Burden of atherogenic lipids and association with cardiac allograft vasculopathy in heart transplant recipients.

Background: Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy (CAV) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after heart transplantation. There are limited contemporary studies examining post-transplant lipid management and cardiometabolic health.

Objective: We study the burden of cardiometabolic derangements post transplantation and its impact on CAV in a modern cohort of heart transplant recipients.

Genetic Testing Practices and Pathological Assessments in Patients With End-stage Heart Failure Undergoing Heart Transplantation and Left Ventricular Assist Device Use.

Background: Genetic cardiomyopathies (CMs) are increasingly recognized as causes of end-stage heart failure (ESHF). Identification of a genetic etiology in ESHF has important prognostic and family implications. However, genetic testing practices are understudied in patients with ESHF.

Gene therapy vector-related myocarditis.

Gene therapy is a technique to correct genetic abnormalities, through introduction of a functional gene or through direct genome editing. Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene replacement shows promise for targeted therapies in treatment of inherited cardiomyopathies and is the most used approach in clinical trials. However, immune responses from the host to the virus and gene product pose delivery and safety challenges.

2021 Annual Report of the Kansas Poison Control Center at The University of Kansas Health System.

Introduction: This is the 2021 Annual Report of the Kansas Poison Control Center (KSPCC) at The University of Kansas Health System. The KSPCC serves the state of Kansas 24-hours a day, 365 days a year with certified specialists in poison information and clinical and medical toxicologists.

Methods: Encounters reported to the KSPCC from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 were analyzed.

Adapting Patient and Public Involvement processes in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic brought rapid and major changes to research, and those wishing to carry out Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) activities faced challenges, such as restrictions on movement and contact, illness, bereavement and risks to potential participants. Some researchers moved PPI to online settings during this time but remote consultations raise, as well as address, a number of challenges. It is important to learn from PPI undertaken in this period as face-to-face consultation may no longer be the dominant method for PPI.

2020 Annual Report of the Kansas Poison Control Center at The University of Kansas Health System.

Introduction: This is the 2020 Annual Report of the Kansas Poison Control Center (KSPCC) at The University of Kansas Health System. The KSPCC receives calls from the public, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and public health agencies.

Methods: Encounters reported to the KSPCC from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 were analyzed for caller location, demographics, exposure substance, nature of exposure, route of exposure, interventions, medical outcome, and location of care.

Elevated methemoglobin levels in patients treated with hydroxocobalamin: a case series and analysis.

Background: Historically, the first step in treating cyanide (CN) toxicity utilized antidotes to induce methemoglobinemia. This is concerning in patients who are already hypoxemic or have elevated carboxyhemoglobin. Hydroxocobalamin (OHCbl) is now the first-line antidote for CN toxicity and is not known to induce methemoglobinemia.

Outcomes of acute pulmonary embolism in hospitalized patients with cancer.

Background: Cancer-associated pulmonary embolism (PE) places a significant burden on patients and health care systems.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database was performed in patients with acute PE from 2002 to 2014. Among patients hospitalized with PE, we investigated the differences in clinical outcomes and healthcare utilization in patients with and without cancer.

2019 Annual Report of the Kansas Poison Control Center at The University of Kansas Health System.

Introduction: This is the 2019 Annual Report of the Kansas Poison Control Center (KSPCC) at The University of Kansas Health System. The KSPCC is one of 55 certified poison control centers in the United States and serves the state of Kansas 24-hours a day, 365 days a year with certified specialists in poison information and clinical and medical toxicologists. The KSPCC receives calls from the public, law enforcement, health care professionals, and public health agencies.

Utilization of a poison control center by critical access hospitals-one state's experience.

Purpose: Critical access hospitals (CAH) are an important source of exposures for poison control centers (PCC), yet there is a paucity of literature on how these calls differ from larger, more urban hospitals (UH). This study aimed to compare call characteristics from CAH and UH received by a regional PCC.

Methods: This retrospective chart review used the Toxicall database of the Kansas PCC.

2018 Annual Report of the University of Kansas Health System Poison Control Center.

Introduction: This is the 2018 Annual Report of the Kansas Poison Control Center at The University of Kansas Health System (KSPCC). The KSPCC serves the state of Kansas 24-hours per day, 365 days a year with certified specialists in poison information and clinical and medical toxicologists.

Methods: All encounters reported to the KSPCC from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018 were analyzed.

Extended Continuous Infusion of Methylene Blue for Refractory Septic Shock.

Objective: Highlight the utility of methylene blue (MTB) infusion for extended period for refractory vasoplegia.

Introduction: Hypotension refractory to vasopressor therapy in sepsis is associated with high mortality and limited therapeutic options. Dysregulated nitric oxide (NO) pathway seems to be a major driver, and, therefore, MTB, which inhibits inducible NO synthase activity and decreases cyclic guanosine monophosphate (GMP) accumulation by directly competing with NO by binding to soluble guanylyl cyclase, has been explored.

All that glitters is not gold: Mercury poisoning in a family mimicking an infectious illness.

Three siblings with inhalational elemental mercury toxicity presented with fever, rash, and upper respiratory tract symptoms. The patients were heavily exposed to elemental mercury that was spilled in their home and then vacuumed. Initial whole blood mercury levels were elevated at >200 µg/L, 153 µg/L and 130 µg/L (Mayo Clinic Laboratories lab reference range <9 µg/L) for Cases 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Successful Treatment of Antihypertensive Overdose Using Intravenous Angiotensin II.

Background: Despite multiple treatment options, antihypertensive overdose remains a cause of significant morbidity and mortality. Intravenous angiotensin II (AG II) is approved for use in vasodilatory shock. We describe 2 cases of refractory shock from antihypertensive overdose that were successfully treated using AG II.

Better Together: Reliable Application of the Post-9/11 and Post-Iraq US Intelligence Tradecraft Standards Requires Collective Analysis.

The events of 9/11 and the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction precipitated fundamental changes within the United States Intelligence Community. As part of the reform, analytic tradecraft standards were revised and codified into a policy document - Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 203 - and an analytic ombudsman was appointed in the newly created Office for the Director of National Intelligence to ensure compliance across the intelligence community. In this paper we investigate the untested assumption that the ICD203 criteria can facilitate reliable evaluations of analytic products.

XRCC1 stimulates polynucleotide kinase by enhancing its damage discrimination and displacement from DNA repair intermediates.

Human polynucleotide kinase (hPNK) is required for processing and rejoining DNA strand break termini. The 5'-DNA kinase and 3'-phosphatase activities of hPNK can be stimulated by the "scaffold" protein XRCC1, but the mechanism remains to be fully elucidated. Using a variety of fluorescence techniques, we examined the interaction of hPNK with XRCC1 and substrates that model DNA single-strand breaks.

Epitope mapping of Ly-49G and G-like receptors: CK-1 antibody defines a polymorphic site of functional interaction with class I ligand.

Ly-49 receptors regulate mouse natural killer cell functions. Members of the polymorphic Ly-49 multigene family recognize specific alleles of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) or MHC I-like proteins. Previous studies have provided insight into the nature of Ly-49A and -C interaction with their high-affinity MHC I ligands, H-2Dd and Kb, respectively.

The rat RT1-A1c MHC molecule is a xenogeneic ligand recognized by the mouse activating Ly-49W and inhibitory Ly-49G receptors.

Mouse Ly-49 receptors are known to recognize xenogeneic ligands from hamster and rat. However, until now, there has been no description of a specific rat xenogeneic ligand for any mouse Ly-49 receptor. In this report, we identify RT1-A1c, a rat classical class I MHC molecule, as a ligand for the Ly-49G(BALB/c) inhibitory receptor and the closely related activating receptor, Ly-49W.

Reciprocal transfer of class I MHC allele specificity between activating Ly-49P and Ly-49W receptors by exchange of beta 4-beta 5 loop residues.

Receptors of the Ly-49 multigene family regulate rodent NK cell functions. Ly-49Rs are highly polymorphic and exist in either activating or inhibitory forms. Examples of both Ly-49 receptor types have been shown to recognize class I MHC ligands.

Allelic variation in the ectodomain of the inhibitory Ly-49G2 receptor alters its specificity for allogeneic and xenogeneic ligands.

The Ly-49 multigene receptor family regulates mouse NK cell functions. A number of Ly-49 genes exhibit allelic variation, but the functional significance of allelic differences in extracellular domains of Ly-49 receptors regarding ligand specificity is largely unknown. Amino acid differences exist in the extracellular domains of the B6 and BALB/c allele products of the inhibitory Ly-49G receptor.