Early Administration of Carvedilol Protected against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy.

This study tested for the benefits of early administration of carvedilol as protection against doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiomyopathy. Thirty male, adult B6 mice were categorized into group 1 (untreated control), group 2 [DOX treatment (15 mg/every other day for 2 weeks, i.p.

Comparison of Ultrasound-Guided Core Needle Biopsy and Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration for Solid Pancreatic Lesions.

Objectives: The objective of our study was to compare the diagnostic yield of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) using a 25-gauge needle and ultrasound (US)-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) using an 18-gauge core needle for diagnosis of solid pancreatic lesions.

Methods: This retrospective study was approved by our Institutional Review Board, and the requirement for informed consent was waived. Patients who underwent either EUS-guided FNA or US-guided CNB for a solid pancreatic lesion from January 2008 to December 2012 were included and reviewed.

Cabozantinib versus Everolimus in Advanced Renal-Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Cabozantinib is an oral, small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) as well as MET and AXL, each of which has been implicated in the pathobiology of metastatic renal-cell carcinoma or in the development of resistance to antiangiogenic drugs. This randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial evaluated the efficacy of cabozantinib, as compared with everolimus, in patients with renal-cell carcinoma that had progressed after VEGFR-targeted therapy.

Methods: We randomly assigned 658 patients to receive cabozantinib at a dose of 60 mg daily or everolimus at a dose of 10 mg daily.

Perfusion- and pattern-based quantitative CT indexes using contrast-enhanced dual-energy computed tomography in diffuse interstitial lung disease: relationships with physiologic impairment and prediction of prognosis.

Objectives: To evaluate automated texture-based segmentation of dual-energy CT (DECT) images in diffuse interstitial lung disease (DILD) patients and prognostic stratification by overlapping morphologic and perfusion information of total lung.

Methods: Suspected DILD patients scheduled for surgical biopsy were prospectively included. Texture patterns included ground-glass opacity (GGO), reticulation and consolidation.

Adjustment of Open-Loop Settings to Improve Closed-Loop Results in Type 1 Diabetes: A Multicenter Randomized Trial.

Context: Closed-loop control (CLC) relies on an individual's open-loop insulin pump settings to initialize the system. Optimizing open-loop settings before using CLC usually requires significant time and effort.

Objective: The objective was to investigate the effects of a one-time algorithmic adjustment of basal rate and insulin to carbohydrate ratio open-loop settings on the performance of CLC.

Ethnic Differences in Effects of Maternal Pre-Pregnancy and Pregnancy Adiposity on Offspring Size and Adiposity.

Context: Maternal adiposity and overnutrition, both before and during pregnancy, plays a key role in the subsequent development of obesity and metabolic outcomes in offspring.

Objective: We explored the hypothesis that maternal adiposity (pre-pregnancy and at 26-28 weeks' gestation) and mid-pregnancy gestational weight gain (GWG) are independently associated with offspring size and adiposity in early childhood, and determined whether these effects are ethnicity dependent.

Design: In a prospective mother-offspring cohort study (N = 976, 56% Chinese, 26% Malay, and 18% Indian), we assessed the associations of offspring size (weight, length) and adiposity (subscapular and triceps skinfolds), measured at birth and age 6, 12, 18, and 24 mo, with maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (ppBMI), mid-pregnancy GWG, and mid-pregnancy four-site skinfold thicknesses (triceps, biceps, subscapular, suprailiac).

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Is Associated With QT Prolongation in the General Population.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is independently associated with QT prolongation among patients with diabetes. It has not yet been determined whether this association remains valid in the general population. We designed an observational study to explore this association.

Long-Lived Plasma Cells Are Contained within the CD19(-)CD38(hi)CD138(+) Subset in Human Bone Marrow.

Antibody responses to viral infections are sustained for decades by long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs). However, LLPCs have yet to be characterized in humans. Here we used CD19, CD38, and CD138 to identify four PC subsets in human bone marrow (BM).

Pancreatic PYY Is Critical in the Control of Insulin Secretion and Glucose Homeostasis in Female Mice.

Insulin secretion is tightly controlled through coordinated actions of a number of systemic and local factors. Peptide YY (PYY) is expressed in α-cells of the islet, but its role in control of islet function such as insulin release is not clear. In this study, we generated a transgenic mouse model (Pyy(tg/+)/Rip-Cre) overexpressing the Pyy gene under the control of the rat insulin 2 gene promoter and assessed the impact of islet-released PYY on β-cell function, insulin release, and glucose homeostasis in mice.

Peer-to-peer physician feedback improves adherence to blood transfusion guidelines in the surgical intensive care unit.

Background: Translation of evidence to practice regarding adherence to published guidelines for transfusion of red blood cells (RBCs) in critically ill patients is sometimes suboptimal. We sought to use a multimodal intervention founded on peer-to-peer feedback and monthly audit to increase adherence to restrictive RBC transfusion guidelines.

Methods: We conducted a prospective interventional study with a preintervention and postintervention comparison in our tertiary care center.

Heterogeneous growth-induced prestrain in the heart.

Even when entirely unloaded, biological structures are not stress-free, as shown by Y.C. Fung׳s seminal opening angle experiment on arteries and the left ventricle.

Formin 1 Regulates Ectoplasmic Specialization in the Rat Testis Through Its Actin Nucleation and Bundling Activity.

During spermatogenesis, developing spermatids and preleptotene spermatocytes are transported across the adluminal compartment and the blood-testis barrier (BTB), respectively, so that spermatids line up near the luminal edge to prepare for spermiation, whereas preleptotene spermatocytes enter the adluminal compartment to differentiate into late spermatocytes to prepare for meiosis I/II. These cellular events involve actin microfilament reorganization at the testis-specific, actin-rich Sertoli-spermatid and Sertoli-Sertoli cell junction called apical and basal ectoplasmic specialization (ES). Formin 1, an actin nucleation protein known to promote actin microfilament elongation and bundling, was expressed at the apical ES but limited to stage VII of the epithelial cycle, whereas its expression at the basal ES/BTB stretched from stage III to stage VI, diminished in stage VII, and was undetectable in stage VIII tubules.

Risk of Intracranial Hemorrhage From Statin Use in Asians: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Background: Reports of statin usage and increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) have been inconsistent. This study examined potential associations between statin usage and the risk of ICH in subjects without a previous history of stroke.

Methods And Results: Patients initiating statin therapy between 2005 and 2009 without a previous history of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke were identified from Taiwan's National Health Insurance database.

Efficacy and Safety of Radiofrequency Ablation for Treatment of Locally Recurrent Thyroid Cancers Smaller than 2 cm.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for localized small recurrent thyroid cancers less than 2 cm by comparing them with those at repeat surgery.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study was institutional review board-approved, and informed consent was waived. From December 2008 to December 2011, this study evaluated 73 patients (17 men and 56 women; age, 50.

17β-estradiol inhibits MMP-9 and SUR1/TrpM4 expression and activation and thereby attenuates BSCB disruption/hemorrhage after spinal cord injury in male rats.

Blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) disruption and progressive hemorrhage after spinal cord injury (SCI) lead to secondary injury and the subsequent apoptosis and/or necrosis of neuron and glia, causing permanent neurological deficits. In this study, we examined the effect of 17β-estradiol (E2) on BSCB breakdown and hemorrhage as well as subsequent inflammation after SCI. After a moderate contusion injury at the 9th thoracic segment of spinal cord, E2 (300 μg/kg) was administered by iv injection immediately after SCI, and the same dose of E2 was then administered 6 and 24 hours after injury.

The impact and sustainability of the graduated driver licensing program in preventing motor vehicle crashes in Massachusetts.

Background: Graduated driving licensing (GDL) programs phase in driving privileges for teenagers. We aimed to evaluate the effect of the 2007 GDL law on the incidence of total motor vehicle crashes (tMVCs) and fatal motor vehicle crashes (fMVCs) among teenagers in Massachusetts.

Methods: The Fatality Analysis and Reporting System, the Missouri Census Data Center, and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation databases were all used to create and compare the incidence of tMVCs and fMVCs before (2002-2006) and after (2007-2011) the law enactment.

Defining the ischemic penumbra using magnetic resonance oxygen metabolic index.

Background And Purpose: Penumbral biomarkers promise to individualize treatment windows in acute ischemic stroke. We used a novel magnetic resonance imaging approach that measures oxygen metabolic index (OMI), a parameter closely related to positron emission tomography-derived cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen utilization (CMRO2), to derive a pair of ischemic thresholds: (1) an irreversible-injury threshold that differentiates ischemic core from penumbra and (2) a reversible-injury threshold that differentiates penumbra from tissue not-at-risk for infarction.

Methods: Forty patients with acute ischemic stroke underwent magnetic resonance imaging at 3 time points after stroke onset: <4.

rpS6 regulates blood-testis barrier dynamics through Arp3-mediated actin microfilament organization in rat sertoli cells. An in vitro study.

In the seminiferous epithelium of rat testes, preleptotene spermatocytes residing in the basal compartment are transported across the blood-testis barrier (BTB) to enter the adluminal compartment at stage VIII of the epithelial cycle. This process involves redistribution of tight junction (TJ) proteins via reorganization of actin cytoskeleton in Sertoli cells that serves as attachment site for adhesion protein complexes. Ribosomal protein S6 (rpS6), a downstream molecule of mTORC1 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1), participates in this process via a yet-to-be defined mechanism.

Circulating fibroblast growth factor 21 levels predict progressive kidney disease in subjects with type 2 diabetes and normoalbuminuria.

Background: Elevated fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) levels have been suggested, from cross-sectional studies, as an indicator of subclinical diabetic nephropathy. We investigated whether serum FGF21 was predictive of the development of diabetic nephropathy.

Method: Baseline serum FGF21 levels were measured in 1136 Chinese type 2 diabetic subjects recruited from the Hong Kong West Diabetes Registry.

CXCL10/IP-10 is a biomarker and mediator for Kawasaki disease.

Rationale: Kawasaki disease (KD), an acute febrile vasculitis, is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in childhood; however, diagnosing KD can be difficult.

Objective: To identify unique proteomic biomarkers that can be used to facilitate earlier diagnosis of KD.

Methods And Results: We enrolled 214 children with fever and clinical features suggestive of KD.

Thyroid dysfunction associated with follicular cell steatosis in obese male mice and humans.

Adult thyroid dysfunction is a common endocrine disorder associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. A recent epidemiologic study revealed a link between obesity and increased prevalence of hypothyroidism. It is conceivable that excessive adiposity in obesity might lead to expansion of the interfollicular adipose (IFA) depot or steatosis in thyroid follicular cells (thyroid steatosis, TS).

Comparison of surface roughness and bacterial adhesion between cosmetic contact lenses and conventional contact lenses.

Objective: To compare physical characteristics of cosmetic contact lenses (Cos-CLs) and conventional contact lenses (Con-CLs) that might affect susceptibility to bacterial adhesion on the contact lens (CL) surface.

Methods: Surface characteristics of Cos-CLs and Con-CLs made from the same material by the same manufacturer were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy. To determine the extent and rate of bacterial adhesion, Cos-CL and Con-CL were immersed in serum-free Roswell Park Memorial Institute media containing Staphylococcus aureus or Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Probabilistic Air Segmentation and Sparse Regression Estimated Pseudo CT for PET/MR Attenuation Correction.

Purpose: To develop a positron emission tomography (PET) attenuation correction method for brain PET/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging by estimating pseudo computed tomographic (CT) images from T1-weighted MR and atlas CT images.

Materials And Methods: In this institutional review board-approved and HIPAA-compliant study, PET/MR/CT images were acquired in 20 subjects after obtaining written consent. A probabilistic air segmentation and sparse regression (PASSR) method was developed for pseudo CT estimation.

Volume-based metabolic tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with an increased risk of recurrence in breast cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic value of a volume-based metabolic tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: This study was approved by the institutional review board, with waivers of informed consent. One hundred sixty-seven patients (mean age, 44 years; range, 22-68 years) with clinical stage II or III breast cancer who underwent fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography scans at baseline and after completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy between July 2006 and June 2013 were selected.