What interventions are effective in reducing development of hypertension and other cardiovascular complications in women who have had hypertensive disorders of pregnancy? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) affect approximately 10-15% of pregnancies and pre-eclampsia affects 3-5% of pregnancies. Women with previous pre-eclampsia or HDP are at increased risk of hypertension (2 to 5 times) and major cardiovascular disease (1.5 to 3 times). There is little guidance on how to reduce this risk. AIM: To establish if there are interventions in women with previous HDP or pre-eclampsia that reduce the risk of developing adverse cardiovascular outcomes. METHOD: A protocol was submitted to PROSPERO; inclusion and exclusion criteria were determined and a search strategy implemented. Primary outcomes were: development of hypertension or change in blood pressure and development of other cardiovascular complications. Records and full texts were screened independently by two reviewers. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used for quality assessment. RESULTS: 3593 articles were screened. Nine articles were included. There were seven randomised-controlled trials and two quasi-experimental studies. One study trialled antihypertensive use, two studies looked at blood pressure monitoring and six studies focused on lifestyle interventions. Three trials reported significant reductions in diastolic blood pressure in the experimental group. No studies looked at the optimal time of intervention or the impact of interventions on the development of other long-term cardiovascular complications. Five studies reported participant feedback. The majority of studies were of low quality. CONCLUSION: Further research needs to explore potential interventions and optimal timing of interventions to reduce cardiovascular risk. Women also need to be consulted about their preferences for discussions about cardiovascular risk and potential interventions.

Gastrostomy dependence following pharyngolaryngectomy: The effect of preoperative tube insertion.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of preoperative gastrostomy in patients undergoing pharyngolaryngectomy (PL) on gastrostomy tube dependence at 6 months postoperatively. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients undergoing PL for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma between 2005 and 2019 was performed. Parameters were collected and analyzed within the multivariate models. RESULTS: Ninety-three patients (82% male, mean age 63.4 [SD 9.4]) were included. Preoperative tube placement and pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) were associated with an increased likelihood of gastrostomy tube dependence at 6 months (odds ratio 6.43, CI 1.1-38.3, p = 0.041) after adjusting for multiple confounding factors. There was no difference in the incidence of delayed oral feeding, PCF, or hospital stay between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative tube and PCF are associated with an increased likelihood of tube dependence at 6 months. Patients for preoperative tube insertion should be carefully selected and early oral feeding reintroduction should be encouraged.

Gut-brain axis dysfunction underlies FODMAP-induced symptom generation in irritable bowel syndrome.

BACKGROUND: FODMAPs produce similar small bowel water and colonic gas in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and healthy controls (HCs), despite IBS patients reporting increased gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. AIM: To unravel the mechanisms underlying FODMAP-induced symptom reporting, we investigated gut and brain responses to fructan administration in IBS patients and HC. METHODS: This randomised, double-blind, cross-over study consisted of three visits where fructans (40 g/500 mL saline), glucose (40 g/500 mL saline) or saline (500 mL) were infused intragastrically during 1 h MR brain scanning; abdominal MRI was performed before, 1 h, and 2 h post-infusion. Symptoms were rated using validated scales. RESULTS: In IBS (n = 13), fructans induced more cramps, pain, flatulence and nausea compared to glucose (P = 0.03, 0.001, 0.009 and <0.001 respectively), contrary to HC (n = 13) (all P > 0.14), with between-group differences for cramps and nausea (P = 0.004 and 0.023). Fructans increased small bowel motility and ascending colonic gas and volume equally in IBS and HC (between-group P > 0.25). The difference in colonic gas between fructans and saline covaried with differences in bloating and cramps in IBS (P = 0.008 and 0.035 respectively). Pain-related brain regions responded differentially to fructans in IBS compared to HC, including the cerebellum, supramarginal gyrus, anterior and midcingulate cortex, insula and thalamus (pFWE-corrected  < 0.05); these brain responses covaried with symptom responses in IBS. CONCLUSIONS: Fructans increase small bowel motility and colon gas and volume similarly in IBS patients and HC. Increased symptom responses to fructans in IBS covary with altered brain responses in pain-related regions, indicating that gut-brain axis dysregulation may drive FODMAP-induced symptom generation in IBS.

Impact of immunogenicity on clinical efficacy and toxicity profile of biologic agents used for treatment of inflammatory arthritis in children compared to adults.

The treatment of inflammatory arthritis has been revolutionised by the introduction of biologic treatments. Many biologic agents are currently licensed for use in both paediatric and adult patients with inflammatory arthritis and contribute to improved disease outcomes compared with the pre-biologic era. However, immunogenicity to biologic agents, characterised by an immune reaction leading to the production of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs), can negatively impact the therapeutic efficacy of biologic drugs and induce side effects to treatment. This review explores for the first time the impact of immunogenicity against all licensed biologic treatments currently used in inflammatory arthritis across age, and will examine any significant differences between ADA prevalence, titres and timing of development, as well as ADA impact on therapeutic drug levels, clinical efficacy and side effects between paediatric and adult patients. In addition, we will investigate factors associated with differences in immunogenicity across biologic agents used in inflammatory arthritis, and their potential therapeutic implications.