The 2020 Focused Updates to the Asthma Management Guidelines: A Report from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Coordinating Committee Expert Panel Working Group was coordinated and ...supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. It is designed to improve patient care and support informed decision making about asthma management in the clinical setting. This update addresses six priority topic areas as determined by the state of the science at the time of a needs assessment, and input from multiple stakeholders:•Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide Testing•Indoor Allergen Mitigation•Intermittent Inhaled Corticosteroids•Long-Acting Muscarinic Antagonists•Immunotherapy in the Treatment of Allergic Asthma•Bronchial ThermoplastyA rigorous process was undertaken to develop these evidence-based guidelines. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Evidence-Based Practice Centers conducted systematic reviews on these topics, which were used by the Expert Panel Working Group as a basis for developing recommendations and guidance. The Expert Panel used GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation), an internationally accepted framework, in consultation with an experienced methodology team for determining the certainty of evidence and the direction and strength of recommendations based on the evidence. Practical implementation guidance for each recommendation incorporates findings from NHLBI-led patient, caregiver, and clinician focus groups. To assist clincians in implementing these recommendations into patient care, the new recommendations have been integrated into the existing Expert Panel Report-3 (EPR-3) asthma management step diagram format.
Ventricles Under Stress Wilson, Robert F.; Yannopoulos, Demetris
Journal of the American College of Cardiology,
08/2024, Letnik:
84, Številka:
7
Journal Article
IMPORTANCE: Asthma is a major public health problem worldwide and is associated with excess morbidity, mortality, and economic costs associated with lost productivity. The National Asthma Education ...and Prevention Program has released the 2020 Asthma Guideline Update with updated evidence-based recommendations for treatment of patients with asthma. OBJECTIVE: To report updated recommendations for 6 topics for clinical management of adolescents and adults with asthma: (1) intermittent inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs); (2) add-on long-acting muscarinic antagonists; (3) fractional exhaled nitric oxide; (4) indoor allergen mitigation; (5) immunotherapy; and (6) bronchial thermoplasty. EVIDENCE REVIEW: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council chose 6 topics to update the 2007 asthma guidelines based on results from a 2014 needs assessment. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality conducted systematic reviews of these 6 topics based on literature searches up to March-April 2017. Reviews were updated through October 2018 and used by an expert panel (n = 19) that included asthma content experts, primary care clinicians, dissemination and implementation experts, and health policy experts to develop 19 new recommendations using the GRADE method. The 17 recommendations for individuals aged 12 years or older are reported in this Special Communication. FINDINGS: From 20 572 identified references, 475 were included in the 6 systematic reviews to form the evidence basis for these recommendations. Compared with the 2007 guideline, there was no recommended change in step 1 (intermittent asthma) therapy (as-needed short-acting β2-agonists SABAs for rescue therapy). In step 2 (mild persistent asthma), either daily low-dose ICS plus as-needed SABA therapy or as-needed concomitant ICS and SABA therapy are recommended. Formoterol in combination with an ICS in a single inhaler (single maintenance and reliever therapy) is recommended as the preferred therapy for moderate persistent asthma in step 3 (low-dose ICS-formoterol therapy) and step 4 (medium-dose ICS-formoterol therapy) for both daily and as-needed therapy. A short-term increase in the ICS dose alone for worsening of asthma symptoms is not recommended. Add-on long-acting muscarinic antagonists are recommended in individuals whose asthma is not controlled by ICS-formoterol therapy for step 5 (moderate-severe persistent asthma). Fractional exhaled nitric oxide testing is recommended to assist in diagnosis and monitoring of symptoms, but not alone to diagnose or monitor asthma. Allergen mitigation is recommended only in individuals with exposure and relevant sensitivity or symptoms. When used, allergen mitigation should be allergen specific and include multiple allergen-specific mitigation strategies. Subcutaneous immunotherapy is recommended as an adjunct to standard pharmacotherapy for individuals with symptoms and sensitization to specific allergens. Sublingual immunotherapy is not recommended specifically for asthma. Bronchial thermoplasty is not recommended as part of standard care; if used, it should be part of an ongoing research effort. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Asthma is a common disease with substantial human and economic costs globally. Although there is no cure or established means of prevention, effective treatment is available. Use of the recommendations in the 2020 Asthma Guideline Update should improve the health of individuals with asthma.
The content validity ratio (Lawshe) is one of the earliest and most widely used methods for quantifying content validity. To correct and expand the table, critical values in unit steps and at ...multiple alpha levels were computed. Implications for content validation are discussed.
OBJECTIVE Ultrasound can be precisely focused through the intact human skull to target deep regions of the brain for stereotactic ablations. Acoustic energy at much lower intensities is capable of ...both exciting and inhibiting neural tissues without causing tissue heating or damage. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the effects of low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) for neuromodulation and selective mapping in the thalamus of a large-brain animal. METHODS Ten Yorkshire swine ( Sus scrofa domesticus) were used in this study. In the first neuromodulation experiment, the lemniscal sensory thalamus was stereotactically targeted with LIFU, and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) were monitored. In a second mapping experiment, the ventromedial and ventroposterolateral sensory thalamic nuclei were alternately targeted with LIFU, while both trigeminal and tibial evoked SSEPs were recorded. Temperature at the acoustic focus was assessed using MR thermography. At the end of the experiments, all tissues were assessed histologically for damage. RESULTS LIFU targeted to the ventroposterolateral thalamic nucleus suppressed SSEP amplitude to 71.6% ± 11.4% (mean ± SD) compared with baseline recordings. Second, we found a similar degree of inhibition with a high spatial resolution (∼ 2 mm) since adjacent thalamic nuclei could be selectively inhibited. The ventromedial thalamic nucleus could be inhibited without affecting the ventrolateral nucleus. During MR thermography imaging, there was no observed tissue heating during LIFU sonications and no histological evidence of tissue damage. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that LIFU can be safely used to modulate neuronal circuits in the central nervous system and that noninvasive brain mapping with focused ultrasound may be feasible in humans.
Despite improvements in the medical and surgical management of patients with glioblastoma, tumor recurrence remains inevitable. For recurrent glioblastoma, however, the clinical value of a second ...resection remains uncertain. Specifically, what proportion of contrast-enhancing recurrent glioblastoma tissue must be removed to improve overall survival and what is the neurological cost of incremental resection beyond this threshold?
The authors identified 170 consecutive patients with recurrent supratentorial glioblastomas treated at the Barrow Neurological Institute from 2001 to 2011. All patients previously had a de novo glioblastoma and following their initial resection received standard temozolomide and fractionated radiotherapy.
The mean clinical follow-up was 22.6 months and no patient was lost to follow-up. At the time of recurrence, the median preoperative tumor volume was 26.1 cm(3). Following re-resection, median postoperative tumor volume was 3.1 cm(3), equating to an 87.4% extent of resection (EOR). The median overall survival was 19.0 months, with a median progression-free survival following re-resection of 5.2 months. Using Cox proportional hazards analysis, the variables of age, Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score, and EOR were predictive of survival following repeat resection (p = 0.0001). Interestingly, a significant survival advantage was noted with as little as 80% EOR. Recursive partitioning analysis validated these findings and provided additional risk stratification at the highest levels of EOR. Overall, at 7 days after surgery, a deterioration in the NIH stroke scale score by 1 point or more was observed in 39.1% of patients with EOR ≥ 80% as compared with 16.7% for those with EOR < 80% (p = 0.0049). This disparity in neurological morbidity, however, did not endure beyond 30 days postoperatively (p = 0.1279).
For recurrent glioblastomas, an improvement in overall survival can be attained beyond an 80% EOR. This survival benefit must be balanced against the risk of neurological morbidity, which does increase with more aggressive cytoreduction, but only in the early postoperative period. Interestingly, this putative EOR threshold closely approximates that reported for newly diagnosed glioblastomas, suggesting that for a subset of patients, the survival benefit of microsurgical resection does not diminish despite biological progression.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the fourth leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, develops almost exclusively in patients with chronic liver disease and advanced fibrosis
. Here we interrogated ...functions of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), the main source of liver fibroblasts
, during hepatocarcinogenesis. Genetic depletion, activation or inhibition of HSCs in mouse models of HCC revealed their overall tumour-promoting role. HSCs were enriched in the preneoplastic environment, where they closely interacted with hepatocytes and modulated hepatocarcinogenesis by regulating hepatocyte proliferation and death. Analyses of mouse and human HSC subpopulations by single-cell RNA sequencing together with genetic ablation of subpopulation-enriched mediators revealed dual functions of HSCs in hepatocarcinogenesis. Hepatocyte growth factor, enriched in quiescent and cytokine-producing HSCs, protected against hepatocyte death and HCC development. By contrast, type I collagen, enriched in activated myofibroblastic HSCs, promoted proliferation and tumour development through increased stiffness and TAZ activation in pretumoural hepatocytes and through activation of discoidin domain receptor 1 in established tumours. An increased HSC imbalance between cytokine-producing HSCs and myofibroblastic HSCs during liver disease progression was associated with increased HCC risk in patients. In summary, the dynamic shift in HSC subpopulations and their mediators during chronic liver disease is associated with a switch from HCC protection to HCC promotion.
Influenza infection causes significant morbidity in pregnant woman and neonates. In this randomized study of 340 pregnant women in Bangladesh, influenza vaccination during pregnancy was found to ...decrease laboratory-proven influenza infection in neonates by 63% and febrile respiratory illness in the mothers by more than a third.
In pregnant women in Bangladesh, influenza vaccination during pregnancy was found to decrease laboratory-proven influenza infection in neonates by 63% and febrile respiratory illness in the mothers by more than a third.
Infection with influenza virus is associated with serious illness and hospitalization among pregnant women
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and young infants, including neonates.
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Maternal influenza infection has been associated with an increased risk of maternal hospitalization, fetal malformation, and other illnesses.
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Influenza infection in young infants often prompts hospitalization and can predispose the infants to bacterial pneumonia or otitis media.
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Studies from North America
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and Hong Kong
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have shown high rates of hospitalization among infants with influenza, especially those under 6 months of age.
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The rate of hospitalization for such infants is higher than that for other high-risk groups. A . . .
The prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) among patients with refractory out-of-hospital (OH) ventricular fibrillation (VF)/ventricular tachycardia (VT) cardiac arrest is unknown.
The goal of ...this study was to describe the prevalence and complexity of CAD and report survival to hospital discharge in patients experiencing refractory VF/VT cardiac arrest treated with a novel protocol of early transport to a cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) for extracorporeal life support (ECLS) and revascularization.
Between December 1, 2015, and December 1, 2016, consecutive adult patients with refractory OH VF/VT cardiac arrest requiring ongoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation were transported by emergency medical services to the CCL. ECLS, coronary angiography, and percutaneous coronary intervention were performed, as appropriate. Functionally favorable survival to hospital discharge (Cerebral Performance Category 1 or 2) was determined. Outcomes in a historical comparison group were also evaluated.
Sixty-two (86%) of 72 transported patients met emergency medical services transport criteria. Fifty-five (89%) of the 62 patients met criteria for continuing resuscitation on CCL arrival; 5 had return of spontaneous circulation, 50 received ECLS, and all 55 received coronary angiography. Forty-six (84%) of 55 patients had significant CAD, 35 (64%) of 55 had acute thrombotic lesions, and 46 (84%) of 55 had percutaneous coronary intervention with 2.7 ± 2.0 stents deployed per patient. The mean SYNTAX score was 29.4 ± 13.9. Twenty-six (42%) of 62 patients were discharged alive with Cerebral Performance Category 1 or 2 versus 26 (15.3%) of 170 in the historical comparison group (odds ratio: 4.0; 95% confidence interval: 2.08 to 7.7; p < 0.0001).
Complex but treatable CAD was prevalent in patients with refractory OH VF/VT cardiac arrest who also met criteria for continuing resuscitation in the CCL. A systems approach using ECLS and reperfusion seemed to improve functionally favorable survival.
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The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) has observed ∼600 transiting exoplanets and exoplanet candidates from Kepler (Kepler Objects of Interest, KOIs), most with ≥18 ...epochs. The combined multi-epoch spectra are of high signal-to-noise ratio (typically ≥100) and yield precise stellar parameters and chemical abundances. We first confirm the ability of the APOGEE abundance pipeline, ASPCAP, to derive reliable Fe/H and effective temperatures for FGK dwarf stars-the primary Kepler host stellar type-by comparing the ASPCAP-derived stellar parameters with those from independent high-resolution spectroscopic characterizations for 221 dwarf stars in the literature. With a sample of 282 close-in ( days) KOIs observed in the APOGEE KOI goal program, we find a correlation between orbital period and host star Fe/H characterized by a critical period, days, below which small exoplanets orbit statistically more metal-enriched host stars. This effect may trace a metallicity dependence of the protoplanetary disk inner radius at the time of planet formation or may be a result of rocky planet ingestion driven by inward planetary migration. We also consider that this may trace a metallicity dependence of the dust sublimation radius, but we find no statistically significant correlation with host and orbital period to support such a claim.
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