Interstitial lung disease and myositis-specific and associated autoantibodies: Clinical manifestations, survival and the performance of the new ATS/ERS criteria for interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF).

OBJECTIVE: to describe the clinical manifestations and survival of patients with ILD and myositis-specific and associated autoantibodies, and to evaluate the performance of the new ATS/ERS classification criteria for IPAF. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with ILD and positive in at least one of the following autoantibodies: anti-Jo-1, anti-Ej, anti-PL7, anti-PL 12, anti-PM/SCL 75 and anti-PM/SCL100 were included. Patients were separated into three groups according to their autoantibody profile: 1. Jo-1 positive patients, 2. Non-Jo-1 antisynthetase autoantibody positive patients, and 3. PM/SCL positive patients. Relevant clinical characteristics were registered. Patients were evaluated had they fulfilled Bohan and Peter's criteria (BPC) for inflammatory myopathies. We evaluated the performance of the IPAF ATS/ERS proposal to classify as such the patients that did not fulfilled BPC, and evaluated whether IPAF patients had a worse survival that BPC patients. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients were included. Jo-1 was the most frequent autoantibody (65%), followed by non Jo1 anti-synthetase autoantibodies (31%). Non-Jo1 patients had lower Creatin Kinase serum levels at the baseline and less frequency of arthritis. Only 50% of patients fulfilled BPC. All patients not complying with BPC did comply with IPAF criteria. There was no difference in survival between IPAF and BPC patients. Anti Jo-1 positive was associated to survival and the extent of lung inflammation was associated to mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Patients differ in clinical manifestations according to the autoantibody profile. All patients not complying with BPC did comply with the new IPAF criteria. There was no difference in survival between BPC and IPAF patients. Jo-1 patients had a better survival. Extent of lung inflammation was associate to mortality.

Opinions on the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program: results of a national survey of hospital leaders.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the opinions of US hospital leadership on the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), a national mandatory penalty-for-performance program. STUDY DESIGN: We developed a survey about federal readmission policies. We used a stratified sampling design to oversample hospitals in the highest and lowest quintile of performance on readmissions, and hospitals serving a high proportion of minority patients. METHODS: We surveyed leadership at 1600 US acute care hospitals that were subject to the HRRP, and achieved a 62% response rate. Results were stratified by the size of the HRRP penalty that hospitals received in 2013, and adjusted for nonresponse and sampling strategy. RESULTS: Compared with 36.1% for public reporting of readmission rates and 23.7% for public reporting of discharge processes, 65.8% of respondents reported that the HRRP had a "great impact" on efforts to reduce readmissions. The most common critique of the HRRP penalty was that it did not adequately account for differences in socioeconomic status between hospitals (75.8% "agree" or "agree strongly"); other concerns included that the penalties were "much too large" (67.7%), and hospitals' inability to impact patient adherence (64.1%). These sentiments were each more common in leaders of hospitals with higher HRRP penalties. CONCLUSIONS: The HRRP has had a major impact on hospital leaders' efforts to reduce readmission rates, which has implications for the design of future quality improvement programs. However, leaders are concerned about the size of the penalties, lack of adjustment for socioeconomic and clinical factors, and hospitals' inability to impact patient adherence and postacute care. These concerns may have implications as policy makers consider changes to the HRRP, as well as to other Medicare value-based payment programs that contain similar readmission metrics.

Prognostic factors in a cohort of antisynthetase syndrome (ASS): serologic profile is associated with mortality in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD).

The objectives of the present study were to compare the survival function of antisynthetase syndrome (ASS) Jo1-positive patients with ASS non-Jo1 patients, all with interstitial lung disease (ILD), and to evaluate other factors such as the extension of pulmonary disease and the time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis and its association to survival in a cohort of ASS patients. Patients with ASS, all with ILD, were included. At the baseline, pulmonary function tests were realized and a high-resolution chest tomography was obtained; lung inflammation and fibrosis were measured with the Goh score and the Kazerooni index. The following autoantibodies were measured: Jo1, Ej, Oj, PL7, and PL12. Patients had to be positive for one of them in order to be included in the study. The survival function was estimated and compared with the log rank test, and the hazard ratio (HR) was estimated using Cox regression procedure. Forty-three patients were included, of which six patients died (14 %). Patients who died were different in comparison with survivors as regards the frequency of anti-Jo1 positivity: Survivors had anti-Jo1 autoantibodies more frequently (86 %) than patients who died (50 %). The univariate Cox regression analysis identified four variables associated with survival: Jo1 status, arthritis, extent of ground glass, and consolidation (inflammation) in high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and baseline forced vital capacity. The serological status of patients (Jo1-positive vs non-Jo1), the extent of lung inflammation in the HRCT scan, a low forced vital capacity, and arthritis are associated with survival in ASS patients.

Electrochemistry and [60]fullerene displacement reactions of (dihapto-[60]fullerene) pentacarbonyl metal(0) (M = Cr, Mo, W).

Cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements on (eta(2)-C(60))M(CO)(5) complexes (M = Cr, Mo, W) in dichloromethane show three [60]fullerene-centered and reversible reduction/oxidation waves. The E(1/2) values of these waves are shifted to positive values relative to the corresponding values of the uncoordinated [60]fullerene in the same solvent. A Jahn-Teller type distortion of the spherical surface of [60]fullerene promoted by [60]fullerene-metal pi-backbonding may explain the observed positive shifts. Lewis bases (L = piperidine and triphenyl phosphine) displace [60]fullerene from (eta(2)-C(60))M(CO)(5) complexes. Analysis of the activation parameters for the metal-[60]fullerene dissociation, the metal-[60]fullerene bond enthalpies (from DFT computations), and metal-solvent (benzene) bond enthalpies (from DFT computations) suggests appreciable solvent contribution to the transition state leading to formation of the intermediate species solvent-M(CO)(5). Appreciable transition state stabilization due to solvation of the intermediate species is inferred for M = Mo and W. For M = Cr, stabilization of the intermediate species due to solvation is not accompanied by the corresponding transition state stabilization.