The absence of stent thrombosis among patients treated with EESs suggests a good safety profile for this second-generation drug-eluting stent, which should be carefully studied in a larger series of patients with small vessel disease. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (Am J Cardiol 2013;111:973-978)”
“Background: Intranasal administration of high amount of allergen was shown to induce tolerance and to reverse the allergic phenotype. However, mechanisms of tolerance induction via the mucosal route are find more still unclear. Objectives: To characterize the therapeutic effects of intranasal application of ovalbumin (OVA) in a mouse model of bronchial

inflammation as well as the cellular and molecular mechanisms leading to protection upon re-exposure to allergen. Methods: After induction of bronchial inflammation,

mice were treated intranasally with OVA and re-exposed to OVA aerosols 10 days later. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), T cell proliferation and cytokine secretion were examined. The respective role of CD4(+)CD25(+) and CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells in the induction of tolerance was analysed. Results: Intranasal treatment with OVA drastically reduced inflammatory cell recruitment into BALF and bronchial hyperresponsiveness upon re-exposure to allergen. Both OVA- specific-proliferation of T cells, T(h)1 and T(h)2 cytokine production from lung and bronchial lymph nodes were inhibited. Transfer of CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells, which strongly expressed membrane-bound PKC412 ic50 transforming growth factor beta (mTGF beta), from tolerized mice protected asthmatic recipient mice from subsequent aerosol challenges. The presence of CD4(+)CD25(+)(Foxp3(+)) T cells during the process of tolerization was indispensable to CD4(+)CD25(-) T cells to acquire regulatory properties. Whereas the presence of IL-10 appeared

dispensable in this model, the suppression of CD4(+)CD25(-)mTGF beta(+) T cells in transfer experiments significantly impaired the down-regulation of airways inflammation. Conclusion: BMS-777607 in vitro Nasal application of OVA in established asthma led to the induction of CD4(+)CD25(-)mTGF beta(+) T cells with regulatory properties, able to confer protection upon allergen re-exposure.”
“Portopulmonary hypertension (POPH), a complication of chronic liver disease, may be a contraindication to liver transplantation (LT) because of the elevated risk of peritransplant and posttransplant morbidity and mortality. Because POPH is frequently asymptomatic, screening with echocardiography is recommended. The only reliable technique, however, for diagnosing POPH is right heart catheterization (RHC). The aims of this study were to evaluate the current estimated systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) cutoff value of 30 mm Hg and to determine a better cutoff value. One hundred fifty-two patients underwent pretransplant echocardiography between January 2005 and December 2010.