Beaumont Health

About: Beaumont Health is a nonprofit organization based out in Royal Oak, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicine & Population. The organization has 1483 authors who have published 1448 publications receiving 15407 citations. The organization is also known as: William Beaumont Health System & Beaumont Hospitals.

Utility of Coronary Calcium Scoring (CCS) in Connective Tissue Disorders (CTDs) for the Evaluation of Subclinical Coronary Atherosclerosis – A Systematic Review

Abstract: Objective To assess the current state of knowledge for the utility of coronary calcium scoring (CCS) in connective tissue disorders (CTDs) as it relates to the presence and quantification of coronary atherosclerosis. Methods Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a literature search via PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Review retrieved 1019 studies (since database inception on May 7, 2018) from which 121 manuscripts were eligible for review. Inclusion criteria consisted of studies that investigated CCS in adults with respective CTDs. Studies were excluded if a complete manuscript was not written in English or was a case report. Results Thirty-one studies were included (27 with healthy age-/gender-matched control group for comparison and 4 without). CTDs analyzed in articles with control group: 11 rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 14 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 4 systemic sclerosis (SSc), 1 idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM), 1 Takayasu arteritis, and 1 psoriasis. Nine out of 11 RA studies, 12 out of 14 SLE studies, and 2 out of 4 SSc studies showed statistically significant increased CCS when compared with the control group. CTDs analyzed in studies without control group: two Kawasaki disease, one juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and one antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) article, which demonstrated increased coronary arterial calcium burden, however, without statistically significant data. Conclusion CTDs, especially SLE and RA, are associated with higher CCS compared with the control group, indicating increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis. Our search did not elicit sufficient publications or statistically significant results in many other CTDs.

Slippery Stents: A Case Report and Review of the Literature Describing Patients with May-Thurner Syndrome That Experienced Stent Migration.

Abstract: Endovascular stent placement is an effective treatment for relieving chronic venous obstruction in patients with May-Thurner Syndrome (MTS) with or without the presence of thrombotic lesions. Stent migration is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication of endovascular stenting. Herein, we describe a case of stent migration from the left common iliac vein into the right heart, requiring open-heart surgery. We also completed a literature review of MTS patients with stent migration in hopes of raising awareness of this rare and life-threatening complication.

Cyberinfrastructure Facilitation Skills Training via the Virtual Residency Program

Abstract: Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Facilitation is the process of helping researchers to use research computing systems and services to advance their computing/data-intensive research goals. The growing need for CI Facilitation isn’t being met by traditional academic degree/certificate programs, so informal education is required. Since 2015, the Virtual Residency Program (VRP) has been teaching key CI Facilitation skills to pre-service and in-service CI Facilitators, at introductory, intermediate and advanced levels, via a combination of (a) workshops, (b) conference calls, and (c) apprenticeships. The demand for CI Facilitation has expanded exponentially, with the known CI Facilitator population growing from dozens in the late 2000s to over a thousand presently, so the need for this kind of training has become increasingly acute. The 2019 VRP workshop was presented at a combined introductory/intermediate level, with content suitable for both new and experienced CI Facilitators, to attract both of these populations, in many cases presenting the same topic first at the introductory level and then intermediate, to maximize impact. Since 2015, the VRP has served 924 participants from 370 institutions in every US state and 3 US territories plus 11 other countries.

Relation of maximal systolic blood pressure during exercise testing to the risk of sudden cardiac death in men with and without cardiovascular disease.

Abstract: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains a global public health problem, despite the recent development of effective anti-arrhythmic agents and population-based risk prediction algorithms. High blood pressure or hypertension is an established risk factor for SCD. Furthermore, disproportionate increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) in response to acute physical and/or psychological stressors are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. SBP during exercise testing provides an index of blood pressure reactivity during daily physical activities. An exaggerated SBP response to exercise testing is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality in healthy individuals, with a more favourable prognosis in hypertensive patients and those with known or suspected coronary artery disease. However, it remains unclear whether an exaggerated SBP response to maximal exercise testing is directly or inversely related to the risk of SCD in men with and without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We tested the hypothesis that an exaggerated SBP response to maximal exercise testing may be associated with contrasting rates of SCD in men with and without a history of CVD. The sample included participants from an ongoing prospective population-based cohort study in eastern Finland (the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease (KIHD) study), designed to investigate risk factors for CVD and related, long-term health outcomes. The present analysis evaluated 2410 men (aged 42–61 years) who had undergone baseline medical examinations between 1984 and 1989, including participants with (n1⁄4 884) and without (n1⁄4 1526) CVD. Exercise blood pressure was manually determined using a standard cuff/stethoscope during progressive exercise testing to volitional fatigue on an electrically braked cycle ergometer. The peak SBP, expressed as millimeters of mercury (mmHg), was the highest value achieved during the exercise test. Although many studies have employed arbitrary thresholds to designate an exaggerated SBP at peak exercise, we used the criteria of the American Heart Association, that is SBP of 210mmHg or greater. SCD was defined as a fatal event that occurred within one hour after the onset of symptoms or within 24 hours when autopsy data did not reveal a non-cardiac cause of SCD, or after a fatal cardiac arrest following successful resuscitation from ventricular tachycardia and/or ventricular fibrillation. Data on SCDs were obtained from interviews with family members, hospital records, death certificates, autopsy reports and medico-legal documents. We used Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, body mass index, resting SBP, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, family history of heart disease, diabetes and directly measured maximal oxygen uptake (cardiorespiratory fitness) to determine the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of exaggerated SBP (SBP 210mmHg) for SCD. Statistical significance was set at P< 0.05 and analyses were conducted using SPSS version 21.0 (SPSS, Armonk, NY, USA). During a median 25-year follow-up, 226 SCDs occurred. In an analysis adjusted for several potential confounders, compared with men who had a normal SBP response to exercise testing, men with an exaggerated

Dynamic PET-CT studies for characterizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma metabolism: comparison of analytical methods.

Abstract: Objectives To investigate the optimal PET protocol and analytical method to characterize the glucose metabolism in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods Newly diagnosed NPC patients were recruited and a dynamic PET-CT scan was performed. The optimized threshold to derive the arterial input function (AIF) was studied. Two-tissue compartmental kinetic modeling using three, four, and five parameters, Patlak graphical analysis, and time sensitivity (S-factor) analysis were performed. The best compartmental model was determined in terms of goodness of fit, and correlated with Ki from Patlak graphical analysis and the S-factor. The methods with R>0.9 and P<0.05 were considered acceptable. The protocols using two static scans with its retention index (RI=(SUV2/SUV1–1)100%, where SUV is the standardized uptake value) were also studied and compared with S-factor analysis. Results The best threshold of 0.6 was determined and used to derive AIF. The kinetic model with five parameters yields the best statistical results, but the model with k4=0 was used as the gold standard. All Ki values and some Sfactors from data between various intervals (10–30, 10–45, 15–30, 15–45, 20–30, and 20–45min) fulfilled the criteria. The RIs calculated from the S-factor were highly correlated to RI derived from simple two-point static scans at 10 and 30min (R=0.9, P<0.0001). Conclusion The Patlak graphical analyses and even a 20-min-interval S-factor analysis or simple two-point static scans were shown to be sufficient to characterize NPC metabolism, confirming the clinical feasibility of applying a short dynamic with image-derived AIF or simple two-point static PET scans for studying NPC. Nucl Med Commun 33:191–197 � c 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Nuclear Medicine Communications 2012, 33:191–197