Publications by authors named "Christopher Launius"
Article Synopsis
- A study was conducted on adult COVID-19 patients hospitalized from February 2020 to October 2022 to identify effective inflammatory biomarkers for assessing patient risk during hospitalization.
- The biomarkers analyzed included suPAR, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6, procalcitonin, ferritin, and D-dimer; suPAR emerged as the strongest predictor of severe outcomes, such as death or the need for mechanical ventilation.
- A suPAR cutoff of 4.0 ng/mL was found to indicate low risk with high sensitivity and negative predictive value, suggesting it could be a valuable tool for triaging low-risk COVID-19 patients.
BACKGROUNDFood allergy (FA) is a growing health problem requiring physiologic confirmation via the oral food challenge (OFC). Many OFCs result in clinical anaphylaxis, causing discomfort and risk while limiting OFC utility. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) measurement provides a potential solution to detect food anaphylaxis in real time prior to clinical symptoms.
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- People with kidney disease experience higher rates of atherosclerosis, and a protein called suPAR may play a key role in this connection.
- Research shows that higher suPAR levels can predict coronary artery calcification and cardiovascular events, with specific genetic variants linked to increased suPAR levels.
- In experiments, mice with elevated suPAR displayed more severe atherosclerosis due to heightened inflammation and changes in immune cell behavior, highlighting suPAR's potential as a target for understanding and treating atherosclerosis.
Background Venous thromboembolism (VTE) contributes significantly to COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. The urokinase receptor system is involved in the regulation of coagulation. Levels of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) reflect hyperinflammation and are strongly predictive of outcomes in COVID-19.
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- Diabetes mellitus (DM) significantly increases the risk of severe outcomes in COVID-19 patients, with a study showing higher incidences of in-hospital death, mechanical ventilation, and renal therapy among those with DM.
- The research identified inflammation, specifically measured by suPAR levels, as a major factor in the association between DM and severe COVID-19 outcomes, with 84.2% of the effect mediated by this biomarker.
- Hyperglycemia and higher insulin doses were also found to predict severe outcomes independently, suggesting both inflammation and high blood sugar levels contribute to the risks faced by diabetic patients during COVID-19.
Purpose: Racial disparities in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outcomes have been described. We sought to determine whether differences in inflammatory markers, use of COVID-19 therapies, enrollment in clinical trials, and in-hospital outcomes contribute to racial disparities between Black and non-Black patients hospitalized for COVID-19.
Methods: We leveraged a prospective cohort study that enrolled 1325 consecutive patients hospitalized for COVID-19, of whom 341 (25.
Article Synopsis
- Severe COVID-19 is marked by an excessive inflammatory response, and researchers investigated osteopontin (OPN) levels as a potential predictor of patient outcomes.
- In a study of 341 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, those with higher serum OPN levels (≥140.66 ng/mL) showed significantly increased odds of death and requiring mechanical ventilation.
- Despite the observable connection between high OPN levels and worse outcomes, the findings suggest that OPN may not be a reliable tool for triaging patients in a clinical setting.