Impact of Preoperative Liver Function on Short-Term HeartMate 3 Outcomes.

Although left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy is associated with improved survival, the impact of preoperative liver function on short-term outcomes is unclear. We conducted a retrospective review of all primary HeartMate 3 LVAD implants at a single center. Composite metrics of hepatic function including the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), the MELD with sodium, and the MELD excluding international normalized ratio (MELD-XI) were evaluated.

Impact of sea level change on coastal soil organic matter, priming effects and prokaryotic community assembly.

Salt marshes are coastal areas storing high amounts of soil organic matter (SOM) while simultaneously being prone to tidal changes. Here, SOM-decomposition and accompanied priming effects (PE), which describe interactions between labile and old SOM, were studied under controlled flooding conditions. Soil samples from two Wadden Sea salt marsh zones, pioneer (Pio), flooded two times/day, and lower salt marsh (Low), flooded ∼eight times/month, were measured for 56 days concerning CO2-efflux and prokaryotic community shifts during three different inundation-treatments: total-drained (Drained), all-time-flooded (Waterlogged) or temporal-flooding (Tidal).

Effects of Inundation, Nutrient Availability and Plant Species Diversity on Fine Root Mass and Morphology Across a Saltmarsh Flooding Gradient.

Saltmarsh plants are exposed to multiple stresses including tidal inundation, salinity, wave action and sediment anoxia, which require specific root system adaptations to secure sufficient resource capture and firm anchorage in a temporary toxic environment. It is well known that many saltmarsh species develop large below-ground biomass (roots and rhizomes) but relations between fine roots, in particular, and the abiotic conditions in salt marshes are widely unknown. We studied fine root mass (<2 mm in diameter), fine root depth distribution and fine root morphology in three typical communities (-dominated pioneer zone, -dominated lower marsh, -dominated upper marsh) across elevational gradients in two tidal salt marshes of the German North Sea coast [a mostly sandy marsh on a barrier island (Spiekeroog), and a silty-clayey marsh on the mainland coast (Westerhever)].

Intestinal perforation caused by insertion of a nasogastric tube late after gastric bypass.

A 57-year-old woman, who had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery 9 years earlier, was admitted to the intensive care unit because of pneumonia. Despite antibiotic therapy, she died 40 days later, apparently because of sepsis and organ failure related to the pneumonia. However, the patient's family requested an autopsy, which revealed that her death was due to perforation of the Roux limb of her gastric bypass, which had resulted in severe peritonitis.

Disseminated aspergillosis following infliximab therapy in an immunosuppressed patient with Crohn's disease and chronic hepatitis C: a case study and review of the literature.

A 55-year-old white woman with a greater than 25-year history of Crohn's disease developed disseminated aspergillosis following combination therapy with Methylprednisolone, azathioprine, and infliximab. The patient was hospitalized 11 days after initiation of infliximab for respiratory symptoms and developed respiratory failure, coma, and died. Postmortem examination revealed disseminated Aspergillus fumigatus involving multiple organs.

Stimulated active potassium secretion in a patient with colonic pseudo-obstruction: a new mechanism of secretory diarrhea.

Background & Aims: Secretory diarrhea is caused by inhibition of intestinal active sodium absorption and stimulation of active chloride secretion. The resulting increase in fecal sodium salts causes an isotonic increase in fecal water output. Abnormalities in potassium transport are not known to be a cause of secretory diarrhea.