Prevalence of Cardiovascular Diseases Among Breast Cancer Survivors: Findings From the NHANES 2003-2018.

PURPOSE: To examine the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among breast cancer (BC) survivors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study using the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2018. SETTING: United States (US). SUBJECTS: A nationally representative sample of US women with a history of BC. MEASURES: Self-reported CVD status (i.e., coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure, and stroke) and time of the CVD diagnosis were used to categorize BC survivors into three groups: No CVD, preexisting CVD, and post-acquired CVD after BC diagnosis. ANALYSIS: The prevalence of CVD among BC survivors were estimated by demographic characteristics. Complex sampling design of the NHANES was accounted to estimate the population-level prevalence. RESULTS: A total of 658 BC survivors were identified, representing 3.01% (≈3.4 million) of the US women aged ≥18 years old. Of those, ≈6% (≈.2 million) had preexisting CVD and ≈11% (≈.4 million) had at least one CVD diagnosed after BC diagnosis, with an average time elapsed ranging from ≈5 years for heart failure to ≈9 years for CAD and stroke. The prevalence of CVD among BC survivors differed by demographic characteristics including age, education, marital status, menopausal, and physical activity levels. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that BC survivors are at risk of suffering from CVD and public health strategies for the long-term management of CVD risk factors in this vulnerable population group is recommended.

LPS differentially affects expression of CD14 and CCR2 in monocyte subsets of Post-STEMI patients with hyperglycemia.

AIMS: Following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), recruitment and activation of monocytes [classical (CD14++CD16-CCR2++), intermediate (CD14++CD16+CCR2+), non-classical (CD14LowCD16++CCR2Low)] are needed for myocardial wound healing. Monocyte surface receptor CC chemokine receptor type 2 (CCR2) is responsible for monocyte chemotaxis to sites of inflammation and the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein co-receptor, CD14, is involved in pro-inflammatory monocyte activation. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of ex-vivo LPS activation on monocyte subset CD14 and CCR2 expression in post-STEMI individuals with normal and elevated random blood glucose. METHODS: Post-STEMI subjects were identified as normal random glucose (NG, <98 mg/dL, n = 13) or impaired random glucose (IG, ≥98 mg/dL, n = 26) and monocytes were analyzed for non-activated and LPS-activated (1 µg/mL for 4 h) CCR2 and CD14 expression. RESULTS: Non-activated intermediate monocytes from IG showed decreased CD14 expression when compared to NG, which was maintained following LPS-activation. The NG group showed a larger absolute reduction in classical CCR2 expression, leading to a significant difference between NG and IG following LPS-activation. CONCLUSION: Results suggest a heightened response to pro-inflammatory activation in IG following STEMI, which may impair or delay post-STEMI myocardial healing, and thus increase the incidence of chronic heart failure. NIH 1R34HL121402.

Effect of Polymer Network Architecture, Enhancing Soft Materials Using Orthogonal Dynamic Bonds in an Interpenetrating Network.

Doubly dynamic polymer networks were synthesized with two distinct exchangeable cross-linkers. The first linker is highly dynamic and rapidly exchanging hydrogen bonded 2-ureido-4[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) and the second is a thermoresponsive furan-maleimide Diels-Alder adduct (FMI). Two network architectures were considered: an interpenetrating network (IPN) where one network is cross-linked with the UPy linker and the other is cross-linked with the FMI linker, and a single network (SN) where both the UPy and FMI linkers are in the same single network. Remarkably, the IPNs were superior to the SNs with the same composition of the UPy and FMI cross-linkers when comparing peak stress, strain at break, fracture toughness, malleability, and self-healing. Both materials studied were stable and creep resistant under ambient conditions.