Percutaneous coronary intervention of or through saphenous vein grafts or internal mammary arteries: the impact of stents, adjunctive pharmacology, and multicomponent distal protection.

We hypothesized that the use of stents and aggressive adjunctive pharmacotherapies has been associated with lower rates of complicating myocardial infarction (MI) and improved long-term outcomes compared to either previous balloon-only percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or atheroablative intervention for lesions of or through saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) and/or internal mammary arteries (IMAs). PCI of SVG has been complicated by relatively high rates of procedural MI and less favorable long-term outcomes than native vessel PCI, stimulating the development and application of an array of technologies. This study was based on retrospective review of stent-era (1999-2004) 5-year experience of a single center with 95 SVG procedures in 85 patients and 20 IMA procedures in 20 patients. These cases were compared with the previously published experience of one of the operators during the balloon-only period and literature review of the application of multiple technologies to SVG intervention, as well as consideration of the reoperation alternative. There was one in-hospital death each in the SVG cohort (1%) and in the IMA cohort (5%). There were SIX procedural MIs (6%), defined by total CK > normal, and 19 procedural MIs (20%) based on troponin-I > 1.0. Follow-up has been from 4 months to 5 years (average, 2.5 years), with 91% survival and one late CABG in the IMA group. SVG PCI with stents and adjunctive pharmacotherapies is associated with relatively low rates of procedural MI and favorable long-term outcomes.     

Induction and treatment of anergy in murine leprosy

Leprosy is a disease consisting of a spectrum of clinical, bacteriological, histopathological and immunological manifestations. Tuberculoid leprosy is frequently recognized as the benign polar form of the disease, while lepromatous leprosy is regarded as the malignant form. The different forms of leprosy depend on the genetic and immunological characteristics of the patient and on the characteristics of the leprosy bacillus. The malignant manifestations of lepromatous leprosy result from the mycobacterial‐specific anergy that develops in this form of the disease. Using murine leprosy as a model of anergy in this study, we first induced the development of anergy to Mycobacterium lepraemurium (MLM) in mice and then attempted to reverse it by the administration of dialysable leucocyte extracts (DLE) prepared from healthy (HLT), BCG‐inoculated and MLM‐inoculated mice. Mice inoculated with either MLM or BCG developed a robust cell‐mediated immune response (CMI) that was temporary in the MLM‐inoculated group and long‐lasting in the BCG‐inoculated group. DLE were prepared from the spleens of MLM‐ and BCG‐inoculated mice at the peak of CMI. Independent MLM intradermally‐inoculated groups were treated every other day with HLT‐DLE, BCG‐DLE or MLM‐DLE, and the effect was documented for 98 days. DLE administered at a dose of 1.0 U (1 × 10⁶ splenocytes) did not affect the evolution of leprosy, while DLE given at a dose of 0.1 U showed beneficial effects regardless of the DLE source. The dose but not the specificity of DLE was the determining factor for reversing anergy.     

Trends and Differences Among Three New Indicators of HIV Infection Progression

Objective

This study proposes three indicators of, and assesses the disparities and trends in, the risk of HIV infection progression among people living with diagnosed HIV infection in the United States.

Methods

Using data reported to national HIV surveillance through June 2012, we calculated the AIDS diagnosis hazard, HIV (including AIDS) death hazard, and AIDS death hazard for people living with diagnosed HIV infection for each calendar year from 1997 to 2010. We also calculated a stratified hazard in 2010 by age, race/ethnicity, mode of transmission, region of residence at diagnosis, and year of diagnosis.

Results

The risk of HIV infection progression among people living with diagnosed HIV infection decreased significantly from 1997 to 2010. The risks of progression to AIDS and death in 2010 were higher among African Americans and people of multiple races, males exposed through injection drug use (IDU) or heterosexual contact, females exposed through IDU, people residing in the South at diagnosis, and people diagnosed in 2009 compared with white individuals, men who have sex with men, females with infection attributed to heterosexual contact, those residing in the Northeast, and those diagnosed in previous years, respectively. People aged 15–29 years had the highest AIDS diagnosis hazard in 2010.

Conclusion

Continued efforts are needed to ensure early HIV diagnosis as well as initial linkage to and continued engagement in HIV medical care among all people living with HIV. Targeted interventions are needed to improve health-care and supportive services for those with worse health outcomes.In the United States, the number of people aged 13 years and older living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was estimated to be more than 1.1 million as of December 2010, a 9% increase from 2006.¹ For people living with HIV, increasing their access to care and eliminating disparities are primary goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) and the Healthy People 2020 objectives.^2,3 Assuring that all people with HIV are diagnosed early, promptly linked to care, retained in care, and offered antiretroviral treatment is essential to achieve the ultimate goal of the continuum of care,⁴ leading to viral suppression, improved health, survival, and prevention of HIV transmission.Several studies have used national HIV surveillance data to examine the disparities and determinants of progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS; i.e., stage 3 HIV infection⁵) and death after HIV diagnosis. These studies have focused on individuals diagnosed in a certain time period and have examined the differences in time from HIV diagnoses to AIDS and death (i.e., the number of months/years from HIV diagnosis to AIDS or death) using survival analyses, including Kaplan-Meier survival curves, the Cox proportional hazard model, or the standardized relative risk.^6–8 However, previous studies have not assessed the risks of progression to AIDS and death among all people living with HIV, and have not reported the trends in these outcomes.To fill this gap, we propose in this study three cross-sectional indicators to estimate the risks of progression to AIDS and death in a calendar year after HIV diagnoses among people living with diagnosed HIV infection, regardless of their time of diagnosis (i.e., the year when an HIV infection was first diagnosed). The results allow for an annual assessment of the risks of HIV infection progression and can be used to monitor the trends in these outcomes among people living with HIV.Specifically, this study (1) examined the disparities in the risk of progression to AIDS in 2010 among people living with diagnosed HIV (not AIDS) infection at year-end 2009 (AIDS diagnosis hazard), the risk of death in 2010 among those living with diagnosed HIV (including AIDS) infection at year-end 2009 (HIV death hazard), and the risk of death in 2010 among individuals living with AIDS at year-end 2009 (AIDS death hazard); and (2) assessed the trends in the risks of HIV infection progression among people living with diagnosed HIV infection from 1997 to 2010 using the three indicators.     

The effect of intravenous insulin,apheresis and oral lipid-lowering agents on non-fasting hypertriglyceridemia and associated pancreatitis

Objectives: There is evidence that increasing severity of hypertriglyceridemia increases the risk of acute pancreatitis. There is a debate about superiority of treatment methods and previous works have specifically called for direct comparison between IV insulin and apheresis techniques. Identify patient characteristics predictive of lipid-lowering therapy selection in a large community hospital for treatment of hypertriglyceridemia; evaluate for a concentration-dependent relationship between hypertriglyceridemia severity and risk of acute pancreatitis; assess for differences in clinical outcomes between patients treated with IV insulin versus apheresis.

Methods: Single center, retrospective cohort study including patients with hypertriglyceridemia between January 2007 and December 2016. Main measures included frequency of pancreatitis, choice of lipid-lowering therapy, and clinical comparisons of diet, oral lipid-lowering agents, IV insulin, and apheresis.

Results: Initial serum triglyceride level and disease acuity was higher among patients in insulin and apheresis groups. Neither triglyceride level, Charlson comorbidity index, age, BISAP score, nor initial CRP predicted use of IV insulin versus apheresis. Prevalence of pancreatitis increased with higher triglyceride level, reaching 48% with triglycerides >2000 md/dL (p < 0.001). There was a significant decrease in serum triglycerides at each time interval (p < 0.05) in patients treated with IV insulin and apheresis, but no difference in clearance rate between the two. Length of stay did not differ between IV insulin and apheresis.

Conclusion: The presence of pancreatitis, hyperglycemia, and hypertriglyceridemia severity influenced selection of therapies like IV insulin and apheresis. We found no superiority of either IV insulin or apheresis in the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia among patients hospitalized for pancreatitis.