Health-Related Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

This study examined the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) compared with physically healthy children and the impact of IBD and steroidal side-effects on children's HRQOL. The HRQOL of 49 children and adolescents (ages 10 to 18 years) with IBD and their parents who completed the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ; Landgraf & Abetz, 1997; Landgraf, Abetz, & Ware, 1996) was compared to that of a sample of physically healthy children (N = 49). Caregivers of children with IBD reported that their children's physical and psychological health were more limited and that they experienced more emotional worry and greater impact on their personal time compared to caregivers reporting on healthy same-age children. Children and adolescents reported worse HRQOL than physically healthy children in only one domain: general health. Children and adolescents with more IBD-related and steroidal symptoms had less adequate HRQOL as reported by their parents. Limitations in HRQOL were most pronounced in children who experienced more frequent IBD-related symptoms together with symptoms of steroidal side effects.     

Hepatitis B and C virus infections transmitted through organ transplantation investigated by CDC,United States, 2014‐2017

We evaluated clinical outcomes among organ recipients with donor‐derived hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections investigated by CDC from 2014 to 2017 in the United States. We characterized new HBV infections in organ recipients if donors tested negative for total anti‐HBc, HBsAg and HBV DNA, and new recipient HCV infections if donors tested negative for anti‐HCV and HCV RNA. Donor risk behaviors were abstracted from next‐of‐kin interviews and medical records. During 2014‐2017, seven new recipient HBV infections associated with seven donors were identified; six (86%) recipients survived. At last follow‐up, all survivors had functioning grafts and five (83%) had started antiviral therapy. Twenty new recipient HCV infections associated with nine donors were identified; 19 (95%) recipients survived. At last follow‐up, 18 (95%) survivors had functioning grafts and 14 (74%) had started antiviral treatment. Combining donor next‐of kin interviews and medical records, 11/16 (69%) donors had evidence of injection drug use and all met Public Health Service increased risk donor (IRD) criteria. IRD designation led to early diagnosis of recipient infection, and prompt implementation of therapy, likely reducing the risk of graft failure, liver disease, and death.     

Immediate postgadolinium spoiled gradient-echo MRI for evaluating the abdominal aorta in the setting of abdominal MR examination

To assess the reproducibility and image quality of immediate postgadolinium chelate spoiled gradient-echo MRI in demonstrating disease of the abdominal aorta. All patients (27 patients: 21 men, 6 women) with substantial disease of the abdominal aorta, who underwent abdominal MR examinations at 1.5 T between 1991 and 1995, were entered in the study. Patients were referred for evaluation of suspected aortic disease (14 patients) or other abdominal diseases (13 patients). Three experienced investigators manually measured luminal and external aortic wall diameters and rated image quality, definition of inner and outer walls, extent of disease, and presence of other abdominal abnormalities, in an independent fashion. A cardiovascular surgeon then rated all studies to determine whether clinical management could be based on the MR findings alone. There was 98 to 99% agreement in measurements of luminal and external wall diameter between the three investigators. Overall image quality was rated as good in 77.8 to 88.9% of patients. A total of 31 additional nonaortic abdominal abnormalities were detected by all observers. The cardiovascular surgeon rated 25 of 27 studies as adequate to determine clinical management based on MR findings alone. Immediate postgadolinium spoiled gradient-echo MRI is a reproducible technique for the demonstration of abdominal aortic disease and possesses good image quality. Advantages of this technique include simultaneous evaluation of other nonvascular diseases of the abdomen, short examination time, and easy implementation as part of routine abdominal MRI scanning protocol.     

Significant variability in response to inhaled corticosteroids for persistent asthma

BACKGROUND: A clinical model is needed to compare inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) with respect to efficacy. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this investigation was to compare the relative beneficial and systemic effects in a dose-response relationship for 2 ICSs. METHODS: A 24-week, parallel, open-label, multicenter trial examined the benefit-risk ratio of 2 ICSs in persistent asthma. Benefit was assessed by improvements in FEV(1) and PC(20); risk was assessed by overnight plasma cortisol suppression. Thirty subjects were randomized to either beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) 168, 672, and 1344 microg/day (n = 15) or fluticasone propionate (FP) 88, 352, and 704 microg/day (n = 15), both administered by means of a metered dose inhaler (MDI) with chlorofluorocarbon propellant via a spacer, in 3 consecutive 6-week intervals; this was followed by 3 weeks of FP dry powder inhaler (DPI) 2000 microg/day. RESULTS: Maximum FEV(1) response occurred with the low dose for FP-MDI and the medium dose for BDP-MDI and was not further increased by treatment with FP-DPI. Near-maximum methacholine PC(20) improvement occurred with the low dose for FP-MDI and the medium dose for BDP-MDI. Both BDP-MDI and FP-MDI caused dose-dependent cortisol suppression. Responsiveness to ICS treatment was found to vary markedly among subjects. Good (>15%) FEV(1) response, in contrast to poor (<5%) response, was found to be associated with high exhaled nitric oxide (median, 17.6 vs 11.1 ppb), high bronchodilator reversibility (25.2% vs 8.8%), and a low FEV(1)/forced vital capacity ratio (0.63 vs 0.73) before treatment. Excellent (>3 doubling dilutions) improvement in PC(20), in contrast to poor (<1 doubling dilution) improvement, was found to be associated with high sputum eosinophil levels (3.4% vs 0.1%) and older age at onset of asthma (age, 20-29 years vs <10 years). CONCLUSIONS: Near-maximal FEV(1) and PC(20) effects occurred with low-medium dose for both ICSs in the subjects studied. High-dose ICS therapy did not significantly increase the efficacy measures that were evaluated, but it did increase the systemic effect measure, overnight cortisol secretion. Significant intersubject variability in response occurred with both ICSs. It is possible that higher doses of ICSs are necessary to manage more severe patients or to achieve goals of therapy not evaluated in this study, such as prevention of asthma exacerbations.     

Effect of GB virus C co-infection on response to generic HAART in African patients with HIV-1 clade C infection

In 38 African AIDS patients initiating generic HAART, GB virus C (GBV-C) RNA-positive patients retained GBV-C viraemia during 52 weeks of HAART, had a faster decline in HIV viral load (P = 0.03), fewer opportunistic infections (14.3 versus 50%, P = 0.18), and suffered no serious adverse events (none versus 61%, P = 0.008) compared with patients without GBV-C. GBV-C co-infection may be associated with a beneficial effect on African AIDS patients treated with generic HAART.     

Temporal daily associations between pain and sleep in adolescents with chronic pain versus healthy adolescents

Adolescents with chronic pain frequently report sleep disturbances, particularly short sleep duration, night wakings, and poor sleep quality. Prior research has been limited by assessment of subjectively reported sleep only and lack of data on daily relationships between sleep and pain. The current study utilized multilevel modeling to compare daily associations between sleep and pain in adolescents with chronic pain and healthy adolescents. Ninety-seven adolescents (n = 39 chronic pain; n = 58 healthy) aged 12-18, 70.1% female participated. Adolescents completed pain diary ratings (0-10 NRS) and actigraphic sleep monitoring for 10 days. Actigraphic sleep variables (duration, efficiency, WASO) and self-reported sleep quality were tested as predictors of next-day pain, and daytime pain was tested as a predictor of sleep that night. Effects of age, gender, study group, and depressive symptoms on daily associations between sleep and pain were also tested. Multivariate analyses revealed that nighttime sleep (p < .001) and minutes awake after sleep onset (WASO) (p < .05) predicted next-day pain, with longer sleep duration and higher WASO associated with higher pain. Contrary to hypotheses, neither nighttime sleep quality nor sleep efficiency predicted pain the following day. The interaction between nighttime sleep efficiency and study group was significant, with adolescents with pain showing stronger associations between sleep efficiency and next-day pain than healthy participants (p = .05). Contrary to hypotheses, daytime pain did not predict nighttime sleep. Daily associations between pain and sleep suggest that further work is needed to identify specific adolescent sleep behaviors (e.g., compensatory sleep behaviors) that may be targeted in interventions.     

Depressive symptoms and mortality in a prospective study of 2,558 older adults.

OBJECTIVE: The authors report results from a 7-year prospective study of depression and mortality in 2,558 Medicare recipients age 65 and older. METHODS: This report is based on a secondary data analysis of a randomized controlled trial that evaluated the cost-effectiveness of preventive services for older enrollees in an HMO. RESULTS: Subjects with mild-to-moderate depression at baseline did not have an increased risk of mortality compared with those without significant depression. The 3% of older adults with the most severe depressive syndromes, however, had significant increases in mortality, even after adjusting for demographics, health risk behaviors, and chronic medical disorders. CONCLUSION: The increase in mortality in this group of older adults was comparable to that in participants with chronic medical disorders such as emphysema or heart disease.     

A phase Ib,open‐label,single arm study to assess the safety,pharmacokinetics, and impact on humoral sensitization of SANGUINATE infusion in patients with end‐stage renal disease

The endeavor to study desensitization in kidney transplantation has not been matched by an effort to investigate strategies to prevent sensitization. In this study (NCT02437422), we investigated the safety, impact on sensitization, and pharmacokinetics of SANGUINATE (SG), a hemoglobin‐based oxygen carrier, as a potential alternative to packed red blood cells (PRBC) in transplant candidates with end‐stage renal disease (ESRD). Ten ESRD subjects meeting inclusion/exclusion (I/E) criteria were planned to receive three weekly infusions of SG (320 mg/kg). The study was stopped after five subjects were enrolled, and their data were analyzed after completing a follow‐up period of 90 days. Two subjects had elevated troponin I levels in setting of SG infusion, one of which was interpreted as a non‐ST elevation myocardial infarction. All other adverse events were transient. SG pharmacokinetic analysis showed mean (SD) C_max, T_max, AUC, and half‐life of 4.39 (0.69) mg/mL, 2.42 (0.91) hours, 171.86 (52.35) mg h/mL, and 40.60 (11.96) hours, respectively. None of the subjects developed new anti‐HLA antibodies following SG infusion and throughout the study period. In conclusion, SG is a potential alternative to PRBCs in ESRD patients considered for kidney transplantation as it was not associated with humoral sensitization. Larger studies in highly sensitized patients are required to further evaluate for potential safety signals.