Automatic quantification of light sleep shows differences between apnea patients and healthy subjects.

A fully automatic method to quantify sleep depth during the night was developed in the present work. The method was tested using 20 all-night recordings from 10 healthy control subjects and 10 sleep apnea patients. The results showed statistically significant differences in sleep depth between control subjects and sleep apnea patients. The overall sleep was lighter in apnea patients than in healthy control subjects, most likely indicating a disturbed sleep caused by apneas. The automatic parameters presented provide a method to quantify the light sleep and could in the future possibly be used in clinical sleep studies and follow-up of treatment.     

Cardiac positron emission tomography imaging with [11C]hydroxyephedrine, a specific tracer for sympathetic nerve endings, and its functional correlates in congestive heart failure.

The integrative mechanisms of autonomic dysfunction in congestive heart failure (CHF) remain poorly understood. We sought to study cardiac retention of [11C]hydroxyephedrine (HED), a specific tracer for sympathetic presynaptic innervation, and its functional correlates in CHF. Thirty patients with mild to moderate heart failure underwent resting cardiac HED positron emission tomography imaging, spectrum analysis testing of systolic pressure and heart rate variability in the resting supine and 70 degrees head-up tilt positions, and testing of baroreflex sensitivity. Compared with control subjects, global myocardial HED retention index was reduced by 30% (p <0.01) in patients with CHF. The HED retention index did not correlate significantly with heart rate variability. However, it correlated with baroreflex sensitivity at rest (r = 0.43, p = 0.05) and with systolic pressure low-frequency (0.03 to 0.15 Hz) variability at head-up tilt (r = 0.76, p <0.01), as well as with low-frequency systolic pressure variability response from baseline to tilt (r = 0.75, p <0.01). We conclude that cardiac HED retention is reduced in patients with CHF. This correlates with blunted vascular sympathetic effector responses during posture-induced reflex activation and baroreflex control of heart rate, suggesting an interdependence between cardiac presynaptic innervation abnormalities and neural mechanisms important to blood pressure maintenance in CHF.     

Pregnancy induced TMA in severe preeclampsia results from complement-mediated thromboinflammation

Preeclampsia is a multifactorial vascular disease unique to human pregnancy. While genetic and antiangiogenic factors are important contributors to preeclampsia susceptibility, recent studies have shown that dysregulation and/or over-activation of the complement system has an integral role in disease etiology. Furthermore, the role of the coagulation cascade may be underappreciated in the development of the disease. Traditionally, for research purposes, the pool of preeclampsia cases has been divided into non-severe and severe disease depending on the onset and severity of the symptoms. However, of particular interest are a small but important minority of cases that present with symptoms likening to those of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets syndrome, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, all thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) diseases, with the hallmark mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction and aberrant activation of complement and coagulation cascades. We therefore propose a third class, severe TMA-like preeclampsia to be included in the categorization of preeclampsia patients. Identifying these patients would target research, diagnostic differentiation, and novel treatment options to the subclass of patients with life-threatening disease that are most likely to benefit from next-generation drug development.     

Improved patient-reported outcomes after autologous fat transplantation and corrective surgery after breast surgery

Background: Autologous fat transplantation (AFT) is being increasingly used to improve the results after breast-conserving surgery and breast reconstruction. However, studies on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after AFT are scarce. The aim of this prospective longitudinal case-series study was to assess PRO in women who had undergone AFT after surgery for breast cancer or risk-reducing mastectomy.

Methods: Fifty women, who had undergone breast-conserving surgery or breast reconstruction, needing corrective surgery, were consecutively included between 2008 and 2013. A 20-item study-specific questionnaire (SSQ) and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were used pre-operatively and 6 months, 1 year and 2 years post-operatively, to evaluate PRO and HRQoL.

Results: The patients underwent three (1–4) AFT procedures, with the injection of 164?ml (median) (range 40–516) fat. Thirty-eight and 34 patients completed the study-specific questionnaire and the SF-36, respectively, both pre-operatively and after 2 years. Sixteen of the 20 items in the SSQ were improved after 2 years, including breast size (p?p?p?p?=?0.001), pain in the region (p?=?0.005), scarring from previous breast surgery (p?p?Conclusions: AFT alone or in combination with other corrective surgical procedures, improved PRO after breast-conserving surgery and breast reconstruction in both irradiated and non-irradiated women.