Circulating and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers of Intestinal Fibrosis in Small Bowel Crohn's Disease.

Background: We previously identified circulating and MRI biomarkers associated with the surgical management of Crohn's disease (CD). Here we tested associations between these biomarkers and ileal resection inflammation and collagen content.

Methods: Fifty CD patients undergoing ileal resection were prospectively enrolled at 4 centers.

Single-cell analysis identifies the CNP/GC-B/cGMP axis as marker and regulator of modulated VSMCs in atherosclerosis.

A balanced activity of cGMP signaling contributes to the maintenance of cardiovascular homeostasis. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) can generate cGMP via three ligand-activated guanylyl cyclases, the NO-sensitive guanylyl cyclase, the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP)-activated GC-A, and the C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP)-stimulated GC-B. Here, we study natriuretic peptide signaling in murine VSMCs and atherosclerotic lesions.

A programmable environment for shape optimization and shapeshifting problems.

Soft materials underpin many domains of science and engineering, including soft robotics, structured fluids, and biological and particulate media. In response to applied mechanical, electromagnetic or chemical stimuli, such materials typically change shape, often dramatically. Predicting their structure is of great interest to facilitate design and mechanistic understanding, and can be cast as an optimization problem where a given energy function describing the physics of the material is minimized with respect to the shape of the domain and additional fields.

Early tumour necrosis factor antagonist treatment prevents perianal fistula development in children with Crohn's disease: post hoc analysis of the RISK study.

Background: One in three children with Crohn's disease develop perianal fistula complications (PFCs), among the most disturbing and difficult-to-treat disease-related complications. Retrospective evidence suggests PFCs may be preventable.

Objective: We aimed to determine if early antitumour necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF⍺) therapy prevents PFC development in a well-characterised prospective cohort of paediatric patients with Crohn's disease who were free from PFC at enrolment.

Sulfated Cellulose Nanofiber Hydrogel with Mucus-Like Activities for Virus Inhibition.

Mucus is the first defense barrier against viruses in the human immune system. Inspired by the mucus structure, we designed a highly sulfated hydrogel to bind viruses and prevent infection of the underlying cells. The hydrogel was formed by gelation of sulfated cellulose nanofiber (SCNF) with Ca.

Development and Validation of the Narrative Identity Self-Evaluation Scale (NISE).

In narrative identity research, variables are typically captured through detailed content-coding of personal narratives. Yet, alternative methods have been suggested, notably self-report scales, because they capture a participant's own interpretation of their personal narratives, and because they are efficient to administer as a supplement to more labor-intensive coding methods. This study developed and validated the Narrative Identity Self-Evaluation (NISE) questionnaire.

Variation Across Organ Procurement Organizations in Deceased-Donor Kidney Offer Notification Practices.

Introduction: How offer notifications are distributed early in the kidney allocation timeline, including how widely they are offered, is unclear. A better understanding of offer notification practices across organ procurement organizations (OPOs) may identify opportunities for more efficient allocation.

Methods: We merged the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients potential transplant recipient file with additional offer notification time stamps to identify 54 631 deceased-donor kidney match runs from 2017 to 2023.

Beyond "post," "traumatic," "growth," and prediction in research on posttraumatic growth.

Thirty years after the introduction of posttraumatic growth (PTG), research on the concept has expanded dramatically. Novel theoretical perspectives included in this special issue, however, demonstrate that nearly every element of PTG requires revision. "Post" implies a definitive before and after adversity that simply does not exist, either empirically or in the everyday navigation of adversity, especially for marginalized people.

Plasma membrane and cytoplasmic compartmentalization: A dynamic structural framework required for pollen tube tip growth.

Rapid, unidirectional pollen tube tip growth is essential for fertilization and widely employed as a model of polar cell expansion, a process crucial for plant morphogenesis. Different proteins and lipids with key functions in the control of polar cell expansion are associated with distinct domains of the plasma membrane (PM) at the pollen tube tip. These domains need to be dynamically maintained during tip growth, which depends on massive secretory and endocytic membrane trafficking.

HLA DQA1*05 and risk of anti-TNF treatment failure and anti-drug antibody development in children with Crohn's Disease: HLA DQA1*05 and Pediatric Crohn's Disease.

Objectives: HLA DQA1*05 has been associated with the development of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) to tumor necrosis factor antagonists (anti-TNF) and treatment failure among adults with Crohn's disease (CD). However, findings from other studies have been inconsistent with limited pediatric data.

Methods: We analyzed banked serum from patients with CD < 21 years of age enrolled in COMBINE, a multi-center, prospective randomized trial of anti-TNF monotherapy vs.

Low Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Levels During Maintenance Phase Are Associated With Treatment Failure in Children With Crohn's Disease.

Background: Higher drug levels and combination therapy with low-dose oral methotrexate (LD-MTX) may reduce anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) treatment failure in pediatric Crohn's disease. We sought to (1) evaluate whether combination therapy with LD-MTX was associated with higher anti-TNF levels, (2) evaluate associations between anti-TNF levels and subsequent treatment failure, and (3) explore the effect of combination therapy on maintenance of remission among patients with therapeutic drug levels (>5 µg/mL for infliximab and >7.5 µg/mL for adalimumab).

Durable Immune Response and Long-term Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccination in Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may have diminished serologic response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination and increased risk for subsequent severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. We sought to describe outcomes among those who developed SARS-CoV-2 infection following vaccination, characterize SARS-CoV-2 antibodies 1 year post-vaccination, and identify factors associated with durable serologic response.

Methods: We recruited children with IBD who received ≥2 doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and prospectively collected data on (1) demographics, IBD characteristics, and therapy and (2) SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, testing, and infection symptoms.

Investigating the p21 Ubiquitin-Independent Degron Reveals a Dual Degron Module Regulating p21 Degradation and Function.

A group of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are subject to 20S proteasomal degradation in a ubiquitin-independent manner. Recently, we have reported that many IDPs/IDRs are targeted to the 20S proteasome via interaction with the C-terminus of the PSMA3 subunit, termed the PSMA3 Trapper. In this study, we investigated the biological significance of the IDP-Trapper interaction using the IDP p21.

Neural network-assisted humanisation of COVID-19 hamster transcriptomic data reveals matching severity states in human disease.

Background: Translating findings from animal models to human disease is essential for dissecting disease mechanisms, developing and testing precise therapeutic strategies. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted this need, particularly for models showing disease severity-dependent immune responses.

Methods: Single-cell transcriptomics (scRNAseq) is well poised to reveal similarities and differences between species at the molecular and cellular level with unprecedented resolution.

Integrated Imaging Probe and Bispecific Antibody Development Enables In Vivo Targeting of Glypican-3-Expressing Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a proteoglycan with high sensitivity and specificity for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We describe the integrated development and validation of a GPC3-targeting optical imaging probe and T cell-redirecting antibody (TRAB) as a theranostic strategy for the detection and treatment of HCC. A novel TRAB targeting GPC3 on HCC tumor cells and the CD3 T-cell receptor as well as a distinct GPC3-specific optical imaging probe were developed from a short peptide.

Sex and Size Disparities in Access to Liver Transplant for Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Importance: Women on the liver transplant waiting list are less likely to undergo a transplant than men. Recent approaches to resolving this disparity have involved adjustments to Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scoring, but this will not affect candidates who rely on exception scores rather than calculated MELD score, the majority of whom have hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Objective: To evaluate the association between female sex, candidate size, and access to liver transplant among wait-listed patients with HCC.

Inhibition of myeloperoxidase to treat left ventricular dysfunction in non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy.

Aims: Non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (NICMP), an incurable disease terminating in systolic heart failure (heart failure with reduced ejection fraction [HFrEF]), causes immune activation, however anti-inflammatory treatment strategies so far have failed to alter the course of this disease. Myeloperoxidase (MPO), the principal enzyme in neutrophils, has cytotoxic, pro-fibrotic and nitric oxide oxidizing effects. Whether MPO inhibition ameliorates the phenotype in NICMP remains elusive.

Travel Time to Treating Center is Associated With Diagnostic Delay in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background & Aims: Delayed diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) leads to prolonged symptoms and worse long-term outcomes. We sought to evaluate whether race, ethnicity, disease type, and social factors are associated with delayed diagnosis of pediatric IBD.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of newly diagnosed pediatric patients with IBD at 22 United States sites from 2019 to 2022.

Baseline Normative and Test-Retest Reliability Data for Sideline Concussion Assessment Measures in Youth.

Tools used for the identification, evaluation, and monitoring of concussion have not been sufficiently studied in youth or real-world settings. Normative and reliability data on sideline concussion assessment measures in the youth athlete population is needed. Pre-season normative data for 515 athletes (93.

A Novel Tool for the Rapid and Transparent Verification of Reference Intervals in Clinical Laboratories.

: We present a software package called reflimR (Version 1.0.6), which enables rapid and transparent verification of reference intervals from routine laboratory measurements.