CXCL8/CXCR2 signaling mediates bone marrow fibrosis and is a therapeutic target in myelofibrosis.

Proinflammatory signaling is a hallmark feature of human cancer, including in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), most notably myelofibrosis (MF). Dysregulated inflammatory signaling contributes to fibrotic progression in MF; however, the individual cytokine mediators elicited by malignant MPN cells to promote collagen-producing fibrosis and disease evolution are yet to be fully elucidated. Previously, we identified a critical role for combined constitutive JAK/STAT and aberrant NF-κB proinflammatory signaling in MF development.

Single-cell multiplexed cytokine profiling of CD19 CAR-T cells reveals a diverse landscape of polyfunctional antigen-specific response.

Background: It remains challenging to characterize the functional attributes of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cell product targeting CD19 related to potency and immunotoxicity ex vivo, despite promising in vivo efficacy in patients with B cell malignancies.

Methods: We employed a single-cell, 16-plex cytokine microfluidics device and new analysis techniques to evaluate the functional profile of CD19 CAR-T cells upon antigen-specific stimulation. CAR-T cells were manufactured from human PBMCs transfected with the lentivirus encoding the CD19-BB-z transgene and expanded with anti-CD3/anti-CD28 coated beads.

Variables Measured During Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing as Predictors of Mortality in Chronic Systolic Heart Failure.

Background: Data from a cardiopulmonary exercise (CPX) test are used to determine prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). However, few published studies have simultaneously compared the relative prognostic strength of multiple CPX variables.

Objectives: The study sought to describe the strength of the association among variables measured during a CPX test and all-cause mortality in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), including the influence of sex and patient effort, as measured by respiratory exchange ratio (RER).

Religiosity and Spirituality During Cardiac Rehabilitation: A LONGITUDINAL EVALUATION OF PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOMES AND EXERCISE CAPACITY.

Purpose: This study is a longitudinal evaluation of religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and religious coping in post-myocardial infarction and post-coronary artery bypass surgery patients during a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program. This study examines change in R/S and the relationship between R/S and psychosocial outcomes and exercise capacity over time.

Methods: Cardiac rehabilitation patients (N = 105) completed measures of R/S, religious coping, quality of life (QOL), self-efficacy (SE), and energy expenditure (EE) at the beginning (baseline) and end of a 12-week program.

Activity of delafloxacin against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: resistance selection and characterization.

Objectives: To determine the potential for delafloxacin to select for resistant mutants in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), including isolates with existing mutations in the quinolone resistance determining region (QRDR).

Methods: Susceptibility testing by broth microdilution was performed on 30 MRSA clinical isolates. For four of these isolates, the presence or absence of mutations in the QRDR was characterized.

Relationships between changes in patient-reported health status and functional capacity in outpatients with heart failure.

Background: Heart failure trials use a variety of measures of functional capacity and quality of life. Lack of formal assessments of the relationships between changes in multiple aspects of patient-reported health status and measures of functional capacity over time limits the ability to compare results across studies.

Methods: Using data from HF-ACTION (N = 2331), we used the Pearson correlation coefficients and predicted change scores from linear mixed-effects modeling to demonstrate the associations between changes in patient-reported health status measured with the EQ-5D visual analog scale and the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and changes in peak VO(2) and 6-minute walk distance at 3 and 12 months.

Treatment of patients with intermediate cardiovascular risk: Are clinical measures enough?

Aim: Clinical measures of cardiovascular disease risk (CVD) are important tools for establishing therapy to lower CVD risk. Risk assessment has come under criticism because clinical measures can underestimate or overestimate CVD risk. We assessed CVD risk in 252 subjects without evidence of CVD to establish therapy of one or more risk factors from clinical indications.

Demographic differences in religious coping after a first-time cardiac event.

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to describe demographic characteristics of patients who may use religion as a coping response to a first-time cardiac event.

Methods: Patients (N = 105), who were enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation after a first-time myocardial infarction or coronary artery revascularization bypass surgery, completed the Religious Coping Activities Scale. Independent variables included age, gender, religious affiliation, diagnosis, marital status, and education level.

Reducing cardiovascular disease risk in medically underserved urban and rural communities.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate methods for lowering cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in asymptomatic urban and rural underserved subjects.

Background: Medically underserved populations are at increased CVD risk, and systems to lower CVD risk are needed. Nurse management (NM) and telemedicine (T) systems may provide low-cost solutions for this care.

Clinical and functional predictors of health-related quality of life during cardiac rehabilitation.

Purpose: This is a retrospective and descriptive analysis of demographic and clinical factors common among cardiac rehabilitation patients with high versus low perceptions of health-related quality of life(HRQOL). In addition, we describe the characteristics that are predictive of greater improvements in HRQOL during cardiac rehabilitation.

Methods: We included 970 patients (63.

Rural and urban characteristics impact cardiovascular risk reduction.

Purpose: Our aim was to provide a descriptive analysis of specific differences between rural and urban residents and the interaction between these differences and those who reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in response to intervention versus those who did not.

Methods: This study is a descriptive analysis comparing rural groups with urban groups and those who decreased CVD risk with those who did not. Two hundred five rural (median age = 64.

Gender differences in cardiovascular risk factors and risk perception among individuals with diabetes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine gender-based differences in cardiovascular risk factors and risk perception among individuals with diabetes.

Methods: The sample consisted of patients with an established history of diabetes who were enrolled in a telemedicine trial to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. All subjects had a 10% or greater risk on the Framingham risk index.

R chi-01, a new family of oxazolidinones that overcome ribosome-based linezolid resistance.

New and improved antibiotics are urgently needed to combat the ever-increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacteria. In this study, we characterized several members of a new oxazolidinone family, R chi-01. This antibiotic family is distinguished by having in vitro and in vivo activity against hospital-acquired, as well as community-acquired, pathogens.

Accuracy of blood pressure measurements transmitted through a telemedicine system in underserved populations.

In underserved populations, inadequate surveillance and treatment allows hypertension to persist until actual cardiovascular events occur. Thus, we developed an Internet-based telemedicine system to address the suboptimal control of hypertension and other modifiable risk factors. To minimize cost, the subjects used home monitors for blood pressure (BP) measurements and entered these values into the telemedicine system.

Using a telemedicine system to decrease cardiovascular disease risk in an underserved population: design, use, and interim results.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the USA. Disease management programs, while successful, are intensive and expensive. Follow-up is often inadequate, incomplete, and inconsistent.

Cardiac rehabilitation outcomes no different after on-pump versus off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery.

Purpose: Clinical evidence supports lower morbidity with off-pump coronary revascularization surgery as well as superior short- and mid-term outcomes, equivalent graft patency, and reduced cost. The purpose of this study was to compare cardiac rehabilitation (CR) outcomes between patients undergoing on-pump versus off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery.

Methods: Data were retrospectively examined for patients who participated in CR between 1996 and 2004.

Cardiovascular disease prevention for underserved patients using the Internet: bridging the digital divide.

For underserved populations, telemedicine can address the high prevalence and suboptimal control of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. However, Internet access issues may limit the successful application of telemedicine. We tested the hypothesis that computer skills, and not access per se, was the main obstacle to using the Internet for health care.

Ventilatory markers during exercise for congestive heart failure.

The exaggerated ventilatory response in patients with heart failure is clearly multifactorial and complex beyond a mere reduction in pulmonary blood flow. Pulmonary dysfunction, including ventilation-perfusion mismatching, decreased lung compliance, restriction, airway obstruction, decreased diffusion capacity, and decreases in respiratory muscle strength and endurance, contributes to an inefficient breathing pattern and increased work of breathing. This is further compounded by the limited ability of the failing heart to meet the metabolic demands of the respiratory muscles, leading to underperfusion and ischemia.

Percutaneous pin placement in the medial calcaneus: is anywhere safe?

Objective: To redefine the medical calcaneal anatomic safe zone for pin placement with respect to reproducible palpable landmarks.

Design: Anatomic study.

Setting: Medical school anatomy laboratory.

Stress examination of supination external rotation-type fibular fractures.

Background: Deltoid incompetence in association with an isolated fibular fracture is assumed to be present if there is medial tenderness, ecchymosis, or substantial swelling. We sought to determine whether these soft-tissue indicators predict deltoid incompetence by comparing such findings with the findings on stress radiographs.

Methods: Over a thirty-two-month period, 138 patients who presented acutely with a Weber type-B supination-external rotation (SE) fibular fracture were evaluated for tenderness (in nine locations), ecchymosis, and swelling.

Skeletal injury patterns in older females.

Injury patterns in elderly patients are different from those in younger patients. With recent emphasis on osteoporosis and its effects, we looked at a continuous series of patients from one Level 1 trauma center regarding injury patterns by gender. For all patients older than 65 years, and including all mechanisms, older women were more likely to sustain forearm and wrist fractures than were older men.

Clinical predictors of 30-day cardiac events in patients with acute coronary syndrome at a community hospital.

Objective: We sought to determine predictors of coronary events (cardiac death, acute myocardial infarction, and urgent revascularization) within 30 days after admission.

Methods: We prospectively collected data on 400 patients admitted through our emergency room for unstable angina and acute coronary syndromes. Patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and those who required thrombolysis were excluded.

Quality of life and self-efficacy: gender and diagnoses considerations for management during cardiac rehabilitation.

Purpose: Outcome measurement research has extended beyond traditional clinical and physiologic parameters to include psychosocial aspects. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate quality-of-life (QOL) and self-efficacy disparities for gender and diagnoses during participation in cardiac rehabilitation.

Methods: For this study, 472 patients (114 women and 358 men) were stratified by gender and then again by diagnosis to include surgical revascularization, myocardial infarction, and percutaneous coronary intervention.

Exercise training for heart failure patients improves respiratory muscle endurance, exercise tolerance, breathlessness, and quality of life.

Purpose: Increased respiratory muscle endurance and peak oxygen consumption (VO(2peak)) induced by respiratory muscle training support the relationship between respiratory muscle function and exercise capacity in patients with heart failure. This raises the question whether exercise-training results in increased respiratory muscle function contributing to an increased exercise tolerance, a decreased perception of breathlessness, and an improved quality of life.

Methods: Prospective cohort analysis was completed on 24 patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III heart failure [18 men, 6 women; aged = 64 (SD 7.