Human immunodeficiency virus infection is associated with greater risk of pneumonia and readmission after cardiac surgery.

Objective: Human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV+) is associated with a 2-fold increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Increasingly, patients who are HIV + are being evaluated to undergo cardiac surgery. Current risk-adjusted scoring systems, including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality score, fail to stratify HIV + risk.

Community Size and Lung Cancer Resection Outcomes: Studying The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Database.

Background: Socioeconomic factors play key roles in surgical outcomes. Socioeconomic data within The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD) are limited. Therefore, we utilized community size as a surrogate to understand socioeconomic differences in lung cancer resection outcomes.

Factors Associated With Survival Following Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Children.

Objectives: We examined a large single-institution experience in extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) in children having cardiac arrest refractory to conventional resuscitation measures with focus on factors affecting survival.

Methods: Between 2002 and 2017, 184 children underwent ECPR at our institution. We entered demographic, anatomic, clinical, surgical, and ECPR support details into a multivariable logistic regression models to determine factors associated with mortality.

Aortobronchial Fistula after Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) for Descending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm.

Continued enlargement of the aneurysm sac after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is a known risk after endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms. For this reason, periodic outpatient follow-up is required to identify situations that require repair. Here, we describe an aortobronchial fistula (ABF) in a patient lost to follow-up, that presented 3 years after an elective TEVAR done for a primary, descending thoracic aortic aneurysm.

Computed Tomography-guided Pericardiocentesis: An alternative approach for accessing the pericardium.

Pericardial effusions compress the heart, decrease cardiac output, and lead to haemodynamic collapse. Ultrasound (US)-guided pericardiocentesis is the gold standard for treating pericardial effusions. Recently, the incorporation of computed tomography (CT) guidance has increased patient safety while entering the pericardium.

Drug and alcohol use complicate traumatic peripheral vascular injury.

Background: Drug and alcohol use complicate the presentation and management of traumatic injuries. Impaired hemodynamic recovery and host defense in substance users also predispose these patients to worse outcomes after trauma. We hypothesized that substance abuse, particularly when drugs and alcohol are combined, complicates the presentation, management, and patient outcomes following isolated traumatic peripheral vascular injury.

Alcohol impairs the myeloid proliferative response to bacteremia in mice by inhibiting the stem cell antigen-1/ERK pathway.

Enhancement of stem cell Ag-1 (Sca-1) expression by myeloid precursors promotes the granulopoietic response to bacterial infection. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. ERK pathway activation strongly enhances proliferation of hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Neonatal sepsis and neutrophil insufficiencies.

Sepsis has continuously been a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality despite current advances in chemotherapy and patient intensive care facilities. Neonates are at high risk for developing bacterial infections due to quantitative and qualitative insufficiencies of innate immunity, particularly granulocyte lineage development and response to infection. Although antibiotics remain the mainstay of treatment, adjuvant therapies enhancing immune function have shown promise in treating sepsis in neonates.

Regulation of prenatal human retinal neurosphere growth and cell fate potential by retinal pigment epithelium and Mash1.

During development of the central nervous system, stem and progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation are controlled by complex inter- and intracellular interactions that orchestrate the precise spatiotemporal production of particular cell types. Within the embryonic retina, progenitor cells are located adjacent to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which differentiates prior to the neurosensory retina and has the capacity to secrete a multitude of growth factors. We found that secreted proteinaceous factors in human prenatal RPE conditioned medium (RPE CM) prolonged and enhanced the growth of human prenatal retinal neurospheres.