Publications by authors named "Laura Oppegard"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the relationship between proteomic features and outcomes related to right ventricular (RV) health in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), focusing on mortality, RV dilation, and NT-proBNP levels.
  • - A cohort of 117 PAH participants underwent proteomic profiling, revealing significant differences in protein abundance between survivors and nonsurvivors, as well as between patients with dilated and nondilated RVs, with a notable emphasis on extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins.
  • - The findings indicate that specific plasma proteomic profiles correlate with worse clinical outcomes in PAH, suggesting that ECM-related pathways may play a critical role in RV susceptibility to failure, and these results were validated in additional PAH
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Relationships between obesity and outcomes in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are complex. Previous work suggested obesity, occurring alongside PAH, may be associated with better survival. In our work, we suggest obesity prior to PAH development is associated with worse survival.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a heterogeneous disease within a complex diagnostic and treatment environment. Other complex heart and lung diseases have substantial regional variation in characteristics and outcomes; however, this has not been previously described in PAH. To identify baseline differences between U.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A 44-year-old man presented to the ED with acute massive hemoptysis and hypoxia. His history was notable for 1 year of progressively worsening shortness of breath at both rest and with exertion. He denied chest discomfort and endorsed near syncope while driving in recent months.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The inherent abilities of natural killer (NK) cells to recognize and kill target cells place them among the first cells with the ability to recognize and destroy infected or transformed cells. Cancer cells, however, have mechanisms by which they can inhibit the surveillance and cytotoxic abilities of NK cells with one believed mechanism for this: their ability to release exosomes. Exosomes are vesicles that are found in abundance in the tumor microenvironment that can modulate intercellular communication and thus enhance tumor malignancy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A fever of unknown origin is often pursued diagnostically under the framework of infectious, rheumatologic, and neoplastic causes. When encephalopathy ensues, the differential diagnosis narrows, but can remain elusive, particularly when dealing with rare diseases. We present the case of a patient with fever of unknown origin and intermittent encephalopathy that spanned multiple hospital admissions and ultimately yielded a diagnosis of intravascular large B cell lymphoma complicated by hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic cough is characterized by frequent urges to cough and a heightened sensitivity to inhaled irritants. Airway sensory nerves trigger cough. We hypothesized that sensory nerve density is increased in chronic cough, which may contribute to excessive and persistent coughing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Exosomes are nanosized lipid vesicles secreted into blood and other body fluids and serve as vehicles for intercellular communication. Despite being an important component of the tumor microenvironment (TME), exosomal targeting and uptake into recipient cells are still not fully understood. Few studies have looked at lymphoma exosomes and their interactions with circulating blood cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF