Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Research.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is an active research area in patients with unexplained dyspnea, heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension. Focus has centered on the use of novel hemodynamic parameters to further characterize these disease states, influence therapeutics, and determine prognosis. Translational research focuses on the underlying cardiopulmonary physiology to more precisely quantify the effect of pulmonary vascular disease on the right ventricle and pulmonary function/hemodynamics.

A pragmatic feasibility trial of the Primary Care Intervention for PTSD: A health service delivery model to reduce health disparities for low-income and BIPOC youth.

Objective: This study is a non-randomized pragmatic trial to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the Primary Care Intervention for Posttraumatic stress disorder (PCIP) (Srivastava et al., 2021), an Integrated Behavioral Health Care treatment for PTSD in adolescents.

Method: Following routine clinic procedures, youth who were suspected of having trauma-related mental health symptoms were referred by their primary care providers to integrated care social workers for evaluation.

The SARS-CoV-2 accessory protein Orf3a is not an ion channel, but does interact with trafficking proteins.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and SARS-CoV-1 accessory protein Orf3a colocalizes with markers of the plasma membrane, endocytic pathway, and Golgi apparatus. Some reports have led to annotation of both Orf3a proteins as viroporins. Here, we show that neither SARS-CoV-2 nor SARS-CoV-1 Orf3a form functional ion conducting pores and that the conductances measured are common contaminants in overexpression and with high levels of protein in reconstitution studies.

The SARS-CoV-2 accessory protein Orf3a is not an ion channel, but does interact with trafficking proteins.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and SARS-CoV-1 accessory protein Orf3a colocalizes with markers of the plasma membrane, endocytic pathway, and Golgi apparatus. Some reports have led to annotation of both Orf3a proteins as a viroporin. Here we show that neither SARS-CoV-2 nor SARS-CoV-1 form functional ion conducting pores and that the conductances measured are common contaminants in overexpression and with high levels of protein in reconstitution studies.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of veterinary professionals towards ticks and tick-borne diseases in Illinois.

Objective: A lack of standardized surveillance or reporting of tick-borne diseases (TBDs) in Illinois creates uncertainty for veterinarians regarding TBDs occurring within their practice geography or which TBDs may be encroaching on their area from neighboring territories. Therefore, the objective of this study was to gauge the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of veterinary professionals in Southern and Central Illinois to establish a foundation for targeting educational and outreach programs that address knowledge gaps.

Sample: 72 veterinary professionals in Central and Southern Illinois.

Development of an Illustrated Scale for Acute Radiation Dermatitis in Breast Cancer Patients.

Purpose: Scales for rating acute radiation dermatitis (ARD) have not been validated despite decades of clinical use, and little is known regarding the relationship between toxicity scores and patient-reported symptoms. Skin tone also complicates assessment of ARD, and as such we sought to design an illustrated scale to consistently describe ARD across several skin tone types in breast cancer patients undergoing radiation (RT).

Methods And Materials: Patients undergoing RT for breast cancer were enrolled on a prospective study with photographs obtained at 2-week intervals.

Assessing Barriers to Healthy Eating in Hospitalized Older Adults With Heart Failure: Psychometric Properties of Two Questionnaires.

Background: Dietary sodium excess and malnutrition have been associated with poor outcomes in heart failure (HF). Few previous studies have examined the barriers to following a low-sodium, nutritionally robust diet in hospitalized patients with HF.

Methods And Results: As part of a dietary intervention pilot study, 76 inpatients with HF (age 71 ± 8 years, 30% female, 30% black, 36% Hispanic/Latino) completed 2 questionnaires, the Dietary Sodium Restriction Questionnaire (DSRQ) and the Brief Dietary Psychosocial Scale (BDPS), to assess challenges in following a low-sodium, nutritionally complete diet.

Molecular mechanisms of gating in the calcium-activated chloride channel bestrophin.

Bestrophin (BEST1-4) ligand-gated chloride (Cl) channels are activated by calcium (Ca). Mutation of BEST1 causes retinal disease. Partly because bestrophin channels have no sequence or structural similarity to other ion channels, the molecular mechanisms underlying gating are unknown.

Distinct regions that control ion selectivity and calcium-dependent activation in the bestrophin ion channel.

Cytoplasmic calcium (Ca) activates the bestrophin anion channel, allowing chloride ions to flow down their electrochemical gradient. Mutations in bestrophin 1 (BEST1) cause macular degenerative disorders. Previously, we determined an X-ray structure of chicken BEST1 that revealed the architecture of the channel.

Crystal structure of the human two-pore domain potassium channel K2P1.

Two-pore domain potassium (K(+)) channels (K2P channels) control the negative resting potential of eukaryotic cells and regulate cell excitability by conducting K(+) ions across the plasma membrane. Here, we present the 3.4 angstrom resolution crystal structure of a human K2P channel, K2P1 (TWIK-1).

Nuclear CDKs drive Smad transcriptional activation and turnover in BMP and TGF-beta pathways.

TGF-beta and BMP receptor kinases activate Smad transcription factors by C-terminal phosphorylation. We have identified a subsequent agonist-induced phosphorylation that plays a central dual role in Smad transcriptional activation and turnover. As receptor-activated Smads form transcriptional complexes, they are phosphorylated at an interdomain linker region by CDK8 and CDK9, which are components of transcriptional mediator and elongation complexes.

Alcohol regulates gene expression in neurons via activation of heat shock factor 1.

Drinking alcohol causes widespread alterations in gene expression that can result in long-term physiological changes. Although many alcohol-responsive genes (ARGs) have been identified, the mechanisms by which alcohol alters transcription are not well understood. To elucidate these mechanisms, we investigated Gabra4, a neuron-specific gene that is rapidly and robustly activated by alcohol (10-60 mM), both in vitro and in vivo.