Critical Illness in Migrant Workers in the Windsor-Essex Region: A Descriptive Analysis.

Despite their essential role in Canadian agriculture, migrant workers face numerous healthcare barriers. There is a knowledge gap regarding the healthcare experiences of migrant workers with critical illness in the Windsor-Essex region. Our objective was to collect information on the experiences of migrant workers experiencing a critical illness at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) between 31 December 2011 and 31 December 2021.

A pilot feasibility study of an ultrasound-based tool to assess muscle mass in children with liver disease.

Background: Sarcopenia is associated with adverse outcomes following liver transplantation, and at-risk children must be identified and prehabilitated. The gold standard for assessing sarcopenia in end-stage liver disease (ESLD) is CT assessment of the total Psoas Muscle Area (tPMA). However, radiation exposure and sedation requirements make this approach impractical for children.

A semiquantitative color Doppler ultrasound scoring system for evaluation of synovitis in joints of patients with blood-induced arthropathy.

Background: Intra-articular bleeds in patients with inherited bleeding disorders lead to active synovitis which may progress to a chronic state over time. We explored the diagnostic value of color Doppler ultrasound in detecting synovitis in boys with bleeding disorders.

Results: Sixty boys with hemophilia and 3 boys with type 3 von Willebrand disease aged 5 to 18 years (median 12.

Benchmarking Electronic Structure Methods for Accurate Fixed-Charge Electrostatic Models.

The accuracy of classical molecular mechanics (MM) force fields used for condensed phase molecular simulations depends strongly on the accuracy of modeling nonbonded interactions between atoms, such as electrostatic interactions. Some popular fixed-charge MM force fields use partial atomic charges derived from gas phase electronic structure calculations using the Hartree-Fock (HF) method with the relatively small 6-31G* basis set (HF/6-31G*). It is generally believed that HF/6-31G* generates fortuitously overpolarized electron distributions, as would be expected in the higher dielectric environment of the condensed phase.

The UPR in atherosclerosis.

Multiple systemic factors and local stressors in the arterial wall can disturb the functions of endoplasmic reticulum (ER), causing ER stress in endothelial cells (ECs), smooth muscle cells (SMCs), and macrophages during the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. As a protective response to restore ER homeostasis, the unfolded protein response (UPR) is initiated by three major ER sensors: protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK), inositol-requiring protein 1α (IRE1α), and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6). The activation of the various UPR signaling pathways displays a temporal pattern of activation at different stages of the disease.

Targeting filamin A reduces K-RAS-induced lung adenocarcinomas and endothelial response to tumor growth in mice.

Background: Many human cancer cells express filamin A (FLNA), an actin-binding structural protein that interacts with a diverse set of cell signaling proteins, but little is known about the biological importance of FLNA in tumor development. FLNA is also expressed in endothelial cells, which may be important for tumor angiogenesis. In this study, we defined the impact of targeting Flna in cancer and endothelial cells on the development of tumors in vivo and on the proliferation of fibroblasts in vitro.