Long term survival of cardiac transplant (Tx) recipients is largely limited by the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Currently, the diagnosis of CAV involves assessment of luminal stenosis in major coronary arteries of the transplanted heart via angiography or intravascular ultrasound. In the current study, we examined blood-derived mRNA and proteins in cardiac Tx patients to identify biomarkers that specifically reflect the severity of angiographically-defined coronary artery stenosis.

Lin, D.1; Freue, Cohen G.2; Bergman, A.2; Hollander, Z.2; Sasaki, M.2; Wilson-McManus, J.3; Balshaw, R.2; Ng, R.2; Keown, P.2; McMaster, R.2; McManus, B.2 Author Information

Yang, Y.1; Takhar, M.1; Hollander, Z.1; Lin, D.2; Wilson-mcmanus, J.1; Ng, R. T.2; Keown, P. A.3; Mcmaster, R. M.4; Mcmanus, B.1; Tebbutt, S. J.4 Author Information

Gunther, O. P.1; Chen, V.2; Lin, D.3; Ng, R.2; Balshaw, R.4; Hollander, Z.2; McMaster, R.4; McManus, B.4; Keown, P.4 Author Information

The purpose of this study was to identify markers of end-stage heart failure (ESHF) in heart transplant (Tx) subjects prior to transplantation, and monitor their expression values post-Tx, relative to subjects with normal cardiac function (NCF).

Gunther, O. P.1; Ng, R.2; Balshaw, R.3; Lin, D.4; Scherer, A.5; Chen, V.2; Cohen-Freue, G.2; Takhar, M.2; Hollander, Z.2; McMaster, R.3; McManus, B.6; Keown, P.3 Author Information

The goal of BiT is to discover biomarkers of acute and chronic heart, kidney and liver rejection to reduce invasive procedures and allow personalized treatment.

Traditionally, in order to diagnose acute allograft rejection, cardiac transplant subjects need to be monitored regularly with endomyocardial biopsy, an expensive and invasive procedure. The Biomarkers in Transplantation (BiT) team's goal is to discover effective and minimally invasive diagnostic and predictive biomarkers of heart, kidney and liver acute and chronic allograft rejection.

Currently, acute heart allograft rejection is diagnosed by biopsy, an expensive and invasive procedure. The Biomarkers in Transplantation (BiT) initiative aims to identify predictive and diagnostic blood and urine biomarkers of acute and chronic allograft rejection for heart, kidney and liver transplant patients.

To eliminate the need for tissue biopsy in diagnosing allograft rejection, the Biomarkers in Transplantation (BiT) aims to find and validate blood and urine biomarkers of acute and chronic rejection in heart, liver and kidney transplant patients.

In order to avoid allograft rejection, heart transplant patients need to be monitored regularly. Current monitoring occurs by the tissue biopsy, an expensive and invasive procedure. The Biomarkers in Transplantation (BiT) team is seeking effective and minimally invasive biomarkers of heart, kidney and liver acute and chronic allograft rejection.

Keown, P; Hollander, Z; Freue, G Cohen; Lin, D; Balshaw, R; Ng, R; Mui, A; McMaster, R; McManus, B Author Information

The Biomarkers in Transplantation (BIT) initiative aims to identify predictive, diagnostic and prognostic blood and urine biomarkers of acute and chronic allograft rejection for heart, liver and kidney transplant recipients.

The goal of this study was to examine differences in the factor structure of borderline personality disorder symptoms among different ethnic groups. The authors obtained information regarding ethnic identity and endorsement of borderline personality disorder criteria for an ethnically diverse community sample of 1140 young adult subjects from south Florida. Using this information the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis examining differences between Caucasian, Hispanic and African American groups. A principal-components factor analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation for each ethnic group revealed a reasonably generalizable four-factor structure: affective dysregulation, cognitive disturbance, disturbed relatedness and behavioral dysregulation. The emergence of a four-factor structure across three separate, relatively large samples suggests that the factors obtained have merit. However, the loadings of some BPD symptoms, such as impulsivity, varied for each ethnic group. The results of this study indicate that ethnic variations in borderline personality disorder should be considered during assessment and treatment of this disorder. Also, future research should examine if this same factor structure holds for ethnic minorities with BPD diagnoses, examine ethnic differences in the etiology and maintenance of BPD symptomatology, and explore the effects that these differences might have in treatment settings.