Publications by authors named "Michelle Gatmaitan"

Article Synopsis
  • Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) can cause symptoms from mild to severe, with convalescent COVID plasma (CCP) showing potential therapeutic benefits in some patients by reducing COVID-19 severity.
  • The study tested pooled lyophilized CCP from recovered patients to see if it maintained the ability to neutralize the virus, comparing antibody levels and effectiveness before and after processing.
  • Results showed that the neutralizing antibodies in the lyophilized CCP had minimal loss of efficacy after treatment, indicating it could still be a valuable therapeutic option.
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Background: COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP), from donors recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, is one of the limited therapeutic options currently available for the treatment of critically ill patients with COVID-19. There is growing evidence that CCP may reduce viral loads and disease severity; and reduce mortality. However, concerns about the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI) and other complications associated with transfusion of plasma, remain.

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Background: Plasma has been shown to mitigate the endotheliopathy of trauma. Protection of the endothelium may be due in part to fibrinogen and other plasma-derived proteins found in cryoprecipitate; however, the exact mechanisms remain unknown. Clinical trials are underway investigating early cryoprecipitate administration in trauma.

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Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a progressive malignancy of mature B-cells that involves the peripheral blood (PB), lymph nodes (LNs) and bone marrow (BM). Although the majority of CLL cells are in a resting state, small populations of proliferating cells exist; however, the anatomical site of active cell proliferation remains to be definitively determined. Based on findings that CLL cells in LNs have increased expression of B-cell activation genes, we tested the hypothesis that the fraction of 'newly born' cells would be highest in the LNs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Excess collagen synthesis in the liver is linked to the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and there's a need for better methods to identify patients with rapid disease progression and monitor treatment response.
  • A novel technique using heavy water to measure liver collagen synthesis rates was tested on 21 patients, showing that collagen synthesis increases with more severe stages of NAFLD.
  • The study finds that collagen synthesis rates correlate with fibrosis severity and hemoglobin A1C levels, suggesting potential for these rates to serve as markers for liver fibrogenesis in patients with NAFLD and NASH.
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Accumulation and degradation of scar tissue in fibrotic liver disease occur slowly, typically over many years. Direct measurement of fibrogenesis, the rate of scar tissue deposition, may provide valuable therapeutic and prognostic information. We describe here results from a pilot study utilizing in vivo metabolic labeling to measure the turnover rate of hepatic collagen and collagen-associated proteins in plasma for the first time in human subjects.

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Fibrotic disease is characterized by the pathological accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Surprisingly, very little is known about the synthesis and degradation rates of the many proteins and proteoglycans that constitute healthy or pathological extracellular matrix. A comprehensive understanding of altered ECM protein synthesis and degradation during the onset and progression of fibrotic disease would be immensely valuable.

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