Comparison of waitlist and post-transplant outcomes in patients supported with total artificial heart versus continuous biventricular assist devices.

Background: Durable biventricular support may be necessary to bridge patients with end-stage biventricular failure to heart transplantation. This study compares waitlist and post-transplant outcomes between patients supported with continuous flow, durable biventricular assist devices (BiVAD), and total artificial heart (TAH).

Methods: Using the UNOS registry, we analyzed adult (≥18 years old), first-time transplant candidates with TAH or BiVAD at the time of listing or transplantation from 10/1/2010-10/31/2020, with follow-up through 3/31/2022.

Clinical Course of Two Patients with COVID-19 Respiratory Failure After Administration of the Anticancer Small Molecule, RRx-001.

Two critically ill COVID-19 infected patients, who had exhausted all available treatment options, were treated with the small-molecule RRx-001 with subsequent improvement. RRx-001, a first-in-class small molecule with anti-inflammatory, vascular normalizing and macrophage-repolarizing properties, has been safely administered 300+ patients in clinical trials. This is the first report of RRx-001 treatment of COVID-19.

Variation in survival in patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: A multi-institutional analysis of 594 consecutive patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation at 49 hospitals within 21 states.

Objectives: We reviewed 594 consecutive patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 supported with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation at 49 hospitals within 21 states and examined patient characteristics, treatments, and variation in outcomes over the course of the pandemic.

Methods: A multi-institutional database was used to assess all patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 cannulated for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation between March 17, 2020, and December 20, 2021, inclusive, and separated from ECMO on or prior to January 14, 2022. Descriptive analysis was stratified by 4 time categories: group A = March 2020 to June 2020, group B = July 2020 to December 2020, group C = January 2021 to June 2021, group D = July 2021 to December 2021.

Lung epithelial and endothelial damage, loss of tissue repair, inhibition of fibrinolysis, and cellular senescence in fatal COVID-19.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is characterized by respiratory distress, multiorgan dysfunction, and, in some cases, death. The pathological mechanisms underlying COVID-19 respiratory distress and the interplay with aggravating risk factors have not been fully defined. Lung autopsy samples from 18 patients with fatal COVID-19, with symptom onset-to-death times ranging from 3 to 47 days, and antemortem plasma samples from 6 of these cases were evaluated using deep sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, multiplex plasma protein measurements, and pulmonary gene expression and imaging analyses.

Tunable loading of oligonucleotides with secondary structure on gold nanoparticles through a pH-driven method.

This paper describes how pH can be used to control covalent attachment of oligonucleotides with secondary structure on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The highest loading of thiolated nucleic acids occurred at low pH (pH = 1.7) due to reduced repulsion between the negatively charged oligonucleotides and the AuNP surface.

Biodistribution and in vivo toxicity of aptamer-loaded gold nanostars.

This paper reports an in vivo evaluation of toxicology and biodistribution of a highly anisotropic Au nanoconstruct composed of a gold nanostar (AuNS) core and a ligand shell of a G-quadruplex DNA aptamer AS1411 (Apt) supporting both targeting and therapy capabilities. We examined the toxicity of the nanoconstructs (Apt-AuNS) at four different injected concentrations. At the highest dose tested (48 mg/kg), maximal tolerated dose was not reached.

Improved in vitro efficacy of gold nanoconstructs by increased loading of G-quadruplex aptamer.

This paper describes how in vitro efficacy of aptamer-loaded gold nanostars (Apt-AuNS) can be enhanced by the increased loading of a G-quadruplex homodimer AS1411 (Apt) on the AuNS surface. In a low pH buffer environment, the loading density of Apt on AuNS was increased up to 2.5 times that obtained using the conventional salt-aging process.