Volume 04 · Issue 04 · 2018

Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells (APC) that facilitate the development and progression of atherosclerosis. However, DCs also function as novel "switches" between immune activation and immune tolerance and represent a heterogeneous hematopoietic lineage, with cell subsets in different tissues that show a differential morphology, phenotype, and function. Regulatory DCs, depending on their immature state, can be induced by immunosuppressive modulation, which plays an important part in the maintenance of immunologic tolerance via suppression of the immune response. In this review, we describe the current understanding of the generation of regulatory DCs. The novel role of selectins in the modification of DCs in atherosclerosis is also discussed.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing in the United States, and chronic, excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for 32%-45% of all the liver cancer cases in the United States. Avoidance of chronic or excessive alcohol intake is the best protection against alcohol-related liver injury; however, the social presence and addictive power of alcohol are strong. Induction of the cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) enzyme by chronic and excessive alcohol intake is known to play a role in the pathogenesis of ALD. High intake of tomatoes, rich in the carotenoid lycopene, is associated with a decreased risk of chronic disease. The review will overview the prevention of ALD and HCC through dietary tomato rich in lycopene as an effective intervention strategy and the crucial role of CYP2E1 induction as a molecular target. The review also indicates a need for caution among individuals consuming both alcohol and high dose lycopene as a dietary supplement.

T cells engineered with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) are rapidly emerging as an important immunotherapy for hematologic malignancies. The anti-cluster of differentiation (CD)19 CAR-T cell therapy has been remarkably successful against refractory/relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and a complete remission rate as high as 90% was observed, in both children and adults. Although the achievement of clinical efficacy using CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors has encountered several obstacles that were associated with the multiple mechanisms contributing to an immunosuppressive microenvironment, investigators are exploring more optimized approaches to improve the efficiency of CAR-T in solid tumors. In addition, cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity following CAR-T cell therapy can be severe or even fatal; therefore, the management of these toxicities is significant. Herein, we briefly review the structure of CAR-T and some novel CAR designs, the clinical application of CAR-T cell therapies, as well as the assessment and management of toxicities.

To examine obesity and diabetes associations with United States hospital use and healthcare costs for African American women, to explore the relationship between co-morbidities of interest (obesity and diabetes) and hospital resources [length of stay (LOS) and costs].

A retrospective, correlation, quantitative analysis for lengths of hospital stay and cost among adult African American women categorized according to their weight status with type 2 diabetes. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) data which contains the Nationwide Inpatient Sample was used. Focused on 803,163 African American, female inpatients between the ages of 21 and 55 in the United States from 2008 to 2010. Researcher explored the relationship between individual health factors of interest (obesity and diabetes) and the effects on hospital LOS and healthcare costs. All statistical analysis will be performed using Stata v12. All inferential tests will be two-sided and will utilize a 95% significance level. Two separate multiple regressions will be used.

A total of 758,874 records were retained for analysis. The patients in the weighted population ranged in age from 21 to 55 years. The patient LOS ranged from 0 to 333 days. The patients had approximately 2 procedures on average, and presented with approximately 3 chronic conditions on average. The total charges (Cost) ranged from 106 to over 1 million US dollars. The size and direction of the relationship between LOS, healthcare costs and the independent variables of diabetes and obesity suggests that both LOS and health care cost decreased for African American female patients with diabetes or obesity. There is a statistically significant relationship between at least one of the individual health factors of interest (obesity and diabetes) and hospital LOS (F = 13,394.00, P < 0.0005, R² = 0.440) and hospital costs (F = 10,171.23, P < 0.0005, R² = 0.502).

There is evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in health care quality in hospital treatment of African American patients. After accounting for social determinants and insurance statuses, African Americans may receive lower-quality care than the population at large. African Americans are admitted to the hospital, but services and LOS are shorter than the general population partially due to disparities in evaluating and offering treatment.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Previous studies have indicated that clustering of major CVD risk factors is common. We aimed to explore the association of clustering of CVD risk factors with arterial stiffness in adults.

A total of 9984 adults were enrolled. We investigated clustering of four major CVD risk factors (defined as two or more of the following: hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and high body mass index) and their association with arterial stiffness. Arterial stiffness was evaluated using the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV).

In the study group (52.2% men, the mean age was 55.4 ± 10.5 years; only 11.9% of participants were free of any pre-defined CVD risk factors and 61.8% of participants had clustering of CVD risk factors. The cfPWV was significantly higher in the clustered risk factors group than in the no risk factor or the single risk factor groups (16.1 ± 3.1, 13.4 ± 2.2, and 14.3 ± 2.6 m/s, respectively; P < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that age, gender, clustering of CVD risk factors, serum uric acid, and decreased renal function positively correlated with cfPWV. For a categorical outcome, the highest cfPWV quartile (cfPWV ≥ 16.9 m/s) was compared with the lower three quartiles. After adjusting for potential confounders, clustering of CVD risk factors significantly correlated with increased cfPWV compared with that in the no risk factor group, with an odds ratio of 5.76 (95% confidence interval: 4.46-7.44).

Clustering of CVD risk factors significantly correlated with arterial stiffness; this confirms the importance of lifestyle modification to reduce the burden of CVD.

Although controversial, the intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) and percutaneous left ventricular assist device (PLVAD) are widely used for initial hemodynamic stabilization. We performed a meta-analysis to compare the clinical outcomes of these two devices in patients with severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation.

MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Registry of Controlled Trials, and reference lists of relevant articles were searched. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective observational studies. Meta-analysis was conducted using a random effects model.

The quantitative analysis included 4 RCTs and 2 observational studies. A total of 348 patients received PLVAD and 340 received IABP. Meta-analysis revealed that early mortality rates (in-hospital or 30-day) did not differ between the PLVAD and IABP groups (relative risk (RR) = 1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.70-1.51, P = 0.89). Significant differences were observed between the two groups in the composite, in-hospital, non-major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) rate (RR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.01-1.68, P = 0.04).

Compared with IABP, PLVAD with active circulatory support did not improve early survival in those with severe left ventricular dysfunction undergoing either PCI or VT ablation, but increased the in-hospital non-MACCE rate.

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