Publications by authors named "Sonali de Chickera"

Purpose Of Review: Precision tools that ensure molecular compatibility can help prevent rejection and improve kidney transplantation outcomes. However, these tools will generate controversy because they are perceived to and can in fact impact equity in the ethics of allocation. They may also affect the extent to which physicians can advocate for their patient fiduciaries, as generally required by Canadian professional ethics and law.

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Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the fourth leading cause of kidney replacement therapy. Unfortunately, the need for dialysis or kidney transplantation is a foreseeable outcome for many patients affected by ADPKD. We review some of the unique issues that should be considered in the management of patients with ADPKD who require dialysis or kidney transplantation.

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Background: Administrative data are used in studies of hemodialysis care to report cardiovascular-related hospitalizations. Showing recorded events are associated with significant health care resource use and poor outcomes would confirm that administrative data algorithms identify clinically meaningful events.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the 30-day health service use and outcomes when a hospital admission with myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, or ischemic stroke is recorded in administrative databases.

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Background Chronic kidney disease is a recognized independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but whether the risks of ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction ( STEMI ) and non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction ( NSTEMI ) differ in the chronic kidney disease population is unknown. Methods and Results Using administrative data from Ontario, Canada, we examined patients ≥66 years of age with an outpatient estimated glomerular filtration rate ( eGFR ) and albuminuria measure for incident myocardial infarction from 2002 to 2015. Adjusted Fine and Gray subdistribution hazard models accounting for the competing risk of death were used.

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Background: Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) leads to progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD) with a subsequent risk of adverse events such as cardiac disease, infections, end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), and mortality.

Objectives: To determine the risks of CKD-related adverse outcomes in patients with PKD compared with patients without PKD.

Setting: Canadian study of prediction of death, dialysis and interim cardiovascular events (CanPREDDICT) was a prospective pan-Canadian cohort study from 2008-2013 involving 28 facilities with adjudicated outcomes.

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Estimates of the apparent transverse relaxation rate (R2*) can be used to quantify important properties of biological tissue. Surprisingly, the mechanism of R2* dependence on tissue orientation is not well understood. The primary goal of this paper was to characterize orientation dependence of R2* in gray and white matter and relate it to independent measurements of two other susceptibility based parameters: the local Larmor frequency shift (fL) and quantitative volume magnetic susceptibility (Δχ).

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The role of hematogenous (hMΦ) and microglial (mMΦ) macrophages following spinal cord injury (SCI) remains unclear as they are not distinguished easily from each other in the lesion area. We have recently described the temporal and spatial response to SCI of each MΦ population using the lys-EGFP-ki mouse that enables EGFP(+) hMΦ to be distinguished from EGFP(-) mMΦ at the lesion site. In the present study, we characterized the response of monocyte and hMΦ subsets and mMΦ to SCI.

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Cellular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a means by which cells labeled ex vivo with a contrast agent can be detected and tracked over time in vivo. This technology provides a noninvasive method with which to assess cell-based therapies in vivo. Dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines are a promising cancer immunotherapy, but its success is highly dependent on the injected DC migrating to a secondary lymphoid organ such as a nearby lymph node.

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The clinical application of dendritic cells (DC) as adjuvants in immunotherapies such as the cell-based cancer vaccine continues to gain interest. The overall efficacy of this emerging immunotherapy, however, remains low. Studies suggest the stage of maturation and activation of ex vivo-prepared DC immediately prior to patient administration is critical to subsequent DC migration in vivo, which ultimately affects overall vaccine efficacy.

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BACKGROUND AIMS. The use of dendritic cells (DC) as an adjuvant in cell-based immunotherapeutic cancer vaccines is a growing field of interest. A reliable and non-invasive method to track the fate of autologous DC following their administration to patients is required in order to confirm that clinically sufficient numbers are reaching the lymph node (LN).

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An optimized non-invasive imaging modality capable of tracking and quantifying in vivo DC migration in patients would provide clinicians with valuable information regarding therapeutic DC-based vaccine outcomes. Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles were used to label bone marrow-derived DC. In vivo DC migration was tracked and quantified non-invasively using cellular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a mouse model.

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Purpose: This study seeks to assess the use of labeling with micron-sized iron oxide (MPIO) particles for the detection and quantification of the migration of dendritic cells (DCs) using cellular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Procedures: DCs were labeled with red fluorescent MPIO particles for detection by cellular MRI and a green fluorescent membrane dye (PKH67) for histological detection. MPIO-labeled DCs or unlabeled control DCs were injected into mice footpads at two doses (0.

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Despite recent therapeutic advances, including the introduction of novel cytostatic drugs and therapeutic antibodies, many cancer patients will experience recurrent or metastatic disease. Current treatment options, particularly for those patients with metastatic breast, prostate, or skin cancers, are complex and have limited curative potential. Recent clinical trials, however, have shown that cell-based therapeutic vaccines may be used to generate broad-based, antitumor immune responses.

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