Association of hyperlipidaemia, inflammation and serological status and coronary heart disease among patients with rheumatoid arthritis: data from the National Veterans Health Administration.

Objective: To examine the association of serum lipids, inflammation and seropositivity on coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: The incidence of hospitalised myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke was calculated in a cohort of patients with RA receiving care within the national Veterans Health Administration from 1998 to 2011. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association between these outcomes and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), C reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) as time-varying variables, divided into quintiles.

Clinicopathologic characteristics and management trends of cutaneous invasive and in situ melanoma in older patients: a retrospective analysis of the National Cancer Data Base.

Background: The incidence of melanoma in older patients is on the rise. Prior studies have shown disparities in surgical management and poor survival of older patients with melanoma.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of adult patients diagnosed with cutaneous invasive and in situ melanoma between 2000 and 2011 in the National Cancer Data Base.

Modifiable factors associated with allopurinol adherence and outcomes among patients with gout in an integrated healthcare system.

Objective: To identify modifiable patient and provider factors associated with allopurinol adherence and the achievement of a serum urate acid (SUA) goal in gout.

Methods: We identified a retrospective cohort of patients with gout, newly treated with allopurinol. All patient data came from administrative datasets at a large integrated health delivery system.

Malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde adducts and anti-malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde (MAA) adducts are a product of oxidative stress associated with tolerance loss in several disease states. This study was undertaken to investigate the presence of MAA adducts and circulating anti-MAA antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Synovial tissue from patients with RA and patients with osteoarthritis (OA) were examined for the presence of MAA-modified and citrullinated proteins.

A conceptual framework for organizational readiness to implement nutrition and physical activity programs in early childhood education settings.

Across multiple sectors, organizational readiness predicts the success of program implementation. However, the factors influencing readiness of early childhood education (ECE) organizations for implementation of new nutrition and physical activity programs is poorly understood. This study presents a new conceptual framework to measure organizational readiness to implement nutrition and physical activity programs in ECE centers serving children aged 0 to 5 years.

A kinase inhibitor screen reveals protein kinase C-dependent endocytic recycling of ErbB2 in breast cancer cells.

ErbB2 overexpression drives oncogenesis in 20-30% cases of breast cancer. Oncogenic potential of ErbB2 is linked to inefficient endocytic traffic into lysosomes and preferential recycling. However, regulation of ErbB2 recycling is incompletely understood.

Validation of the rheumatic disease comorbidity index.

Objective: There is no consensus on which comorbidity index is optimal for rheumatic health outcomes research. We compared a new Rheumatic Disease Comorbidity Index (RDCI) with the Charlson-Deyo Index (CDI), Functional Comorbidity Index (FCI), Elixhauser Total Score (ETS), Elixhauser Point System (EPS), and a simple comorbidity count (COUNT) using a US cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

Methods: Using administrative diagnostic codes and patient self-reporting, we tested predictive values of the RDCI, CDI, FCI, ETS, EPS, and COUNT for 2 outcomes: all-cause mortality and physical functioning.

Ipilimumab-induced hypophysitis and uveitis in a patient with metastatic melanoma and a history of ipilimumab-induced skin rash.

Ipilimumab, a monoclonal antibody that blocks cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4, leading to enhanced T-cell activation and proliferation, is associated with improved overall survival in melanoma. Its use can result in immune-related adverse events, the most common of which are skin rash, diarrhea, and colitis. Ipilimumab-induced hypophysitis is uncommon, mostly involves anterior pituitary, and is associated with abnormalities in pituitary MRI, whereas uveitis has been rarely reported.

Tricuspid regurgitation in hypoplastic left heart syndrome: mechanistic insights from 3-dimensional echocardiography and relationship with outcomes.

Background: Our purpose was to test the following hypotheses: (1) patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome who develop significant tricuspid regurgitation (TR) or require tricuspid valve (TV) surgery in the medium term have detectable TV abnormalities by 3-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) prestage 1 palliation and (2) TR is associated with reduced survival and increased TV intervention.

Methods And Results: Infants were prospectively studied with 3DE and 2DE prestage 1 and followed up for the end points of TR, TV surgery, transplantation, or death. From prestage 1 3DE, spatial coordinates of TV annulus and leaflets were extracted; annulus size, leaflet area, prolapse volume, tethering volume, bending angle, and papillary muscle angle were measured.

Management of patients with lung cancer and poor performance status.

Patients who are able to care for themselves but are unable to perform most work-related activities are considered to have a poor performance status (PS). Individuals who fulfill these criteria constitute a significant proportion of all patients with lung cancer. Patients with lung cancer and a poor PS, irrespective of age, have an increased incidence of adverse effects with therapy and poorer outcomes.

Neuronal uptake of nanoformulated superoxide dismutase and attenuation of angiotensin II-dependent hypertension after central administration.

Excessive production of superoxide (O2(-)) in the central nervous system has been widely implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, including chronic heart failure and hypertension. In an attempt to overcome the failed therapeutic impact of currently available antioxidants in cardiovascular disease, we developed a nanomedicine-based delivery system for the O2(-)-scavenging enzyme copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), in which CuZnSOD protein is electrostatically bound to a poly-l-lysine (PLL50)-polyethylene glycol (PEG) block copolymer to form a CuZnSOD nanozyme. Various formulations of CuZnSOD nanozyme are covalently stabilized by either reducible or nonreducible crosslinked bonds between the PLL50-PEG polymers.

The total right/left-volume index: a new and simplified cardiac magnetic resonance measure to evaluate the severity of Ebstein anomaly of the tricuspid valve: a comparison with heart failure markers from various modalities.

Background: The classification of clinical severity of Ebstein anomaly still remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to focus on the interaction of the pathologically altered right heart with the anatomically-supposedly-normal left heart and to derive from cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) a simple imaging measure for the clinical severity of Ebstein anomaly.

Methods And Results: Twenty-five patients at a mean age of 26±14 years with unrepaired Ebstein anomaly were examined in a prospective study.

Periodontitis and Porphyromonas gingivalis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To examine the degree to which shared risk factors explain the relationship of periodontitis (PD) to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to determine the associations of PD and Porphyromonas gingivalis with pathologic and clinical features of RA.

Methods: Patients with RA (n = 287) and patients with osteoarthritis as disease controls (n = 330) underwent a standardized periodontal examination. The HLA-DRB1 status of all participants was imputed using single-nucleotide polymorphisms from the extended major histocompatibility complex.

Culture of equine fibroblast-like synoviocytes on synthetic tissue scaffolds towards meniscal tissue engineering: a preliminary cell-seeding study.

Introduction. Tissue engineering is a new methodology for addressing meniscal injury or loss. Synovium may be an ideal source of cells for in vitro meniscal fibrocartilage formation, however, favorable in vitro culture conditions for synovium must be established in order to achieve this goal.

MUC4 regulates cellular senescence in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma through p16/Rb pathway.

The limited effectiveness of therapy for patients with advanced stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) or recurrent disease is a reflection of an incomplete understanding of the molecular basis of HNSCC pathogenesis. MUC4, a high molecular weight glycoprotein, is differentially overexpressed in many human cancers and implicated in cancer progression and resistance to several chemotherapies. However, its clinical relevance and the molecular mechanisms through which it mediates HNSCC progression are not well understood.

Stakeholders' interest in and challenges to implementing farm-to-school programs, Douglas County, Nebraska, 2010-2011.

Introduction: Schools are uniquely positioned to influence the dietary habits of children, and farm-to-school programs can increase fruit and vegetable consumption among school-aged children. We assessed the feasibility of, interest in, and barriers to implementing farm-to-school activities in 7 school districts in Douglas County, Nebraska.

Methods: We used a preassessment and postassessment survey to obtain data from 3 stakeholder groups: school food service directors, local food producers, and food distributors.

Effects of notch signaling on regulation of myeloid cell differentiation in cancer.

Functionally altered myeloid cells play an important role in immune suppression in cancer, in angiogenesis, and in tumor cells' invasion and metastases. Here, we report that inhibition of Notch signaling in hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), and dendritic cells is directly involved in abnormal myeloid cell differentiation in cancer. Inhibition of Notch signaling was caused by the disruption of the interaction between Notch receptor and transcriptional repressor CSL, which is normally required for efficient transcription of target genes.

Associations of alcohol use with radiographic disease progression in African Americans with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To investigate the associations of alcohol consumption and radiographic disease progression in African Americans with recently diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Patients with RA included in the study were participants in the Consortium for the Longitudinal Evaluation of African Americans with Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (CLEAR) registry. Patients were categorized based on self-reported alcohol consumption; those consuming < 15 beverages per month versus those with ≥ 15 per month.

Therapies for active rheumatoid arthritis after methotrexate failure.

Background: Few blinded trials have compared conventional therapy consisting of a combination of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs with biologic agents in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have active disease despite treatment with methotrexate--a common scenario in the management of rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: We conducted a 48-week, double-blind, noninferiority trial in which we randomly assigned 353 participants with rheumatoid arthritis who had active disease despite methotrexate therapy to a triple regimen of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (methotrexate, sulfasalazine, and hydroxychloroquine) or etanercept plus methotrexate. Patients who did not have an improvement at 24 weeks according to a prespecified threshold were switched in a blinded fashion to the other therapy.

Bacterial Species and Surgical Sites Involved in Contamination During Strabismus Surgery.

Purpose: Residual bacterial colonization of the eye after strabismus surgery is common. This study aimed to identify the bacterial pathogens and contaminated sites involved during strabismus surgery.

Design: A prospective, case-control study of 44 patients aged 1-78 years who underwent strabismus surgery.

Validation of Diagnostic and Procedural Codes for Identification of Acute Cardiovascular Events in US Veterans with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, and Current Procedural Terminology codes for identifying cardiovascular (CV) events (myocardial infarction [MI], stroke, coronary artery bypass graft [CABG], and percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI]) in enrollees of the Veterans Affairs Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) registry.

Design: We performed a validation study from VARA enrollment until 6/1/2010 to compare the accuracy of CV events in those with and without CV-event coding in inpatient and outpatient records to evaluate for CV events +/- 3 months of the coding. The positive predictive value (PPV) was calculated, and codes with a PPV ≥50% were included in a composite coding algorithm.

Prospective study of posttraumatic stress disorder and disease activity outcomes in US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To examine the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and disease activity in US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: US veterans with RA were enrolled in a longitudinal observational study and were categorized as having PTSD, other anxiety/depression disorders, or neither of these psychiatric diagnoses using administrative codes. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to examine the associations of the diagnostic groups with outcomes measured over a mean followup period of 3.

Graviola: a novel promising natural-derived drug that inhibits tumorigenicity and metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo through altering cell metabolism.

Pancreatic tumors are resistant to conventional chemotherapies. The present study was aimed at evaluating the potential of a novel plant-derived product as a therapeutic agent for pancreatic cancer (PC). The effects of an extract from the tropical tree Annona Muricata, commonly known as Graviola, was evaluated for cytotoxicity, cell metabolism, cancer-associated protein/gene expression, tumorigenicity, and metastatic properties of PC cells.

Soluble CD14 and CD14 polymorphisms in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Soluble CD14 (sCD14) is involved in innate immune responses and has been implicated to play a pathogenic role in inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). No studies have identified the specific factors that influence sCD14 expression in RA. We used cross-sectional data to evaluate the relationship of sCD14 concentrations in RA with measures of disease activity and severity.