Influence of Compost Amendments on Soil and Human Gastrointestinal Bacterial Communities during a Single Gardening Season.

To measure associations between gardening with different compost amendments and the human gut microbiota composition, gardeners (n = 25) were provided with one of three types of compost: chicken manure (CM), dairy manure and plant material (DMP), or plant-based (P). Stool samples were collected before gardening (T1), after compost amendment (T2), and at peak garden harvest (T3). Compost and soil samples were collected. DNA was extracted, 16S rRNA libraries were established, and libraries were sequenced by Illumina MiSeq. Sequences were processed using mothur, and data were analyzed in R software version 4.2.2. Fast expectation-maximization microbial source tracking analysis was used to determine stool bacteria sources. At T2/T3, the gut microbiotas of P participants had the lowest Shannon alpha diversity, which was also the trend at T1. In stool from T2, Ruminococcus 1 were less abundant in the microbiotas of those using P compost as compared to those using CM or DMP. At T2, Prevotella 9 had the highest abundance in the microbiotas of those using CM compost. In participants who used CM compost to amend their gardening plots, a larger proportion of the human stool bacteria were sourced from CM compared to soil. Soil exposure through gardening was associated with a small but detectable change in the gardeners' gut microbiota composition. These results suggest that human interactions with soil through gardening could potentially impact health through alterations to the gut microbiota.

Team Approach: Bone Health Optimization in Orthopaedic Surgery.

¼ Bone health optimization (BHO) has become an increasingly important consideration in orthopaedic surgery because deterioration of bone tissue and low bone density are associated with poor outcomes after orthopaedic surgeries.¼ Management of patients with compromised bone health requires numerous healthcare professionals including orthopaedic surgeons, primary care physicians, nutritionists, and metabolic bone specialists in endocrinology, rheumatology, or obstetrics and gynecology. Therefore, achieving optimal bone health before orthopaedic surgery necessitates a collaborative and synchronized effort among healthcare professionals.¼ Patients with poor bone health are often asymptomatic and may present to the orthopaedic surgeon for reasons other than poor bone health. Therefore, it is imperative to recognize risk factors such as old age, female sex, and low body mass index, which predispose to decreased bone density.¼ Workup of suspected poor bone health entails bone density evaluation. For patients without dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan results within the past 2 years, perform DXA scan in all women aged 65 years and older, all men aged 70 years and older, and women younger than 65 years or men younger than 70 years with concurrent risk factors for poor bone health. All women and men presenting with a fracture secondary to low-energy trauma should receive DXA scan and bone health workup; for fractures secondary to high-energy trauma, perform DXA scan and further workup in women aged 65 years and older and men aged 70 years and older.¼ Failure to recognize and treat poor bone health can result in poor surgical outcomes including implant failure, periprosthetic infection, and nonunion after fracture fixation. However, collaborative healthcare teams can create personalized care plans involving nutritional supplements, antiresorptive or anabolic treatment, and weight-bearing exercise programs, resulting in BHO before surgery. Ultimately, this coordinated approach can enhance the success rate of surgical interventions, minimize complications, and improve patients' overall quality of life.

Management and Cure of Gouty Arthritis.

Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis in the United States. Gouty arthritis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and is the result of chronic hyperuricemia. Gout is effectively managed and potentially cured by decreasing the overall urate burden with serum urate-lowering therapy. When serum urate is maintained at less than 6.0 mg/dL, urate deposition is resolved, and gout can be cured. Unfortunately, because of less than optimal physician monitoring and dose escalation, many patients do not achieve these urate levels.

Management and Cure of Gouty Arthritis.

Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis in the United States. Gouty arthritis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and is caused by hyperuricemia. Gout is effectively managed and potentially cured by decreasing the overall urate burden with serum urate-lowering therapy. When serum urate is maintained at less than 6.0 mg/dL urate deposition is resolved and gout can be cured. Unfortunately, owing to a lack of physician monitoring and dose escalation the majority of patients do not achieve these urate levels.

The Effect of Statin Use on Mortality in Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases.

OBJECTIVE: Systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARD) are associated with an increased risk of premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality. We examined the potential survival benefit of statin use among patients with SARD in a general population setting. METHODS: We conducted an incident user cohort study using a UK general population database. Our population included patients with a SARD as determined by Read code diagnoses of systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, Sjögren syndrome, dermatomyositis, polymyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, Behçet disease, or antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies-associated vasculitis between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2014. We compared propensity score-matched cohorts of statin initiators and noninitiators within 1-year cohort accrual blocks to account for potential confounders, including disease duration, body mass index, lifestyle factors, comorbidities, and medication use. RESULTS: Of 2305 statin initiators, 298 died during the followup period (mean 5.1 yrs), whereas among 2305 propensity score-matched noninitiators, 338 died during the followup period (mean 4.8 yrs). This corresponded to mortality rates of 25.4/1000 and 30.3/1000 person-years, respectively. Statin initiation was associated with reduced all-cause mortality (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.72-0.98). When we compared the unmatched cohorts, the statin initiators (n = 2863) showed increased mortality (HR 1.85, 95% CI 1.58-2.16) compared with noninitiators (n = 2863 randomly selected within 1-year cohort accrual blocks) because of confounding by indication. CONCLUSION: In this general population-based study, statin initiation was shown to reduce overall mortality in patients with SARD after adjusting for relevant determinates of CVD risk.

Statin use and mortality in gout: A general population-based cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: Gout is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and premature mortality. We examined the potential survival benefit of statin use among gout patients in the general population. METHODS: We performed an incident user cohort study with time-stratified propensity score matching using a database representative of the UK general population between January 1999 and December 2014. To account for potential confounders, we compared propensity score-matched cohorts of statin initiators and non-initiators within 1-year cohort accrual blocks. We estimated the hazard ratio (HR) for mortality using a Cox proportional hazard model and the mortality rate difference using an additive hazard model. We examined potential subgroup effects stratified by key factors, including circulatory disease history. RESULTS: Among 17,018 statin initiators, 2025 deaths occurred during the follow-up (mean = 5.0 years) with a mortality rate of 24.0/1000 person-years (PY). The number of deaths and all-cause mortality rate among matched comparators during the follow-up (mean = 4.6 years) were 2503 and 31.7/1000 PY respectively. Compared with non-initiators, statin initiators experienced a 16% lower relative risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.79-0.89) and 7.7 (95% CI: 6.1-9.3) fewer deaths per 1000 PY. This protective association was stronger among those without prior circulatory disease (HRs = 0.65 vs. 0.85; p for interaction = 0.02). CONCLUSION: In this general population-based cohort study, statin initiation was associated with a lower risk of mortality in gout, potentially with greater benefits among those without prior circulatory disease. The proper use of statins may help to substantially improve the premature mortality in gout.

Racial/ethnic variation and risk factors for allopurinol-associated severe cutaneous adverse reactions: a cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: To examine associations of race/ethnicity and purported risk factors with hospitalised allopurinol-associated severe cutaneous adverse reactions (AASCARs). METHODS: We used US Medicaid data to identify incident allopurinol users between 1999 and 2012. We examined the risk of hospitalised AASCARs according to race/ethnicity and purported key risk factors and calculated relative risks (RR). RESULTS: Among 400 401 allopurinol initiators, we documented 203 hospitalised AASCAR cases (1 in 1972 initiators). The average AASCAR hospitalisation was 9.6 days and 43 individuals (21%) died. The multivariable-adjusted RRs for AASCARs among blacks, Asians and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders compared with whites or Hispanics were 3.00 (95% CI 2.18 to 4.14), 3.03 (95% CI 1.72 to 5.34) and 6.68 (95% CI 4.37 to 10.22), respectively. Female sex, older age (≥60 years), chronic kidney disease and initial allopurinol dose (>100 mg/day) were independently associated with a 2.5-fold, 1.7-fold, 2.3-fold and 1.9-fold higher risk of AASCAR, respectively. In our combined demographic analysis, older women (≥60 years) of a high-risk race/ethnicity (blacks, Asians or Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders) had over a 12-fold higher risk of hospitalised AASCARs than younger men of a low-risk race/ethnicity (whites or Hispanics) (multivariable-adjusted RR, 12.25; 95% CI 6.46 to 23.25). CONCLUSIONS: This racially diverse (yet mostly white) cohort study indicates that the risk of hospitalised AASCAR is rare overall, although blacks, Asians and Native Hawaiians/Pacific-Islanders have a substantially higher risk of hospitalised AASCARs, particularly among older women. These data also support the practice of initiating allopurinol at a low dose (eg, ≤100 mg/day).

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, Western diet, and risk of gout in men: prospective cohort study.

Objective To prospectively examine the relation between the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Western diets and risk of gout (ie, the clinical endpoint of hyperuricemia) in men.Design Prospective cohort study.Setting The Health Professionals Follow-up Study.Participants 44 444 men with no history of gout at baseline. Using validated food frequency questionnaires, each participant was assigned a DASH dietary pattern score (based on high intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, low fat dairy products, and whole grains, and low intake of sodium, sweetened beverages, and red and processed meats) and a Western dietary pattern score (based on high intake of red and processed meats, French fries, refined grains, sweets, and desserts).Main outcome measure Risk of incident gout meeting the preliminary American College of Rheumatology survey criteria for gout, adjusting for potential confounders, including age, body mass index, hypertension, diuretic use, and alcohol intake.Results During 26 years of follow-up, 1731 confirmed cases of incident gout were documented. A higher DASH dietary pattern score was associated with a lower risk for gout (adjusted relative risk for extreme fifths 0.68, 95% confidence interval 0.57 to 0.80, P value for trend <0.001). In contrast, a higher Western dietary pattern score was associated with an increased risk for gout (1.42, 1.16 to 1.74, P=0.005).Conclusion The DASH diet is associated with a lower risk of gout, suggesting that its effect of lowering uric acid levels in individuals with hyperuricemia translates to a lower risk of gout. Conversely, the Western diet is associated with a higher risk of gout. The DASH diet may provide an attractive preventive dietary approach for men at risk of gout.

Corticosteroids in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) have been the cornerstone of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV) therapy since their advent in the 1950s. There is considerable variation in their use, both with respect to dose and duration. Given considerable treatment-related morbidity and mortality, refining the role of GCs is becoming increasingly important. This article discusses the current role of GCs in various phases of AAV treatment, including remission induction, maintenance therapy, treatment of relapses, and the use of local GCs. It discusses current controversies relating to GC use as well as research efforts that seek to reduce GC toxicity in AAV.

Late relapses following high-dose autologous stem cell transplantation (HD-ASCT) for Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) in the ABVD therapeutic era.

Salvage chemotherapy followed by high-dose autologous stem cell transplantation (HD-ASCT) is the standard of care for patients who have relapsed or refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Few trials have had long-term follow-up post-HD-ASCT in the ABVD (adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine) era of treatment. We reviewed 95 consecutive patients who received HD-ASCT for relapsed or refractory HL following ABVD failure between 1990 and 2006 at the University of Rochester. Median follow-up for survivors was 8.2 years. All patients received HD-ASCT following upfront ABVD (or equivalent) failure. At 5 years, overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were 54% and 37%, respectively. In total, 54 patients have died; 37 of these patients died directly of HL. Notably, there were 19 deaths >3 years post-HD-ASCT and 13 of these late deaths are directly attributable to HL. Furthermore, there were 51 documented relapses, 9 of which occurred >3 years post-HD-ASCT. In contrast to other studies, we did not observe a plateau in EFS following transplantation. Patients appear to be at continuous risk of recurrence beyond 3 years after HD-ASCT. Our results emphasize the importance of long-term follow-up for both toxicity and recurrence, and have important implications in defining success of posttransplantation maintenance strategies.