Moshe Israeli

Individualized immune monitoring of cardiac transplant recipients by noninvasive longitudinal cellular immunity tests.

Background. Common immunosuppression strategies after heart transplantation (HTx) are based on accepted target drug levels, disregarding that drug levels do not correlate with the individual patients pharmacokinetics or with the actual immunosuppressive drug effect on the patient. The Immuknow assay is used for immune monitoring and management of organ transplant recipients. This study evaluated the Immuknow assay for longitudinal immune monitoring of HTx patients throughout various clinical settings. Methods. The functional immune response as measured by the Immuknow assay was determined in 327 samples collected from 50 HTx patients at the Rabin Medical Center and was analyzed together with common clinical parameters. Results. The median Immuknow levels measured throughout the infection episodes and the episodes of biopsy-proven acute rejection were 129 and 619 ng ATP/mL, respectively. These values were significantly dissimilar to the median Immuknow level measured during clinical quiescence, which was 351 ng ATP/mL (P<0.05). Calcineurin inhibitors drug-level measurements did not provide a reliable depiction of the patients immune function, because the median deviation from the recommended drug trough levels range was significantly higher than the median deviation of Immuknow levels from their expected immune response zones. Longitudinal monitoring of Immuknow levels through serial testing proved to be a reliable method for individual patient immune management. Conclusions. The Immuknow assay reliably reflects the cellular immune function of HTx patients, thereby supporting the immune monitoring and management of these patients. Serial longitudinal Immuknow monitoring allows immune management of therapy according to the individual patients immune status.

Analysis and Application of Fourier--Gegenbauer Method to Stiff Differential Equations

The Fourier--Gegenbauer (FG) method, introduced by [Gottlieb, Shu, Solomonoff, and Vandeven, ICASE Report 92-4, Hampton, VA, 1992] is aimed at removing the Gibbs phenomenon; that is, recovering the point values of a nonperiodic function from its Fourier coefficients. In this paper, we discuss some numerical aspects of the FG method related to its {em pseudospectral/} implementation. In particular, we analyze the behavior of the Gegenbauer series with a moderate (several hundred) number of terms suitable for computations. We also demonstrate the ability of the FG method to get a spectrally accurate approximation on small subintervals for rapidly oscillating functions or functions having steep profiles. nBearing on the previous analysis, we suggest a high-order spectral Fourier method for the solution of nonperiodic differential equations. It includes a polynomial subtraction technique to accelerate the convergence of the Fourier series and the FG algorithm to evaluate derivatives on the boundaries of nonperiodic functions. The present hybrid Fourier--Gegenbauer (HFG) method possesses better resolution properties than the original FG method. The precision of this method is demonstrated by solving stiff elliptic problems with steep solutions.

Polymer geometry and Li+ conduction in poly(ethylene oxide)

We study the effect of molecular shape on Li^+ conduction in dilute and concentrated polymer electrolytes (LiI:P(EO)n(3=

Utility of immune monitoring in heart transplant recipients on everolimus-based immune suppression.

Everolimus provides effective immune suppression (IS) after heart transplant (HTx). Its pharmacologic properties differentiate everolimus from other IS drugs. A non‐invasive immune monitoring (IM) assay test appears to predict the immune state in HTx recipients on standard calcineurin‐inhibitor‐based IS. The utility of IM in HTx recipients on everolimus‐based IS was evaluated.

Luminex LiquiChip System for the Evaluation of Cytokine Levels in Patients with Contact Dermatitis to Potassium Dichromate

Background: Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is associated with increased production of cytokines. The patch test is the “gold-standard” diagnostic method, but it poses a risk of false results. Objective: To evaluate a novel laboratory technique, the Luminex LiquiChip, which simultaneously measures blood levels of multiple cytokines, as a diagnostic tool in patients with chrome-induced ACD. Methods: The study group included 20 patients with ACD and relevant patch test results for potassium dichromate and 19 patients with ACD for nickel or fragrance as control. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured in the presence and absence of potassium dichromate. The Luminex LiquiChip was used to measure levels of the following cytokines: granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, interferon-γ, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Results: Potassium dichromate-stimulated PBMCs secreted significantly higher amounts of all cytokines except TNF-α than nonstimulated PBMCs. PBMCs from patients with ACD to chromium secreted significantly higher amounts of all cytokines tested, except IL-4, compared to PBMCs from patients with ACD to nickel or fragrance. Conclusions: Potassium dichromate stimulates the production of both Th1- and Th2-type cytokines in patients with chrome allergy. The Luminex LiquiChip is a promising in vitro method and may serve as a diagnostic tool for ACD.

Pediatric mycosis fungoides: a study of the human leukocyte antigen system among Israeli Jewish patients

Pediatric mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare disease characterized by over-representation of atypical clinical variants, with a different prognosis from adult MF. Several human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles have been associated with MF in certain adult populations, including Israeli Jews. However, HLA data on pediatric MF as a group are lacking. To evaluate the possible association of the HLA system with pediatric MF, 59 Israeli Jewish patients diagnosed with MF at agexa0≤xa018xa0years underwent high- and intermediate-resolution genotyping for HLA class I (HLA-A*, HLA-B*) and class II (HLA-DRB1*, DQB1*) loci. The results were compared with data on 4169 umbilical cord blood units retrieved from a public cord blood bank in Jerusalem and samples from 252 healthy, unrelated Israeli Jewish volunteers. No statistically significant associations were found between pediatric MF and any of the alleles examined except HLA-B*73. However, given the extremely low frequency of B*73 in both the control group (0.1%) and the study group (2%), the biological significance of this finding is questionable. Further subgroup analyses by ethnicity (Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi) and clinicopathologic variant (follicular and non-follicular) yielded no significant between-group differences. These results suggest that the associations with the HLA system, reported previously in adult MF, do not hold true for pediatric MF. Thus, pediatric MF differs from its adult counterpart not only in clinical manifestations and course, but apparently also in the underlying immuno-pathogenetic mechanism.