mRNA Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine-Associated Myopericarditis in Adolescents: A Survey Study.

In this survey study of institutions across the US, marked variability in evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of adolescents 12 through 18 years of age with mRNA coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine-associated myopericarditis was noted. Only one adolescent with life-threatening complications was reported, with no deaths at any of the participating institutions.

Donor-recipient height ratio and outcomes in pediatric heart transplantation.

Height matching in pediatric HTx has been proposed as a superior method of evaluating graft size, but no studies have examined survival advantage for height-matched donor-recipient pairs. We hypothesized that in pediatric patients with DCM, an oversized donor improves survival and aimed to define the optimal height ratio in this patient group. Pediatric primary HTx recipients with DCM between 10/89 and 09/12 were identified in the OPTN database. Patients were stratified into three donor-recipient height and weight ratio categories. One- and five-yr survival was compared using Kaplan-Meier analysis and HRs were computed. A total of 2133 children with DCM who underwent HTx during the study period were included. Unadjusted one-yr survival was worse for DRHR <0.87 (HR, 2.15 [95% CL, 1.30, 3.53]; p < 0.01). This difference was not present at five yr post-HTx or when stratified by weight. After adjustment for other risk factors affecting transplant survival, height matching was no longer significant. Although height matching appears to predict short-term survival better than weight in pediatric HTx recipients with DCM, other factors play a more important role as height matching loses significance in multivariate analysis.

Assessing the Eat, Sleep, Console model for neonatal abstinence syndrome management at a regional referral center.

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the efficacy of the Eat, Sleep, Console (ESC) model for neonatal abstinence syndrome at a regional referral center by examining non-pharmacological treatments, parental presence, length of stay (LOS), and pharmacological therapy. STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively reviewed medical records from 2018 to 2020 to compare neonatal outcomes between the 12 months prior to 12 months post ESC implementation. RESULT: A total of 71 neonates pre-ESC and 64 neonates post-ESC implementation were included. There were no statistical differences between pre-ESC vs. ESC periods for pharmacological therapy (34% vs. 27%, p = 0.36) or LOS (median: 5.0 vs. 5.5 days, p = 0.54). During the ESC period, 41% of examined 4-h periods had no parent/caregiver presence. Decreased parental presence associated with pharmacological treatment (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: At our hospital which serves a geographically dispersed patient population, ESC model implementation did not decrease pharmacological therapy rates or LOS. Parental/caregiver presence may be a factor in the ESC model producing maximal benefits.

Expression of nonclassical class I molecules by intestinal epithelial cells.

It is well recognized that the nature of the immune response is different in the intestinal tract than in peripheral lymphoid organs. The immunologic tone of the gut-associated lymphoid tissue is one of suppression rather than active immunity, distinguishing pathogens from normal flora. Failure to control mucosal immune responses may lead to inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) and celiac disease. It has been suggested that this normally immunosuppressed state may relate to unique antigen-presenting cells and unique T-cell populations. The intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) has been proposed to act as a nonprofessional antigen-presenting cell (APC). Previous studies have suggested that antigens presented by IECs result in the activation a CD8(+) regulatory T-cell subset in a nonclassical MHC I molecule restricted manner. We therefore analyzed the expression of nonclassical MHC I molecules by normal IECs and compared this to those expressed by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) IECs. Normal surface IEC from the colon and, to a much lesser extent, the small bowel express nonclassical MHC I molecules on their surface. In contrast, mRNA is expressed in all intestinal epithelial cells. Surface IEC express CD1d, MICA/B, and HLA-E protein. In contrast, crypt IECs express less or no nonclassical MHC I molecules but do express mRNA for these molecules. Furthermore, the regulation of expression of distinct nonclassical class I molecules is different depending on the molecule analyzed. Interestingly, IECs derived from patients with UC fail to express any nonclassical MHC I molecules (protein and HLA-E mRNA). IECs from CD patients express HLA-E and MICA/B comparable to that seen in normal controls but fail to express CD1d. Thus, in UC there may be a failure to activate any nonclassical MHC I molecule restricted regulatory T cells that may result in unopposed active inflammatory responses. In CD only the CD1d-regulated T cells would be affected.