Availability of organs is a limiting factor for lung transplantation, leading to substantial mortality rates on the wait list. Use of organs from donors with transmissible viral infections, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV), would increase organ donation, but these organs are generally not offered for transplantation due to a high risk of transmission. Here, we develop a method for treatment of HCV-infected human donor lungs that prevents HCV transmission. Physical viral clearance in combination with germicidal light-based therapies during normothermic ex-vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP), a method for assessment and treatment of injured donor lungs, inactivates HCV virus in a short period of time. Such treatment is shown to be safe using a large animal EVLP-to-lung transplantation model. This strategy of treating viral infection in a donor organ during preservation could significantly increase the availability of organs for transplantation and encourages further clinical development.
Objectives
To quantify rates of change in quadriceps muscle (QM) and intermuscular fat (IMF) volumes over 2-years in women in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) study and examine group differences between those with radiographic OA (ROA) and those without (non-ROA).
Methods
The OAI database was queried for women ≥50 years old in the incident and progression cohorts with and without ROA at baseline. Mid-thigh MRI scans (15 contiguous slices, 5 mm slice thickness) of eligible women were randomly selected and anonymized. Image pairs were registered. QM and IMF were segmented in the 12 most proximal matching slices with the segmenter blinded to image time point. Age-adjusted differences in QM and IMF volume changes between groups were tested using ANCOVA.
Results
41 women without ROA (mean (SD) age 60.7 (7.6) yrs) and 45 with ROA (mean (SD) age 64.5 (6.7) yrs) were included. Mean QM and IMF volume changes in the non-ROA group were -4.1 (11.1) cm3 and 3.4 (7.1) cm3, respectively, and -5.4 (13.5) cm3 and 3.1 (7.4) cm3 in the ROA group, respectively. Age-adjusted between-group differences in QM and IMF changes were not significant (p>0.05).
Conclusions
Two-year changes in QM and IMF volume appear consistent with ageing and do not seem to be related to OA status. Direct comparison with a control cohort without OA risk factors could confirm this. Since group assignment was based on baseline data, there may have been women in the non-ROA group who developed radiographic OA over follow-up resulting in some overlap between groups.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.