Publications by authors named "Velez J"

Article Synopsis
  • High-dose methotrexate (MTX) can lead to serious complications like acute kidney injury (AKI), neutropenia, and liver damage, but glucarpidase, an enzyme that breaks down MTX, shows potential benefits.
  • In a study of 708 patients with MTX-AKI across 28 cancer centers, those receiving glucarpidase had a significantly higher chance of kidney recovery and faster recovery times compared to those who did not receive the treatment.
  • Additionally, glucarpidase treatment was associated with lower rates of severe neutropenia and liver enzyme elevation, but there was no notable difference in mortality rates between the two groups.
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Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) frequency is increasing in patients with cirrhosis and these individuals often experience acute kidney injury (AKI). Direct comparisons of outcomes between AKI-only vs. AKI on CKD (AoCKD) among patients with cirrhosis are not well described.

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Background: The Abdominal Compartment Society (WSACS) established consensus definitions and recommendations for the management of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) in 2006, and they were last updated in 2013. The WSACS conducted an international survey between 2022 and 2023 to seek the agreement of healthcare practitioners (HCPs) worldwide on current and new candidate statements that may be used for future guidelines.

Methods: A self-administered, online cross-sectional survey was conducted under the auspices of the WSACS to assess the level of agreement among HCPs over current and new candidate statements.

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Powassan virus (POWV) is an emerging tick-borne virus that causes severe meningoencephalitis in the United States, Canada, and Russia. Serology is generally the preferred diagnostic modality, but PCR on cerebrospinal fluid, blood, or urine has an important role, particularly in immunocompromised patients who are unable to mount a serologic response. Although the perceived poor sensitivity of PCR in the general population may be due to the biology of infection and health-seeking behavior (with short viremic periods that end before hospital presentation), limitations in assay design may also contribute.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive decline and memory loss. While the precise causes of AD remain unclear, emerging evidence suggests that messenger RNA (mRNA) dysregulation contributes to AD pathology and risk. This study examined exosomal mRNA expression profiles of 15 individuals diagnosed with AD and 15 healthy controls from Barranquilla, Colombia.

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  • The study assessed outcomes, resource use, and costs related to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) by analyzing a cohort of patients who visited the emergency department in 2018.
  • In a sample of 2,384 COPD patients, the study found high mortality rates—23.4% within one year—and significant readmission rates, with costs totaling approximately €14.6 million.
  • The findings highlight the need for specialized programs to improve care for COPD patients due to their high mortality, readmission rates, and substantial economic burden on the healthcare system.
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  • The study investigates the relationship between different causes of acute kidney injury requiring renal replacement therapy (AKI-RRT) and mortality in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis.
  • Conducted across multiple U.S. hospitals in 2019, the research included 2,063 patients, finding that 18.1% underwent AKI-RRT.
  • Results indicate that while patients with hepatorenal syndrome (HRS-AKI) received different treatment approaches compared to those with other causes of AKI, there was no significant difference in 90-day mortality risk between the two groups.
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  • West Nile virus (WNV) is the leading cause of arboviral disease in the U.S., previously dominated by lineage 1 (L1) strains.
  • In 2023, a patient in Nebraska exhibited severe symptoms of West Nile neuroinvasive disease and high viral loads, leading to the discovery of both lineage 1 and a rare lineage 3 (L3) WNV.
  • The detection of L3 WNV, typically found in Central Europe, has raised concerns about its potential impact on the spread and severity of WNV infections in the U.S., highlighting the need for further research and monitoring.
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Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a common side effect of tacrolimus (Tac), the first-line antirejection medication for kidney transplant recipients. The impact of immediate-release tacrolimus (Tac IR) dosed twice daily versus extended-release tacrolimus (Tac ER) dosed once daily on long-term blood pressure control in kidney transplant recipients remains understudied. This study aims to compare the use of Tac IR versus Tac ER in kidney transplant recipients and evaluate the effects of the different formulations on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and HTN crisis.

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Beginning in late 2023, Oropouche virus was identified as the cause of large outbreaks in Amazon regions with known endemic transmission and in new areas in South America and the Caribbean. The virus is spread to humans by infected biting midges and some mosquito species. Although infection typically causes a self-limited febrile illness, reports of two deaths in patients with Oropouche virus infection and vertical transmission associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes have raised concerns about the threat of this virus to human health.

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Background: Significant knowledge gaps remain regarding the heterogeneity of heart failure (HF) phenotypes, particularly among patients with preserved or mildly reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFp/mrEF). Our aim was to identify HF subtypes within the HFp/mrEF population.

Methods: K-prototypes clustering algorithm was used to identify different HF phenotypes in a cohort of 2 570 patients diagnosed with HFmrEF or HFpEF.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive decline, is the most common form of dementia. Currently, there is no single test that can diagnose AD, especially in understudied populations and developing countries. Instead, diagnosis is based on a combination of medical history, physical examination, cognitive testing, and brain imaging.

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In the realm of offline handwritten text recognition, numerous normalization algorithms have been developed over the years to serve as preprocessing steps prior to applying automatic recognition models to handwritten text scanned images. These algorithms have demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing the overall performance of recognition architectures. However, many of these methods rely heavily on heuristic strategies that are not seamlessly integrated with the recognition architecture itself.

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Background: The presence of "muddy" brown granular casts (MBGC) in the urine sediment is pathognomonic for acute tubular injury (ATI). Although MBGC have been noted for years, there are no reports regarding their length nor width. The objective of this study was to measure MBGC using images obtained by light microscopy and investigate associations with clinically relevant parameters.

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Introduction: Fostemsavir is a gp120-directed attachment inhibitor approved for heavily treatment-experienced (HTE) adults with multidrug-resistant HIV-1. We provide detailed week 240 safety results from the BRIGHTE study and evaluate the impact of immune recovery on safety outcomes.

Methods: The phase 3 BRIGHTE trial is ongoing; data for this analysis were collected from the first participant's first visit (February 23, 2015) through the last participant's last visit for week 240 (March 22, 2021).

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Article Synopsis
  • Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is caused by a lack of certain genes on the paternal chromosome 15 and is a target for epigenetic therapy aimed at reactivating these genes from the maternal side.
  • The study identifies a new drug, MS152, which is derived from an earlier drug, UNC0642, and shows improved effectiveness, brain penetration, and can be given orally to reactivate PWS genes in both human cells and mouse models.
  • Treating newborn mice with MS152 significantly improves survival and growth, suggesting its potential as a groundbreaking treatment for PWS in humans.
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Key Points: In our patients with FSGS, elevated proteinuria and progression to kidney failure (KF) were associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease/all-cause mortality events. In addition, elevated pre-KF proteinuria was associated with KF/all-cause mortality events. CKD stage, nephrotic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease event rates, as well as the incremental costs of these events, were high.

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Hepatorenal syndrome type 1 (HRS-1) is a unique form of acute kidney injury that affects individuals with decompensated cirrhosis with ascites. The primary mechanism leading to reduction of kidney function in HRS-1 is hemodynamic in nature. Cumulative evidence points to a cascade of events that led to a profound reduction in kidney perfusion.

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Aberrantly expressed lysine methyltransferases G9a and GLP, which catalyze mono- and dimethylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9), have been implicated in numerous cancers. Recent studies have uncovered both catalytic and noncatalytic oncogenic functions of G9a/GLP. As such, G9a/GLP catalytic inhibitors have displayed limited anticancer activity.

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The adoption of precision technologies on dairy farms has increased significantly in recent decades, leading to the challenge of providing employees with resources to maximize the efficient use of these tools. The objective of this study was to explore how dairy farm employees perceive the available precision technologies and to identify possible challenges they face when adapting to their use at the farm. An online survey consisting of four sections (employee demographics, precision technologies in use, perception of these technologies, and opportunities for adapting to technology use) was completed from September to December 2022 by 266 farm employees from three dairies operated under similar management.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS), a severe type of AKI specifically found in patients with advanced cirrhosis and ascites, has an especially high mortality rate, making early detection vital.
  • * In 2023, experts from the International Club of Ascites and the Acute Disease Quality Initiative met to create new diagnostic criteria for HRS-AKI and to establish better practices for treatment and follow-up care for these patients.
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