.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 112 randomized controlled trials involving nearly 16,000 patients, noting that many trials had a high risk of bias and varying demographics among participants.
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Background: Ten-year risk equations for incident heart failure (HF) are available for the general population, but not for patients with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), which is highly prevalent in HF cohorts. This study aimed to develop and validate 10-year risk equations for incident HF in patients with known ASCVD.

Methods And Results: Ten-year risk equations for incident HF were developed using the United Kingdom Biobank cohort (recruitment 2006-2010) including participants with established ASCVD but free from HF at baseline.

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Immunogenetic studies have shown that specific HLA-B residues (67, 70, 97, and 156) mediate the impact of HLA class I on HIV infection, but the molecular basis is not well understood. Here we evaluate the function of these residues within the protective HLA-B5701 allele. While mutation of Met67, Ser70, and Leu156 disrupt CD8 T cell recognition, substitution of Val97 had no significant impact.

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Trypanosoma brucei is the causal agent of African Trypanosomiasis in humans and other animals. It maintains a long-term infection through an antigenic variation based population survival strategy. To proliferate in a mammal, T.

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Research Question: Are women who receive fertility treatment at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) hospitalization compared with women who do not?

Design: A retrospective cohort study of all women registered for fertility treatment at Monash IVF between 1998 and 2014. This cohort was linked to the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset, which contains records of all hospital admissions in the Australian state of Victoria. Age- and Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD)-adjusted relative risks of CVD hospitalization for women who did or did not undergo fertility treatment were determined using Poisson regression.

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  • African trypanosomes live in infected mammals and face attacks from the immune system's complement system, particularly through a protein called C3, which targets pathogens for elimination.
  • To evade this immune response, trypanosomes use a surface receptor called ISG65 that binds to C3b, which helps reduce the effectiveness of the immune system in clearing the infection.
  • Research using cryogenic electron microscopy reveals that ISG65 has two binding sites for C3b and acts by forming a complex with C3b, blocking immune cell recruitment, and thereby protecting the trypanosomes from being eliminated.
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SARS-CoV-2 and other sarbecoviruses continue to threaten humanity, highlighting the need to characterize common mechanisms of viral immune evasion for pandemic preparedness. Cytotoxic lymphocytes are vital for antiviral immunity and express NKG2D, an activating receptor conserved among mammals that recognizes infection-induced stress ligands (e.g.

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Although natural killer (NK) cells are recognized for their modulation of immune responses, the mechanisms by which human NK cells mediate immune regulation are unclear. Here, we report that expression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DP, a ligand for the activating NK cell receptor NKp44, is significantly upregulated on CD8 effector T cells, in particular in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) individuals. HLA-DP CD8 T cells expressing NKp44-binding HLA-DP antigens activate NKp44 NK cells, while HLA-DP CD8 T cells not expressing NKp44-binding HLA-DP antigens do not.

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Importance: Healthcare personnel (HCP) are important messengers for promoting vaccines, for both adults and children. Our investigation describes perceptions of fully vaccinated HCP about COVID-19 vaccine for themselves and primary series for their children.

Objective: To determine associations between sociodemographic, employment characteristics and perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines among HCP overall and the subset of HCP with children, who were all mandated to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, in a large US metropolitan region.

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Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) outcomes can be improved by strengthening the chain of survival, namely prompt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED). However, provision of bystander CPR and AED use remains low due to individual patient factors ranging from lack of education to socioeconomic barriers and due to lack of resources such as limited availability of AEDs in the community. Although the impact of health inequalities on survival from OHCA is documented, it is imperative that we identify and implement strategies to improve public health and outcomes from OHCA overall but with a simultaneous emphasis on making care more equitable.

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Recent advancements in plasma lipidomic profiling methodology have significantly increased specificity and accuracy of lipid measurements. This evolution, driven by improved chromatographic and mass spectrometric resolution of newer platforms, has made it challenging to align datasets created at different times, or on different platforms. Here we present a framework for harmonising such plasma lipidomic datasets with different levels of granularity in their lipid measurements.

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The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system is a major factor controlling cancer immunosurveillance and response to immunotherapy, yet its status in pediatric cancers remains fragmentary. We determined high-confidence HLA genotypes in 576 children, adolescents and young adults with recurrent/refractory solid tumors from the MOSCATO-01 and MAPPYACTS trials, using normal and tumor whole exome and RNA sequencing data and benchmarked algorithms. There was no evidence for narrowed HLA allelic diversity but discordant homozygosity and allele frequencies across tumor types and subtypes, such as in embryonal and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma and 11q subtypes, and high-grade glioma, and several alleles may represent protective or susceptibility factors to specific pediatric solid cancers.

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Cervical cancer is caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, has few approved targeted therapeutics, and is the most common cause of cancer death in low-resource countries. We characterized 19 cervical and four head and neck cancer cell lines using long-read DNA and RNA sequencing and identified the HPV types, HPV integration sites, chromosomal alterations, and cancer driver mutations. Structural variation analysis revealed telomeric deletions associated with DNA inversions resulting from breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) cycles.

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Aims: Helping people to understand their cardiovascular (CV) risk can influence the choices they make for risk reduction, including medication adherence and lifestyle modification. This study sought whether repeated visualization of coronary artery calcium (CAC) images was effective in sustaining long-term risk control in primary prevention, independent of a risk reduction program.

Methods: Asymptomatic, statin-naïve participants, 40-70 years, with a family history of premature coronary artery disease and a CAC score from 1-400 were randomised to a nurse-led CV risk reduction program or standard care with bi-annual reviews.

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Heterozygosity of () class I genes is linked to beneficial outcomes after HIV infection, presumably through greater breadth of HIV epitope presentation and cytotoxic T cell response. Distinct allotype pairs, however, differ in the extent to which they bind shared sets of peptides. We developed a functional divergence metric that measures pairwise complementarity of allotype-associated peptide binding profiles.

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Food-related studies often categorize foods using criteria such as fat and sugar content (e.g., high-fat, high-sugar foods; low-fat, low-sugar foods), and use these categorizations for further analyses.

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Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is responsible for many childhood cancers in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is linked to recurrent or chronic infection by Epstein-Barr virus or Plasmodium falciparum. However, whether human leukocyte antigen (HLA) polymorphisms, which regulate immune response, are associated with BL has not been well investigated, which limits our understanding of BL etiology. Here we investigate this association among 4,645 children aged 0-15 years, 800 with BL, enrolled in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Malawi.

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Background: Nurse-led disease management programs (DMPs) decrease readmission after acute decompensated heart failure (HF). We sought whether readmissions could be further reduced by lung ultrasound (LUS)-guided decongestion before discharge and during DMP.

Methods And Results: Of 290 patients hospitalized with acute decompensated HF, 122 at high risk for readmission or mortality were randomized to receive usual care (UC) (n = 64) or UC plus intervention (DMP-Plus) (n = 58), comprising LUS-guided management before discharge and during at-home follow-up.

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