Rheumatic Heart Disease in the Twenty-First Century

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a chronic valvular disease resulting after severe or repetitive episodes of acute rheumatic fever (ARF), an autoimmune response to group A Streptococcus infection. RHD has been almost eliminated with improved social and health infrastructure in affluent countries while it remains a neglected disease with major cause of morbidity and mortality in many low- and middle-income countries, and resource-limited regions of high-income countries. Despite our evolving understanding of the pathogenesis of RHD, there have not been any significant advances to prevent or halt progression of disease in recent history. Long-term penicillin-based treatment and surgery remain the backbone of a RHD control program in the absence of an effective vaccine. The advent of echocardiographic screening algorithms has improved the accuracy of diagnosing RHD and has shed light on the enormous burden of disease. Encouragingly, this has led to a rekindled commitment from researchers in the most affected countries to advocate and take bold actions to end this disease of social inequality.     

Type 1 Phototherapeutic Agents,Part I: Preparation and Cancer Cell Viability Studies of Novel Photolabile Sulfenamides

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Highly active antiretroviral therapy versus zidovudine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission in a programmatic setting, Botswana

Few studies have compared the programmatic effectiveness of the recommended strategies of antenatal highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and zidovudine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission. We prospectively followed infants (93% formula fed) whose mothers who took either HAART (258 infants) or zidovudine (170 infants) during pregnancy in the Botswana national program. Overall, 10 infants (2.5%) acquired HIV--9 infants in the zidovudine group (5.5%, 95% confidence interval: 2.6% to 10.2%) and 1 infant in the HAART group (0.4%, 95% confidence interval: 0.0% to 2.2%). Maternal HAART was associated with decreased prevention of mother-to-child transmission (P = 0.001) and improved HIV-free survival (P = 0.040) compared with zidovudine (with or without single-dose nevirapine) in a programmatic setting.     

Evaluation of a Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Approach to Estimate the Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections and the Detection of Viral Variants in Disparate Oregon Communities at City and Neighborhood Scales

Background: Positive correlations have been reported between wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and a community’s burden of infection, disease or both. However, previous studies mostly compared wastewater to clinical case counts or nonrepresentative convenience samples, limiting their quantitative potential.Objectives: This study examined whether wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations could provide better estimations for SARS-CoV-2 community prevalence than reported cases of COVID-19. In addition, this study tested whether wastewater-based epidemiology methods could identify neighborhood-level COVID-19 hotspots and SARS-CoV-2 variants.Methods: Community SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was estimated from eight randomized door-to-door nasal swab sampling events in six Oregon communities of disparate size, location, and demography over a 10-month period. Simultaneously, wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations were quantified at each community’s wastewater treatment plant and from 22 Newport, Oregon, neighborhoods. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was sequenced from all positive wastewater and nasal swab samples. Clinically reported case counts were obtained from the Oregon Health Authority.Results: Estimated community SARS-CoV-2 prevalence ranged from 8 to 1,687/10,000 persons. Community wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations ranged from 2.9 to 5.1log10 gene copies per liter. Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations were more highly correlated (Pearson’s r=0.96; R2=0.91) with community prevalence than were clinically reported cases of COVID-19 (Pearson’s r=0.85; R2=0.73). Monte Carlo simulations indicated that wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations were significantly better than clinically reported cases at estimating prevalence (p<0.05). In addition, wastewater analyses determined neighborhood-level COVID-19 hot spots and identified SARS-CoV-2 variants (B.1 and B.1.399) at the neighborhood and city scales.Discussion: The greater reliability of wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations over clinically reported case counts was likely due to systematic biases that affect reported case counts, including variations in access to testing and underreporting of asymptomatic cases. With these advantages, combined with scalability and low costs, wastewater-based epidemiology can be a key component in public health surveillance of COVID-19 and other communicable infections. https://doi.org/10.1289/{"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"EHP10289","term_id":"372009674","term_text":"EHP10289"}}EHP10289     

Photodynamic therapy of endobronchial tumors

After presensitization with IV hematoporphyrin derivative (HpD), neoplasms in the tracheobronchial tree of 18 patients were treated by photodynamic therapy (PDT) with 630-nm light from a tunable dye argon laser system delivered through quartz fibers passed through the biopsy channel of a flexible bronchoscope under local anesthesia. Tumor effect was measured by complete response (CR)--no visible tumor in area treated, partial response (PR)--tumor size or degree of obstruction reduced by more than 50% and some response (SR)--tumor or degree of obstruction reduced by more than 20% but less than 50%. One month or less after 30 treatments to 26 areas in 18 patients, there was 40% CR, 57% PR, and 3% SR. All tumors showed at least some response. Since many of these patients had end-stage disease, the effect on the clinical condition and symptoms were evaluated using the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), oxygen requirements, and the presence or absence of respiratory symptoms. One month after treatment, 61% were clinically improved, with an increase of the average KPS from 48 to 61. Three patients with stage III primary lung cancer improved from being severely disabled requiring hospitalization to normal activity with effort and lived an average of 3.5 months. One patient with metastatic colon cancer was palliated from bedrest with continuous oxygen to normal activity with no oxygen for 12 months. A patient with hemoptysis and carcinoma in situ remains biopsy- and symptom-free for 34 months. A patient with hemoptysis and cough from breast cancer metastases maintained CR, biopsy- and symptom-free for 7 months. A patient with hemoptysis from recurrence at the bronchial stump maintained CR, biopsy- and symptom-free for 13 months. Six patients with Stage III primary lung cancer with average KPS of 27 (severe) died in the hospital and lived an average of 5 weeks (two CR, two PR, two SR). One patient with atelectasis of the right lower lobe re-expanded 14 days after treatments began.     

Simulating the impact of targeting lower systolic blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol levels on type 2 diabetes complication rates

Aims

There are few data available on the incremental benefits of risk factor modification in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We simulated the potential benefits of achieving lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) and LDL-cholesterol targets.