American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jul 2020
Assessing the Accuracy of a Deep Learning Method to Risk Stratify Indeterminate Pulmonary Nodules.
Rationale: The management of indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs) remains challenging, resulting in invasive procedures and delays in diagnosis and treatment. Strategies to decrease the rate of unnecessary invasive procedures and optimize surveillance regimens are needed. Objectives: To develop and validate a deep learning method to improve the management of IPNs. ⋯ Using 5% and 65% malignancy thresholds defining low- and high-risk categories, the overall net reclassifications in the validation cohorts for cancers and benign nodules compared with the Mayo model were 0.34 (Vanderbilt) and 0.30 (Oxford) as a rule-in test, and 0.33 (Vanderbilt) and 0.58 (Oxford) as a rule-out test. Compared with traditional risk prediction models, the Lung Cancer Prediction Convolutional Neural Network was associated with improved accuracy in predicting the likelihood of disease at each threshold of management and in our external validation cohorts. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that this deep learning algorithm can correctly reclassify IPNs into low- or high-risk categories in more than a third of cancers and benign nodules when compared with conventional risk models, potentially reducing the number of unnecessary invasive procedures and delays in diagnosis.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jul 2020
Initiating Pharmacologic Treatment in Tobacco-Dependent Adults. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline.
Background: Current tobacco treatment guidelines have established the efficacy of available interventions, but they do not provide detailed guidance for common implementation questions frequently faced in the clinic. An evidence-based guideline was created that addresses several pharmacotherapy-initiation questions that routinely confront treatment teams. Methods: Individuals with diverse expertise related to smoking cessation were empaneled to prioritize questions and outcomes important to clinicians. ⋯ Strong recommendations include using varenicline rather than a nicotine patch, using varenicline rather than bupropion, using varenicline rather than a nicotine patch in adults with a comorbid psychiatric condition, initiating varenicline in adults even if they are unready to quit, and using controller therapy for an extended treatment duration greater than 12 weeks. Conditional recommendations include combining a nicotine patch with varenicline rather than using varenicline alone and using varenicline rather than electronic cigarettes. Conclusions: Seven recommendations are provided, which represent simple practice changes that are likely to increase the effectiveness of tobacco-dependence pharmacotherapy.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Jul 2020
Expression of the SARS-CoV-2 ACE2 Receptor in the Human Airway Epithelium.
Rationale: Infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a predominantly respiratory illness. The first step in SARS-CoV-2 infection is binding of the virus to ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) on the airway epithelium. ⋯ Measurements and Main Results:1) ACE2 is expressed similarly in the trachea and LAE, with lower expression in the SAE; 2) in the SAE, ACE2 is expressed in basal, intermediate, club, mucus, and ciliated cells; 3) ACE2 is upregulated in the SAE by smoking, significantly in men; 4) levels of miR-1246 expression could play a role in ACE2 upregulation in the SAE of smokers; and 5) ACE2 is expressed in airway epithelium differentiated in vitro on air-liquid interface cultures from primary airway basal stem/progenitor cells; this can be replicated using LAE and SAE immortalized basal cell lines derived from healthy nonsmokers. Conclusions:ACE2, the gene encoding the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, is expressed in the human airway epithelium, with variations in expression relevant to the biology of initial steps in SARS-CoV-2 infection.