Racial equity in linkage to inpatient opioid use disorder treatment in patients that received emergency care.

Objectives: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a national epidemic, and Black and Hispanic patients are less likely to receive treatment when compared to white patients. In this study, race was used as a proxy to assess potential effects of racism on the referral process for OUD treatment. Our primary aim was to examine whether Black or Hispanic patients experienced increased barriers to inpatient OUD detoxification (detox) placement at a community-integrated, substance use disorder support program based in an emergency department (ED).

Cytotoxicity of aqueous cigarette smoke extract is affected by properties of pipettes used to prepare the extract.

Cigarette smoke contains a host of molecules including toxins and carcinogens, most of which have not been well studied. Aqueous cigarette smoke extract (CSE) is one of various cigarette smoke derivatives that can be used for studies, and the influence of different method parameters on CSE composition and toxicity remains incompletely understood. Herein, we prepared CSE by bubbling cigarette smoke through mammalian cell culture medium, varying the type of pipette inserted into the recipient medium.

Cure of Oligometastatic Classic Biphasic Pulmonary Blastoma Using Aggressive Tri-modality Treatment: Case Series and Review of the Literature.

Pulmonary blastoma is a rare lung cancer classified into three subtypes: classic biphasic pulmonary blastoma (CBPB), well-differentiated fetal adenocarcinoma (WDFA), and pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) of childhood. Compared to the other subtypes, CPPB is an aggressive tumor with an overall five-year survival of 16% across all stages. We present two cases of biopsy-proven metastatic CBPB, who have been disease-free for over 10 years since treatment completion.

A phase II study of enzastaurin in combination with erlotinib in patients with previously treated advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Regardless of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status, erlotinib improves survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after one or more chemotherapy regimens. Enzastaurin is an oral serine/threonine kinase inhibitor. This phase II study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of erlotinib and enzastaurin in NSCLC, a combination with promise to overcome EGFR resistance based on preclinical models.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the treatment of resectable non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: Surgical resection remains the cornerstone of therapy for early-stage disease and offers the best chance for cure. Local and distant failure rates, however, remain unacceptably high with surgery alone. Radiation and systemic chemotherapy have been used to reduce recurrences in early-stage disease.

AM3 (Inmunoferón) as an adjuvant to hepatitis B vaccination in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis have severe alterations in cell-mediated immunity (CMI) that increases their risk of contracting chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and decreases their protective responses to HBV vaccine. In an effort to improve the humoral response to an accelerated HBV vaccine protocol in these patients, the ability of an immunomodulator, AM3, to improve seroconversion was investigated.

Methods: A total of 269 patients were enrolled in a multicenter trial.

Newborn patients exhibit an unusual pattern of interleukin 10 and interferon gamma serum levels in response to cardiac surgery.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the clinical significance of serum levels of interleukin 10 and interferon gamma in pediatric patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass.

Methods: We divided the patients into 2 groups: 8 neonates and 19 non-newborn children. Interleukin 10 and interferon gamma serum levels were quantified before sternotomy, at admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (30 minutes postoperatively), 24 hours after the onset of the operation, and 3 days after the operation.

Role of humoral and cell-mediated immunity in protection from influenza disease after immunization of healthy elderly.

While influenza immunization significantly reduces the risk of pneumonia and associated deaths, vaccination of elderly only affords 30-50% protection against influenza disease. The purpose of this study was to: (1) evaluate the consistency of immune responses across multiple years in young and elderly; (2) determine the contribution of antibody and cell-mediated responses in protection after immunization with influenza vaccine. Independently living healthy elderly (>200/year; mean age 78.

Characterization of antibody responses to annual influenza vaccination over four years in a healthy elderly population.

The effects of yearly influenza immunization on the level of antibody responses were assessed in 92 healthy elderly subjects immunized over four contiguous years (1993-1996) with a trivalent influenza vaccine that included A/Texas annually. Anti-A/Texas antibodies increased significantly and similarly post-vaccination each year, but returned to comparable baseline levels annually. Percentages of subjects with anti-A/Texas titers > or =40 post-vaccination were comparable over four years.

Defective natural killer and phagocytic activities in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are restored by glycophosphopeptical (inmunoferón).

We have investigated both modifications in natural (innate) immunity caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the effects of a glycophosphopeptical immunomodulator (Inmunoferón) treatment on COPD-associated immunoalterations. In a double-blinded clinical trial, 60 patients with COPD received glycophosphopeptical or placebo during 90 consecutive days at oral doses of 3 g/d. Fifty-six sex- and age-matched healthy control subjects were included as a reference group for immunologic parameters.

Immune response to influenza vaccine in healthy elderly: lack of association with plasma beta-carotene, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, or zinc.

Immunity and nutritional status are compromised with age, yet the relationship between them is unclear. Immune responses and plasma micronutrient levels of 61 healthy elderly (mean 81 years) and 27 young (mean 27 years) were assessed before and after immunization with trivalent influenza vaccine (FLU). FLU-induced proliferation and IFN-gamma levels of elderly were lower than young before and after immunization.

Liposomal amphotericin B and amphotericin B-deoxycholate show different immunoregulatory effects on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Conventional preparations of amphotericin B (AmB) at established therapeutic doses are known to increase nonspecific immune responses. It remains to be established whether higher doses of the less toxic liposomal preparation of AmB maintains a beneficial effect on the immune response to fungal infections. Examination of the effect of treatment of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy subjects with various doses of both liposomal AmB (L-AmB) and deoxycholate AmB (d-AmB) on proliferation, cell viability, and percentage of apoptosis demonstrated that, although both L-AmB and d-AmB at low doses significantly increased nonspecific proliferative responses, L-AmB, but not d-AmB, treatment maintained this beneficial effect at higher doses.

Cytokine production after influenza vaccination in a healthy elderly population.

Influenza vaccination is less efficacious in the elderly than in the young. To characterize this age-related decrease in immune response to influenza vaccination, antibody and cell-mediated responses to influenza vaccine were assessed before immunization and 4 weeks after vaccination of a population of 270 healthy elderly individuals (mean age: 80.2 years) living in eight local continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) and 30 young individuals (mean age: 27.

Effect of age on cytokine production in humans.

Aging is accompanied by many changes in immune response, with the most consistent and dramatic alterations occurring within the T cell compartment. Since cytokines are central to immune cell communications, age-associated changes in cytokine production may contribute to these alterations. While data from murine studies suggest a switch from a Th1 (IL-2, IFNγ) to a Th2 (IL-4, IL-6, IL-10) cytokine response, this model has not been as clearly established in humans.

The age-associated decline in immune function of healthy individuals is not related to changes in plasma concentrations of beta-carotene, retinol, alpha-tocopherol or zinc.

The decline in the lymphoproliferative response to mitogenic stimuli shows marked heterogeneity in elderly individuals. Adequate nutriture is required for optimal immune function, yet nutritional status may be compromised in the elderly. To address whether this variation in the proliferative response of elderly individuals is related to their nutritional status, we studied 61 elderly (80.