Development and Validation of a Clinical, CT, Genomic Classifier and BAL Scoring System for Diagnosing IPF.

The utility of incorporating a usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) genomic classifier (GC) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell count analysis alongside traditional clinical-imaging assessment in aiding in the multidisciplinary diagnosis of IPF in patients with a non-definite HRCT UIP pattern is uncertain.We reviewed consecutive adult patients presenting with fibrotic interstitial lung disease (fILD) and non-definite HRCT UIP pattern who underwent BAL and GC. The initial fILD diagnoses were re-evaluated after bronchoscopy and a final multidisciplinary consensus diagnosis was provided.

Interstitial Lung Disease Patients' Global Impressions of Symptoms, Severity Ratings, and Meaningfulness of Changes Over Time.

In interstitial lung disease (ILD), symptoms drive impairments in health-related quality of life. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) can assess whether interventions change symptom severity. The meaningfulness of change in a PROM score is estimated by anchoring it to a related variable for which meaningful change has been previously established.

Usability preferences of people living with cystic fibrosis about a lung transplant education website.

People living with cystic fibrosis (CF) need educational resources about lung transplant prior to engaging in shared decision making with their medical providers. We conducted a usability study to elicit preferences of people living with CF about how didactic and experiential content could be used in an educational resource to learn about lung transplant. We created two prototypes with different design features that participants used in a scenario-based task and evaluated using the System Usability Scale.

Computed tomography body composition and clinical outcomes following lung transplantation in cystic fibrosis.

Background: Low muscle mass is common in patients approaching lung transplantation and may be linked to worse post-transplant outcomes. Existing studies assessing muscle mass and post-transplant outcomes include few patients with cystic fibrosis (CF).

Methods: Between May 1993 and December 2018, 152 adults with CF received lung transplants at our institution.

Take on transplant: human-centered design of a patient education tool to facilitate informed discussions about lung transplant among people with cystic fibrosis.

Objective: Lung transplant (LTx) saves lives in cystic fibrosis (CF). However, many potential candidates express uncertainty about LTx and die before receiving this treatment. CF guidelines recommend LTx education and clinical discussions well before the need for LTx arises, but limited patient resources exist.

Body Mass Index Recovery after Lung Transplant for Cystic Fibrosis.

Many lung transplant recipients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have low preoperative body mass index (BMI); however, post-transplant BMI recovery is not well understood. To evaluate BMI recovery (⩾18.5 kg/m) among CF lung transplant recipients with low preoperative BMI and to investigate the association of survival with BMI recovery.

Low body mass index as a barrier to lung transplant in cystic fibrosis.

Rationale: Low body mass index (BMI) may influence lung transplant decisions for patients with advanced cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease.

Objective: Determine whether patients with advanced CF lung disease and BMI ≤17 kg/m are less likely to be listed for lung transplant or have a higher risk of death without listing compared to those with higher BMI.

Methods: Using merged United Network for Organ Sharing and CF Foundation Patient Registries, we identified adults with onset of advanced lung disease (FEV ≤ 40% predicted) between May-2005 and December-2016.

Sulfonamide desensitization in solid organ transplant recipients: A protocol-driven approach during the index transplant hospitalization.

Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is the first-line agent for Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) prophylaxis for solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients because of its efficacy for this indication, extended antimicrobial coverage, and favorable cost. Reported sulfonamide allergy is not uncommon and often results in TMP-SMX avoidance. Desensitization offers an efficacious and cost-effective alternative to TMP-SMX avoidance.

The impact of aminated surface ligands and silica shells on the stability, uptake, and toxicity of engineered silver nanoparticles.

Inherent nanomaterial characteristics, composition, surface chemistry, and primary particle size, are known to impact particle stability, uptake, and toxicity. Nanocomposites challenge our ability to predict nanoparticle reactivity in biological systems if they are composed of materials with contrasting relative toxicities. We hypothesized that toxicity would be dominated by the nanoparticle surface (shell vs core), and that modulating the surface ligands would have a direct impact on uptake.

Comparative toxicological assessment of PAMAM and thiophosphoryl dendrimers using embryonic zebrafish.

Dendrimers are well-defined, polymeric nanomaterials currently being investigated for biomedical applications such as medical imaging, gene therapy, and tissue targeted therapy. Initially, higher generation (size) dendrimers were of interest because of their drug carrying capacity. However, increased generation was associated with increased toxicity.