A retrospective cohort study of additional procedures and transplant-free survival for patients with functionally single ventricle (f-SV) disease undergoing staged palliation in England and Wales

Background: Reinterventions may influence the outcomes of children with functionally single ventricle (f-SV) congenital heart disease (CHD).Methods: We undertook a retrospective cohort study of children starting treatment for f-SV between 2000-2018 in England, using the national procedure registry. Patients were categorized based on whether they survived free of transplant beyond one-year of age. Amongst patients who had transplant-free survival beyond one-year of age, we explored the relationship between reinterventions in infancy, and the outcomes of survival and Fontan completion, adjusting for complexity.Results: Of 3,307 with f-SV, 909 (27.5%), had no follow up beyond one-year of age, amongst whom 323 (35.3%) had one or more reinterventions in infancy; and 2,398 (72.5%) of f-SV patients had transplant-free survival beyond one-year of age, amongst whom 756 (31.5%) had one or more reinterventions in infancy. The 5-year transplant-free survival and cumulative incidence of Fontan, amongst those who survived infancy, were 93.4% (95% CI: 92.4%-94.4%) and 79.3% (95%CI 77.4%-81.2%), respectively. Both survival and Fontan completion were similar for those with a single reintervention and those who had no reinterventions. Patients who had more than one additional surgery (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 3.93 (1.87-8.27) P&lt;0.001) had higher adjusted risk of mortality. Patients who had more than one additional interventional catheter (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio (aSHR) 0.71 (0.52-0.96) P=0.03) had lower likelihood of achieving Fontan.Conclusions: Amongst children with f-SV, the occurrence of more than one reintervention in the first year of life, especially surgical reinterventions, was associated with poorer prognosis later in childhood.</div

A retrospective cohort study of additional procedures and transplant-free survival for patients with functionally single ventricle (f-SV) disease undergoing staged palliation in England and Wales

Background: Reinterventions may influence the outcomes of children with functionally single ventricle (f-SV) congenital heart disease (CHD).Methods: We undertook a retrospective cohort study of children starting treatment for f-SV between 2000-2018 in England, using the national procedure registry. Patients were categorized based on whether they survived free of transplant beyond one-year of age. Amongst patients who had transplant-free survival beyond one-year of age, we explored the relationship between reinterventions in infancy, and the outcomes of survival and Fontan completion, adjusting for complexity.Results: Of 3,307 with f-SV, 909 (27.5%), had no follow up beyond one-year of age, amongst whom 323 (35.3%) had one or more reinterventions in infancy; and 2,398 (72.5%) of f-SV patients had transplant-free survival beyond one-year of age, amongst whom 756 (31.5%) had one or more reinterventions in infancy. The 5-year transplant-free survival and cumulative incidence of Fontan, amongst those who survived infancy, were 93.4% (95% CI: 92.4%-94.4%) and 79.3% (95%CI 77.4%-81.2%), respectively. Both survival and Fontan completion were similar for those with a single reintervention and those who had no reinterventions. Patients who had more than one additional surgery (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 3.93 (1.87-8.27) P&lt;0.001) had higher adjusted risk of mortality. Patients who had more than one additional interventional catheter (adjusted subdistribution hazard ratio (aSHR) 0.71 (0.52-0.96) P=0.03) had lower likelihood of achieving Fontan.Conclusions: Amongst children with f-SV, the occurrence of more than one reintervention in the first year of life, especially surgical reinterventions, was associated with poorer prognosis later in childhood.</div

Recent loss of self-incompatibility by degradation of the male component in allotetraploid Arabidopsis kamchatica

The evolutionary transition from outcrossing to self-fertilization (selfing) through the loss of self-incompatibility (SI) is one of the most prevalent events in flowering plants, and its genetic basis has been a major focus in evolutionary biology. In the Brassicaceae, the SI system consists of male and female specificity genes at the S-locus and of genes involved in the female downstream signaling pathway. During recent decades, much attention has been paid in particular to clarifying the genes responsible for the loss of SI. Here, we investigated the pattern of polymorphism and functionality of the female specificity gene, the S-locus receptor kinase (SRK), in allotetraploid Arabidopsis kamchatica. While its parental species, A. lyrata and A. halleri, are reported to be diploid and mainly self-incompatible, A. kamchatica is self-compatible. We identified five highly diverged SRK haplogroups, found their disomic inheritance and, for the first time in a wild allotetraploid species, surveyed the geographic distribution of SRK at the two homeologous S-loci across the species range. We found intact full-length SRK sequences in many accessions. Through interspecific crosses with the self-incompatible and diploid congener A. halleri, we found that the female components of the SI system, including SRK and the female downstream signaling pathway, are still functional in these accessions. Given the tight linkage and very rare recombination of the male and female components on the S-locus, this result suggests that the degradation of male components was responsible for the loss of SI in A. kamchatica. Recent extensive studies in multiple Brassicaceae species demonstrate that the loss of SI is often derived from mutations in the male component in wild populations, in contrast to cultivated populations. This is consistent with theoretical predictions that mutations disabling male specificity are expected to be more strongly selected than mutations disabling female specificity, or the female downstream signaling pathway