Gene Expression Profiles Predict Emergence of Psychiatric Adverse Events in HIV/HCV-Coinfected Patients on Interferon-Based HCV Therapy

The efficacy of pegylated IFN-α and ribavirin (pegIFN/RBV) in the treatment of Hepatitis C infection is limited by psychiatric adverse effects (IFN-PE). Our study examined the ability of differential gene expression patterns prior to therapy to predict emergent IFN-PE among 28 HIV/HCV co-infected patients treated with pegIFN-α2b/RBV

-Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Efavirenz - Influence On PI-Concentrations And Use In Patients With Underlying Chronic Liver Disease

64 HIV-Patienten unter einer EFV-Therapie, darunter 30 Patienten im Stadium B2 und 20 im Stadium C3 wurden über bis zu 4 Jahre beobachtet. Ca. 80% aller EFV-Spiegel lagen während dieser Beobachtungszeit innerhalb des anzustrebenden Konzentrationsbereiches von 1000 - 4000 ng/ml. Bei den gemessenen EFV-Spiegeln fiel eine erhebliche inter- und intraindividuelle Schwankungsbreite auf. EFV-Spiegel im Serum waren tendenziell nicht signifikant niedriger als EFV-Spiegel im Plasma. Patienten mit einem Alter &#8805;40 Jahre zeigten tendenziell nicht signifikant höhere EFV-Spiegel als jüngere Patienten. Das Patientengewicht konnte als stärkster Einflussfaktor auf die interindividuelle Streuung der Efavirenzspiegel im Plasma identifiziert werden. Hohe EFV-Spiegel bei Patienten mit begleitender Lebererkrankung, die EFV zusammen mit PI´s (insbesondere Ritonavir) einnehmen oder bei Patienten mit einem unterdurchschnittlichen Körpergewicht (insbesondere Frauen) sind Indikationen für eine Dosisanpassung. Es gab keine signifikante Korrelation zwischen Grad der Therapieadhärenz und den EFV-Spiegeln. Die intraindividuelle Streuung der EFV-Spiegel war bei Patienten mit eingeschränkter Therapieadhärenz signifikant größer als bei Patienten mit guter Therapieadhärenz. Es lies sich ein Trend zu einer niedrigeren EFV-Konzentration im Verlauf nachweisen, der aber nicht statistisch signifikant war. NRTI´s nehmen keinen Einfluß auf EFV-Spiegel. Für Begleitmedikamente wie z.B. Methadon, Cotrimoxazol, Omeprazol und Statine ließ sich keine Wechselwirkung mit EFV nachweisen. Fluconazol zeigte einen leicht senkenden Einfluß auf die EFV-Spiegel. Ein Zusammenhang zwischen EFV-Plasmaspiegeln und Lebererkrankung war im Rahmen dieser Arbeit nicht nachweisbar. Raucher zeigten keine signifikanten Unterschiede in der Verteilung der erzielten EFV-Plasmaspiegel gegenüber nicht rauchenden Patienten. Interaktionen zwischen EFV und PI´s wurden in Bezug auf die erzielten PI-Spiegel nachgewiesen. Hepatitis B- bzw. C- Koinfektion sowie alkoholtoxische Leberzirrhose haben Einfluss auf eine EFV-bedingte Leberwerterhöhung. Eine anhaltende Suppression der Viruslast und ein Anstieg der CD4-Zellzahl konnten nachgewiesen werden. Ein EFV-Spiegel <1000ng/ml hat einen hohen prädiktiven Wert bezüglich eines Therapieversagens. Frauen zeigten im Vergleich zu Männern ein 2-fach erhöhtes Risiko akute Nebenwirkungen zu entwickeln. Ein häufigeres Auftreten bei Patienten mit hoher CD4-Zahl am Therapiebeginn kam innerhalb unseren Kollektivs nicht vor. Das Therapeutische Drug Monitoring ist somit integraler Bestandteil der antiretroviralen Therapie, insbesondere bei chronischen Lebererkrankungen

Immune Dysfunction and Albumin-Related Immunity in Liver Cirrhosis

Liver cirrhosis yearly causes 1.2 million deaths worldwide, ranking as the 10th leading cause of death in the most developed countries. High susceptibility to infections along with a significant risk for infection-related mortality justifies the description of liver cirrhosis as the world’s most common immunodeficiency syndrome. Liver cirrhosis is an end-stage organic disease hallmarked by a multifaceted immune dysfunction due to deterioration of antimicrobial recognition and elimination mechanisms in macrophages along with an impaired antigen presentation ability in circulating monocytes. Bacterial translocation supports—and is supported by—uncontrolled activation of immune cell responses and/or loss of toll-like receptor (TLR) tolerance, which can turn exaggerated inflammatory responses to systemic inflammation. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or endotoxin boosts systemic inflammatory activity through activation of TLR-2- and TLR-4-dependent pathways and facilitate a massive production of cytokines. This, in turn, results into elevated secretion of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which further enhances intestinal hyperpermeability and thus sustains a vicious circle of events widely known as “leaky gut.” Albumin can be of particular benefit in cirrhotic patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and/or hepatorenal syndrome type of acute kidney injury (HRS-AKI) due to anti-inflammatory and antioxidative stress as well as volume-expanding properties and endothelial-stabilizing attributes. However, presence of autoantibodies against albumin in patients with liver cirrhosis has been described. Although previous research suggested that these antibodies should be regarded as naturally occurring antibodies (NOA), the origin of the antialbumin immune response is obscure. High occurrence of NAO/albumin complexes in patients with liver disease might reflect a limited clearance capacity due to bypassing portal circulation. Moreover, high burden of oxidized albumin is associated with less favorable outcome in patients with liver cirrhosis. To date, there is no data available as to whether oxidized forms of albumin result in neoepitopes recognized by the immune system. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to hypothesize that these alterations may have the potential to induce antialbumin immune responses and thus favor systemic inflammation

Score performance of SAPS 2 and SAPS 3 in combination with biomarkers IL-6, PCT or CRP.

ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the effects of combining the Simplified-Acute-Physiology-Score (SAPS) 2 or the SAPS 3 with Interleukin-6 (IL-6) or Procalcitonin (PCT) or C-Reactive Protein (CRP) concentrations for predicting in-hospital mortality.Material and methodsThis retrospective study was conducted in an interdisciplinary 22-bed intensive care unit (ICU) at a German university hospital. Within an 18-month period, SAPS 2 and SAPS 3 were calculated for 514 critically ill patients that were admitted to the internal medicine department. To evaluate discrimination performance, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) and the 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated for each score, exclusively or in combination with IL-6 or PCT or CRP. DeLong test was used to compare different AUROCs.ResultsThe SAPS 2 exhibited a better discrimination performance than SAPS 3 with AUROCs of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.76-0.86) and 0.72 (95% CI, 0.66-0.78), respectively. Overall, combination of the SAPS 2 with IL-6 showed the best discrimination performance (AUROC 0.82; 95% CI, 0.77-0.87), albeit not significantly different from SAPS2. IL-6 performed better than PCT and CRP with AUROCs of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.69-0.81), 0.72 (95% CI, 0.66-0.77) and 0.65 (95% CI, 0.59-0.72), respectively. Performance of the SAPS 3 improved significantly when combined with IL-6 (AUROC 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69-0.81) or PCT (AUROC 0.73; 95% CI, 0.67-0.78).ConclusionsOur analysis provided evidence that the risk stratification performance of the SAPS 3 and, to a lesser degree, also of the SAPS 2 can increase when combined with IL-6. A more accurate detection of aberrant or dysregulated systemic immunological responses (by IL-6) may explain the higher performance achieved by SAPS 3 + IL-6 vs. SAPS 3. Thus, implementation of IL-6 in critical care scores can improve prediction outcomes, especially in patients experiencing acute inflammatory conditions; however, statistical results may vary across hospital types and/or patient populations with different case mix

The predictive performance of SAPS 2 and SAPS 3 in an intermediate care unit for internal medicine at a German university transplant center; A retrospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE:To analyze and compare the performance of the Simplified-Acute-Physiology-Score (SAPS) 2 and SAPS 3 among intermediate care patients with internal disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS:We conducted a retrospective single-center analysis in patients (n = 305) admitted to an intermediate-care-unit (ImCU) for internal medicine at the University Hospital Essen, Germany. We employed and compared the SAPS 2 vs. the SAPS 3 scoring system for the assessment of disease severity and prediction of mortality rates among patients admitted to the ImCU within an 18-month period. Both scores, which utilize parameters recorded at admission to the intensive-care-unit (ICU), represent the most widely applied scoring systems in European intensive care medicine. The area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curve (AUROC) was used to evaluate the SAPS 2 and SAPS 3 discrimination performance. Ultimately, standardized-mortality-ratios (SMRs) were calculated alongside their respective 95%-confidence-intervals (95% CI) in order to determine the observed-to-expected death ratio and calibration belt plots were generated to evaluate the SAPS 2 and SAPS 3 calibration performance. RESULTS:Both scores provided acceptable discrimination performance, i.e., the AUROC was 0.71 (95% CI, 0.65-0.77) for SAPS 2 and 0.77 (95% CI, 0.72-0.82) for SAPS 3. Against the observed in-hospital mortality of 30.2%, SAPS 2 showed a weak performance with a predicted mortality of 17.4% and a SMR of 1.74 (95% CI, 1.38-2.09), especially in association with liver diseases and/or sepsis. SAPS 3 performed accurately, resulting in a predicted mortality of 29.9% and a SMR of 1.01 (95% CI, 0.8-1.21). Based on Calibration belt plots, SAPS 2 showed a poor calibration-performance especially in patients with low mortality risk (P<0.001), while SAPS 3 exhibited a highly accurate calibration performance (P = 0.906) across all risk levels. CONCLUSIONS:In our study, the SAPS 3 exhibited high accuracy in prediction of mortality in ImCU patients with internal disorders. In contrast, the SAPS 2 underestimated mortality particularly in patients with liver diseases and sepsis

EF Train: Development of an Executive Function Training Program for Preschool and School-aged Children with ADHD

Executive functions are involved in the manifestation of ADHD symptoms. These functions have been proven to predict academic achievement and performance promoting school readiness and social functioning, thus training programs are essential. The current study focused on the development of an executive function training program “EF Train” and assessed its effect on the enhancement of three core executive functions, i.e. working memory, inhibitory control and sustained attention. A group of 52 children with ADHD ranging from 4 to 7 years of age were assigned to either a training group who performed 20 sessions of the executive function training program or a control group that received no training. The assessment of executive function improvement was carried out before, immediately after and three months after the completion of the “EF Train”. Data analysis revealed that the training program led to significant improvements of the core executive functions, as well as diminished ADHD symptoms. The findings indicate that executive function programs may assist on the attenuation of ADHD symptomatology providing additional non-invasive approaches for executive function improvement