Digital Commons Network^™

The Skp1 Homologs Skr-1/2 Are Required For The Caenorhabditis Elegans Skn-1 Antioxidant/Detoxification Response Independently Of P38 Mapk., Cheng-Wei Wu, Andrew Deonarine, Aaron Przybysz, Kevin Strange, Keith P. Chloe

Molecular Biosciences Faculty Publications

SKN-1/Nrf are the primary antioxidant/detoxification response transcription factors in animals and they promote health and longevity in many contexts. SKN-1/Nrf are activated by a remarkably broad-range of natural and synthetic compounds and physiological conditions. Defining the signaling mechanisms that regulate SKN-1/Nrf activation provides insights into how cells coordinate responses to stress. Nrf2 in mammals is regulated in part by the redox sensor repressor protein named Keap1. In C. elegans, the p38 MAPK cascade in the intestine activates SKN-1 during oxidative stress by promoting its nuclear accumulation. Interestingly, we find variation in the kinetics of p38 MAPK activation and tissues with …

A Continuum Of Admixture In The Western Hemisphere Revealed By The African Diaspora Genome, Rasika A. Mathias, Margaret A. Taub, Christopher R. Gignoux, Wenqing Fu, Shaila Musharoff, Timothy D. O'Connor, Candelaria Vergara, Dara G. Torgerson, Maria Pino-Yanes, Suyash S. Shringarpure, Lili Huang, Nicholas Rafaels, Meher P. Boorgula, Henry R. Johnston, Victor E. Ortega, Albert M. Levin, Wei Song, Raul Torres, Badri Padhukasahasram, Celeste Eng, Delmy-Aracely Mejia-Mejia, Trevor Ferguson, Zhaohui S. Qin, Alan F. Scott, Maria Yazdanbakhsh, James G. Wilson, Javier Marrugo, Leslie A. Lange, Rajesh Kumar, Pedro C Avila, Keoki L. Williams, Harold Watson, Lorraine B. Ware, Christopher Olopade, Olufunmilayo Olopade, Ricardo Oliveira, Carole Ober, Dan L. Nicolae, Deborah Meyers, Alvaro Mayorga, Jennifer Knight-Madden, Tina Hartert, Nadia N. Hansel, Marilyn G. Foreman, Jean G. Ford, Mezbah U. Faruque, Georgia M. Dunston, Luis Caraballo, Esteban G. Burchard, Eugene Bleecker, Maria Ilma Araujo, Edwin Francisco Herrera-Paz, Kimberly Gietzen, Wendy E. Grus, Michael Bamshad, Carlos D. Bustamante, Eimear E. Kenny, Ryan D. Hernandez, Terri H. Beaty, Ingo Ruczinski, Joshua Akey, Kathleen C. Barnes

Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research Articles

The African Diaspora in the Western Hemisphere represents one of the largest forced migrations in history and had a profound impact on genetic diversity in modern populations. To date, the fine-scale population structure of descendants of the African Diaspora remains largely uncharacterized. Here we present genetic variation from deeply sequenced genomes of 642 individuals from North and South American, Caribbean and West African populations, substantially increasing the lexicon of human genomic variation and suggesting much variation remains to be discovered in African-admixed populations in the Americas. We summarize genetic variation in these populations, quantifying the postcolonial sex-biased European gene flow …

Defining And Targeting Health Disparities In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Roy A. Pleasants, Isaretta L. Riley, David M. Mannino

Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The global burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) continues to grow in part due to better outcomes in other major diseases and in part because a substantial portion of the worldwide population continues to be exposed to inhalant toxins. However, a disproportionate burden of COPD occurs in people of low socioeconomic status (SES) due to differences in health behaviors, sociopolitical factors, and social and structural environmental exposures. Tobacco use, occupations with exposure to inhalant toxins, and indoor biomass fuel (BF) exposure are more common in low SES populations. Not only does SES affect the risk of developing COPD and …

New Measures To Capture End Of Life Concerns In Huntington Disease: Meaning And Purpose And Concern With Death And Dying From Hdqlife (A Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement System)., N E Carlozzi, N R Downing, M K Mccormack, S G Schilling, J S Perlmutter, E A Hahn, J S Lai, S Frank, K A Quaid, J S Paulsen, D Cella, S M Goodnight, J A Miner, M A Nance

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

PURPOSE: Huntington disease (HD) is an incurable terminal disease. Thus, end of life (EOL) concerns are common in these individuals. A quantitative measure of EOL concerns in HD would enable a better understanding of how these concerns impact health-related quality of life. Therefore, we developed new measures of EOL for use in HD.

METHODS: An EOL item pool of 45 items was field tested in 507 individuals with prodromal or manifest HD. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA, respectively) were conducted to establish unidimensional item pools. Item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning analyses were applied to …

Hdqlife: Development And Assessment Of Health-Related Quality Of Life In Huntington Disease (Hd), N E Carlozzi, S G Schilling, J-S Lai, J S Paulsen, E A Hahn, J S Perlmutter, C A Ross, N R Downing, A L Kratz, M K Mccormack, M A Nance, K A Quaid, J C Stout, R C Gershon, R E Ready, J A Miner, S K Barton, S L Perlman, S M Rao, S Frank, I Shoulson, H Marin, M D Geschwind, P Dayalu, S M Goodnight, D Cella

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

PURPOSE: Huntington disease (HD) is a chronic, debilitating genetic disease that affects physical, emotional, cognitive, and social health. Existing patient-reported outcomes (PROs) of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) used in HD are neither comprehensive, nor do they adequately account for clinically meaningful changes in function. While new PROs examining HRQOL (i.e., Neuro-QoL-Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders and PROMIS-Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) offer solutions to many of these shortcomings, they do not include HD-specific content, nor have they been validated in HD. HDQLIFE addresses this by validating 12 PROMIS/Neuro-QoL domains in individuals with HD and by using established PROMIS …

Combining Intensive Counseling By Frontline Workers With A Nationwide Mass Media Campaign Has Large Differential Impacts On Complementary Feeding Practices But Not On Child Growth: Results Of A Cluster-Randomized Program Evaluation In Bangladesh, Purnima Menon, Phuong Hong Nguyen, Kuntal Kumar Saha, Adiba Khaled, Tina Sanghvi, Jean Baker, Kaosar Afsana, Raisul Haque, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Marie T. Ruel, Rahul Rawat

Faculty Publications

Background: Complementary feeding (CF) contributes to child growth and development, but few CF programs are delivered at scale. Alive & Thrive addressed this in Bangladesh through intensified interpersonal counseling (IPC), mass media (MM), and community mobilization (CM).

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the impact of providing IPC + MM + CM (intensive) compared with standard nutrition counseling + less intensive MM + CM (nonintensive) on CF practices and anthropometric measurements.

Methods: We used a cluster-randomized, nonblinded evaluation with cross-sectional surveys [n = ∼600 and 1090 children 6-23.9 mo and 24-47.9 mo/group, respectively, at baseline (2010) and n = ∼500 …

Infant Formula Feeding At Birth Is Common And Inversely Associated With Subsequent Breastfeeding Behavior In Vietnam, Tuan T. Nguyen, Mellissa Withers, Nemat Hajeebhoy, Edward A. Frongillo

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The association between infant formula feeding at birth and subsequent feeding patterns in a low- or middle-income context is not clear. OBJECTIVE: We examined the association of infant formula feeding during the first 3 d after birth with subsequent infant formula feeding and early breastfeeding cessation in Vietnam. METHODS: In a cross-sectional survey, we interviewed 10,681 mothers with children aged 0-23 mo (mean age: 8.2 mo; 52% boys) about their feeding practices during the first 3 d after birth and on the previous day. We used stratified analysis, multiple logistic regression, propensity score-matching analysis, and structural equation modeling to …

Pacemaker Troubleshooting: Common Clinical Scenarios, Payam Safavi-Naeini, Mohammad Saeed

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Venous Myocardial Infarction In An Infant With Obstructed Totally Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage And Coronary Sinus Ostial Atresia, Deepa Prasad, James P Strainic, Khyati Pandya, Peter C Kouretas, Ravi C Ashwath

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

We report a rare causal association between obstructed supracardiac totally anomalous pulmonary venous drainage and coronary sinus ostial atresia. Our 12-week-old patient developed venous myocardial infarction secondary to coronary venous hypertension because her sole route of coronary venous drainage was obstructed. She recovered after the obstruction was relieved by balloon dilation. Surgical repair then included anastomosis of the pulmonary venous confluence to the left atrium, ligation of the vertical vein, and unroofing of the coronary sinus. Coronary sinus ostial atresia is rarely diagnosed before autopsy.

Post-Transplant Outcomes In High-Risk Compared With Non-High-Risk Multiple Myeloma: A Cibmtr Analysis., Emma C. Scott, Parameswaran Hari, Manish Sharma, Jennifer Le-Rademacher, Jiaxing Huang, Dan Vogl, Muneer Abidi, Amer Beitinjaneh, Henry Fung, Siddhartha Ganguly, Gerhard Hildebrandt, Leona Holmberg, Matt Kalaycio, Shaji Kumar, Robert Kyle, Hillard Lazarus, Cindy Lee, Richard T. Maziarz, Kenneth Meehan, Joseph Mikhael, Taiga Nishihori, Muthalagu Ramanathan, Saad Usmani, Jason Tay, David Vesole, Baldeep Wirk, Jean Yared, Bipin N. Savani, Cristina Gasparetto, Amrita Krishnan, Tomer Mark, Yago Nieto, Anita D'Souza

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Conventional cytogenetics and interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) identify high-risk multiple myeloma (HRM) populations characterized by poor outcomes. We analyzed these differences among HRM versus non-HRM populations after upfront autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (autoHCT). Between 2008 and 2012, 715 patients with multiple myeloma identified by FISH and/or cytogenetic data with upfront autoHCT were identified in the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database. HRM was defined as del17p, t(4;14), t(14;16), hypodiploidy (-Y) or chromosome 1 p and 1q abnormalities; all others were non-HRM. Among 125 HRM patients (17.5%), induction with bortezomib and immunomodulatory agents (imids) was higher …

Practice Characteristics Of Emergency Department Extracorporeal Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (Ecpr) Programs In The United States: The Current State Of The Art Of Emergency Department Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (Ed Ecmo)., Joseph E. Tonna, Nicholas J. Johnson, John Greenwood, David F. Gaieski, Zachary Shinar, Joseph M. Bellezo, Lance Becker, Atman P. Shah, Scott T. Youngquist, Michael P. Mallin, James Franklin Fair, Kyle J. Gunnerson, Cindy Weng, Stephen Mckellar

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: To characterize the current scope and practices of centers performing extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) on the undifferentiated patient with cardiac arrest in the emergency department.

METHODS: We contacted all US centers in January 2016 that had submitted adult eCPR cases to the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) registry and surveyed them, querying for programs that had performed eCPR in the Emergency Department (ED ECMO). Our objective was to characterize the following domains of ED ECMO practice: program characteristics, patient selection, devices and techniques, and personnel.

RESULTS: Among 99 centers queried, 70 responded. Among these, 36 centers performed ED ECMO. …

Long-Term Follow-Up Study Of Temporary Tricuspid Valve Detachment As Approach To Vsd Repair Without Consequent Tricuspid Dysfunction, Gianluca Lucchese, Lucia Rossetti, Giuseppe Faggian, Giovanni B Luciani

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Temporary tricuspid valve detachment improves the operative view of certain congenital ventricular septal defects (VSDs), but its long-term effects on tricuspid valve function are still debated.

From 2002 through 2012, we performed a prospective study of 68 children (mean age, 1.28 ± 1.01 yr) who underwent transatrial closure of VSDs following temporary tricuspid valve detachment. Sixty patients had conoventricular and 8 had mid-muscular VSDs. All were in sinus rhythm. Seventeen patients had systemic pulmonary artery pressures. Preoperative echocardiograms showed trivial-to-mild tricuspid regurgitation in 62 patients and tricuspid dysplasia with severe regurgitation in 6 patients. Patients were clinically and echocardiographically monitored …

Catheter Ablation Of Ventricular Tachycardia: Moving Beyond Palliation, Nilesh Mathuria

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Thirty-Three Years Of Dizzy Medical Writing And Editing: A Meta-Analysis And The Hall Of Shame, Herbert L Fred, Mark S Scheid

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Effect Of A Randomised Exclusive Breastfeeding Counselling Intervention Nested Into The Minimat Prenatal Nutrition Trial In Bangladesh, Ashraful Islam Khan, Iqbal Kabir, Hanna Eneroth, Shams El Arifeen, Eva-Charlotte Ekström, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Lars Åke Persson

Faculty Publications

AIM: It is unknown whether maternal malnutrition reduces the effect of counselling on exclusive breastfeeding. This study evaluated the effect of breastfeeding counselling on the duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and whether the timing of prenatal food and different micronutrient supplements further prolonged this duration. METHODS: Pregnant women in Matlab, Bangladesh, were randomised to receive daily food supplements of 600 kcal at nine weeks of gestation or at the standard 20 weeks. They also were allocated to either 30 mg of iron and 400 μg folic acid, or the standard programme 60 mg of iron and folic acid or multiple micronutrients. …

Tau Phosphorylation At Alzheimer's Disease-Related Ser356 Contributes To Tau Stabilization When Par-1/Mark Activity Is Elevated., Kanae Ando, Mikiko Oka, Yosuke Ohtake, Motoki Hayashishita, Sawako Shimizu, Shin-Ichi Hisanaga, Koichi M. Iijima

Department of Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Abnormal phosphorylation of the microtubule-associated protein tau is observed in many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD-related phosphorylation of two tau residues, Ser262 and Ser356, by PAR-1/MARK stabilizes tau in the initial phase of mismetabolism, leading to subsequent phosphorylation events, accumulation, and toxicity. However, the relative contribution of phosphorylation at each of these sites to tau stabilization has not yet been elucidated. In a Drosophila model of human tau toxicity, we found that tau was phosphorylated at Ser262, but not at Ser356, and that blocking Ser262 phosphorylation decreased total tau levels. By contrast, when PAR-1 was co-overexpressed with tau, …

Methodology Of Aa Crash: A Prospective Observational Study Evaluating The Incidence And Pathogenesis Of Adverse Post-Traumatic Sequelae In African-Americans Experiencing Motor Vehicle Collision., Sarah D. Linnstaedt, Jun-Mei Hu, Andrea Y. Liu, April C. Soward, Kenneth A. Bollen, Henry E. Wang, Phyllis L. Hendry, Erin Zimny, Christopher A. Lewandowski, Marc-Anthony Velilla, Kathia Damiron, Claire Pearson, Robert Domeier, Sangeeta Kaushik, James Feldman, Mark Rosenberg, Jeffrey Jones, Robert Swor, Niels Rathlev, Samuel A. Mclean

Emergency Medicine Articles

INTRODUCTION: A motor vehicle collision (MVC) is one of the most common life-threatening events experienced by individuals living in the USA. While most individuals recover following MVC, a significant proportion of individuals develop adverse post-traumatic sequelae such as post-traumatic stress disorder or persistent musculoskeletal pain. Adverse post-traumatic sequelae are common, morbid and costly public health problems in the USA and other industrialised countries. The pathogenesis of these disorders following MVC remains poorly understood. In the USA, available data suggest that African-Americans experience an increased burden of adverse post-traumatic sequelae after MVC compared to European Americans, but to date no studies …

Spontaneous Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Describing The Diagnostic Accuracy Of History, Physical Examination, Imaging, And Lumbar Puncture With An Exploration Of Test Thresholds., Christopher R Carpenter, Adnan M Hussain, Michael J Ward, Gregory J Zipfel, Susan Fowler, Jesse M Pines, Marco L A Sivilotti

Emergency Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a rare, but serious etiology of headache. The diagnosis of SAH is especially challenging in alert, neurologically intact patients, as missed or delayed diagnosis can be catastrophic.

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to perform a diagnostic accuracy systematic review and meta-analysis of history, physical examination, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tests, computed tomography (CT), and clinical decision rules for spontaneous SAH. A secondary objective was to delineate probability of disease thresholds for imaging and lumbar puncture (LP).

METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and research meeting abstracts were searched up to June 2015 for studies of emergency department patients …

Chemical Modification Of Extracellular Matrix By Cold Atmospheric Plasma-Generated Reactive Species Affects Chondrogenesis And Bone Formation., Peter Eisenhauer, Natalie Chernets, You Song, Danil Dobrynin, Nancy Pleshko, Marla J Steinbeck, Theresa A. Freeman

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

The goal of this study was to investigate whether cold plasma generated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) modifies extracellular matrices (ECM) to influence chondrogenesis and endochondral ossification. Replacement of cartilage by bone during endochondral ossification is essential in fetal skeletal development, bone growth and fracture healing. Regulation of this process by the ECM occurs through matrix remodelling, involving a variety of cell attachment molecules and growth factors, which influence cell morphology and protein expression. The commercially available ECM, Matrigel, was treated with microsecond or nanosecond pulsed (μsp or nsp, respectively) DBD frequencies conditions at the equivalent frequencies (1 kHz) or …

Polypharmacy And Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use In Geriatric Oncology., Manvi Sharma, Kah Poh Loh, Ginah Nightingale Pharmd, Bcop, Supriya G. Mohile, Holly M. Holmes

College of Pharmacy Faculty Papers

Polypharmacy is a highly prevalent problem in older persons, and is challenging to assess and improve due to variations in definitions of the problem and the heterogeneous methods of medication review and reduction. The purpose of this review is to summarize evidence regarding the prevalence and impact of polypharmacy in geriatric oncology patients and to provide recommendations for assessment and management. Polypharmacy has somewhat variably been incorporated into geriatric assessment studies in geriatric oncology, and polypharmacy has not been consistently evaluated as a predictor of negative outcomes in patients with cancer. Once screened, interventions for polypharmacy are even more uncertain. …

Increasing Incidence Within Pubmed Of The Use Of The Misspelling "Pruritis" (Sic) Instead Of "Pruritus" For Itch, Alan B. Fleischer Jr.

Surgery Faculty Publications

Writers generally benefit from word processing technology, and the use of other forms of formal writing such as typewriters is archaic. The first stand-alone spell checker programs originated in the early 1980s, and by 1995 they were embedded within word processing programs such as Word 95 (1). With the ubiquity of such software, spelling errors in the medical literature should be extinct. Yet, as a reader of the medical literature with an interest in itch, this author is impressed with the numbers of misspellings of the word «pruritus.» The word pruritus is derived from the Latin pruritus, past participle …

Recurrent Violent Injury: Magnitude, Risk Factors, And Opportunities For Intervention From A Statewide Analysis., Elinore Kaufman, Kristin L. Rising, Md, Ms, Douglas J. Wiebe, David J. Ebler, Marie L. Crandall, M. Kit Delgado

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Although preventing recurrent violent injury is an important component of a public health approach to interpersonal violence and a common focus of violence intervention programs, the true incidence of recurrent violent injury is unknown. Prior studies have reported recurrence rates from 0.8% to 44%, and risk factors for recurrence are not well established.

METHODS: We used a statewide, all-payer database to perform a retrospective cohort study of emergency department visits for injury due to interpersonal violence in Florida, following up patients injured in 2010 for recurrence through 2012. We assessed risk factors for recurrence with multivariable logistic regression and …

The Effects Of Oncologist Implicit Racial Bias In Racially Discordant Oncology Interactions, Louis A. Penner, John F. Dovidio, Richard Gonzalez, Terrance L. Albrecht, Robert Chapman, Tanina Foster, Felicity Wk Harper, Nao Hagiwara, Lauren M. Hamel, Anthony F. Shields, Shirish Gadgeel, Michael S. Simon, Jennifer J. Griggs, Susan Eggly

Hematology/Oncology Articles

PURPOSE: Health providers' implicit racial bias negatively affects communication and patient reactions to many medical interactions. However, its effects on racially discordant oncology interactions are largely unknown. Thus, we examined whether oncologist implicit racial bias has similar effects in oncology interactions. We further investigated whether oncologist implicit bias negatively affects patients' perceptions of recommended treatments (i.e., degree of confidence, expected difficulty). We predicted oncologist implicit bias would negatively affect communication, patient reactions to interactions, and, indirectly, patient perceptions of recommended treatments.

METHODS: Participants were 18 non-black medical oncologists and 112 black patients. Oncologists completed an implicit racial bias measure several …

Mitochondrial Akt Regulation Of Hypoxic Tumor Reprogramming., Young Chan Chae, Valentina Vaira, M. Cecilia Caino, Hsin-Yao Tang, Jae Ho Seo, Andrew V. Kossenkov, Luisa Ottobrini, Cristina Martelli, Giovanni Lucignani, Irene Bertolini, Marco Locatelli, Kelly G. Bryant, Jagadish C. Ghosh, Sofia Lisanti, Bonsu Ku, Silvano Bosari, Lucia R. Languino, David W. Speicher, Dario C. Altieri

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Hypoxia is a universal driver of aggressive tumor behavior, but the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. Using a phosphoproteomics screen, we now show that active Akt accumulates in the mitochondria during hypoxia and phosphorylates pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) on Thr346 to inactivate the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. In turn, this pathway switches tumor metabolism toward glycolysis, antagonizes apoptosis and autophagy, dampens oxidative stress, and maintains tumor cell proliferation in the face of severe hypoxia. Mitochondrial Akt-PDK1 signaling correlates with unfavorable prognostic markers and shorter survival in glioma patients and may provide an "actionable" therapeutic target in cancer.

Statins And Exercise Training Response In Heart Failure Patients: Insights From Hf-Action., Jacob P. Kelly, Allison Dunning, Phillip J. Schulte, Mona Fiuzat, Eric S. Leifer, Jerome L. Fleg, Lawton S. Cooper, Steven J. Keteyian, Dalane W. Kitzman, Ileana L. Pina, William E. Kraus, David J. Whellan, Christopher M. O'Connor, Robert J. Mentz

Division of Cardiology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess for a treatment interaction between statin use and exercise training (ET) response.

BACKGROUND: Recent data suggest that statins may attenuate ET response, but limited data exist in patients with heart failure (HF).

METHODS: HF-ACTION (Heart Failure: A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of Exercise Training) was a randomized trial of 2,331 patients with chronic HF with ejection fraction ≤35% who were randomized to usual care with or without ET. We evaluated whether there was a treatment interaction between statins and ET response for the change in quality of life and aerobic capacity …

Underuse Of Oral Anticoagulants For Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation: Past, Present, And Future, Ramsey M Wehbe, Ajay Yadlapati

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Periodontitis In Chronic Heart Failure, Hanna Fröhlich, Kristina Herrmann, Jennifer Franke, Alamara Karimi, Tobias Täger, Rita Cebola, Hugo A Katus, Christian Zugck, Lutz Frankenstein

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Periodontal disease has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. The purpose of our study was to investigate whether a correlation between periodontitis and chronic heart failure exists, as well as the nature of the underlying cause.

We enrolled 71 patients (mean age, 54 ± 13 yr; 56 men) who had stable chronic heart failure; all underwent complete cardiologic and dental evaluations. The periodontal screening index was used to quantify the degree of periodontal disease. We compared the findings to those in the general population with use of data from the 4th German Dental Health Survey.

Gingivitis, moderate …

Coronary-Cameral Fistula Caused By Guidewire Trauma And Resolved By Coil Embolization, Suvro Banerjee, Soumya Patra

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

A 57-year-old woman presented with effort angina. A coronary angiogram revealed critical 2-vessel disease, for which she subsequently underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. During angioplasty, a coronary guidewire-inadvertently passed into the right ventricle through the septal branches of the posterior descending coronary artery-caused a coronary artery-to-right ventricular fistula. This fistula was successfully closed percutaneously by coil embolization. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a case in which a coronary artery-to-right ventricular fistula caused by a guidewire was managed successfully by coil embolization.

Advanced Interventional Therapy For Radiation-Induced Cardiovascular Disease, Daisy C Nieto

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

This report describes the case of a 61-year-old woman who presented with dyspnea, aortic stenosis, and coronary artery disease-typical side effects of radiation therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma. A poor candidate for surgery, she underwent successful high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention and subsequent transcatheter aortic valve replacement. This report highlights some of the cardiovascular-specific sequelae of radiation therapy for cancer treatment; in addition, possible directions for future investigations are discussed.

Association Between High Endocardial Unipolar Voltage And Improved Left Ventricular Function In Patients With Ischemic Cardiomyopathy, Ki Park, Dejian Lai, Eileen M Handberg, Lem Moyé, Emerson C Perin, Carl J Pepine, R David Anderson

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

We know that endocardial mapping reports left ventricular electrical activity (voltage) and that these data can predict outcomes in patients undergoing traditional revascularization. Because the mapping data from experimental models have also been linked with myocardial viability, we hypothesized an association between increased unipolar voltage in patients undergoing intramyocardial injections and their subsequent improvement in left ventricular performance.

For this exploratory analysis, we evaluated 86 patients with left ventricular dysfunction, heart-failure symptoms, possible angina, and no revascularization options, who were undergoing endocardial mapping. Fifty-seven patients received bone marrow mononuclear cell (BMC) injections and 29 patients received cell-free injections of a …