Does point-of-care ultrasonography improve diagnostic accuracy in emergency department patients with undifferentiated hypotension? An international randomized controlled trial from the SHOC-ED investigators

PURPOSE

Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) is an established tool in the management of hypotensive patients in the emergency department (ED). We compared the diagnostic accuracy of a POCUS protocol versus standard assessment without POCUS in patients with undifferentiated hypotension.

METHODS

This was an international, multicenter randomized controlled trial included three EDs in North America and three in South Africa from September 2012 to December 2016. Hypotensive patients were randomized to early POCUS protocol plus standard care (POCUS group) or standard care without POCUS (control group). Initial and secondary diagnoses were recorded at 0 and 60 min. The main outcome was measures of diagnostic accuracy of a POCUS protocol in differentiating between cardiogenic and non-cardiogenic shock. Secondary outcomes were diagnostic performance for shock sub-types, as well as changes in perceived category of shock and overall diagnosis.

RESULTS

Follow-up was completed for 270 of 273 patients. For cardiogenic shock, the POCUS-based diagnostic approach (POCUS) performed similarly to the non-POCUS approach (control) for specificity [95.5% (89.9-98.5) vs.93.8% (87.7-97.5)]; positive likelihood ratio (17.92 vs 14.80); negative likelihood ratio (0.21 vs 0.09) and diagnostic odds ratio (85.6 vs 166.57), with a similar overall diagnostic accuracy between the two approaches [93.7% (88-97.2) vs 93.6% (87.8-97.2)]. Diagnostic performance measures were similar across sub-categories of shock.

CONCLUSION

This is the first randomized controlled trial to compare diagnostic performance of a POCUS protocol to standard care without POCUS in undifferentiated hypotensive ED patients. POCUS performed well diagnostically in undifferentiated hypotensive patients, especially as a rule-in test; however, performance did not differ meaningfully from standard assessment.

PI3K/mTOR inhibitor omipalisib prolongs cardiac repolarization along with a mild proarrhythmic outcome in the AV block dog model

Background

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway is an interesting target in cancer treatment. The awareness of the proarrhythmic risk of PI3K inhibitors was raised because PI3K is also involved in regulating signaling toward cardiac ion channels. Canine cardiomyocytes treated with PI3K inhibitors show an increased action potential duration and reduced cardiac repolarizing currents. Now, the potential proarrhythmic effect of chronic treatment of PI3K/mTOR inhibitor GSK2126458 (omipalisib) was investigated in the atrioventricular (AV) block dog model.

Methods

Purpose-bred Mongrel dogs received complete AV block by ablation of the bundle of His and their hearts were paced in the right ventricular apex at VDD-mode (RVA-VDD). In this way, sinus rhythm was maintained for 15 ± 1 days and thereby bradycardia-induced cardiac remodeling was prevented. Dogs received 1 mg/kg omipalisib once (n = 3) or twice (n = 10) a day via oral administration for 7 days. Under standardized conditions (anesthesia, bradycardia at 60 beats/min, and a dofetilide challenge), potential proarrhythmic effects of omipalisib were investigated.

Results

Twice daily dosing of omipalisib increased accumulative plasma levels compared to once daily dosing accompanied with adverse events. Omipalisib prolonged the QT interval at baseline and more strongly after the dofetilide challenge (490 ± 37 to 607 ± 48 ms). The arrhythmic outcome after omipalisib resulted in single ectopic beats in 30% of dogs perpetuating in multiple ectopic beats and TdP arrhythmia in 20% of dogs. Isolated ventricular cardiomyocytes from omipalisib-treated dogs showed a diminished I_Ks current density.

Conclusion

Chronic treatment of PI3K/mTOR inhibitor omipalisib prolonged the QT interval in a preclinical model under standardized proarrhythmic conditions. Furthermore, this study showed that electrical remodeling induced by omipalisib had a mild proarrhythmic outcome.

P-750 The cost-effectiveness of transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy versus hysterosalpingography in the work-up for subfertility

Study question

Is transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy (THL) cost-effective compared to hysterosalpingography (HSG) in the work-up for subfertility in a population at low-risk for tubal pathology?

Summary answer

THL is cost-effective compared to HSG in a preselected group of women at low-risk of tubal pathology.

What is known already

Tubal pathology is a common cause of subfertility and tubal patency testing plays an important part in the work-up of the subfertile couple and the subsequent counseling for fertility treatment. THL is an out-patient procedure. After access through the pouch of Douglas, the tubes and pelvic cavity are directly observed using hydroflotation, whereas HSG is a radiographic evaluation of the uterine cavity and patency of the tubes with injection of contrast medium in the uterine cavity. Both methods are safe and feasible for subfertile women at low-risk of tubal pathology.

Study design, size, duration

We performed an economic analysis as part of a randomized controlled trial comparing THL and HSG in the work-up for subfertility. Women were eligible if they had an indication for evaluation of tubal patency. Primary outcome was a conception leading to live birth in 24 months. We randomly assigned 300 subfertile women to THL or HSG between May 2013 and October 2016.

Participants/materials, setting, methods

This study was performed in four Dutch teaching hospitals. The economic evaluation was performed from a health care perspective. Costs were either derived from literature or calculated. The mean costs and outcomes for each treatment group were compared. Costs were combined with effectiveness by calculating ICER, and bootstrap resampling was performed. We generated a cost-effectiveness plane and cost-effectiveness acceptability curves.

Main results and the role of chance

After 24 months of follow-up there was a 3% difference in live birth rate in favour of the THL group (58.5% in the THL group versus 55.4% in the HSG group (83/142 versus 82/148 difference 3.0% (95% CI: -8.3 – 14.4)). Multiple pregnancy and miscarriage rate were low and did not differ between groups. Ectopic pregnancy occurred in two women in the HSG group and not in the THL group. The mean cost was lower in the THL group, compared to the HSG group (THL group 4,927 EUR versus 5,197 EUR in the HSG group, difference -270 EUR). Although the costs of the diagnostic procedure itself were higher in the THL group (425 EUR versus 289 EUR, difference 136 EUR), the costs for fertility treatments are higher in the HSG group. The base case outcome is that THL costs less and is more effective than HSG, making THL the dominant strategy. The spread of the bootstrap indicates that there is uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of THL over HSG but less uncertainty regarding the cost difference between THL and HSG.

Limitations, reasons for caution

This trial was conducted in the Netherlands, using price calculations of the Dutch healthcare system in Euro’s. Since prices of fertility treatments and especially ART or fertility enhancing surgery can vary widely worldwide, it is possible that the outcomes of our study are not generalizable to other countries.

Wider implications of the findings

The findings of our trial suggest that in a preselected group of women with low risk for tubal pathology, a diagnostic strategy starting with THL is cost-effective compared to a diagnostic strategy starting with HSG in the workup for subfertility.

Trial registration number

NTR3462

TNNI3K delays atrioventricular conduction and reduces connexin-45 gap junctional coupling

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): The Dutch Research Council (NWO Talent Scheme)

Introduction

Cardiac conduction delay is the main substrate for triggering arrhythmias. Hence, prolongation of the PR interval on the electrocardiogram (ECG) is a strong predictor of atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia. In previous research, cardiac troponin I-interacting kinase (TNNI3K) has been identified as a regulator of the PR interval. Various inbred mouse strains showed a correlation between Tnni3k expression levels and PR interval durations. Additionally, transgenic mice overexpressing hTNNI3K presented an extreme PR interval prolongation.

Objective

This study aims to unravel the mechanism underlying TNNI3K-driven PR interval prolongation.

Methods

ECG parameters were recorded in mice expressing physiological levels of Tnni3k (congenic), overexpressing hTNNI3K (TNNI3Ktg), or overexpressing kinase-dead hTNNI3K (TNNI3K-KDtg) and were compared to low-Tnni3k expressing DBA/2J control mice. Atrioventricular (AV) conduction was measured in Langendorff-perfused isolated hearts by electrical mapping. Cellular electrophysiology and conductance were measured using the (dual) patch-clamp technique. AV nodal collagen levels were identified by Pico Sirius Red staining. Candidate interactors were identified by immunoprecipitation of transfected HEK293A cell lysates. In stable HeLa-Connexin 45 (Cx45) cell lines expressing TNNI3K, Cx45 protein expression and phosphorylation levels were investigated by Western blot. Localisation of Cx45 was characterised by immunofluorescence.

Results

At six weeks of age, congenic and TNNI3Ktg mice show a 17% and 35% prolonged PR interval duration, respectively. Nonetheless, the PR interval of TNNI3K-KDtg mice did not change. Electrical mapping experiments on TNNI3Ktg mouse hearts show a corresponding AV conduction delay, which was neither driven by changes in cellular atrial cardiomyocyte electrophysiology nor driven by AV-nodal fibrosis. We next identified Cx45, a highly expressed connexin in the AV node, as a potential TNNI3K interactor. HeLa-Cx45 cells expressing TNNI3K demonstrated a reduced Cx45 conductance compared to controls without changes in kinetics. Moreover, we observed relatively decreased Cx45 phosphorylation and increased Cx45 intracellular accumulation.

Conclusion

We here present TNNI3K as a kinase-driven modulator of PR interval prolongation and AV conduction delay, which is independent of atrial electrophysiology and AV nodal fibrosis. We further identified Cx45 as a novel interactor of TNNI3K. The presence of TNNI3K reduces Cx45 gap junctional conductance and promotes intracellular Cx45 protein accumulation, which could explain the PR interval prolongation in vivo. Altogether, this study implies a crucial role for TNNI3K in AV nodal conduction.

A technique for eyelid margin repair without use of marginal sutures

Purpose: To describe and evaluate a novel technique for eyelid margin repair without the use of marginal sutures.Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent primary repair of full-thickness lid margin defects using the described technique between March 2013 and May 2019 was performed. Clinical data such as indication for repair as well as size of defect was analyzed. The primary outcome measures included presence or absence of lid notching and post-operative complications such as wound dehiscence, infection, eyelid malposition, and keratopathy. Descriptive statistics were used.Results: A total of 31 cases were identified. Five were excluded in post-operative analysis for follow-up of less than 2 weeks. The average age was 59.6 years (range 22-88) and 54.8% of patients were female. Average follow up in post-operative analysis group was 17.0 weeks (range 2 weeks to 42 months). Average defect size was 5.77 mm (range 2-12 mm). Reasons for repair were resection of eyelid lesion in 25/31 (80.6%), floppy eyelid in 4/31 (12.9%), trauma in 1/31 (3.2%), and trichiasis in 1/31 (3.2%). Post-operative eyelid notching was noted in 2/26 patients (7.7%), and there were no instances of wound dehiscence, infection, eyelid malposition, or keratopathy noted.Conclusions: Our technique for full-thickness eyelid margin repair without the use of marginal sutures successfully repairs defects up to 12 mm for various indications. We observed comparable cosmetic outcomes to previously described techniques as well as a low rate of complications using our technique.

Altered auto-phosphorylation of novel TNNI3K variants associated with AV-nodal re-entry tachycardia and conduction disease

Background

In the past decade, we and others have reported three families with rare genetic variants in TNNI3K, encoding the cardiac-specific troponin-I interacting kinase (TNNI3K), co-segregating with a mixed, but highly penetrant, cardiac phenotype that features predominant atrial/junctional tachycardia occurring in combination with cardiac conduction disease and dilated cardiomyopathy. We demonstrated that while the p.Thr539Ala and p.Gly526Asp TNNI3K variants had decreased auto-phosphorylation activity the p.Glu768Lys variant, present in 3 independent families, leads to increased auto-phosphorylation levels, in line with the finding that increased levels of Tnni3k expression are associated with slower atrial-ventricular conduction in mice.

Objective

Identifying new genetic variants in the TNNI3K gene associated with cardiac disease and assessing their impact on TNNI3K auto-phosphorylation levels.

Methods

Through next generation sequencing of a panel of genes associated with cardiac disease we assessed TNNI3K in patients with cardiac arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies. All variants identified were assessed in vitro for effects on auto-phosphorylation. Briefly, wild-type and mutant TNNI3K constructs were transfected into HEK293 cells, protein was extracted after 48 hours and analyzed with anti-flag and anti-phospho-tyrosine antibodies on Western blot.

Results

We identified 7 novel and rare variants in TNNI3K in 11 additional probands, with predominantly cardiac conduction disease, with or without dilated cardiomyopathy, and atrial-ventricular-re-entry-tachycardia (AVNRT). Of these, multiple variants were found to have aberrant auto-phosphorylation including almost absent auto-phosphorylation capacity for one (TNNI3K-p.Val510Leu). All three-independent wild type TNNI3K transfected HEK293 cell lysates showed similar phosphorylated TNNI3K levels and the kinase-dead negative control demonstrated no phosphorylation activity.

Conclusion

We here present 7 novel genetic variants in TNNI3K in patients with a remarkable overlap in cardiac phenotype consisting mainly of AVNRT and cardiac conduction disease. We further show that some of these variants alter the auto-phosphorylation of TNNI3K. These results indicate a more prevalent role of variants in TNNI3K in human cardiac disease and a possible in vitro functional assay to assess the pathogenicity of such variants.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): The Dutch Research Council (NWO Talent Scheme VIDI-91718361)

Comparative effectiveness of antiretroviral drug classes for the treatment of HIV infection in patients with high viral loads: a multicentre retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to compare the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) classes for achieving HIV RNA suppression to < 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL within 6 months of initiation with high viral loads (VLs). Secondary objectives were to compare viral suppression (VS) at 12 weeks and 12 months, partial HIV RNA suppression to < 200 copies/mL, time to VS, time to rebound, and change in CD4 cell count.

METHODS

This was a multicentre, retrospective, observational study. Adult patients were included if they initiated ART between January 2005 and December 2016 with a VL ≥ 100 000 copies/mL.

RESULTS

There were 220 patients included in the study. The median VL was 252 919 [interquartile range (IQR) 149 472-500 000] copies/mL. Nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) recipients were more likely to achieve VS by 6 months compared to those initiating ART containing protease inhibitors (PIs) [75.4% vs. 44.1%, respectively; odds ratio (OR) 3.34; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.62-6.90] or integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) (75.4% vs. 55.8%, respectively; OR 2.40; 95% CI 1.03-5.58). VS at 12 weeks was more frequent with INSTI-containing regimens than with PIs (28.9% vs. 9.0%, respectively; OR 4.10; 95% CI 1.69-9.92). VS at 12 months did not significantly differ between treatment regimens. Median time to complete VS for INSTI, PI and NNRTI recipients was 22.3 (95% CI 13.4-33), 30.1 (95% CI 25-36) and 19.9 (95% CI 16-22.3) weeks, respectively. There were no significant differences in time to viral rebound or change in CD4 cell counts.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with high VLs initiated on NNRTIs were more likely to achieve VS by 6 months on ART compared to INSTI and PI recipients.

Massive clonal expansion of medulloblastoma-specific T cells during adoptive cellular therapy

In both human and murine systems, we have developed an adoptive cellular therapy platform against medulloblastoma and glioblastoma that uses dendritic cells pulsed with a tumor RNA transcriptome to expand polyclonal tumor-reactive T cells against a plurality of antigens within heterogeneous brain tumors. We demonstrate that peripheral TCR Vβ repertoire analysis after adoptive cellular therapy reveals that effective response to adoptive cellular therapy is concordant with massive in vivo expansion and persistence of tumor-specific T cell clones within the peripheral blood. In preclinical models of medulloblastoma and glioblastoma, and in a patient with relapsed medulloblastoma receiving adoptive cellular therapy, an early and massive expansion of tumor-reactive lymphocytes, coupled with prolonged persistence in the peripheral blood, is observed during effective therapeutic response to immunotherapy treatment.

Superior oblique tendon (Brown’s) syndrome as the presenting finding in childhood onset HLA-B27-related enthesitis and juvenile idiopathic oligoarticular arthritis

We report two patients who presented with Brown’s syndrome. The first is a 7-year-old boy who at the time of his diagnosis was also found to have enthesitis and HLA-B27 positivity. The second patient was diagnosed with bilateral Brown’s syndrome at 13 months of age. At age 7 she developed a persistent oligoarticular arthritis and unilateral anterior iritis consistent with the oligoarticular Juvenile Idiopatic Arthritis (JIA) phenotype. These cases highlight ophthalmologic findings and diagnostic considerations with respect to Brown’s syndrome and associated childhood onset rheumatologic disease.

[Autologous fat transplantation in dermatology]

The technique of autologous fat transplantation (lipofilling) allows to correct congenital or acquired abnormalities of the cutaneous relief. Autologous fat lobules aspired in one site are transplanted by injection in the zone to treat. This technique is performed ambulatory under local anesthesia and it is possible to perform long term correction of dermal or hypodermal atrophy of one to few centimetres.

Requirement for the SLP-76 adaptor GADS in T cell development

GADS is an adaptor protein implicated in CD3 signaling because of its ability to link SLP-76 to LAT. A GADS-deficient mouse was generated by gene targeting, and the function of GADS in T cell development and activation was examined. GADS- CD4-CD8- thymocytes exhibited a severe block in proliferation but still differentiated into mature T cells. GADS- thymocytes failed to respond to CD3 cross-linking in vivo and were impaired in positive and negative selection. Immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that the association between SLP-76 and LAT was uncoupled in GADS- thymocytes. These observations indicate that GADS is a critical adaptor for CD3 signaling.

Chloride dependency of renal brush-border membrane phosphate transport

In our present study, we examined the effect of Cl(-) on rabbit renal brush-border membrane (BBM) phosphate (P(i)) uptake. It was found that the Na(+)-dependent BBM (32)P uptake was significantly inhibited by Cl(-) replacement in the uptake solution with other anions, or by Cl(-) transport inhibitors, including DIDS, SITS, diphenylamine-2-carboxylate (DPC), niflumic acid (NF), and 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoate (NPPB). Intravesicular formate or Cl(-) increased BBM (36)Cl(-) uptake but did not affect BBM (32)P uptake. BBM (22)Na(+) uptake was lowered by Cl(-) replacement in the uptake solution but not by Cl(-) transport inhibitors. Changes in transmembrane electrical potential altered BBM (36)Cl(-) and (32)P uptake in directions consistent with a net inward movement of negative and positive charges, respectively. However, the Cl(-)-dependent BBM P(i) uptake was not affected by changes in transmembrane electrical potential. Finally, a similar Cl(-) dependency of P(i) uptake was also found with BBM derived from rat and mouse kidneys. In summary, our study showed that a component of Na(+)-dependent P(i) uptake was also Cl(-) dependent in rabbit, rat, and mouse renal BBM. The mechanism underlying this Cl(-) dependency remains to be identified.