Single-Cell Analysis Reveals a Subset of High IL-12p40-Secreting Dendritic Cells within Mouse Bone Marrow-Derived Macrophages Differentiated with M-CSF

Macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs), although ontogenetically distinct, have overlapping functions and exhibit substantial cell-to-cell heterogeneity that can complicate their identification and obscure innate immune function. In this study, we report that M-CSF-differentiated murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) exhibit extreme heterogeneity in the production of IL-12, a key proinflammatory cytokine linking innate and adaptive immunity. A microwell secretion assay revealed that a small fraction of BMDMs stimulated with LPS secrete most IL-12p40, and we confirmed that this is due to extremely high expression of Il12b, the gene encoding IL-12p40, in a subset of cells. Using an Il12b-YFP reporter mouse, we isolated cells with high LPS-induced Il12b expression and found that this subset was enriched for genes associated with the DC lineage. Single-cell RNA sequencing data confirmed a DC-like subset that differentiates within BMDM cultures that is transcriptionally distinct but could not be isolated by surface marker expression. Although not readily apparent in the resting state, upon LPS stimulation, this subset exhibited a typical DC-associated activation program that is distinct from LPS-induced stochastic BMDM cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Overall, our findings underscore the difficulty in distinguishing macrophages and DCs even in widely used in vitro murine BMDM cultures and could affect the interpretation of some studies that use BMDMs to explore acute inflammatory responses.

Outcomes of lower extremity peripheral arterial interventions in patients with and without chronic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease

INTRODUCTION

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a progressive vascular condition characterized by the narrowing or blockage of arteries, primarily attributed to atherosclerosis. PAD's prevalence in the general population is estimated at approximately 5.9%. Notably however, among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), PAD's prevalence is substantially higher, ranging from 17% to 48%. This review paper emphasizes the pervasiveness of PAD and its intricate relationship with CKD and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). It demonstrates the importance of early detection, proactive screening, and understanding the formidable challenges associated with treating heavily calcified lesions.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

Comprehensive literature searches encompassed the PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases, in order to identify studies involving lower extremity peripheral arterial interventions in patients both with and without CKD or ESRD. The search spanned the timeframe from January 2001 to July 2023. The search strategy included vocabulary terms concerning peripheral artery disease, lower extremities, revascularization, chronic kidney disease, and end-stage renal disease.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

Initial searches were used to identify articles based on title. Exclusion criteria was then applied, and any redundant articles were removed. The articles abstracts were then reviewed, and relevant articles were selected. Once selected the articles were thoroughly reviewed including the references to find other relevant articles that were missed during the initial search process. In total 28 articles were selected and included for review of clinical data in regard to PAD outcomes in patients with advanced kidney disease.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the need for personalized approaches in diagnosing and treating PAD in CKD and ESRD patients. Interdisciplinary collaboration, such as those between nephrologists, vascular surgeons, and interventional radiologists, is vital to optimize outcomes. Further research should focus on innovative, tailored interventions to enhance limb preservation, reduce mortality, prolong patency, and cut healthcare costs.

An optimal deep learning based Islanding power quality detection technique for distributed generation systems

Power quality disturbance (PQD) defines the presence of inconsistencies that occur in the usual wave shapes of voltage and current signals. Power quality is considered the main challenge for power industry with the increase in dynamic load and highly subtle electronic devices. Besides, the islanding events, particularly unintended islanding, grasp significant challenges and it needs to be identified at the early stage. Islanding is an anomalousstate in the power system, where the distributed generators (DGs) are placed on supplying electrical energy to the local load even after the shortage of the major grid. Therefore, it is essential to identify and differentiate the PQ events and islanding events in ensuring pollution-free power, equipment, and labor safety. With this motivation, this paper presents an automated optimal deep learning based islanding detection (AODL-ID) technique. The proposed AODL-ID technique involves three major stages namely decomposition, classification, and hyperparameter tuning. Firstly, an empirical mode decomposition (EMD) approach is utilized to decompose the basic signals from the polluted signals. In addition, bidirectional gated recurrent neural network (BiGRNN) technique is employed for the classification of islanding and non-islanding PQ events in the wind energy penetrated DG systems by means of features (Voltage and current (RMS, half-cycle, peak and fundamental) Frequency. Power Factor / Cos Phi. Power and energy (active, reactive, harmonic, apparent)). Since the hyperparameters play a significant role in overall classification performance, the hyperparameter tuning of the BiGRNN model takes place using chaotic crow search algorithm (CCSA). To examine the enhanced classification outcome of the AODL-ID technique, a set of experimental analyses is carried out and the outcomes are investigated interms of various evaluation metrics. The simulation outcomes highlighted the supremacy of the AODL-ID technique over the compared techniques.

The Impact of Cardiology Consultation on Medical Intensive Care Unit Patients with Elevated Troponin Levels

BACKGROUND

Cardiac troponin (cTn) is mainly used to diagnose acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, cTn can also be elevated in critically ill patients secondary to demand ischemia or myocardial injury. The impact of cardiology consultation on the clinical outcomes of patients admitted to medical intensive care unit (ICU) with elevated cTn is unclear.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of medical ICU patients with elevated cTn without evidence of ACS between January 2013 through December 2018. Patients were stratified based on documentation of cardiology consultation. The primary outcome was 1-year mortality. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital and 30-day mortality, the length of stay (LOS), further cardiac testing, 30-day readmission rate, new prescription of cardiac medications, and the predictors of a cardiology consultation.

RESULTS

Of 846 patients screened, 766 patients were included, of whom 63.2% had cardiology consultation. Cardiology consultation group had longer median LOS (7 vs. 5 days, P = 0.007), additional cardiac testing (90.3% vs. 67.7%, P < 0.001), and more new cardiac medications (52.1% vs. 16.3%, P < 0.001). No difference was noted in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.6, 95% CI, 0.4-1.1, P = .117), 30-day mortality (aOR = 0.8, 95% CI, 0.5-1.4, P = .425), 1- year mortality (aOR, 1.4, 95% CI, 0.9-2.2, P = .193), or cardiac-specific 30-day readmission rate (aOR, 7.0, 95% CI, 0.7-14.9, P = .137). History of coronary artery disease (CAD) was the most independent predictor for a cardiology consult (aOR, 2.2, 95% CI, 1.3-3.8, P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Cardiology consultation for elevated cTn in medical ICU patients was associated with increased cardiac testing and LOS, without significant impact on mortality.

Development and Performance Evaluation of Bio-Degradable Nanocutting Fluid

Various cutting fluids are available in the cutting fluid market to provide good machining performances for metal cutting industries. Incidentally, most of the cutting fluids are synthetic and semisynthetic in nature, and although they are beneficial to the industries, they are posing health and environmental issues. Even if these cutting fluids have sufficient properties required for good machining, the major constraints associated with these fluids are their nature of nonbiodegradability and nonfriendliness to the environment. To overcome these difficulties, intense research is carried out to develop biodegradable and effective cutting fluids. In this research, a novel castor oil-based cutting fluid infused with nanomolybdenum (MoS2) particles has been developed and its various machining properties have been investigated. Various important cutting parameters like surface roughness, tool life, and cutting force were investigated using this newly developed biodegradable nanofluid as a cutting fluid. Comparative experimental studies have also been undertaken with sunflower oil blend and conventional synthetic oil. Observed results validated that the newly developed castor oil-based nanofluid improves the surface finish and tool life by minimizing the cutting force developed to the considerable extent.

Human Herpesvirus-8 Negative Multicentric Castleman Disease in a Patient with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Treated with Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy and Chemotherapy

Multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder with a high mortality rate in undiagnosed patients. Traditionally, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive MCD occurs due to infection with human herpes virus-8 (HHV), which is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of MCD. We present the case of a 49-year-old woman who was referred to our oncology clinic for generalized lymphadenopathy in a waxing and waning pattern for the last four years. She was found to be HIV positive. Here we report a rare case of HIV-positive, HHV-negative MCD that responded to prompt treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) followed by chemotherapy as evidenced by improved CD4+ T cell numbers and reduction in lymphadenopathy. The findings in this HHV seronegative patient may indicate an alteration in the virulence and tropism between HHV and HIV, and further demonstrate the need for continued investigation into the pathogenesis of Castleman disease.

Marijuana-induced Coronary Vasospasm with Persistent Inter-coronary Connection: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Coronary vasospasm is a well-known entity causing acute chest syndrome and can lead to myocardial infarction, ventricular arrhythmias, and even sudden cardiac death. While there are extensive case series showing the association of coronary vasospasm with cocaine, studies reporting marijuana-induced coronary vasospasm are limited in number. We herein present a case of coronary vasospasm in a middle-aged African-American male who presented to the emergency department after an episode of syncope. His urine drug screen was positive only for marijuana. He had a transient elevation of ST segments on his EKG with concomitant wall motion abnormalities on echocardiogram and was later found to have vasospasm of coronary arteries on coronary angiogram without any evidence of focal atherosclerotic disease. Another interesting finding was the persistent inter-coronary communication or coronary arcade connecting the left circumflex artery to the right coronary artery. There was bi-directional flow through the inter-coronary communication and hence, we believe this communication prevented our patient from experiencing acute chest symptoms or myocardial infarction. It is important for the clinicians to recognize the association of marijuana with coronary vasospasm. At the same time, these patients should be treated as acute coronary syndromes until proven otherwise by ischemia evaluation.

Venous thromboembolism related hospitalizations among patients with genitourinary malignancy in the United States: A nationwide analysis

e16126

Background: Cancer Patients are at high risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE), pulmonary embolism (PE), and deep venous thrombosis (DVT). In this study, we aim to get an estimate of the incidence of VTE as a primary admission diagnosis among patients with genitourinary malignancies. Methods: We utilized ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM codes to identify patients with malignant neoplasms of the prostate, bladder, kidney, and testis who are older than 18 years and admitted with a primary diagnosis of DVT, PE within the NIS database during 2007-2016. Unadjusted incidence of DVT and PE was analyzed for each cancer site with the Rao-Scott chi-square test; multivariable logistic regression was employed to adjust for age, biological sex ( not for prostate/ testicular cancer), race, insurance, year of admission, and use of chemotherapy to further examine incidence. Results: We identified 3,339,985 admissions affiliated with genitourinary malignancies of whom 0.59% experienced DVT and 0.13% experienced PE with bladder cancer patients have the highest risk of hospitalization for VTE ( 79/1000). Within bladder cancer population; insurance ( p < 0.001) and hospital location and teaching status ( p < 0.001) were associated with DVT incidence; and biological sex ( p = 0.040) and race and ethnicity ( p = 0.026) with PE incidence. For all sites combined and after adjusting for all else, it was found that every year increase in age was associated with 1.2% increased odds of DVT or PE incidence (OR 95% CI: 1.01-1.02; p < 0.001). Further, rural vs. urban teaching hospitals had 41.2% increased odds (95% CI: 1.26-1.58; p < 0.001), and urban non teaching vs. urban teaching hospitals had 35.1% increased odds (95% CI: 1.26-1.45) of DVT or PE incidence. African Americans vs. whites had 46.8% increased odds of DVT or PE incidence (95% CI: 1.35-1.60; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Within the population of genitourinary malignancies who admitted with a primary diagnosis of VTE; the incidence was higher with older age, African Americans, uninsured population, in rural and urban non teaching facilities, bladder cancer population.

Bivalirudin versus heparin in percutaneous coronary intervention-a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials stratified by adjunctive glycoprotein IIb/IIIa strategy

Background

Bivalirudin has been shown to be associated with less major bleeding than heparin in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI); but the confounding effect of concomitant glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI) limits meaningful comparison. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare bivalirudin to heparin, with and without adjunctive GPI in PCI.

Methods

We searched PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, CINAHL and WOS from January 2000 to December 2017 for clinical trials comparing bivalirudin to heparin, with and without adjunctive GPI during PCI. Cochrane's Q statistics were used to determine heterogeneity. Random effects model was used.

Results

Twenty-six comparison groups (22 original studies and 4 subgroup analyses) with 53,364 patients were included. Mean follow-up was 192±303 days. There was no difference between the two groups in all-cause mortality [risk ratio (RR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.82-1.05, P=0.260), target vessel revascularization (TVR) (RR: 1.17; 95% CI: 0.93-1.46, P=0.174) or stroke (RR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.71-1.18, P=0.490). Major bleeding was lower in the bivalirudin group with concomitant GPI in one or both arms (RR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.53-0.77, P<0.001) and without (RR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.51-0.99, P=0.041) provisional or routine GPIs. Bivalirudin appeared to have a higher risk of stent thrombosis (RR: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.04-1.68, P=0.022) and a trend towards more myocardial infarction (RR: 1.12; 95% CI: 0.98-1.28, P=0.098) though without statistical significance. However, exclusion of studies with GPI showed no difference in stent thrombosis or myocardial infarction with bivalirudin.

Conclusions

Bivalirudin is associated with less major bleeding compared to heparin, regardless of GPI use. The lower anticoagulant effect of bivalirudin is linked with higher stent thrombosis and a trend towards more MI, however a confounding effect of GPI use in the heparin arm cannot be excluded.

Late-onset pulmonary arterial hypertension in repaired D-transposition of great arteries: an uncommon complication

Late-onset pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare but fatal complication in patients with childhood surgical repair of dextro-transposition of great arteries (D-TGA), especially with the Mustard and Senning procedures. The pathogenic mechanisms of PAH in patients with repaired D-TGA are not well understood and treatment is not standardized. In this manuscript, we present a case of late-onset PAH in an adult D-TGA patient after Mustard repair and discuss the pathogenic mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment of pulmonary hypertension in repaired D-TGA.

Ivabradine in the treatment of systolic heart failure - A systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM

To perform a systematic-review and meta-analysis to compare outcomes of ivabradine combined with beta-blocker to beta-blocker alone in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, CINAHL and Web of Science for trials comparing ivabradine + beta-blocker to beta-blocker alone in HFrEF. We performed a systematic-review and meta-analysis of published literature. Primary end-point was combined end point of cardiac death and hospitalization for heart failure.

RESULTS

Six studies with 17671 patients were included. Mean follow-up was 8.7 ± 7.9 mo. Combined end-point of heart failure readmission and cardiovascular death was better in ivabradine + beta-blocker group compared to beta-blocker alone (RR: 0.93, 95%CI: 0.79-1.09, P = 0.354). Mean difference (MD) in heart rate was higher in the ivabradine + beta-blocker group (MD: 6.14, 95%CI: 3.80-8.48, P < 0.001). There was no difference in all cause mortality (RR: 0.98, 95%CI: 0.89-1.07, P = 0.609), cardiovascular mortality (RR: 0.99, 95%CI: 0.86-1.15, P = 0.908) or heart failure hospitalization (RR: 0.87, 95%CI: 0.68-1.11, P = 0.271).

CONCLUSION

From the available clinical trials, ivabradine + beta-blocker resulted in a significantly greater reduction in HR coupled with improvement in combined end-point of heart failure readmission and cardiovascular death but with no improvement in all cause or cardiovascular mortality. Given the limited evidence, further randomized controlled trials are essential before widespread clinical application of ivabradine + beta-blocker is advocated for HFrEF.

Surgical Repair of Moderate Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation-A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Introduction Moderate mitral regurgitation (MR) of ischemic etiology has been associated with worse outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Studies comparing concomitant mitral valve replacement/repair (MVR/Re) with CABG and standalone CABG have reported conflicting results. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published literature. Patients and Methods We searched using PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Google scholar databases from January 1960 to June 2016 for clinical trials comparing CABG to CABG + MVR/Re for moderate MR. Pooled risk ratio or mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for individual outcomes were calculated using random effects model and heterogeneity was assessed using Cochrane's Q-statistic. Results A total of 11 studies were included. Mean follow-up was 35.3 months. All-cause mortality (Mantel-Haenszel [MH] risk ratio [RR]: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.75-1.24, p = 0.775), early mortality (MH RR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.39-1.07, p = 0.092), and stroke rates (MH RR 0.65, 95% CI: 0.21-2.03, p = 0.464) were similar between CABG and CABG + MVR/Re groups. Adverse event at follow-up was lower with CABG (MH RR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.61-1.32, p = 0.584). MD of change from baseline in left ventricular (LV) end-systolic dimension (MD: - 2.50, 95% CI: - 5.21 to - 0.21, p = 0.071) and LV ejection fraction (MD: 0.48, 95% CI: - 2.48 to 3.44, p = 0.750) were not significantly different between the groups. Incidence of moderate MR (MH RR: 3.24, 95% CI: 1.79-5.89, p < 0.001) was higher in the CABG only group. Conclusion Addition of MVR/Re to CABG in patients with moderate ischemic MR did not result in improvement in early or overall mortality, stroke risk, or intermediate markers of LV function when compared with CABG alone.

Early versus late surgical intervention or medical management for infective endocarditis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

Infective endocarditis is associated with high morbidity and mortality and optimal timing for surgical intervention is unclear. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare early surgical intervention with conservative therapy in patients with infective endocarditis.

METHODS

PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, CINAHL and Google-scholar databases were searched from January 1960 to April 2015. Randomised controlled trials, retrospective cohorts and prospective observational studies comparing outcomes between early surgery at 20 days or less and conservative management for infective endocarditis were analysed.

RESULTS

A total of 21 studies were included. OR of all-cause mortality for early surgery was 0.61 (95% CI 0.50 to 0.74, p<0.001) in unmatched groups and 0.41 (95% CI 0.31 to 0.54, p<0.001) in the propensity-matched groups (matched for baseline variables). For patients who had surgical intervention at 7 days or less, OR of all-cause mortality was 0.61 (95% CI 0.39 to 0.96, p=0.034) and in those who had surgical intervention within 8-20 days, the OR of mortality was 0.64 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.86, p=0.003) compared with conservative management. In propensity-matched groups, the OR of mortality in patients with surgical intervention at 7 days or less was 0.30 (95% CI 0.16 to 0.54, p<0.001) and in the subgroup of patients who underwent surgery between 8 and 20 days was 0.51 (95% CI 0.35 to 0.72, p<0.001). There was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality, embolisation, heart failure and recurrence of endocarditis between the overall unmatched cohorts.

CONCLUSION

The results of our meta-analysis suggest that early surgical intervention is associated with significantly lower risk of mortality in patients with infective endocarditis.

Evaluation of two rodenticides in the paddy fields during Samba and Thaladi seasons

The single dose anticoagulant rodenticide, bromadiolone (0.005%) and the acute rodenticide, zinc phosphide (2%) were evaluated in the paddy fields during Samba and Thaladi seasons for two crop stages, viz. 20 and 40 days after transplantation. Three baiting methods namely, burrow, station and burrow+station were adopted for both rodenticides. Both the rodenticides were exposed for one and two days in the partitioned plots. In the plots with 20 days after transplantation, the two day exposure of both rodenticides in burrow+station baitings during both seasons cleared cent percent rodent population. The cost-benefit ratio of the employed rodenticides favoured zinc phosphide than bromadiolone. Thus, zinc phosphide is deemed to be an economic rodenticide than bromadiolone and it can be suggested for the control of rodent population with two day exposure by burrow+station baiting methods preferably 20 days after transplanted paddy fields in both seasons.