Unlabelled: The therapeutic approach to severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), whether primary or secondary to connective tissue disorders, thromboembolic phenomena or congenital heart disease with Eisenmenger syndrome, has evolved in recent years following the introduction of selective pulmonary vasodilators, including prostacyclin analogs and endothelin receptor antagonists.
Aim: To correlate three different endpoints (6-minute walk test, Tei index and peak tricuspid regurgitation velocity by Doppler echocardiographic study) during follow-up of PAH patients under selective vasodilator therapy.
Methods: Eleven patients (9 female, age 42 +/- 18 years) with severe PAH (> or = 65 mmHg), 64% with Eisenmenger syndrome, in NYHA class > or = II, were assessed during a follow-up of 11 +/- 8 months. Eight patients were already under therapy with iloprost or bosentan.
Results: There was no correlation between the three endpoints before and after therapy as assessed by Pearson's correlation coefficient. There was, however, an improvement in all of them after selective vasodilatory therapy.
Conclusion: Therapeutic response can be accurately measured by the traditional endpoint (6-minute walk test) or by echocardiographic endpoints. However, the lack of correlation between them excludes their use as alternatives in patient follow-up.
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J Med Internet Res
January 2025
Division of Clinical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background: Sepsis, a critical global health challenge, accounted for approximately 20% of worldwide deaths in 2017. Although the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score standardizes the diagnosis of organ dysfunction, early sepsis detection remains challenging due to its insidious symptoms. Current diagnostic methods, including clinical assessments and laboratory tests, frequently lack the speed and specificity needed for timely intervention, particularly in vulnerable populations such as older adults, intensive care unit (ICU) patients, and those with compromised immune systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElife
December 2024
Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium.
Since the precursor frequency of naive T cells is extremely low, investigating the early steps of antigen-specific T cell activation is challenging. To overcome this detection problem, adoptive transfer of a cohort of T cells purified from T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic donors has been extensively used but is not readily available for emerging pathogens. Constructing TCR transgenic mice from T cell hybridomas is a labor-intensive and sometimes erratic process, since the best clones are selected based on antigen-induced CD69 upregulation or IL-2 production in vitro, and TCR chains are polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-cloned into expression vectors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Rep
January 2025
MOE Key Laboratory of Biosystems Homeostasis & Protection, and Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Cancer Molecular Cell Biology, Life Sciences Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China; Center for Life Sciences, Shaoxing Institute, Zhejiang University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang 321000, China; Cancer Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China; The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310009, China. Electronic address:
Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is well known to play paradoxical roles in tumorigenesis as it has both growth-inhibitory and pro-metastatic effects. However, the underlying mechanisms of how TGF-β drives the opposing responses remain largely unknown. Here, we report that ERBB4, a member of the ERBB receptor tyrosine kinase family, specifically promotes TGF-β's metastatic response but not its anti-growth response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSleep Breath
January 2025
Pulmonary Medicine, Universidad Austral, Hospital Universitario Austral, Pilar, Argentina.
Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects up to 936 million adults globally and is linked to significant health risks, including neurocognitive impairment, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic conditions. Despite its prevalence, OSA remains largely underdiagnosed. This study aimed to enhance OSA awareness and risk assessment using the STOP-Bang questionnaire in a telemedicine format.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed Phys
January 2025
Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University, North Carolina, USA.
Background: The electronic compensation (ECOMP) technique for breast radiation therapy provides excellent dose conformity and homogeneity. However, the manual fluence painting process presents a challenge for efficient clinical operation.
Purpose: To facilitate the clinical treatment planning automation of breast radiation therapy, we utilized reinforcement learning (RL) to develop an auto-planning tool that iteratively edits the fluence maps under the guidance of clinically relevant objectives.
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