Changes in Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment in Patients Requiring Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation.

Growing numbers of acute critical illness survivors experience chronic critical illness (CCI) marked by prolonged dependence on life support, delirium, and/or disability. There is minimal recent data on treatment limitations in CCI. To evaluate the natural history of changes in orders for life-sustaining treatment (OLST) in patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation.

Feeding intolerance in critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Background & Aims: Early reports suggest significant difficulty with enteral feeding in critically ill COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to characterize the prevalence, clinical manifestations, and outcomes of feeding intolerance in critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Methods: We examined 323 adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) of Massachusetts General Hospital between March 11 and June 28, 2020 who received enteral nutrition.

Translation of adapting quantitative CT data from research to local clinical practice: validation evaluation of fully automated procedures to provide lung volumes and percent emphysema.

Current clinical chest CT reporting includes limited qualitative assessment of emphysema with rare mention of lung volumes and limited reporting of emphysema, based upon retrospective review of CT reports. Quantitative CT analysis performed in COPDGene and other research cohorts utilize semiautomated segmentation procedures and well-established research method (Thirona). We compared this reference QCT data with fully automated QCT analysis that can be obtained at the time of CT scan and sent to PACS along with standard chest CT images.

Trends in Solid Tumor Incidence in Ukraine 30 Years After Chernobyl.

Purpose: There is limited knowledge of the long-term health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident that occurred more than 30 years ago in Ukraine. This study describes trends in the incidence of solid organ malignancy in Ukraine and the five regions most affected by the radioactive fallout.

Methods: The National Cancer Registry of Ukraine was queried for age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) of solid organ malignancy in Ukraine and the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, and Volyn covering the period of 1999 to 2016.

Blockade of RGMb inhibits allergen-induced airways disease.

Background: Allergic asthma causes morbidity in many subjects, and novel precision-directed treatments would be valuable.

Objective: We sought to examine the role of a novel innate molecule, repulsive guidance molecule b (RGMb), in murine models of allergic asthma.

Methods: In models of allergic asthma using ovalbumin or cockroach allergen, mice were treated with anti-RGMb or control mAb and examined for airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity (AHR), a cardinal feature of asthma.

Colorectal Cancer in Ukraine: Regional Disparities and National Trends in Incidence, Management, and Mortality.

Purpose: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is increasing worldwide, and the greatest increase is in low- to middle-income countries, such as Ukraine. Better knowledge of epidemiology of CRC in Ukraine is needed to understand how best to decrease the burden of disease.

Methods: The National Cancer Registry of Ukraine (NCRU) was queried for CRC incidence, mortality, stage, and treatment in Ukraine and assessed for regional variation from 1999 to 2015.

A natural killer T-cell subset that protects against airway hyperreactivity.

Background: Infection of suckling mice with influenza virus expands a CD4CD8 double-negative (DN) natural killer T (NKT) cell subpopulation that protects the mice as adults against allergen-induced airway hyperreactivity (AHR). However, this NKT cell subset has not been characterized, and the underlying mechanisms of protection remain unknown.

Objective: We characterized this specific NKT cell subpopulation that developed during influenza infection in neonatal mice and that suppressed the subsequent development of AHR.

Outcomes of Abdominal Surgery in Patients With Mechanical Ventricular Assist Devices: A Multi-institutional Study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the outcomes of elective and emergent abdominal operations performed in end-stage heart failure patients supported with ventricular assist devices (VADs).

Summary Of Background Data: With the growing volume of end-stage heart failure patients receiving VADs, an increasing number of these patients require surgery for noncardiac pathology. There is a paucity of studies on the safety of abdominal operations in this population.