Infective endocarditis of quadricuspid aortic valve.

BACKGROUND: Infective endocarditis of the aortic valve is a relatively common disease presentation, with surgical intervention a mainstay of treatment in severe cases. Quadricuspid aortic valves are a rare spontaneous developmental anomaly that are more likely to be asymptomatic, and less likely to require a full valve replacement than their hypocuspid counterparts. However, there is very little literature addressing infective endocarditis of this valve variant. CASE PRESENTATION: This case report presents a case of infective endocarditis of a quadricuspid aortic valve that required replacement with a surgical bioprosthetic valve. The patient is a 30 year old male with a history of polysubstance use, upper extremity aneurysm, and prior tricuspid valve endocarditis. Surgical aortic valve replacement was performed with a 25 mm tissue valve via median sternotomy. CONCLUSIONS: The patient made a full recovery after surgical aortic valve replacement and a course of antibiotics and was discharged home without any complications. This supports that surgical aortic valve replacement is feasible and safe in patients with polycuspid aortic valve endocarditis.

An integrated cellular and sub-cellular model of cancer chemotherapy and therapies that target cell survival.

Apoptosis resistance is a hallmark of human cancer, and tumor cells often become resistant due to defects in the programmed cell death machinery. Targeting key apoptosis regulators to overcome apoptotic resistance and promote rapid death of tumor cells is an exciting new strategy for cancer treatment, either alone or in combination with traditionally used anti-cancer drugs that target cell division. Here we present a multiscale modeling framework for investigating the synergism between traditional chemotherapy and targeted therapies aimed at critical regulators of apoptosis.