National Jewish Health

About: National Jewish Health is a healthcare organization based out in Denver, Colorado, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: T cell & Asthma. The organization has 883 authors who have published 833 publications receiving 79201 citations. The organization is also known as: National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

Agents and methods for inhibition of airway hyperresponsiveness

Abstract: The present invention provides methods and compositions for inhibition of Airway Hyperresponsiveness ('AHR') by deleting, inactivating or inhibiting a subset of innate γδ T cells, alone or in conjunction with the inhibition of Natural Killer T ('NKT') cells. The methods comprise selective leukophoresis to remove the γδ T cells from the individual's blood or administration of an agent that selectively targets and inhibits or inactivates the γδ T cells. The methods of the present invention can be used to treat AHR in a variety of different ailments, including allergen-induced conditions or respiratory conditions and diseases.

A Practice Quality Improvement Project: Reducing Dose of Routine Chest CT Imaging in a Busy Clinical Practice.

Abstract: The purpose of this report is to describe our experience with the implementation of a practice quality improvement (PQI) project in thoracic imaging as part of the American Board of Radiology Maintenance of Certification process. The goal of this PQI project was to reduce the effective radiation dose of routine chest CT imaging in a busy clinical practice by employing the iDose(4) (Philips Healthcare) iterative reconstruction technique. The dose reduction strategy was implemented in a stepwise process on a single 64-slice CT scanner with a volume of 1141 chest CT scans during the year. In the first annual quarter, a baseline effective dose was established using the standard filtered back projection (FBP) algorithm protocol and standard parameters such as kVp and mAs. The iDose(4) technique was then applied in the second and third annual quarters while keeping all other parameters unchanged. In the fourth quarter, a reduction in kVp was also implemented. Throughout the process, the images were continually evaluated to assure that the image quality was comparable to the standard protocol from multiple other scanners. Utilizing a stepwise approach, the effective radiation dose was reduced by 23.62 and 43.63 % in quarters two and four, respectively, compared to our initial standard protocol with no perceived difference in diagnostic quality. This practice quality improvement project demonstrated a significant reduction in the effective radiation dose of thoracic CT scans in a busy clinical practice.

Identification of Influential Variants in Significant Aggregate Rare Variant Tests

Abstract: Introduction: Studies that examine the role of rare variants in both simple and complex disease are increasingly common. Though the usual approach of testing rare variants in aggregate sets is more powerful than testing individual variants, it is of interest to identify the variants that are plausible drivers of the association. We present a novel method for prioritization of rare variants after a significant aggregate test by quantifying the influence of the variant on the aggregate test of association. Methods: In addition to providing a measure used to rank variants, we use outlier detection methods to present the computationally efficient Rare Variant Influential Filtering Tool (RIFT) to identify a subset of variants that influence the disease association. We evaluated several outlier detection methods that vary based on the underlying variance measure: interquartile range (Tukey fences), median absolute deviation and standard deviation. We performed 1000 simulations for 50 regions of size 3kb and compared the true and false positive rates. We compared RIFT using the Inner Tukey to two existing methods: adaptive combination of p-values (ADA) and a Bayesian hierarchical model (BeviMed). Finally, we applied this method to data from our targeted resequencing study in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Results: All outlier detection methods observed higher sensitivity to detect uncommon variants (0.001 0.03) compared to very rare variants (MAF < 0.001). For uncommon variants, RIFT had a lower median false positive rate compared to the ADA. ADA and RIFT had significantly higher true positive rates than that observed for BeviMed. When applied to two regions found previously associated with IPF including 100 rare variants, we identified six polymorphisms with the greatest evidence for influencing the association with IPF. Discussion: In summary, RIFT has a high true positive rate while maintaining a low false positive rate for identifying polymorphisms influencing rare variant association tests. This work provides an approach to obtain greater resolution of the rare variant signals within significant aggregate sets; this information can provide an objective measure to prioritize variants for follow-up experimental studies and insight into the biological pathways involved.

Method and composition for increasing CD4+ T lymphocyte immune responsiveness

Abstract: A method and composition to restore and/or increase immune responsiveness in CD4 + T lymphocytes that display a loss of immune function (i.e., immune unresponsiveness) after CD4 is ligated by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gp120 are disclosed. Such a method and composition are useful for restoring immune surveillance and host defense capabilities to an HIV-infected patient, for causing HIV-infected T lymphocytes to become targets of the immune system, and for increasing the survival and development of CD4 + T lymphocytes in HIV-infected patients so the immune system can be reconstituted. Also disclosed are a method to identify putative regulatory compounds useful in a composition of the invention and a method to identify suitable candidate patients for treatment by a method of the invention.