Immunosuppression in solid organ-transplant recipients and impact on nutrition support.

A key component to nutrition support is to consider immunosuppressive agents, the interaction with nutrients, and how the side effects of the medications influence nutrition support. The immunosuppression of the solid organ-transplant recipient involves the individualized titration of multiple therapeutic agents to prevent allorecognition and, thus, rejection of the transplanted organ. Induction immunosuppression includes the agents used at the time of transplant to prevent early rejection.

Immunosuppression in Uterus Transplantation: Experience From the Dallas Uterus Transplant Study.

Background: Uterus transplantation is a temporary transplant allowing women with absolute uterine factor infertility to experience pregnancy and childbirth. The degree of immunosuppression (IS) required to prevent rejection while minimizing toxicity to the recipient and fetus remains an area of investigation.

Methods: In this article, we describe immunosuppressive therapy, rejection episodes, infections, and adverse events in 14 uterus transplant recipients.

Pathophysiology of aortic aneurysm: insights from human genetics and mouse models.

Aneurysms are local dilations of an artery that predispose the vessel to sudden rupture. They are often asymptomatic and undiagnosed, resulting in a high mortality rate. The predisposition to develop thoracic aortic aneurysms is often genetically inherited and associated with syndromes affecting connective tissue homeostasis.

A deleterious gene-by-environment interaction imposed by calcium channel blockers in Marfan syndrome.

Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are prescribed to patients with Marfan syndrome for prophylaxis against aortic aneurysm progression, despite limited evidence for their efficacy and safety in the disorder. Unexpectedly, Marfan mice treated with CCBs show accelerated aneurysm expansion, rupture, and premature lethality. This effect is both extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) dependent and angiotensin-II type 1 receptor (AT1R) dependent.

A Novel Microduplication in the Neurodevelopmental Gene SRGAP3 That Segregates with Psychotic Illness in the Family of a COS Proband.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder affecting approximately 1% of the world's population. Childhood onset schizophrenia (COS), defined as onset before age 13, is a rare and severe form of the illness that may have more salient genetic influence. We identified a ~134 kb duplication spanning exons 2-4 of the Slit-Robo GTPase-activating protein 3 (SRGAP3) gene on chromosome 3p25.