The PNPLA3 Genetic Variant rs738409 Influences the Progression to Cirrhosis in HIV/Hepatitis C Virus Coinfected Patients

Contradictory data about the impact of the rs738409 steatosis-related polymorphism within PNPLA3 gene on liver fibrosis progression in HIV/hepatitis C virus (HIV/HCV)-coinfected patients have been reported. Our objective was to test whether this, and other polymorphisms previously related to fatty liver disease in HIV infection linked to SAMM50 or LPPR4 genes, influence liver fibrosis progression in HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals. Three hundred and thirty two HIV/HCV-coinfected patients who consecutively attended four Spanish university hospitals from November 2011 to July 2013 were included. A liver stiffness cut-off of 14.6 kPa, as determined by transient elastography, was used to diagnose cirrhosis. Liver stiffness progression was studied in 171 individuals who had two available LS determinations without anti-HCV treatment between them. Moreover, 28 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients who underwent liver transplant, as well as 19 non-cirrhotic coinfected individuals used as controls, were included in an additional study. Only rs738409 was associated with cirrhosis: 45 (29.6%) of 152 G allele carriers versus 36 (20.0%) of 180 CC carriers showed cirrhosis (multivariate p = 0.018; adjusted odds ratio = 1.98; 95% confidence interval = 1.12-3.50). Also, 21 (30.4%) of 69 G allele carriers versus 16 (15.7%) of 102 CC patients showed significant liver stiffness progression (adjusted p-value = 0.015; adjusted odds ratio = 2.89; 95% confidence interval = 1.23-6.83). Finally, the proportion of rs738409 G allele carriers was significantly higher in transplanted individuals than in controls (p = 0.044, odds ratio = 3.43; 95% confidence interval = 1.01-11.70). Our results strongly suggest that the rs738409 polymorphism is associated with liver fibrosis progression in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients

Immunogenetic characterization of clonal plasma cells in systemic light-chain amyloidosis

This study was supported by the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red—Área de Oncología—del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CIBERONC; CB16/12/00369; and CB16/12/00489), Instituto de Salud Carlos III/Subdirección General de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS No. PI13/02196), Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (GCB120981SAN and the Accelerator Award), CRIS against Cancer foundation grant 2014/0120, and the Black Swan Research Initiative of the International Myeloma Foundation.Peer reviewe

Mandowsky (Erna) et Mitchell (Charles). Pirro Ligorio's Roman Antiquities. The Drawings in Ms. XIII. Β. 7 in the National Library in Naples

Dacos Nicole. Mandowsky (Erna) et Mitchell (Charles). Pirro Ligorio's Roman Antiquities. The Drawings in Ms. XIII. Β. 7 in the National Library in Naples. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 43, fasc. 1, 1965. pp. 200-205

Microtubule-regulating proteins and cAMP-dependent signaling in neuroblastoma differentiation

Neurons are highly differentiated cells responsible for the conduction and transmission of information in the nervous system. The proper function of a neuron relies on the compartmentalization of their intracellular domains. Differentiated neuroblastoma cells have been extensively used to study and understand the physiology and cell biology of neuronal cells. Here, we show that differentiation of N1E-115 neuroblastoma cells is more pronounced upon exposure of a chemical analog of cyclic AMP (cAMP), db-cAMP. We next analysed the expression of key microtubule-regulating proteins in differentiated cells and the expression and activation of key cAMP players such as EPAC, PKA and AKAP79/150. Most of the microtubule-promoting factors were up regulated during differentiation of N1E-115 cells, while microtubule-destabilizing proteins were down regulated. We observed an increase in tubulin post-translational modifications related to microtubule stability. As expected, db-cAMP increased PKA- and EPAC-dependent signalling. Consistently, pharmacological modulation of EPAC activity instructed cell differentiation, number of neurites, and neurite length in N1E-115 cells. Moreover, disruption of the PKA-AKAP interaction reduced these morphometric parameters. Interestingly, PKA and EPAC act synergistically to induce neuronal differentiation in N1E-115. Altogether these results show that the changes observed in the differentiation of N1E-115 cells proceed by regulating several microtubule-stabilizing factors, and the acquisition of a neuronal phenotype is a process involving concerted although independent functions of EPAC and PKA

Circulating tumor and immune cells for minimally invasive risk stratification of smoldering multiple myeloma

Early intervention in smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) requires optimal risk stratification to avoid under and over-treatment. We hypothesized that replacing bone marrow (BM) plasma cells (PCs) for circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and adding immune biomarkers in peripheral blood (PB) for the identification of patients at risk of progression due to lost immune surveillance, could improve the International Myeloma Working Group 20/2/20 model

Daratumumab-based treatment for immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis

none269siBACKGROUND Systemic immunoglobulin light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is characterized by deposition of amyloid fibrils of light chains produced by clonal CD38+ plasma cells. Daratumumab, a human CD38-targeting antibody, may improve outcomes for this disease. METHODS We randomly assigned patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis to receive six cycles of bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone either alone (control group) or with subcutaneous daratumumab followed by single-agent daratumumab every 4 weeks for up to 24 cycles (daratumumab group). The primary end point was a hematologic complete response. RESULTS A total of 388 patients underwent randomization. The median follow-up was 11.4 months. The percentage of patients who had a hematologic complete response was significantly higher in the daratumumab group than in the control group (53.3% vs. 18.1%) (relative risk ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1 to 4.1; P<0.001). Survival free from major organ deterioration or hematologic progression favored the daratumumab group (hazard ratio for major organ deterioration, hematologic progression, or death, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.93; P=0.02). At 6 months, more cardiac and renal responses occurred in the daratumumab group than in the control group (41.5% vs. 22.2% and 53.0% vs. 23.9%, respectively). The four most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were lymphopenia (13.0% in the daratumumab group and 10.1% in the control group), pneumonia (7.8% and 4.3%, respectively), cardiac failure (6.2% and 4.8%), and diarrhea (5.7% and 3.7%). Systemic administration-related reactions to daratumumab occurred in 7.3% of the patients. A total of 56 patients died (27 in the daratumumab group and 29 in the control group), most due to amyloidosis-related cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis, the addition of daratumumab to bortezomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone was associated with higher frequencies of hematologic complete response and survival free from major organ deterioration or hematologic progression.noneKastritis E.; Palladini G.; Minnema M.C.; Wechalekar A.D.; Jaccard A.; Lee H.C.; Sanchorawala V.; Gibbs S.; Mollee P.; Venner C.P.; Lu J.; Schonland S.; Gatt M.E.; Suzuki K.; Kim K.; Cibeira M.T.; Beksac M.; Libby E.; Valent J.; Hungria V.; Wong S.W.; Rosenzweig M.; Bumma N.; Huart A.; Dimopoulos M.A.; Bhutani D.; Waxman A.J.; Goodman S.A.; Zonder J.A.; Lam S.; Song K.; Hansen T.; Manier S.; Roeloffzen W.; Jamroziak K.; Kwok F.; Shimazaki C.; Kim J.-S.; Crusoe E.; Ahmadi T.; Tran N.; Qin X.; Vasey S.Y.; Tromp B.; Schecter J.M.; Weiss B.M.; Zhuang S.H.; Vermeulen J.; Merlini G.; Comenzo R.L., Bradley Augustson, Fiona Kwok, Peter Mollee, Simon Gibbs, Chantal Doyen, Greet Bries, Isabelle Vande Broek, Ka Lung Wu, Koen Theunissen, Koen Van Eygen, Michel Delforge, Nathalie Meuleman, Philip Vlummens, Angelo Maiolino, Breno Moreno de Gusmão, Carlos Eduardo Miguel, Edvan Crusoe, Fernanda Moura, Fernanda Seguro, Jandey Bigonha, Juliane Musacchio, Karla Zanella, Laura Garcia, Marcelo Eduardo Zanella Capra, Reijane Alves de Assis, Rosane Bittencourt, Vania Hungria, Walter Braga, Wolney Barreto, Christopher Venner, Donna Reece, Emilie Lemieux-Blanchard, Kevin Song, Michael Sebag, Selay Lam, Victor Zepeda, Haitao Zhang, Jianda Hu, Jin Lu, Juan Li, Songfu Jiang, Ting Niu, Wenming Chen, Xiaonong Chen, Zhen Cai, Zhou Fude, Maja Oelholm Vase, Morten Salomo, Niels Abildgaard, Alain Fuzibet, Anne-Marie Stoppa, Arnaud Jaccard, Bertrand Arnulf, Bruno Moulin, Bruno Royer, David Ghez, Denis Caillot, Dominique Chauveau, Franck Bridoux, Lauriane Clement-Filliatre, Lionel Karlin, Lotfi Benboubker, Mamoun Dib, Margaret Macro, Mohamad Mohty, Olivier Decaux, Olivier Hermine, Olivier Tournilhac, Philippe Moreau, Salomon Manier, Sylvain Choquet, Véronique Dorvaux, Alexander Carpinteiro, Axel Nogai, Britta Besemer, Christoph Roellig, Roland Fenk, Stefan Knop, Stefan Schönland, Timon Hansen, Argiris Symeonidis, Efstathios Kastritis, Gabor Mikala, Tamás Masszi, Zsolt Nagy, Celia Suriu, Hila Magen, Iuliana Vaxman, Lev Shvidel, Meir Preis, Moshe Gatt, Noa Lavi, Osnat Jarchowsky, Tamar Tadmor, Yael Cohen, Angelo Vacca, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Boccadoro, Maurizio Martelli, Maurizio Musso, Michele Cavo, Chihiro Shimazaki, Hiroyuki Takamatsu, Kazutaka Sunami, Kenshi Suzuki, Nagaaki Katoh, Shinsuke Iida, Takayuki Ikezoe, Tomoaki Fujisaki, Yuta Katayama, Chang Ki Min, Ho-Jin Shin, Jin Seok Kim, Jung Yong Hong, Ki Hyun Kim, Sung-Soo Yoon, Aline Ramirez, Alvaro Cabrera, Christian Ramos, David Gomez Almaguer, Deborah Martinez, Guillermo Ruiz, Helen Dayani Caballero, Juan Antonio Flores Jimenez, Annemiek Broijl, Laurens Nieuwenhuizen, Monique Minnema, Paula Ypma, Wilfried Roeloffzen, Dominik Dytfeld, Grzegorz Charlinski, Grzegorz Helbig, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Sebastian Grosicki, Wieslaw Jedrzejczak, Albert Oriol Rocafiguera, Elham Askari, Fernando Escalante Barrigon, Isabel Krsnik Castello, Javier De la Rubia Comos, Jesus Martin Sanchez, Joaquin Martinez Lopez, Jose Angel Hernandez Rivas, Luis Felipe Casado Montero, Maria Jesus Blanchard Rodriguez, Maria Teresa Cibeira Lopez, Maria Victoria Mateos Manteca, Marta Sonia Gonzalez Perez, Mercedes Gironella Mesa, Rafael Rios Tamayo, Ramon Lecumberri Villamediana, Ricarda Garcia Sanchez, Sunil Lakhwani, Yolanda Gonzalez, Hareth Nahi, Kristina Carlsson, Markus Hansson, Ulf-Henrik Mellqvist, Ali Unal, Burhan Ferhanoglu, Hayri Ozsan, Levent Undar, Mehmet Turgut, Mehmet Yilmaz, Meral Beksac, Muhlis Cem Ar, Muzaffer Demir, Sevgi Besisik, Ashutosh Wechalekar, Jamie Cavenagh, Jim Cavet, Mark Cook, Rachel Hall, Adam Waxman, Anuj Mahindra, Cesar Rodriguez Valdes, Christine Ye, Craig Reeder, Daphne Friedman, David Siegel, Divaya Bhutani, Edward Libby, Eva Medvedova, Frank Passero, Giada Bianchi, Giampaolo Talamo, Guido Tricot, Hans Lee, Heather Landau, Jan Moreb, Jason Valent, Jeffrey Matous, Jeffrey A Zonder, Jesus Berdeja, Jonathan Kaufman, Keith Stockerl-Goldstein, Keren Osman, Ketan Doshi, Kevin Barton, Larry Anderson, Manisha Bhutani, Mehmet Kocoglu, Michael Rosenzweig, Michael Schuster, Michaela Liedtke, Morie Gertz, Naresh Bumma, Natalie Callander, Raymond Comenzo, Robert Vescio, Roger Pearse, Sandy W Wong, Stacey A Goodman, Stefano Tarantolo, Taimur Sher, Tibor Kovacsovics, Tomer Mark, Vaishali Sanchorawala, William BensingerKastritis E.; Palladini G.; Minnema M.C.; Wechalekar A.D.; Jaccard A.; Lee H.C.; Sanchorawala V.; Gibbs S.; Mollee P.; Venner C.P.; Lu J.; Schonland S.; Gatt M.E.; Suzuki K.; Kim K.; Cibeira M.T.; Beksac M.; Libby E.; Valent J.; Hungria V.; Wong S.W.; Rosenzweig M.; Bumma N.; Huart A.; Dimopoulos M.A.; Bhutani D.; Waxman A.J.; Goodman S.A.; Zonder J.A.; Lam S.; Song K.; Hansen T.; Manier S.; Roeloffzen W.; Jamroziak K.; Kwok F.; Shimazaki C.; Kim J.-S.; Crusoe E.; Ahmadi T.; Tran N.; Qin X.; Vasey S.Y.; Tromp B.; Schecter J.M.; Weiss B.M.; Zhuang S.H.; Vermeulen J.; Merlini G.; Comenzo R.L., Bradley Augustson, Fiona Kwok, Peter Mollee, Simon Gibbs, Chantal Doyen, Greet Bries, Isabelle Vande Broek, Ka Lung Wu, Koen Theunissen, Koen Van Eygen, Michel Delforge, Nathalie Meuleman, Philip Vlummens, Angelo Maiolino, Breno Moreno de Gusmão, Carlos Eduardo Miguel, Edvan Crusoe, Fernanda Moura, Fernanda Seguro, Jandey Bigonha, Juliane Musacchio, Karla Zanella, Laura Garcia, Marcelo Eduardo Zanella Capra, Reijane Alves de Assis, Rosane Bittencourt, Vania Hungria, Walter Braga, Wolney Barreto, Christopher Venner, Donna Reece, Emilie Lemieux-Blanchard, Kevin Song, Michael Sebag, Selay Lam, Victor Zepeda, Haitao Zhang, Jianda Hu, Jin Lu, Juan Li, Songfu Jiang, Ting Niu, Wenming Chen, Xiaonong Chen, Zhen Cai, Zhou Fude, Maja Oelholm Vase, Morten Salomo, Niels Abildgaard, Alain Fuzibet, Anne-Marie Stoppa, Arnaud Jaccard, Bertrand Arnulf, Bruno Moulin, Bruno Royer, David Ghez, Denis Caillot, Dominique Chauveau, Franck Bridoux, Lauriane Clement-Filliatre, Lionel Karlin, Lotfi Benboubker, Mamoun Dib, Margaret Macro, Mohamad Mohty, Olivier Decaux, Olivier Hermine, Olivier Tournilhac, Philippe Moreau, Salomon Manier, Sylvain Choquet, Véronique Dorvaux, Alexander Carpinteiro, Axel Nogai, Britta Besemer, Christoph Roellig, Roland Fenk, Stefan Knop, Stefan Schönland, Timon Hansen, Argiris Symeonidis, Efstathios Kastritis, Gabor Mikala, Tamás Masszi, Zsolt Nagy, Celia Suriu, Hila Magen, Iuliana Vaxman, Lev Shvidel, Meir Preis, Moshe Gatt, Noa Lavi, Osnat Jarchowsky, Tamar Tadmor, Yael Cohen, Angelo Vacca, Giovanni Palladini, Mario Boccadoro, Maurizio Martelli, Maurizio Musso, Michele Cavo, Chihiro Shimazaki, Hiroyuki Takamatsu, Kazutaka Sunami, Kenshi Suzuki, Nagaaki Katoh, Shinsuke Iida, Takayuki Ikezoe, Tomoaki Fujisaki, Yuta Katayama, Chang Ki Min, Ho-Jin Shin, Jin Seok Kim, Jung Yong Hong, Ki Hyun Kim, Sung-Soo Yoon, Aline Ramirez, Alvaro Cabrera, Christian Ramos, David Gomez Almaguer, Deborah Martinez, Guillermo Ruiz, Helen Dayani Caballero, Juan Antonio Flores Jimenez, Annemiek Broijl, Laurens Nieuwenhuizen, Monique Minnema, Paula Ypma, Wilfried Roeloffzen, Dominik Dytfeld, Grzegorz Charlinski, Grzegorz Helbig, Krzysztof Jamroziak, Sebastian Grosicki, Wieslaw Jedrzejczak, Albert Oriol Rocafiguera, Elham Askari, Fernando Escalante Barrigon, Isabel Krsnik Castello, Javier De la Rubia Comos, Jesus Martin Sanchez, Joaquin Martinez Lopez, Jose Angel Hernandez Rivas, Luis Felipe Casado Montero, Maria Jesus Blanchard Rodriguez, Maria Teresa Cibeira Lopez, Maria Victoria Mateos Manteca, Marta Sonia Gonzalez Perez, Mercedes Gironella Mesa, Rafael Rios Tamayo, Ramon Lecumberri Villamediana, Ricarda Garcia Sanchez, Sunil Lakhwani, Yolanda Gonzalez, Hareth Nahi, Kristina Carlsson, Markus Hansson, Ulf-Henrik Mellqvist, Ali Unal, Burhan Ferhanoglu, Hayri Ozsan, Levent Undar, Mehmet Turgut, Mehmet Yilmaz, Meral Beksac, Muhlis Cem Ar, Muzaffer Demir, Sevgi Besisik, Ashutosh Wechalekar, Jamie Cavenagh, Jim Cavet, Mark Cook, Rachel Hall, Adam Waxman, Anuj Mahindra, Cesar Rodriguez Valdes, Christine Ye, Craig Reeder, Daphne Friedman, David Siegel, Divaya Bhutani, Edward Libby, Eva Medvedova, Frank Passero, Giada Bianchi, Giampaolo Talamo, Guido Tricot, Hans Lee, Heather Landau, Jan Moreb, Jason Valent, Jeffrey Matous, Jeffrey A Zonder, Jesus Berdeja, Jonathan Kaufman, Keith Stockerl-Goldstein, Keren Osman, Ketan Doshi, Kevin Barton, Larry Anderson, Manisha Bhutani, Mehmet Kocoglu, Michael Rosenzweig, Michael Schuster, Michaela Liedtke, Morie Gertz, Naresh Bumma, Natalie Callander, Raymond Comenzo, Robert Vescio, Roger Pearse, Sandy W Wong, Stacey A Goodman, Stefano Tarantolo, Taimur Sher, Tibor Kovacsovics, Tomer Mark, Vaishali Sanchorawala, William Bensinge

Timing of nasogastric tube insertion and the risk of postoperative pneumonia: an international, prospective cohort study

Aim: Aspiration is a common cause of pneumonia in patients with postoperative ileus. Insertion of a nasogastric tube (NGT) is often performed, but this can be distressing. The aim of this study was to determine whether the timing of NGT insertion after surgery (before versus after vomiting) was associated with reduced rates of pneumonia in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. Method: This was a preplanned secondary analysis of a multicentre, prospective cohort study. Patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery between January 2018 and April 2018 were eligible. Those receiving a NGT were divided into three groups, based on the timing of the insertion: routine NGT (inserted at the time of surgery), prophylactic NGT (inserted after surgery but before vomiting) and reactive NGT (inserted after surgery and after vomiting). The primary outcome was the development of pneumonia within 30 days of surgery, which was compared between the prophylactic and reactive NGT groups using multivariable regression analysis. Results: A total of 4715 patients were included in the analysis and 1536 (32.6%) received a NGT. These were classified as routine in 926 (60.3%), reactive in 461 (30.0%) and prophylactic in 149 (9.7%). Two hundred patients (4.2%) developed pneumonia (no NGT 2.7%; routine NGT 5.2%; reactive NGT 10.6%; prophylactic NGT 11.4%). After adjustment for confounding factors, no significant difference in pneumonia rates was detected between the prophylactic and reactive NGT groups (odds ratio 1.03, 95% CI 0.56–1.87, P = 0.932). Conclusion: In patients who required the insertion of a NGT after surgery, prophylactic insertion was not associated with fewer cases of pneumonia within 30 days of surgery compared with reactive insertion

Timing of nasogastric tube insertion and the risk of postoperative pneumonia: an international, prospective cohort study

Aim: Aspiration is a common cause of pneumonia in patients with postoperative ileus. Insertion of a nasogastric tube (NGT) is often performed, but this can be distressing. The aim of this study was to determine whether the timing of NGT insertion after surgery (before versus after vomiting) was associated with reduced rates of pneumonia in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. Method: This was a preplanned secondary analysis of a multicentre, prospective cohort study. Patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery between January 2018 and April 2018 were eligible. Those receiving a NGT were divided into three groups, based on the timing of the insertion: routine NGT (inserted at the time of surgery), prophylactic NGT (inserted after surgery but before vomiting) and reactive NGT (inserted after surgery and after vomiting). The primary outcome was the development of pneumonia within 30 days of surgery, which was compared between the prophylactic and reactive NGT groups using multivariable regression analysis. Results: A total of 4715 patients were included in the analysis and 1536 (32.6%) received a NGT. These were classified as routine in 926 (60.3%), reactive in 461 (30.0%) and prophylactic in 149 (9.7%). Two hundred patients (4.2%) developed pneumonia (no NGT 2.7%; routine NGT 5.2%; reactive NGT 10.6%; prophylactic NGT 11.4%). After adjustment for confounding factors, no significant difference in pneumonia rates was detected between the prophylactic and reactive NGT groups (odds ratio 1.03, 95% CI 0.56\u20131.87, P = 0.932). Conclusion: In patients who required the insertion of a NGT after surgery, prophylactic insertion was not associated with fewer cases of pneumonia within 30 days of surgery compared with reactive insertion