Trends in adverse pregnancy outcomes among women with systemic sclerosis in the United States.

Objectives: We sought to examine temporal trends in adverse pregnancy outcomes among SSc pregnancies in a large nationwide sample.

Methods: We used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2000 - 2017 to derive national estimates of delivery-associated hospitalizations in the United States among patients with SSc. Each SSc delivery was matched to 100 non-SSc deliveries by age, delivery year, and race.

Prognostic significance of pericardial effusion in systemic sclerosis-associated pulmonary hypertension: analysis from the PHAROS Registry.

Objectives: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a leading cause of death in patients with SSc. The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of pericardial effusion in patients with SSc-PH.

Methods: Pulmonary Hypertension Assessment and Recognition of Outcomes in Scleroderma (PHAROS) is a prospective multicentre registry which enrolled patients with newly diagnosed SSc-PH from 2005 to 2016.

Endothelial Biomarkers of Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension.

Objective: Despite efforts at early detection, patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) pulmonary hypertension (PH) present with advanced disease. We sought to determine whether endothelial biomarkers (asymmetric dimethylarginine [ADMA], soluble endoglin [sEng], and pentraxin-3 [PTX-3]) can determine SSc-PH risk or differentiate between SSc-PH subgroups.

Methods: ADMA, sEng, and PTX-3 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in four groups: 1) 18 healthy controls, 2) 74 patients with SSc-PH, 3) 44 patients at high risk for PH features, and 4) 10 patients with low risk for PH features.

Cytokine signatures differentiate systemic sclerosis patients at high versus low risk for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) affects approximately 10% of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and is a leading cause of death. We sought to identify serum cytokine signatures that risk stratify SSc patients for this potentially fatal complication.

Methods: Subjects at high risk for PAH and with incident PAH based on right heart catheterization (RHC) were enrolled in the multi-center prospective registry, Pulmonary Hypertension Assessment and Recognition of Outcomes in Scleroderma (PHAROS).

A systematic review and meta-analysis to inform cancer screening guidelines in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.

Objectives: To identify clinical factors associated with cancer risk in the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) and to systematically review the existing evidence related to cancer screening.

Methods: A systematic literature search was carried out on Medline, Embase and Scopus. Cancer risk within the IIM population (i.

Increased Rates of Obstetric Complications Prior to Systemic Sclerosis Diagnosis.

Objective: To investigate whether obstetric complications prior to systemic sclerosis (SSc) diagnosis are more common in SSc patients compared to the general obstetric population.

Methods: A case-control study was performed at Kaiser Permanente Northern California to compare prior obstetric complications in adult women who later developed SSc (cases) with women from the general obstetric population who did not develop SSc (controls; matched 10:1 by age and year of delivery) from 2007 to 2016. Exposures included past hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (preeclampsia, eclampsia, gestational hypertension), premature rupture of membranes (PROM), intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), maternal infections, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, and preterm birth.

A Novel Utility to Correct for Plate/Batch/Lot and Nonspecific Binding Artifacts in Luminex Data.

Cytokines and other secreted soluble proteins are routinely assayed as fluorescence intensities on the Luminex (Luminex, Austin, TX) platform. As with any immunoassay, a portion of the measured Ab binding can be nonspecific. Use of spiked-in microbead controls (e.

and autoantibodies define scleroderma subtypes and risk in African and European Americans and suggest a role for molecular mimicry.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a clinically heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by mutually exclusive autoantibodies directed against distinct nuclear antigens. We examined associations in SSc and its autoantibody subsets in a large, newly recruited African American (AA) cohort and among European Americans (EA). In the AA population, the African ancestry-predominant * and * alleles were associated with overall SSc risk, and the * allele was strongly associated with the severe antifibrillarin (AFA) antibody subset of SSc (odds ratio = 7.

Preterm birth phenotypes in women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: To investigate preterm birth (PTB) phenotypes in women with different autoimmune rheumatic diseases in a large population-based cohort.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: California, USA.

Long-Term Outcomes in Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension From the Pulmonary Hypertension Assessment and Recognition of Outcomes in Scleroderma Registry (PHAROS).

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a leading cause of death in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). The purpose of this study was to assess long-term outcomes in patients with SSc-PAH.

Methods: Pulmonary Hypertension Assessment and Recognition of Outcomes in Scleroderma is a prospective registry of patients with SSc at high risk for or with incident pulmonary hypertension from right heart catheterization.

Brief Report: Whole-Exome Sequencing to Identify Rare Variants and Gene Networks That Increase Susceptibility to Scleroderma in African Americans.

Objective: Whole-exome sequencing (WES) studies in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients of European American (EA) ancestry have identified variants in the ATP8B4 gene and enrichment of variants in genes in the extracellular matrix (ECM)-related pathway that increase SSc susceptibility. This study was undertaken to evaluate the association of the ATP8B4 gene and the ECM-related pathway with SSc in a cohort of African American (AA) patients.

Methods: SSc patients of AA ancestry were enrolled from 23 academic centers across the US under the Genome Research in African American Scleroderma Patients consortium.

Pregnancy outcomes in adult patients with dermatomyositis and polymyositis.

Objective: The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies dermatomyositis (DM) and polymyositis (PM) are autoimmune diseases that can affect females of childbearing potential. We assessed pregnancy outcomes in DM and PM patients compared with the general obstetric population.

Methods: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) (1993-2007) was used to identify delivery-associated hospitalizations in women with DM or PM (DM/PM, n = 853).

Treatment of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries by Major League Soccer Team Physicians.

Background: The treatment and rehabilitation procedures of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in elite soccer players are controversial. Points of debate include surgical timing, technique, graft choice, rehabilitation, and return-to-sport criteria and timing.

Purpose: To identify practice preferences among current Major League Soccer (MLS) team orthopaedic surgeons for ACL injuries.

Gene expression profiling of soft and firm Atlantic salmon fillet.

Texture of salmon fillets is an important quality trait for consumer acceptance as well as for the suitability for processing. In the present work we measured fillet firmness in a population of farmed Atlantic salmon with known pedigree and investigated the relationship between this trait and gene expression. Transcriptomic analyses performed with a 21 K oligonucleotide microarray revealed strong correlations between firmness and a large number of genes.

LiGluR restores visual responses in rodent models of inherited blindness.

Inherited retinal degeneration results from many different mutations in either photoreceptor-specific or nonphotoreceptor-specific genes. However, nearly all mutations lead to a common blinding phenotype that initiates with rod cell death, followed by loss of cones. In most retinal degenerations, other retinal neuron cell types survive for long periods after blindness from photoreceptor loss.

AAV mediated GDNF secretion from retinal glia slows down retinal degeneration in a rat model of retinitis pigmentosa.

Mutations in over 80 identified genes can induce apoptosis in photoreceptors, resulting in blindness with a prevalence of 1 in 3,000 individuals. This broad genetic heterogeneity of disease impacting a wide range of photoreceptor functions renders the design of gene-specific therapies for photoreceptor degeneration impractical and necessitates the development of mutation-independent treatments to slow photoreceptor cell death. One promising strategy for photoreceptor neuroprotection is neurotrophin secretion from Müller cells, the primary retinal glia.

Intravitreal injection of AAV2 transduces macaque inner retina.

Purpose: Adeno-associated virus serotype 2 (AAV2) has been shown to be effective in transducing inner retinal neurons after intravitreal injection in several species. However, results in nonprimates may not be predictive of transduction in the human inner retina, because of differences in eye size and the specialized morphology of the high-acuity human fovea. This was a study of inner retina transduction in the macaque, a primate with ocular characteristics most similar to that of humans.

Changes in adeno-associated virus-mediated gene delivery in retinal degeneration.

Gene therapies for retinal degeneration have relied on subretinal delivery of viral vectors carrying therapeutic DNA. The subretinal injection is clearly not ideal as it limits the viral transduction profile to a focal region at the injection site and negatively affects the neural retina by detaching it from the supportive retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). We assessed changes in adeno-associated virus (AAV) dispersion and transduction in the degenerating rat retina after intravitreal delivery.

Inner limiting membrane barriers to AAV-mediated retinal transduction from the vitreous.

Adeno-associated viral gene therapy has shown great promise in treating retinal disorders, with three promising clinical trials in progress. Numerous adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotypes can infect various cells of the retina when administered subretinally, but the retinal detachment accompanying this injection induces changes that negatively impact the microenvironment and survival of retinal neurons. Intravitreal administration could circumvent this problem, but only AAV2 can infect retinal cells from the vitreous, and transduction is limited to the inner retina.

Remote control of neuronal activity with a light-gated glutamate receptor.

The ability to stimulate select neurons in isolated tissue and in living animals is important for investigating their role in circuits and behavior. We show that the engineered light-gated ionotropic glutamate receptor (LiGluR), when introduced into neurons, enables remote control of their activity. Trains of action potentials are optimally evoked and extinguished by 380 nm and 500 nm light, respectively, while intermediate wavelengths provide graded control over the amplitude of depolarization.

Abuse during pregnancy in Mexico City.

Objective: Measure the prevalence of physical and sexual abuse during pregnancy, determine the nature and severity of abuse, and assess correlates with abuse.

Method: A total of 1314 women seeking prenatal care between July 2000 and January 2003 were approached at three public hospitals in Mexico City. An original composite case record form was created to measure physical and sexual abuse before and during pregnancy.

Comparison of the uncemented Cone and the cemented Bimetric hip prosthesis in young patients with osteoarthritis: an RSA, clinical and radiographic study.

Background: There is no consensus as to whether uncemented or cemented femoral stems should be used in younger patients. We compared the uncemented Cone stem to the cemented Bimetric stem in young patients with osteoarthritis.

Patients And Methods: We randomized 45 relatively young patients (< 65 years old, mean age 54 years) with osteoarthritis to either an uncemented Cone stem or a cemented Bimetric stem.

A prospectively randomized double-blind study on the effect of initial graft tension on knee stability after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Background: No consensus exists on the amount of tension that should be applied to anterior cruciate ligament grafts to best facilitate graft incorporation and re-create normal knee mechanics.

Hypothesis: Differences in initial graft tension will affect postoperative knee stability.

Study Design: Prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial.