The discovery BPD (D-BPD) program: study protocol of a prospective translational multicenter collaborative study to investigate determinants of chronic lung disease in very low birth weight infants.

BACKGROUND: Premature birth is a growing and serious public health problem affecting more than one of every ten infants worldwide. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common neonatal morbidity associated with prematurity and infants with BPD suffer from increased incidence of respiratory infections, asthma, other forms of chronic lung illness, and death (Day and Ryan, Pediatr Res 81: 210-213, 2017; Isayama et la., JAMA Pediatr 171:271-279, 2017). BPD is now understood as a longitudinal disease process influenced by the intrauterine environment during gestation and modulated by gene-environment interactions throughout the neonatal and early childhood periods. Despite of this concept, there remains a paucity of multidisciplinary team-based approaches dedicated to the comprehensive study of this complex disease. METHODS: The Discovery BPD (D-BPD) Program involves a cohort of infants < 1,250 g at birth prospectively followed until 6 years of age. The program integrates analysis of detailed clinical data by machine learning, genetic susceptibility and molecular translation studies. DISCUSSION: The current gap in understanding BPD as a complex multi-trait spectrum of different disease endotypes will be addressed by a bedside-to-bench and bench-to-bedside approach in the D-BPD program. The D-BPD will provide enhanced understanding of mechanisms, evolution and consequences of lung diseases in preterm infants. The D-BPD program represents a unique opportunity to combine the expertise of biologists, neonatologists, pulmonologists, geneticists and biostatisticians to examine the disease process from multiple perspectives with a singular goal of improving outcomes of premature infants. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Does not apply for this study.

Clinical value of CT-P13 trough levels, an infliximab biosimilar, in the management of inflammatory bowel disease. / Utilidad clínica de la determinación de niveles de CT-P13, biosimilar de infliximab, en el control de la enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal.

INTRODUCTION: CT-P13 is a biosimilar drug of infliximab (IFX), effective in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The monitoring of levels of IFX and anti-IFX antibodies is now considered part of the integral management. OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical response according to a strictly clinical (CLN) or proactive (PRO) approach based on the monitoring of levels in week 14, in clinical practice. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study in IBD patients starting CT-P13. In the PRO group, levels of IFX and post-induction antibodies were systematically measured (week 14) and those with infraterapeutic levels (<3µg/ml) were intensified, irrespective of the clinical response. RESULTS: We included 77 patients (23 ulcerative colitis and 54 Crohn's disease). Both PRO (n=41) and CLN (n=36) groups showed initial and long-term efficacy without significant differences. At week 14, 61% clinical remission (CR) (58.5% PRO, 63.9% CLN) and 80.5% at least partial response (PR) (80.5% PRO, 80.6% CLN). In week 54, 68.8% CR (61% PRO, 77.8% CLN) and 76.6% at least PR (73.2% PRO, 80.6% CLN). Of the patients in CR in week 14 (24 PRO, 23 CLN), 13 of the PRO group were intensified due to infra-therapeutic levels. In this subgroup no significant differences were observed in secondary loss of response (PRO 0%, CLN 8.7%). CONCLUSION: Proactive management does not improve response or remission rates in the first year. The intensification of clinical remission patients with post-induction infratherapeutic levels does not seem to significantly prevent secondary loss of response in the first year.

[Management of age-related macular degeneration. An update]. / Actualización en el manejo de la degeneración macular asociada a la edad.

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of legal blindness in people over 50 in developed countries. It is a multifactorial disease resulting from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors, and the age is the only worldwide admitted risk factor. The socioeconomic impact of the disease reaches enormous proportions, if we take into account the high cost of the available antiangiogenic therapy, the strict schedule of medical visits that it requires, and the impairment that it gives rise to. The response to treatment and the visual outcomes improve with early management of the retinal lesions, thus the early diagnosis of the disease in its initial phases, based on self-control with an Amsler grid and with regular ophthalmologic assessments, is essential.