Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare, aggressive tumor for which no effective therapy exists despite the discovery of many possible molecular and genetic targets. Many risk factors for MPM development have been recognized including environmental exposures, genetic susceptibility, viral contamination, and radiation. However, the late stage of MPM diagnosis and the long latency that exists between some exposures and diagnosis have made it difficult to comprehensively evaluate the role of risk factors and their downstream molecular effects. In this review, we discuss the current molecular and genetic contributors in MPM pathogenesis and the risk factors associated with these carcinogenic processes.

Many risk factors for MPM development have been recognized including environmental exposures, genetic susceptibility, viral contamination, and radiation. In this review, we discuss the current molecular and genetic contributors to MPM pathogenesis and the risk factors associated with these carcinogenic processes.

BackgroundIndividuals with CKD may be at high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). However, there are no ASCVD risk prediction models developed in CKD populations to inform clinical care and prevention.MethodsWe developed and validated 10-year ASCVD risk prediction models in patients with CKD that included participants without self-reported cardiovascular disease from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study. ASCVD was defined as the first occurrence of adjudicated fatal and nonfatal stroke or myocardial infarction. Our models used clinically available variables and novel biomarkers. Model performance was evaluated based on discrimination, calibration, and net reclassification improvement.ResultsOf 2604 participants (mean age 55.8 years; 52.0% male) included in the analyses, 252 had incident ASCVD within 10 years of baseline. Compared with the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association pooled cohort equations (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC]=0.730), a model with coefficients estimated within the CRIC sample had higher discrimination (P=0.03), achieving an AUC of 0.736 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.649 to 0.826). The CRIC model developed using clinically available variables had an AUC of 0.760 (95% CI, 0.678 to 0.851). The CRIC biomarker-enriched model had an AUC of 0.771 (95% CI, 0.674 to 0.853), which was significantly higher than the clinical model (P=0.001). Both the clinical and biomarker-enriched models were well-calibrated and improved reclassification of nonevents compared with the pooled cohort equations (6.6%; 95% CI, 3.7% to 9.6% and 10.0%; 95% CI, 6.8% to 13.3%, respectively).ConclusionsThe 10-year ASCVD risk prediction models developed in patients with CKD, including novel kidney and cardiac biomarkers, performed better than equations developed for the general population using only traditional risk factors.

Extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) and pleurectomy are the surgical procedures for the treatment of pleural mesothelioma. However, EPP increases the risk for postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF). We conducted a retrospective chart review of 130 patients who underwent EPP or pleurectomy. Seventy patients (excluding three patients with a prior history of AF) underwent EPP and 57 patients underwent pleurectomy. The mean ages were 60+/-11 and 63+/-13 years, and the male to female ratios were 50/20 and 44/13, respectively. Postoperative AF was observed in 45 patients with 36 (51%) of these cases occurring after EPP and 9 (17%) after pleurectomy (P<0.0001). There were no significant differences between the two treatment groups for gender, age, side of affected lung, preoperative heart rate, history of beta-blocker use, coronary heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Through logistic regression, EPP (OR=7.1, 95% CI: 2.9, 17.8) and age over 65 years (OR=2.9, 95% CI: 1.2, 6.8) were found to be risk factors for AF. We conclude that EPP vs. pleurectomy and age over 65 years are risk factors for postoperative AF. The increased odds of having AF after EPP could be due to right heart stress caused by pneumonectomy.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients have several features conferring upon them a high risk of adverse safety events, which are defined as incidents with unintended harm related to processes of care or medications. These characteristics include impaired renal function, polypharmacy, and frequent health system encounters. The consequences of such events in CKD can include new or prolonged hospitalization, accelerated renal function loss, acute kidney injury, end-stage renal disease and death. Health information technology administered via telemedicine presents opportunities for CKD patients to remotely communicate safety-related findings to providers for the purpose of improving their care. However, many CKD patients have limitations which hinder their use of telemedicine and access to the broad capabilities of health information technology. In this review we summarize previous assessments of the pre-dialysis CKD populations’ proficiency in using telemedicine modalities and describe the use of interactive voice-response system (IVRS) to gauge the safety phenotype of the CKD patient. We discuss the potential for expanded IVRS use in CKD to address the safety threats inherent to this population.