Mitofusin-2 Regulates Platelet Mitochondria and Function.

Background: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms linked with the rs1474868 T allele ( [mitofusin-2] T/T) in the human mitochondrial fusion protein gene are associated with reduced platelet RNA expression and platelet counts. This study investigates the impact of MFN2 on megakaryocyte and platelet biology.

Methods: Mice with megakaryocyte/platelet deletion of ( [ conditional knockout]) were generated using Pf4-Cre crossed with floxed mice.

Student-led approaches to mental health support.

Mental health issues amongst university students are rife. Increasing mental health literacy and an emphasis on wellbeing have revealed the importance of having a plethora of resources available to students surrounding mental health support. The Welfare Hub is a student-led project created at the University of Nottingham Medical School to destigmatise mental health discussion, enhance mental health education, and share experiences of healthcare professionals regarding their mental health and university support.

A Prospective Analysis of the Simplified Student Sight Savers Program on Open-Angle Glaucoma Cost Burden in Underserved Communities.

(1) Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Unfortunately, no noticeable symptoms exist until mid- to late-stage glaucoma, leading to substantial costs to the patient and the healthcare system. (2) Methods: The Student Sight Savers Program, an initiative started at Johns Hopkins University, was designed to meet the needs of community screening for glaucoma.

Testing models of the APC tumor suppressor/β-catenin interaction reshapes our view of the destruction complex in Wnt signaling.

The Wnt pathway is a conserved signal transduction pathway that contributes to normal development and adult homeostasis, but is also misregulated in human diseases such as cancer. The tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) is an essential negative regulator of Wnt signaling inactivated in >80% of colorectal cancers. APC participates in a multiprotein "destruction complex" that targets the proto-oncogene β-catenin for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis; however, the mechanistic role of APC in the destruction complex remains unknown.

Neonatal presentation of chromosome 9q33.2-q34.3 duplication.

Partial terminal duplication of chromosome 9 is a rare anomaly that is known to be associated with specific dysmorphic features. While having common characteristics, these patients also have inconsistent phenotypic features. These inconsistent features may be attributed to the length and the region of the duplicated segment of chromosome 9.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel as a biocompatible viscoelastic mimetic for articular cartilage.

The prevalence of suboptimal outcome for surgical interventions in the treatment of full-thickness articular cartilage damage suggests that there is scope for a materials-based strategy to deliver a more durable repair. Given that the superficial layer of articular cartilage creates and sustains the tribological function of synovial joints, it is logical that candidate materials should have surface viscoelastic properties that mimic native articular cartilage. The present paper describes force spectroscopy analysis by nano-indentation to measure the elastic modulus of the surface of a novel poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel with therapeutic potential as a joint implant.