Patients who had received a drug-eluting stent and then dual antiplatelet therapy for 12 months were randomly assigned to 18 more months of therapy or aspirin alone. Continued therapy resulted in ...lower rates of stent thrombosis and major adverse cardiovascular events but more bleeding.
Millions of patients worldwide undergo coronary stenting each year for the treatment of ischemic heart disease.
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Although drug-eluting stents reduce the rate of restenosis as compared with bare-metal stents, there is concern that drug-eluting stents may be associated with a risk of stent thrombosis beyond 1 year after treatment.
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Stent thrombosis is rare, yet it is frequently associated with myocardial infarction and may be fatal.
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Furthermore, ischemic events, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes, that are unrelated to the treated coronary lesion may also occur beyond 1 year.
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The use of dual antiplatelet therapy . . .
The STS-ACC TVT Registry (Society of Thoracic Surgeons–American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry) from 2011 to 2019 has collected data on 276,316 patients undergoing ...transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) at sites in all U.S. states. Volumes have increased every year, exceeding surgical aortic valve replacement in 2019 (72,991 vs. 57,626), and it is now performed in all U.S. states. TAVR now extends from extreme- to low-risk patients. This is the first presentation on 8,395 low-risk patients treated in 2019. In 2019, for the entire cohort, femoral access increased to 95.3%, hospital stay was 2 days, and 90.3% were discharged home. Since 2011, the 30-day mortality rate has decreased (7.2% to 2.5%), stroke has started to decrease (2.75% to 2.3%), but pacemaker need is unchanged (10.9% to 10.8%). Alive with acceptable patient-reported outcomes is achieved in 8 of 10 patients at 1 year. The Registry is a national resource to improve care and analyze TAVR’s evolution. Real-world outcomes, site performance, and the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 will be subsequently studied. (STS/ACC Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry TVT Registry; NCT01737528)
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•The STS-ACC TVT Registry documents the growth of TAVR in the United States.•Low-risk patients and valve-in-valve procedures are rapidly growing subsets of TAVR procedures.•The Registry will continue to gather data on the demographics and outcomes of TAVR procedures and allow assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 on patients and health systems involved in this procedure.
Abstract Once damaged, cardiac muscle has little intrinsic repair capability due to the poor regeneration potential of remaining cardiomyocytes. One method of overcoming this issue is to deliver ...functional cells to the injured myocardium to promote repair. To address this limitation we sought to test the hypothesis that electroactive carbon nanotubes (CNT) could be employed to direct mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation towards a cardiomyocyte lineage. Using a two-pronged approach, MSCs exposed to medium containing CNT and MSCs seeded on CNT based polylactic acid scaffolds were electrically stimulated in an electrophysiological bioreactor. After electrical stimulation the cells reoriented perpendicular to the direction of the current and adopted an elongated morphology. Using qPCR, an upregulation in a range of cardiac markers was detected, the greatest of which was observed for cardiac myosin heavy chain (CMHC), where a 40-fold increase was observed for the electrically stimulated cells after 14 days, and a 12-fold increase was observed for the electrically stimulated cells seeded on the PLA scaffolds after 10 days. Differentiation towards a cardioprogenitor cell was more evident from the western blot analysis, where upregulation of Nkx2.5, GATA-4, cardiac troponin t (CTT) and connexin43 (C43) was seen to occur. This was echoed in immunofluorescent staining, where increased levels of CTT, CMHC and C43 protein expression were observed after electrical stimulation for both cells and cell-seeded scaffolds. More interestingly, there was evidence of increased cross talk between the cells as shown by the pattern of C43 staining after electrical stimulation. These results establish a paradigm for nanoscale biomimetic cues that can be readily translated to other electroactive tissue repair applications.
The cytotoxicity of DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) is largely ascribed to their ability to block the progression of DNA replication. DPCs frequently occur in cells, either as a consequence of ...metabolism or exogenous agents, but the mechanism of DPC repair is not completely understood. Here, we characterize SPRTN as a specialized DNA-dependent and DNA replication-coupled metalloprotease for DPC repair. SPRTN cleaves various DNA binding substrates during S-phase progression and thus protects proliferative cells from DPC toxicity. Ruijs-Aalfs syndrome (RJALS) patient cells with monogenic and biallelic mutations in SPRTN are hypersensitive to DPC-inducing agents due to a defect in DNA replication fork progression and the inability to eliminate DPCs. We propose that SPRTN protease represents a specialized DNA replication-coupled DPC repair pathway essential for DNA replication progression and genome stability. Defective SPRTN-dependent clearance of DPCs is the molecular mechanism underlying RJALS, and DPCs are contributing to accelerated aging and cancer.
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•DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) stall DNA replication and induce genomic instability•SPARTAN (SPRTN) is a DNA replication-coupled metalloprotease which proteolyses DPCs•SPRTN metalloprotease is a fundamental enzyme in DPC repair pathway•Ruijs-Aalfs syndrome is caused by a defect in DPC repair due to mutations in SPRTN
Monogenic mutations in SPRTN cause genomic instability, premature aging, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The molecular mechanism of how SPRTN protects genome stability and prevents accelerated aging and cancer is not clear. Vaz, Popovic, et al. show that SPRTN is a DNA replication-coupled metalloprotease for DNA-protein crosslink repair in proliferative human cells.
The rapid generation of molecular complexity from simple starting materials is a key challenge in synthesis. Enantioselective radical cyclization cascades have the potential to deliver complex, ...densely packed, polycyclic architectures, with control of three-dimensional shape, in one step. Unfortunately, carrying out reactions with radicals in an enantiocontrolled fashion remains challenging due to their high reactivity. This is particularly the case for reactions of radicals generated using the classical reagent, SmI
. Here, we demonstrate that enantioselective SmI
-mediated radical cyclizations and cascades that exploit a simple, recyclable chiral ligand can convert symmetrical ketoesters to complex carbocyclic products bearing multiple stereocentres with high enantio- and diastereocontrol. A computational study has been used to probe the origin of the enantioselectivity. Our studies suggest that many processes that rely on SmI
can be rendered enantioselective by the design of suitable ligands.
Technological advances in DNA recovery and sequencing have drastically expanded the scope of genetic analyses of ancient specimens to the extent that full genomic investigations are now feasible and ...are quickly becoming standard. This trend has important implications for infectious disease research because genomic data from ancient microbes may help to elucidate mechanisms of pathogen evolution and adaptation for emerging and re-emerging infections. Here we report a reconstructed ancient genome of Yersinia pestis at 30-fold average coverage from Black Death victims securely dated to episodes of pestilence-associated mortality in London, England, 1348-1350. Genetic architecture and phylogenetic analysis indicate that the ancient organism is ancestral to most extant strains and sits very close to the ancestral node of all Y. pestis commonly associated with human infection. Temporal estimates suggest that the Black Death of 1347-1351 was the main historical event responsible for the introduction and widespread dissemination of the ancestor to all currently circulating Y. pestis strains pathogenic to humans, and further indicates that contemporary Y. pestis epidemics have their origins in the medieval era. Comparisons against modern genomes reveal no unique derived positions in the medieval organism, indicating that the perceived increased virulence of the disease during the Black Death may not have been due to bacterial phenotype. These findings support the notion that factors other than microbial genetics, such as environment, vector dynamics and host susceptibility, should be at the forefront of epidemiological discussions regarding emerging Y. pestis infections.
Trifluoromethyl sulfoxides are a new class of trifluoromethylthiolating reagent. The sulfoxides engage in metal‐free C−H trifluoromethylthiolation with a range of (hetero)arenes. The method is also ...applicable to the functionalization of important compound classes, such as ligand derivatives and polyaromatics, and in the late‐stage trifluoromethylthiolation of medicines and agrochemicals. The isolation and characterization of a sulfonium salt intermediate supports an interrupted Pummerer reaction mechanism.
May I interrupt? Taking advantage of the interrupted Pummerer reaction, trifluoromethyl sulfoxides engage in the metal‐free C−H trifluoromethylthiolation of (hetero)arenes, including drug molecules and natural products. This new class of trifluoromethylthiolating reagent exploits a new strategy for trifluoromethylthiolation in which sulfonium salts are assembled and selectively deconstructed.
Natural killer (NK) cells are critical mediators of host immunity to pathogens. Here, we demonstrate that the endoplasmic reticulum stress sensor inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1α) and its substrate ...transcription factor X-box-binding protein 1 (XBP1) drive NK cell responses against viral infection and tumors in vivo. IRE1α-XBP1 were essential for expansion of activated mouse and human NK cells and are situated downstream of the mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway. Transcriptome and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed c-Myc as a new and direct downstream target of XBP1 for regulation of NK cell proliferation. Genetic ablation or pharmaceutical blockade of IRE1α downregulated c-Myc, and NK cells with c-Myc haploinsufficency phenocopied IRE1α-XBP1 deficiency. c-Myc overexpression largely rescued the proliferation defect in IRE1α
NK cells. Like c-Myc, IRE1α-XBP1 also promotes oxidative phosphorylation in NK cells. Overall, our study identifies a IRE1α-XBP1-cMyc axis in NK cell immunity, providing insight into host protection against infection and cancer.
Current therapy for glioblastoma multiforme is insufficient, with nearly universal recurrence. Available drug therapies are unsuccessful because they fail to penetrate through the region of the brain ...containing tumor cells and they fail to kill the cells most responsible for tumor development and therapy resistance, brain cancer stem cells (BCSCs). To address these challenges, we combined two major advances in technology: (i) brain-penetrating polymeric nanoparticles that can be loaded with drugs and are optimized for intracranial convection-enhanced delivery and (ii) repurposed compounds, previously used in Food and Drug Administration-approved products, which were identified through library screening to target BCSCs. Using fluorescence imaging and positron emission tomography, we demonstrate that brain-penetrating nanoparticles can be delivered to large intracranial volumes in both rats and pigs. We identified several agents (from Food and Drug Administration-approved products) that potently inhibit proliferation and self-renewal of BCSCs. When loaded into brain-penetrating nanoparticles and administered by convection-enhanced delivery, one of these agents, dithiazanine iodide, significantly increased survival in rats bearing BCSC-derived xenografts. This unique approach to controlled delivery in the brain should have a significant impact on treatment of glioblastoma multiforme and suggests previously undescribed routes for drug and gene delivery to treat other diseases of the central nervous system.