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BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia, which is a loss of skeletal muscle mass, has been reported to increase post-transplant mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing the first liver transplant. Cross-sectional imaging modalities typically determine sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis by measuring core abdominal musculatures. However, there is limited evidence for sarcopenia related outcomes in patients undergoing liver re-transplantation (re-OLT). AIM: To evaluate the risk of mortality in patients with pre-existing sarcopenia following liver re-OLT. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of all adult patients who had undergone a liver re-OLT at the University of Nebraska Medical Center from January 1, 2007 to January 1, 2017. We divided patients into sarcopenia and no sarcopenia groups. "TeraRecon AquariusNet 4.4.12.194" software was used to evaluate computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the patients done within one year prior to their re-OLT, to calculate the Psoas muscle area at L3-L4 intervertebral disc. We defined cutoffs for sarcopenia as < 1561 mm2 for males and < 1464 mm2 for females. The primary outcome was to compare 90 d, one, and 5-year survival rates. We also compared complications after re-OLT, length of stay, and re-admission within 30 d. Survival analysis was performed with Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Continuous variables were evaluated with Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. Categorical variables were evaluated with Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: Fifty-seven patients were included, 32 males: 25 females, median age 50 years. Two patients were excluded due to incomplete information. Overall, 47% (26) of patients who underwent re-OLT had sarcopenia. Females were found to have significantly more sarcopenia than males (73% vs 17%, P < 0.001). Median model for end stage liver disease at re-OLT was 28 in both sarcopenia and no sarcopenia groups. Patients in the no sarcopenia group had a trend of longer median time between the first and second transplant (36.5 mo vs 16.7 mo). Biological markers, outcome parameters, and survival at 90 d, 1 and 5 years, were similar between the two groups. Sarcopenia in re-OLT at our center was noted to be twice as common (47%) as historically reported in patients undergoing primary liver transplantation. CONCLUSION: Overall survival and outcome parameters were no different in those with and without the evidence of sarcopenia after re-OLT.
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We present the case of a 52-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with chest and neck pain. Initial cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging shows an abnormal flow void in the left vertebral artery, which prompted a computed tomographic angiogram. This demonstrated a hyperdense thickened ascending aortic wall, which extended into the great vessel origins. Clinically and radiographically interpreted as an acute aortic syndrome and/or intramural hematoma, the patient underwent ascending aortic repair with graft. An unusual aortic and/or periaortic mass was encountered in surgery and final pathology demonstrated IgG4 periaortitis. A rare clinical disease, IgG4-mediated processes are often mimickers of other pathologic entities and frequently lead to misdiagnosis. All pathologically similar, IgG4-mediated disease processes can involve the pancreas, salivary glands, orbits, retroperitoneum, and the vasculature.
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Bioinformatics is the application of computer science techniques to problems in biology, and this paper explores one such application with great potential: the modeling of life cycles of autonomous, intercommunicating cellular systems using domain-specific programming languages (DSLs). We illustrate this approach for the simple photo-synthetic bacterium R. Sphaeroides with a DSL called CellSys embedded in the programming language Haskell.
