Evaluation of safety criteria for enoxaparin bridging in patients with left ventricular assist devices in an outpatient care setting.

Background: Appropriate anticoagulation is crucial for the success of left ventricular assist device patients. Currently, there is no consensus on the optimal management of their subtherapeutic INR in ambulatory setting. Our goal is to evaluate both the short-term adverse events and long-term outcomes of enoxaparin bridging at a major transplant center, following the implementation of bridging safety criteria.

Consensus holistic virtual screening for drug discovery: a novel machine learning model approach.

In drug discovery, virtual screening is crucial for identifying potential hit compounds. This study aims to present a novel pipeline that employs machine learning models that amalgamates various conventional screening methods. A diverse array of protein targets was selected, and their corresponding datasets were subjected to active/decoy distribution analysis prior to scoring using four distinct methods: QSAR, Pharmacophore, docking, and 2D shape similarity, which were ultimately integrated into a single consensus score.

Covid-19 shelter-in-place, modified reopening orders, and order compliance impact on adolescent alcohol use and drinking contexts in California: A longitudinal analysis.

Introduction: This study evaluated how Shelter-in-Place (SIP), modified reopening orders, and self-reported compliance with these orders have affected adolescent alcohol frequency and quantity of use across contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials And Methods: Differences-in-differences (DID) models and multi-level modeling analyses were conducted on longitudinal data collected as part of a larger study on alcohol use among adolescents in California. 1,350 adolescents at baseline contributed 7,467 observations for a baseline and 5 six-month follow-up surveys.

Probable Animal-to-Human Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta Variant AY.127 Causing a Pet Shop-Related Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in Hong Kong.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can infect human and other mammals, including hamsters. Syrian (Mesocricetus auratus) and dwarf (Phodopus sp.) hamsters are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection in the laboratory setting.

Diagnosing heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in mechanical circulatory support device patients.

Background: Mechanical circulatory support device (MCSD) patients with positive heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) screening pose a unique challenge, as clinicians must make rapid decisions about their anticoagulation and whether they can safely undergo cardiopulmonary bypass. We identified screening practices at our institution and other institutions nationwide that differed from American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines. This discovery prompted a data review to confirm the applicability of guidelines to this unique population and to highlight complications of "gestalt" screening.

Platelet Mapping by Thromboelastography and Whole Blood Aggregometry in Adult Patients Supported by Mechanical Circulatory Support Device on Aspirin Therapy.

Patients on mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices are placed on aspirin and may require platelet function testing (PFT) to monitor the adequacy of therapy. Routine laboratory PFT is performed using whole blood aggregation (WBA) which typically has a long turnaround time (4-5 hours) and may not be readily available. By contrast, platelet mapping by thromboelastography (TPM) can provide results within 45 minutes.

High Molecular Weight von Willebrand Factor Multimer Loss and Bleeding in Patients with Short-Term Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices: A Case Series.

Acquired von Willebrand syndrome (VWS) due to loss of high-molecular-weight multimers (HMWMs) has been reported with longer term mechanical devices and is associated with mucosal bleeding, a primary hemostasis type of bleeding. However, little is known whether a similar defect occurs in patients with short-term mechanical circulatory support (STMCS) devices. We reviewed von Willebrand factor (VWF) profiles in patients with STMCS devices who underwent VWS workup from December 2015 to March 2017 at an academic quaternary care hospital.

Role of Thromboelastography Platelet Mapping and International Normalized Ratio in Defining "Normocoagulability" During Anticoagulation for Mechanical Circulatory Support Devices: A Pilot Retrospective Study.

Thromboembolic (TE) events and hemorrhagic complications continue to remain as frequent adverse events and causes of death after mechanical circulatory support device (MCSD) implantation. To counterbalance this postimplant multifactorial hypercoagulable state, antithrombotic therapy given postimplant must be individually tailored to keep patient adequately anticoagulated yet normocoagulable. Prior studies describing different anticoagulation protocols do not define normocoagulability for patients on MCSDs.

Active incremental Support Vector Machine for oil and gas pipeline defects prediction system using long range ultrasonic transducers.

This work proposes a long range ultrasonic transducers technique in conjunction with an active incremental Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification approach that is used for real-time pipeline defects prediction and condition monitoring. Oil and gas pipeline defects are detected using various techniques. One of the most prevalent techniques is the use of "smart pigs" to travel along the pipeline and detect defects using various types of sensors such as magnetic sensors and eddy-current sensors.

Transient liver function abnormality following treatment with rabbit antithymocyte globulin for nonmyeloablative hematopoetic stem cell transplant: two case reports.

Rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG) is increasingly used in nonmyeloablative hematopoetic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Elevated liver function tests (LFTs) have been reported for antithymocyte globulin in the treatment of aplastic anemia, but not when used in a conditioning regimen for HSCT. We describe two cases of patients receiving a conditioning regimen for HSCT containing rATG who developed a transient, severe transaminase elevation.

Cytotoxic and Apoptotic Effects of Ethyl Acetate Extract of Elephantopus mollis Kunth. in Human Liver Carcinoma HepG2 Cells Through Caspase-3 Activation.

Previous cytotoxic (anticancer) evaluations ofElephantopus molliswere mainly focused on its elephantopin derivatives neglecting the combined effect of the phytochemicals in its traditionally used extracts. In this study, the cytotoxic mechanism of its extracts was investigated using methylene blue assay. The cytotoxic screening results revealed the ethyl acetate extract as the most potent extract by displaying prominent dose-dependent and time-dependent growth inhibitions in human liver carcinoma HepG2 cells with the lowest EC50value of 9.

Estimating aminoglycoside clearance and creatinine clearance in underweight patients.

Purpose: An adjustment factor (AF) was developed and evaluated to determine the best method for estimating aminoglycoside clearance (CL(amino)) and creatinine clearance (CL(cr)) in underweight patients.

Methods: This study was a retrospective, multicenter, chart analysis of aminoglycoside pharmacokinetic data obtained between January 2000 and August 2006 at the University of Southern California University Hospital and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Adult patients were included in this study if they had received inpatient aminoglycoside therapy, were at least 60 inches tall, and were at least 10% below their ideal body weight (IBW).

A North American multilaboratory study of CD4 counts using flow cytometric panLeukogating (PLG): a NIAID-DAIDS Immunology Quality Assessment Program Study.

Background: The global HIV/AIDS pandemic and guidelines for initiating anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and opportunistic infection prophylaxis demand affordable, reliable, and accurate CD4 testing. A simple innovative approach applicable to existing technology that has been successfully applied in resource-challenged settings, PanLeukogated CD4 (PLG), could offer solutions for cost saving and improved precision.

Methods: Day-old whole blood from 99 HIV+ donors was simultaneously studied in five North-American laboratories to compare the performance of their predicate methods with the dual-platform PLG method.

Clinical and virological characterization of persistent human infection with simian foamy viruses.

Persons occupationally exposed to nonhuman primates (NHPs) can be persistently infected with simian foamy virus (SFV). The clinical significance and person-to-person transmissibility of zoonotic SFV infection is unclear. Seven SFV-infected men responded to annual structured interviews and provided whole blood, oral, and urogenital specimens for study.

Prevalence of HIV in the US household population: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1988 to 2002.

To examine trends in HIV prevalence in the US household population, serum or urine samples from 2 National Health and Nutrition Examinations Surveys (NHANES) (1988-1994 and 1999-2002), were tested for HIV antibody. In the 1999 to 2002 survey, data on risk behaviors, CD4 T lymphocytes, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) were also available. In the 1988 to 1994 survey, there were 59 positive individuals of 11,203 tested.

Resistance to antibiotics: administrative response to the challenge.

The authors discuss antibiotic resistance within a conceptual framework that illustrates the dynamic relationships among antibiotic, patient, and population factors. The complexity of these interactions makes it unlikely that any single intervention or approach will adequately address the problem of increasing rates of antibiotic resistance. A case study focused on Streptococcus pneumoniae in the context of community-acquired pneumonia provides a detailed examination of the manner in which antibiotic use, expenditures, and microbial resistance are affected by an administrative reimbursement restriction implemented by a single government payer.

Comparison of serologic responses between Kaposi's sarcoma-positive and -negative men who were seropositive for both human herpesvirus 8 and human immunodeficiency virus.

Although the introduction of HAART decreased substantially the incidence of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), KS remains the most common cancer among individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). To define markers for progression to KS from the asymptomatic infection of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), serologic responses against HHV-8 were compared between KS-negative and -positive men who were seropositive for both HIV and HHV-8. There was no difference in prevalence of detectable neutralizing antibodies between the two groups.

Highly sensitive assay for human herpesvirus 8 antibodies that uses a multiple antigenic peptide derived from open reading frame K8.1.

The immunodominant region of the human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), the antibody-binding site of glycoprotein K8.1A, was mapped to the N-terminal region by using overlapping peptides and a residue replacement method. The main epitope was located within residues 44 to 56 (GQVYQDWL----C).