Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 Inhibition for Prophylaxis of Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease.

Background: Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4; also known as CD26), a transmembrane receptor expressed on T cells, has a costimulatory function in activating T cells. In a mouse model, down-regulation of CD26 prevented graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) but preserved graft-versus-tumor effects. Whether inhibition of DPP-4 with sitagliptin may prevent acute GVHD after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation is not known.

Effects of ACT Out! Social Issue Theater on Social-Emotional Competence and Bullying in Youth and Adolescents: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Schools increasingly prioritize social-emotional competence and bullying and cyberbullying prevention, so the development of novel, low-cost, and high-yield programs addressing these topics is important. Further, rigorous assessment of interventions prior to widespread dissemination is crucial.

Objective: This study assesses the effectiveness and implementation fidelity of the ACT Out! Social Issue Theater program, a 1-hour psychodramatic intervention by professional actors; it also measures students' receptiveness to the intervention.

Investigating new treatment opportunities for patients with chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes: the role of finerenone.

Despite the standard of care, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) progress to dialysis, are hospitalized for heart failure and die prematurely. Overactivation of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) causes inflammation and fibrosis that damages the kidney and heart. Finerenone, a nonsteroidal, selective MR antagonist, confers kidney and heart protection in both animal models and Phase II clinical studies; the effects on serum potassium and kidney function are minimal.

Effect of Finerenone on Chronic Kidney Disease Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: Finerenone, a nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, reduced albuminuria in short-term trials involving patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes. However, its long-term effects on kidney and cardiovascular outcomes are unknown.

Methods: In this double-blind trial, we randomly assigned 5734 patients with CKD and type 2 diabetes in a 1:1 ratio to receive finerenone or placebo.

Finerenone and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: The FIDELIO-DKD trial (Finerenone in Reducing Kidney Failure and Disease Progression in Diabetic Kidney Disease) evaluated the effect of the nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist finerenone on kidney and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes with optimized renin-angiotensin system blockade. Compared with placebo, finerenone reduced the composite kidney and cardiovascular outcomes. We report the effect of finerenone on individual cardiovascular outcomes and in patients with and without history of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Aging of preleukemic thymocytes drives CpG island hypermethylation in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Cancer cells display DNA hypermethylation at specific CpG islands in comparison to their normal healthy counterparts, but the mechanism that drives this so-called CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) remains poorly understood. Here, we show that CpG island methylation in human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) mainly occurs at promoters of Polycomb Repressor Complex 2 (PRC2) target genes that are not expressed in normal or malignant T-cells and which display a reciprocal association with H3K27me3 binding. In addition, we revealed that this aberrant methylation profile reflects the epigenetic history of T-ALL and is established already in pre-leukemic, self-renewing thymocytes that precede T-ALL development.

COVID-19 Misinformation Prophylaxis: Protocol for a Randomized Trial of a Brief Informational Intervention.

Background: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect life in the United States, the important role of nonpharmaceutical preventive behaviors (such as wearing a face mask) in reducing the risk of infection has become clear. During the pandemic, researchers have observed the rapid proliferation of misinformed or inconsistent narratives about COVID-19. There is growing evidence that such misinformed narratives are associated with various forms of undesirable behavior (eg, burning down cell towers).

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Antenatal Hydronephrosis-Infant.

Antenatal hydronephrosis is the most frequent urinary tract anomaly detected on prenatal ultrasonography. It occurs approximately twice as often in males as in females. Most antenatal hydronephrosis is transient with little long-term significance, and few children with antenatal hydronephrosis will have significant obstruction, develop symptoms or complications, and require surgery.

Risk factors for symptomatic radiation pneumonitis after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Background And Purpose: Radiation pneumonitis (RP) can be a potential fatal toxicity of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for medically inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to examine the risk factors that predict RP and explore dosimetric tolerance for safe practice in a large institutional series of NSCLC patients.

Materials And Methods: Patients with early-stage and locally recurrent NSCLC who received lung SBRT between 2002 and 2015 formed the study population.

Intraoperative MRI for newly diagnosed supratentorial glioblastoma: a multicenter-registry comparative study to conventional surgery.

Objective: Intraoperative MRI (iMRI) is used in the surgical treatment of glioblastoma, with uncertain effects on outcomes. The authors evaluated the impact of iMRI on extent of resection (EOR) and overall survival (OS) while controlling for other known and suspected predictors.

Methods: A multicenter retrospective cohort of 640 adult patients with newly diagnosed supratentorial glioblastoma who underwent resection was evaluated.

Comparison of nonlinear curves and surfaces.

Estimation of nonlinear curves and surfaces has long been the focus of semiparametric and nonparametric regression analysis. What has been less studied is the comparison of nonlinear functions. In lower-dimensional situations, inference typically involves comparisons of curves and surfaces.

Association of anticholinergic medications and AD biomarkers with incidence of MCI among cognitively normal older adults.

Objective: To determine the cognitive consequences of anticholinergic medications (aCH) in cognitively normal older adults as well as interactive effects of genetic and CSF Alzheimer disease (AD) risk factors.

Methods: A total of 688 cognitively normal participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were evaluated (mean age 73.5 years, 49.

Factors Associated With the Need for Pharmacological Management of Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome.

Background: Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) is a significant and growing health problem that affects more than 23,000 infants annually, with an estimated hospital cost of more than $720 million.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with the need to initiate medication for the treatment of NOWS.

Methods: A retrospective review of medical records was conducted of 204 infants born to mothers who used opioids during pregnancy from April 2011 to September 2017.

Incidence and clinical impact of lower extremity vascular injuries in the setting of whole body computed tomography for trauma.

Purpose: The aims of this study are to determine the incidence of lower extremity fractures and/or vascular injuries in the setting of whole body computed tomography (WBCT) for trauma and to determine lower extremity injury outcomes in this patient population.

Methods: This is a retrospective observational study performed at a large urban Level 1 trauma center. Our institutional trauma registry was queried for patients who were evaluated with WBCT and lower extremity CT angiography (CTA) as a part of their initial imaging evaluation over a 43-month period.

Traumatic abdominal wall injuries-a primer for radiologists.

Traumatic abdominal wall injuries encompass a broad clinical and radiological spectrum and are identified in approximately 9% of blunt trauma patients. The most severe form of abdominal wall injury-a traumatic abdominal wall hernia-is seen in less than 1.5% of blunt abdominal trauma patients.

Using Histopathology to Assess the Reliability of Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Guiding Additional Brain Tumor Resection: A Multicenter Study.

Background: Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) is a powerful tool for guiding brain tumor resections, provided that it accurately discerns residual tumor.

Objective: To use histopathology to assess how reliably iMRI may discern additional tumor for a variety of tumor types, independent of the indications for iMRI.

Methods: A multicenter database was used to calculate the odds of additional resection during the same surgical session for grade I to IV gliomas and pituitary adenomas.

Receptor Tyrosine Kinases in Osteosarcoma: 2019 Update.

The primary conclusions of our 2014 contribution to this series were as follows: Multiple receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) likely contribute to aggressive phenotypes in osteosarcoma and, therefore, inhibition of multiple RTKs is likely necessary for successful clinical outcomes. Inhibition of multiple RTKs may also be useful to overcome resistance to inhibitors of individual RTKs as well as resistance to conventional chemotherapies. Different combinations of RTKs are likely important in individual patients.

Targeting the Cancer Epigenome with Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors in Osteosarcoma.

Epigenetic deregulation is an emerging hallmark of cancer that enables tumor cells to escape surveillance by tumor suppressors and ultimately progress. The structure of the epigenome consists of covalent modifications of chromatin components, including acetylation by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and deacetylation by histone deacetylases (HDACs). Targeting these enzymes with inhibitors to restore epigenetic homeostasis has been explored for many cancers.

Functional Role of the Secretin/Secretin Receptor Signaling During Cholestatic Liver Injury.

The gastrointestinal peptide, secretin (Sct) is an important homeostatic regulator of pancreatic and liver secretory function. With regard to the liver, discoveries have been made, in the last decades, indicating a key role for the secretin/secretin receptor axis during normal or cholestatic conditions. Since large cholangiocytes are the only cells to express secretin receptor in the liver, research on secretin also expanded our knowledge on biliary epithelia.

Hypogammaglobulinemia in Adolescents and Young Adults with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Hypogammaglobulinemia is a poorly described complication of chemotherapy in adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 15-39 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The majority of AYAs treated on a Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster-based ALL regimen experienced hypogammaglobulinemia (65.0% [13/20]).

Adjuvant lidocaine to a propofol-ketamine-based sedation regimen for bone marrow aspirates and biopsy in the pediatric population.

Pediatric patients with hematological malignancies repeatedly undergo painful bone marrow aspirates and biopsies (BMABs) in routine care. No standard sedation regimen has been established. This study evaluated the addition of injected local lidocaine to a propofol-ketamine sedation for BMAB and its effects on propofol dosing, safety, and efficacy.

Communication About Health Information Technology Use Between Patients and Providers.

Background: Although growing, the prevalence of the use of health information technology (HIT) by patients to communicate with their providers is not well understood on the population level, nor whether patients are communicating with their providers about their use of HIT.

Objective: To understand whether patients are communicating with their providers about HIT use and the patient characteristics associated with the communication.

Design: Cross-sectional, self-administered survey of a sample of patients across the state of Indiana.