Post-Infarction Ventricular Septal Rupture Complicated by Cardiogenic Shock Requiring Mechanical Circulatory Support as a Bridge to Definitive Therapy During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Ventricular septal rupture (VSR) is a devastating complication of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and is often associated with cardiogenic shock. Although considered to be very rare in the reperfusion era, recent reports have demonstrated an increased frequency of post-MI VSR cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite advances in surgical repair and management strategies over the past decades, mortality rate has remained high, especially in hemodynamically unstable patients.

Oligosaccharide Le(a)-Le(x): a cell surface marker for carcinomas derived from embryonic endoderm.

An immunohistochemical evaluation of Le(a)-Le(x) expression by adenocarcinomas of the biliary tree, pancreas, colon and stomach was undertaken as examples of epithelial tumors derived from embryonic endoderm. This complements previous studies showing that Lea-Lex was present on the cell surface of non-small cell lung carcinomas, some non-lung carcinomas, and is a prognostic marker for squamous cell lung carcinomas. All of the tumor specimen evaluated were positive and no expression of Le(a)-Le(x) was detected in derivatives of neural, connective or muscle tissues.

Decrease in Le(x) expression in esophageal adenocarcinomas arising in Barrett's epithelium.

Fifty esophageal adenocarcinomas were investigated for their expression of Le(a), Le(x), and Le(a)-Le(x). Among the 50 adenocarcinomas, 17 cases developed in Barrett's epithelium. Those 17 differed from the other 33 cases by expressing much less Le(x).

Cell-cell interactions influence oligosaccharide modifications on mucins and other large glycoproteins.

Intratumoral phenotypic diversity is well documented with regard to tumor associated carbohydrate antigens (TACA). The factors which control the expression of these cell-surface oligosaccharides on different cells of the same tumor are not understood. We investigated the expression of a panel of mucin associated oligosaccharides in cell lines growing at different surface densities (number of cells per cm2 of growth flask).