Intravascular treatment of long segments of experimental peripheral arteries with multiple, serial, balloon-expandable, resorbable scaffolds

Symptomatic femoropopliteal occlusive disease has been increasingly treated using endovascular methods. However, restenosis, especially after implantation of permanent metallic stents, has remained common. To date, resorbable scaffolds have failed to achieve sufficient radial strength to enable the successful treatment of long, mobile, peripheral arteries. In the present nonsurvival, large animal experiment, a novel device consisting of multiple, short, serial, balloon-expandable, bioresorbable scaffolds was deployed in arteries subjected to supraphysiologic deformation. Compared with native vessels, the scaffolded arteries continued to bend (113° ± 19° vs 110° ± 20°; = .10) and shorten (15% ± 15% vs 20% ± 14%; = .16), unencumbered by the placement of the investigational device. The mean luminal diameter of the scaffolded arteries was preserved without kinks or occlusions in exaggerated flexion (4.7 ± 0.7 vs 4.7 ± 0.5 mm in extension vs flexion; = .80). Arterial deformation was borne by shortening of the interscaffold spaces (2.2 ± 0.8 mm vs 1.9 ± 0.7 mm in extension vs flexion; \u3c .01) and the scaffolds themselves (10.7 ± 1.4 mm vs 9.9 ± 1.1 mm in extension vs flexion; \u3c .01). The results from the present study challenge the perceived limitations of balloon-expandable devices implanted in peripheral mobile arteries. We have presented a bioresorbable scaffold that combines sufficient radial strength to preserve the mean luminal diameter with movement and the flexibility to accommodate femoropopliteal deformation

Detection of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in AIDS patients using amplification-mediated hybridization analyses: Reproducibility and quantitative limitations

Eighty-six peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples from 30 patients with AIDS were analyzed using a transcription-based amplification system (TAS) and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Human immunodeficiency virus tpe 1 (HIV-1) sequences were detected by amplification-mediated hybridization in 98% of the samples, 52% of which were positive for p24 antigen by ELISA. Neither TAS (93%) nor PCR (95%) detected HIV-1 sequences in all 86 samples. The hybridization-detection methods (slot blot, bead-based sandwich, and solution) used to detect the HIV-1-specific TAS products had a clear influence on the efficiency of detecting and quantitating the levels of HIV-1 present in these samples. The reproducibility of amplification of constant amounts of HIV-1 RNA and β-globin DNA by TAS and PCR was studied over 3 months. The results indicated that variations of 10- and 5-fold in the HIV-1 sequence levels could be detected between samples by TAS and PCR, respectively. Within the range of sensitivities for each assay used, the administration of zidovudine did not appear to reduce the amount of HIV-1 nucleic acid sequences as observed in PBMC obtained serially from six AIDS patients

New Drugs for Alopecias

The new drugs in the development of AGA include PGF2 analogs, a PGD2 receptor antagonist, Wnt pathway activators, an androgen receptor antagonist, a topical JAK inhibitors, and topical finasteride. While many of these have already shown efficacy compared to placebo, none have shown superiority to topical minoxidil; however, they may still have future as an adjuvant treatment with topical minoxidil. For AA, oral JAK inhibitors are a promising new development, although other new drugs are in development as well. A particularly interesting one is BNZ-1, which has the potential to suppress the autoimmune response without causing systemic immunosuppression