Enumeration of circulating fibrocytes for clinical use in asthma by an optimized single-platform flow cytometry assay.

Background: Elevated numbers of circulating fibrocytes are associated with inadequately controlled asthma, poor response to available therapies, and increased risk of adverse outcomes. The lack of reliable and clinically-applicable assays precludes a proper evaluation of blood fibrocyte count as a prognostic biomarker in asthma. This report concerns the use of a multiparameter flow cytometry assay for the enumeration of fibrocytes in the whole blood.

Involvement of fibrocytes in allergen-induced T cell responses and rhinovirus infections in asthma.

Allergen exposure and rhinovirus infections that propagate from the upper to the lower airways are the most frequent causes of asthma exacerbation. In patients at increased risk of disease exacerbations, chronic airway inflammation is associated with the airway recruitment of circulating fibrocytes, bone marrow-derived CD34(+)CD45RO(+)CD11b(+)CD13(+)HLA-DR(+) progenitors that have antigen-presenting function and fibroblast-like properties. This study demonstrates that allergen-pulsed circulating fibrocytes from patients with allergic asthma are potent inducer of the predominant release of the T helper type (Th)2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-5 from autologous naïve and memory CD4(+) T cells.

IL-33 promotes the migration and proliferation of circulating fibrocytes from patients with allergen-exacerbated asthma.

The release of IL-33 increases in the bronchial mucosa of asthmatic patients in relation to disease severity and several studies have demonstrated that IL-33 may enhance airway inflammation in asthma. This study tested the hypothesis that IL-33 may also contribute to the development of irreversible structural changes in asthma by favoring the airway recruitment and profibrotic function of circulating fibrocytes during episodes of allergen-induced asthma exacerbation. The circulating fibrocytes from patients with allergen-exacerbated asthma (PwAA) showed increased expression of the specific IL-33 receptor component ST2L in comparison with the cells from non-asthmatic individuals (NAI).

[Cardiac surgery in octogenarians: a six-year follow-up with a multidimensional intervention].

Background: Elderly subjects frequently experience a decline in function following hospitalization and surgery. Specific changes in the provision of acute hospital care can improve the ability of acutely ill older patients to perform activities of daily living at the time of discharge and the quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate outcomes of older (age > or =80 years) cardiac surgery patients managed with multicomponent intervention.

Peribulbar anesthesia: a percutaneous single injection technique with a small volume of anesthetic.

We evaluated the efficacy and safety of a single injection technique with a small volume of anesthetic for ocular peribulbar anesthesia. We included 857 patients undergoing various ophthalmic procedures. Anesthesia consisted of a medial percutaneous injection of 5-6.

Renal, but not systemic, hemodynamic effects of dopamine are influenced by the severity of congestive heart failure.

Objective: To determine whether the short-term systemic and renal hemodynamic response to dopamine is influenced by clinical severity of congestive heart failure.

Design: Effects of increasing doses of dopamine were assessed in patients consecutively admitted for acutely decompensated congestive heart failure.

Setting: Intensive care unit.

In-hospital and one-year outcomes of patients with high-risk acute myocardial infarction treated with thrombolysis or primary coronary angioplasty.

Background: The aim of this study was to observe the outcomes of high-risk patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with primary angioplasty and intravenous thrombolysis in a community setting.

Methods: A prospective study of the in-hospital and 12-month outcomes was conducted in 17 cardiology centers where primary angioplasty was available, and in 30 where it was not. Three thousand seventy-four patients in the first 12 hours of an evolving infarction were recruited; among these, 2227 patients who met one or more pre-defined criteria of increased risk were included in the study.

Intraventricular conduction defects in patients with congestive heart failure: left but not right bundle branch block is an independent predictor of prognosis. A report from the Italian Network on Congestive Heart Failure (IN-CHF database).

Background: In industrialized countries the prevalence of congestive heart failure (CHF) is increasing. Many clinical factors have been shown to influence the prognosis of CHF. The effect of a wide QRS on mortality is debated; while left bundle branch block (LBBB) has been already identified as a negative prognostic factor, the effect of right bundle branch block (RBBB) is still unknown.

Left bundle-branch block is associated with increased 1-year sudden and total mortality rate in 5517 outpatients with congestive heart failure: a report from the Italian network on congestive heart failure.

Background: A deleterious effect of complete left bundle-branch block (LBBB) on left ventricular function has been established. Nevertheless, the independent effect of a widened QRS on mortality rate in congestive heart failure (CHF) is still controversial. Therefore, we carried out this analysis to determine whether LBBB is an independent predictor of mortality in CHF.