Outcomes of amniotic membrane transplant for refractory macular hole - an optical coherence tomography and autofluorescence long-term study.

Purpose: To analyze anatomical and functional outcomes of cryopreserved human amniotic membrane (hAM) transplant in refractory macular hole (MH) surgery, present retinal layers structure after MH closure, identify visual acuity improvement determinants and complication rate.

Methods: Prospective and interventional case series including seventeen patients: 13 refractory and 4 chronic (8, 15, 18 and 30-years) MH. All patients underwent vitrectomy, hAM subretinal transplant, tamponade and positioning.

A Head-to-head Comparison of De Novo Sirolimus or Everolimus Plus Reduced-dose Tacrolimus in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Prospective and Randomized Trial.

Background: Mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors (mTORi), sirolimus (SRL) and everolimus (EVR), have distinct pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics properties. There are no studies comparing the efficacy and safety of de novo use of SRL versus EVR in combination with reduced-dose calcineurin inhibitor.

Methods: This single-center prospective, randomized study included first kidney transplant recipients receiving a single 3 mg/kg antithymocyte globulin dose, tacrolimus, and prednisone, without cytomegalovirus (CMV) pharmacological prophylaxis.

Adaptive Spatial Transformation Networks for Periocular Recognition.

Periocular recognition has emerged as a particularly valuable biometric identification method in challenging scenarios, such as partially occluded faces due to COVID-19 protective masks masks, in which face recognition might not be applicable. This work presents a periocular recognition framework based on deep learning, which automatically localises and analyses the most important areas in the periocular region. The main idea is to derive several parallel local branches from a neural network architecture, which in a semi-supervised manner learn the most discriminative areas in the feature map and solve the identification problem solely upon the corresponding cues.

Vitamin D-related polymorphisms and vitamin D levels as risk biomarkers of COVID-19 disease severity.

Vitamin D is a fundamental regulator of host defences by activating genes related to innate and adaptive immunity. Previous research shows a correlation between the levels of vitamin D in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the degree of disease severity. This work investigates the impact of the genetic background related to vitamin D pathways on COVID-19 severity.

Long-term Efficacy and Safety of Everolimus Versus Mycophenolate in Kidney Transplant Recipients Receiving Tacrolimus.

Background: The short-term efficacy and safety of everolimus in combination with tacrolimus have been described in several clinical trials. Yet, detailed long-term data comparing the use of everolimus or mycophenolate in kidney transplant recipients receiving tacrolimus are lacking.

Methods: This is a 5-y follow-up post hoc analysis of a prospective trial including 288 patients who were randomized to receive a single 3-mg/kg dose of rabbit antithymocyte globulin, tacrolimus, everolimus (EVR), and prednisone (rabbit antithymocyte globulin/EVR, n = 85); basiliximab, tacrolimus, everolimus, and prednisone (basiliximab/EVR, n = 102); or basiliximab, tacrolimus, mycophenolate, and prednisone (basiliximab/mycophenolate, n = 101).

The influence of the antithymocyte globulin dose on clinical outcomes of patients undergoing kidney retransplantation.

Optimizing antithymocyte globulin (rATG) dosage is critical for high immunological risk patients undergoing a repeat kidney transplant. This natural retrospective cohort study compared clinical outcomes of two successive cohorts of consecutive recipients of retransplants receiving 5 x 1 mg/kg (rATG-5, n = 100) or a single 3 mg/kg (rATG-3, n = 110) dose of rATG induction therapy. All patients had negative complement-dependent cytotoxicity crossmatch and no anti-HLA A, B, DR donor-specific antibodies (DSA).

A COVID-19 Outbreak in a Rheumatology Department Upon the Early Days of the Pandemic.

To describe our experience with a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak within a large rheumatology department early in the pandemic. Symptomatic and asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) had a naso-oropharyngeal swab for detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and were followed clinically. Reverse transcription polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR) was repeated to document cure, and serological response was assessed.

Clinical and pathological features of thrombotic microangiopathy influencing long-term kidney transplant outcomes.

Introduction: Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) in post-transplant setting has heterogeneous clinical manifestations.

Methods: We retrospectively studied data of 89 patients with post-transplant TMA, which was characterized by thrombi in at least one glomerulus and/or arteriole. Systemic TMA was defined by thrombocytopenia and microangiopathic anemia and early onset TMA, when occurred less than 90 days post transplant.

Prospective randomized study comparing everolimus and mycophenolate sodium in de novo kidney transplant recipients from expanded criteria deceased donor.

The optimal immunosuppressive regimen for recipients of expanded criteria donor (ECD) kidneys has not been identified. In this single-center study, 171 recipients of ECD kidney transplants were randomized to receive antithymocyte globulin induction, and delayed introduction of reduced dose tacrolimus, prednisone and everolimus (r-ATG/EVR, n = 88), or mycophenolate (r-ATG/MPS, n = 83). No cytomegalovirus (CMV) pharmacological prophylaxis was used.

INVERTED INTERNAL LIMITING MEMBRANE FLAP TECHNIQUES AND OUTER RETINAL LAYER STRUCTURES.

Purpose: To examine the influence of the inverted flap (IF) internal limiting membrane (ILM) technique in macular hole (MH) closure on outer retinal layers after MH surgery.

Methods: Retrospective study. Postoperative position of ILM, recovery rate of external limiting membrane and ellipsoid zone, and best-corrected visual acuity were evaluated.

Calcitonin Screening in Nodular Thyroid Disease: Is There a Definitive Answer?

Introduction: Calcitonin (Ctn) is a hormone secreted by thyroid "C" cells and is considered an excellent marker for medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). However, the use of Ctn to screen patients with nodular thyroid disease (NTD) remains controversial.

Objective: The aim of this work was to define the frequency of hypercalcitoninemia among NTD patients followed at a tertiary referral hospital.

Early hospital readmission after kidney transplantation under a public health care system.

Early hospital readmission (EHR) is associated with increased mortality after kidney transplantation. This is influenced by population demographics and the comprehensiveness of the healthcare system. We investigated the incidence and risk factors associated with EHR and 1-year patient and graft survivals.

Acquired cystic kidney disease in allograft with long-standing poor function.

Acquired Cystic Kidney Disease (ACKD) is regarded as a common late condition of end stage renal damage and expresses its most important features when associated with long term hemodialysis. ACKD is also widely known as a premalignant lesion. Its occurrence in chronically rejected renal allografts is rare and its frequency and behavior in this setting are not well known.

Diagnostic accuracy of immunofluorescence versus immunoperoxidase staining to distinguish immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis and C3 dominant glomerulopathy.

Aims: The technique used for classification of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) has been changed from an electron microscopy-based to an immunofluorescence (IF)-based semiquantitative technique with immunoperoxidase (IP) staining as a backup option when IF is not possible. Since data on that matter is lacking, our aims were to study the interobserver variability, the correlation and the reclassification of MPGN based on these two techniques.

Methods And Results: We retrospectively analysed cases of type 1 MPGN.

Macular choroidal thickness after vitreoretinal surgery: Long-term effect of pars plana vitrectomy with and without encircling scleral buckling surgery.

Purpose: To evaluate the macular choroidal thickness (CT) of eyes subjected to pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) whether or not combined with encircling scleral buckling (ESB) surgery for primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment repair at 6 months or more after surgery.

Methods: This observational study included: 15 eyes (15 patients) submitted to combined ESB+PPV; 15 eyes submitted to PPV and their respective 30 normal fellow eyes (FE). Two 6mm lineal perpendicular optical coherence tomography B-scans centred on the fovea with enhanced depth imaging were performed on each eye.

Donor-Specific Anti-Human Leukocyte Antigens Antibodies, Acute Rejection, Renal Function, and Histology in Kidney Transplant Recipients Receiving Tacrolimus and Everolimus.

Background: This analysis compared efficacy, renal function, and histology in kidney transplant recipients receiving tacrolimus (TAC) combined with everolimus (EVR) or mycophenolate (MPS).

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis from a randomized trial in kidney transplant recipients who received a single 3 mg/kg dose of rabbit antithymocyte globulin (r-ATG), TAC, EVR, and prednisone (PRED; r-ATG/EVR, n = 85), basiliximab (BAS), TAC, EVR, and PRED (BAS/EVR, n = 102) or BAS, TAC, MPS, and PRED (BAS/MPS, n = 101). We evaluated the incidence of de novo donor-specific anti-human leukocyte antigens antibodies (DSA) and histology on protocol biopsies at 12 months, and the incidence of acute rejection, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and proteinuria at 36 months.

Infectious complications as the leading cause of death after kidney transplantation: analysis of more than 10,000 transplants from a single center.

Aim: To identify specific causes of graft failure in a large sample of kidney transplant patients from a middle-income, developing country.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study analyzing all consecutive single kidney transplants (KTs) performed at a single center in Brazil between January 1st 1998 and December 31st 2013. The database closing date was December 31st 2014.

Joint Head Pose/Soft Label Estimation for Human Recognition In-The-Wild.

Soft biometrics have been emerging to complement other traits and are particularly useful for poor quality data. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm to estimate human head poses and to infer soft biometric labels based on the 3D morphology of the human head. Starting by considering a set of pose hypotheses, we use a learning set of head shapes synthesized from anthropometric surveys to derive a set of 3D head centroids that constitutes a metric space.

Ascitic Calprotectin is a Novel and Accurate Marker for Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis.

Background: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a known complication of advanced cirrhosis and presents a high mortality rate. A polymorphonuclear (PMN) cell count >250/μl in the ascitic fluid is the current gold standard for diagnosing SBP.

Aim: We evaluated the accuracy of a point-of-care test (POCT) for ascitic calprotectin in diagnosing patients with SBP.