Extracorporeal Lung Support as a Bridge to Airway Stenting and Radiotherapy for Airway-Obstructing Pancoast Tumor.

Venovenous (V-V) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used for respiratory failure that is suspected to be reversible (bridge to recovery), or as a bridge to lung transplantation. Patients with proximal airway obstruction due to endobronchial malignancy can develop acute respiratory failure, and may benefit from V-V ECMO as a bridge to airway intervention, further treatment, and eventual recovery. We describe a case of a superior sulcus tumor with tracheobronchial and superior vena cava invasion causing both respiratory failure and superior vena cava syndrome.

Evolution of the Jet Opening Angle Distribution in Holographic Plasma.

We use holography to analyze the evolution of an ensemble of jets, with an initial probability distribution for their energy and opening angle as in proton-proton (pp) collisions, as they propagate through an expanding cooling droplet of strongly coupled plasma as in heavy ion collisions. We identify two competing effects: (i) each individual jet widens as it propagates and (ii) because wide-angle jets lose more energy, energy loss combined with the steeply falling perturbative spectrum serves to filter wide jets out of the ensemble at any given energy. Even though every jet widens, jets with a given energy can have a smaller mean opening angle after passage through the plasma than jets with that energy would have had in vacuum, as experimental data may indicate.

The use of extended criteria donors decreases one-year survival in high-risk lung recipients: A review of the United Network of Organ Sharing Database.

Objective: The study objective was to investigate the impact of matching donor quality to recipient severity on survival after lung transplant.

Methods: By using the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing dataset, we analyzed lung transplant recipients from May 4, 2005, to December 31, 2012. By using adjusted Cox regressions, we identified extended criteria donors as those who had 1 or more of the following: age 65 years or more, smoking history of 20 pack-years or more, diabetes mellitus, or African-American race.

Modern Outcomes of Mechanical Circulatory Support as a Bridge to Pediatric Heart Transplantation.

Background: Pediatric patients awaiting orthotopic heart transplantation frequently require bridge to transplantation (BTT) with mechanical circulatory support. Posttransplant survival outcomes and predictors of mortality have not been thoroughly described in the modern era using a large-scale analysis.

Methods: The United Network for Organ Sharing database was reviewed to identify pediatric heart transplant recipients from 2005 through 2012.

Gerbode Defect as a Result of Fungal Aortic Valve Endocarditis.

A 63-year-old male patient with HIV disease presented with dyspnea and complete heart block, and was found to have aortic valve (AV) endocarditis secondary to Candida parapsilosis infection. Echocardiography demonstrated AV endocarditis and possible aortic root versus subannular abscess with moderate AV regurgitation (AR), a ventricular septal defect (VSD) and possible left ventricular to right atrial shunt (Gerbode defect). Large AV vegetations, subannular abscess with an acquired membranous VSD, Gerbode defect, and tricuspid annular abscess at the insertion of septal leaflet were noted intraoperatively.

Ordered ionic liquid structure observed at terraced graphite interfaces.

Reflection high-energy electron diffraction is presented as a contactless, surface-specific method to probe the ion organization and layering at the ionic liquid-solid interfaces. Three regimes can be identified for the structure of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([EMIM][Tf2N]) on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite, which is strongly dependent on the distances of ions from the surface. Direct observations showed that the ultrathin ionic liquid (IL) assembly can exhibit bulk-like phase-transition behaviours as a result of the structural matching between the IL and graphite layers and the confinement template effect due to the surface topography of graphite.

Belatacept for renal rescue in lung transplant patients.

Renal failure causes morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation and is aggravated by exposure to nephrotoxic immunosuppressant (IS) drugs. We report an off-label experience using belatacept for lung transplant recipients with severe renal insufficiency to reduce nephrotoxic IS exposure. We analyzed data retrospectively from a consecutive series of lung transplant patients with renal insufficiency in whom belatacept treatment was initiated between June 2012 and June 2014 at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

High throughput de novo RNA sequencing elucidates novel responses in Penicillium chrysogenum under microgravity.

In this study, the transcriptional alterations in Penicillium chrysogenum under simulated microgravity conditions were analyzed for the first time using an RNA-Seq method. The increasing plethora of eukaryotic microbial flora inside the spaceship demands the basic understanding of fungal biology in the absence of gravity vector. Penicillium species are second most dominant fungal contaminant in International Space Station.

Efficacy of low level laser therapy on painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Background & Aims: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) accounts for most common complications of T2DM. Painful DPN is associated with functional limitation & poor quality of life. Therefore, objective of the study is to find the effect of low level laser therapy on painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) Materials & methods: The study design is pre-post observational design.

Hepatic tuberculosis: a multimodality imaging review.

Objectives: We aim to illustrate the multimodal imaging spectrum of hepatic involvement in tuberculosis (TB). Whilst disseminated tuberculosis on imaging typically manifests as multiple small nodular lesions scattered in the liver parenchyma, isolated hepatic tuberculosis remains a rare and intriguing entity.

Methods: Indubitably, imaging is the mainstay for detection of tubercular hepatic lesions which display a broad spectrum of imaging manifestations on different modalities.

Bleeding, Transfusion, and Mortality on Extracorporeal Life Support: ECLS Working Group on Thrombosis and Hemostasis.

Background: Bleeding may occur frequently during adult extracorporeal life support; however, there are no detailed investigations of bleeding events, red blood cell transfusion, and their impact on mortality. The purpose of our study was to characterize the incidence of bleeding and red blood cell transfusion during adult extracorporeal life support and examine the impact on mortality.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of adult extracorporeal life support patients over approximately a 3-year period.

Effects of small platform catheter-based left ventricular assist device support on regional myocardial signal transduction.

Objectives: Left ventricular (LV) assist device (LVAD) support reduces pathological loading. However, load-induced adaptive responses may be suppressed. Pathological loading dysregulates cardiac G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling.

Venous Thromboembolic Complications of Lung Transplantation: A Contemporary Single-Institution Review.

Background: The incidence and consequences of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) have not been described recently in lung transplant recipients. We sought to characterize DVT and PE in a contemporary series of lung transplant recipients and describe their association with clinical outcomes.

Methods: The records of all lung transplant recipients from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2013, were reviewed and analyzed.

Lung Donation After Controlled Circulatory Determination of Death: A Review of Current Practices and Outcomes.

Background: Since the first reported series in 1995, transplantation of lungs recovered through donation after circulatory determination of death (DCDD) has steadily increased. In some European and Australian centers, controlled DCDD accounts for 15% to 30% of all transplanted lungs. Several transplant centers have reported early and midterm outcomes similar to those associated with the use of donors after brain death.

A double amino-acid change in the HLA-A peptide-binding groove is associated with response to psychotropic treatment in patients with schizophrenia.

The choice of an efficient psychotropic treatment for patients with schizophrenia is a key issue to improve prognosis and quality of life and to decrease the related burden and costs. As for other complex disorders, response to drugs in schizophrenia is highly heterogeneous and the underlying molecular mechanisms of this diversity are still poorly understood. In a carefully followed-up cohort of schizophrenic patients prospectively treated with risperidone or olanzapine, we used a specially designed single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array to perform a large-scale genomic analysis and identify genetic variants associated with response to psychotropic drugs.

Investigation of Fragment Antibody Stability and Its Release Mechanism from Poly(Lactide-co-Glycolide)-Triacetin Depots for Sustained-Release Applications.

Achieving long-term drug release from polymer-based delivery systems continues to be a challenge particularly for the delivery of large hydrophilic molecules such as therapeutic antibodies and proteins. Here, we report on the utility of an in situ-forming and injectable polymer-solvent system for the long-term release of a model antibody fragment (Fab1). The delivery system was prepared by dispersing a spray-dried powder of Fab1 within poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)-triacetin solution.

Classical and atypical Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva in India.

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) is a rare debilitating disorder characterized by congenital deformity of the great toes from infancy and postnatal heterotopic ossification. Activating mutations in the activin A receptor type 1 (ACVR1) gene are responsible for the disease. The most common allelic variant leading to FOP is c.

Accessory pancreatic duct patterns and their clinical implications.

Context And Objective: Accessory pancreatic duct (APD) designed to reduce the pressure of major pancreatic duct by forming a secondary drainage channel. Few studies have mentioned the variant types of accessory ducts and their mode of formation, some of these have a clear clinical significance. Present study is aimed to evaluate the possible variations in the APD and its terminations.

Prime-boost vaccination strategy with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and liposomized alpha-crystalline protein 1 reinvigorates BCG potency.

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) remains the only available and most widely administered vaccine against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), yet it fails to protect vaccinated individuals either from primary infection or reactivation of latent tuberculosis (TB). Despite BCG's variable efficacy against TB, the fact remains that BCG imparts protection in children against the disease, indicating that BCG possesses a wide protective antigenic repertoire. However, its failure to impart protection in adulthood can be linked to its failure to generate long-lived memory response and elicitation of an inadequate immune response against latency-associated antigens.