Randomized controlled trial demonstrates nutritional management is superior to metronidazole for treatment of acute colitis in dogs.

Objective: To describe the outcome of dietary management of canine noninfectious acute colitis with or without concurrent oral administration of metronidazole using a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Animals: 59 client-owned dogs with noninfectious acute colitis.

Procedures: Dogs with acute noninfectious colitis were enrolled in a 30-day diet trial after exclusion of parasitic infectious etiologies (fecal centrifugation floatation, Giardia/Cryptosporidium antigen testing) and systemic disease (CBC, biochemistry, urinalysis).

Characteristics, Outcomes, and Severity Risk Factors Associated With SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Children in the US National COVID Cohort Collaborative.

Importance: Understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection in US children has been limited by the lack of large, multicenter studies with granular data.

Objective: To examine the characteristics, changes over time, outcomes, and severity risk factors of children with SARS-CoV-2 within the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C).

Design, Setting, And Participants: A prospective cohort study of encounters with end dates before September 24, 2021, was conducted at 56 N3C facilities throughout the US.

Children with SARS-CoV-2 in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C).

Importance: SARS-CoV-2.

Objective: To determine the characteristics, changes over time, outcomes, and severity risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 affected children within the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C).

Design: Prospective cohort study of patient encounters with end dates before May 27th, 2021.

"What Was His Name, Again?": A New Method for Reducing Memory-Based Errors in an Adult False-Belief Task.

Despite considerable interest in the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) during early childhood, until recently, there has been little consideration about whether and how ToM skills continue to change into adulthood. Furthermore, the false-belief task, which is believed to capture the underlying mechanisms of ToM, is rarely used in studies of ToM with adults; those tasks that do assess false-belief understanding may be confounded by incidental task demands, such as complex narratives and excessive memory requirements, making it difficult to isolate adults' true ToM skills, much less to compare them with the skills of children. Here, we adapted a task developed by Valle, Massaro, Castelli, and Marchetti (2015, https://doi.

Use of Stainless-Steel, Balloon-Expandable Chimney Grafts Is Durable Though Caution Is Required When Lining Angulated Renal Arteries.

Purpose: To analyze the overall performance of flexible nitinol stents used to line chimney grafts (CGs) during chimney endovascular aneurysm repair (chEVAR) of pararenal pathologies.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of all 116 elective patients (mean age 74.3±7.

Fluorescence Imaging of Breast Tumors and Gastrointestinal Cancer.

Optical imaging offers a high potential for noninvasive detection and therapy of cancer in humans. Recent advances in instrumentation for diffuse optical imaging have led to new capabilities for the detection of cancer in highly scattering tissue such as the female breast. In particular, fluorescence imaging was made applicable as a sensitive technique to image molecular probes in vivo.

Quantitation of large, middle and small hepatitis B surface proteins in HBeAg-positive patients treated with peginterferon alfa-2a.

Background & Aims: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) contains three viral surface proteins, large, middle and small hepatitis B surface protein (LHBs, MHBs, SHBs). Proportions of LHBs and MHBs are lower in patients with inactive vs active chronic infection. Interferon alfa may convert hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) to an inactive carrier state, but prediction of sustained response is unsatisfactory.

Target-Specific Imaging of Cathepsin and S100A8/A9 Reflects Specific Features of Malignancy and Enables Estimation of Tumor Malignancy.

Purpose: Tumor development and metastasis are dependent on tumor infiltrating immune cells which form a characteristic tumor microenvironment (TME). Activated monocytes secrete the protein heterodimer S100A8/A9 promoting TME formation. Monocyte-dependent proteases facilitate local tumor cell invasion by degradation of the extracellular matrix.

Gadofosveset-enhanced MRI as simple surrogate parameter for real-time evaluation of the initial tumour vessel infarction by retargeted tissue factor tTF-NGR.

Truncated tissue factor (tTF)-NGR consists of the extracellular domain of the human TF and the binding motif NGR. tTF-NGR activates blood coagulation within the tumour vasculature following binding to CD13, and is overexpressed in the endothelial cells of tumour vessels, resulting in tumour vessel infarction and subsequent retardation/regression of tumour growth. The aim of the present study was to investigate gadofosveset-based real-time dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in evaluating the initial therapeutic effects of the anti-vascular tTF-NGR approach.

Hepatitis B virus subgenotype F3 reactivation with vaccine escape mutations: A case report and review of the literature.

Hepatitis B represents a global health threat because its chronic course and sequelae contribute to a high morbidity and mortality. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can be controlled by vaccines, antiviral treatment, and by interrupting transmission. Rare vaccine escape mutants are serious because they eliminate vaccine protection.

Quantification of large and middle proteins of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) as a novel tool for the identification of inactive HBV carriers.

Objective: Among individuals with chronic hepatitis B, those with hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg)-negative chronic hepatitis (CHB) can be difficult to distinguish from those with HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection, also referred to as inactive HBV carriers (ICs), but both require different medical management. The level of HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) has been proposed as a marker to discriminate between chronic infection and hepatitis stages. HBsAg consists of large, middle and small HBs.

Structural cartilage damage attracts circulating rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts into affected joints.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs) are known to travel via the bloodstream from sites of cartilage destruction to new locations where they reinitiate the destructive processes at distant articular cartilage surfaces. In this study, we examined the role of interleukin (IL)-1-induced cartilage changes and their chemotactic effect on RASF transmigratory capacity.

Methods: To investigate synovial fibroblast (SF) transmigration through endothelial layers, we used a modified Boyden chamber with an endothelioma cell layer (bEnd.

Prevalence of AmpC- and Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Harbouring Enterobacteriaceae in Faecal Flora of a Healthy Domestic Canine Population.

In order to estimate the prevalence of AmpC- and ESBL β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in the faecal flora of a healthy domestic canine population, faecal samples were obtained from healthy dogs receiving routine parasitology screening at the Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center, between January 2013 and April 2013. Samples were screened for the presence of AmpC and ESBL β-lactamase phenotypes, and the clinically important genotypes, bla and bla , were confirmed via conventional PCR. Minimum inhibitory concentrations were determined for isolates and plasmids were characterized.

New broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies against hepatitis B virus surface antigen.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) is considered to be the most important target for the diagnosis and immune prophylaxis of HBV infection. HBsAg-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) are extensively used for studying the complex structure of the HBsAg, mapping the neutralizing epitopes and development of HBV diagnostic tests. However, the efficiency of anti-HBV binding strongly depends on the epitope structure and MAb capability to recognize different HBV variants.

Construction of polyomavirus-derived pseudotype virus-like particles displaying a functionally active neutralizing antibody against hepatitis B virus surface antigen.

Background: Virus-like particles (VLPs) can be efficiently produced by heterologous expression of viral structural proteins in yeast. Due to their repetitive structure, VLPs are extensively used for protein engineering and generation of chimeric VLPs with inserted foreign epitopes. Hamster polyomavirus VP1 represents a promising epitope carrier.

A Human Monoclonal Antibody against Hepatitis B Surface Antigen with Potent Neutralizing Activity.

We describe the production and characterization of human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) specific for the major hepatitis B virus (HBV) S protein. The mAbs, two IgG1κ and one IgG1λ, were secreted by B-cell clones obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of one person convalescent from acute hepatitis B and one vaccinated individual. The former recognized a denaturation-insensitive epitope within the p24 protein whereas the latter recognized a denaturation-sensitive, conformational epitope located within the HBsAg common "a" determinant.

Optical in vivo imaging of the alarmin S100A9 in tumor lesions allows for estimation of the individual malignant potential by evaluation of tumor-host cell interaction.

Unlabelled: Tumors recruit and reprogram immune cells to support tumor development and spread, the most prominent among them being of monocytic origin such as tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) or myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC). The alarmin S100A8/A9 has been implicated in the induction of TAM and MDSC. We assessed S100A9 as a molecular imaging marker for the activity of tumor-associated immune cells in a syngeneic murine breast cancer model.

Fluorescent non-peptidic RGD mimetics with high selectivity for αVβ3 vs αIIbβ3 integrin receptor: novel probes for in vivo optical imaging.

Integrins are heterodimeric transmembrane protein receptors consisting of different α and β subunits. α(v)β(3) integrins are overexpressed on many tumor cells and tumor-associated angiogenic vessels, whereas α(IIb)β(3) is a receptor for, e.g.

Alarmin S100A8/S100A9 as a biomarker for molecular imaging of local inflammatory activity.

Inflammation has a key role in the pathogenesis of various human diseases. The early detection, localization and monitoring of inflammation are crucial for tailoring individual therapies. However, reliable biomarkers to detect local inflammatory activities and to predict disease outcome are still missing.

Highly shifted proton MR imaging: cell tracking by using direct detection of paramagnetic compounds.

Purpose: To explore the feasibility of tracking thulium (Tm)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-α,α',α'',α'''-tetramethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTMA)-labeled cells in vivo by means of highly shifted proton magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as a potential alternative to established cell-tracking methods.

Materials And Methods: All animal experiments were approved by the local ethics committee for animal experiments. Highly shifted proton MR imaging is based on the principle that the shifted resonances on Tm and dysprosium (Dy)-DOTMA can be detected separately from the tissue water signal at MR imaging with very short echo time and radial center-out readout (UTE, or "ultrashort echo time").

Optimizing the bioavailability of small molecular optical imaging probes by conjugation to an albumin affinity tag.

Small molecular imaging probes are often found to be rapidly cleared from the circulation. In order to improve signal to noise ratio (SNR) by high probe accumulation in the target tissue we intended to prolong the presence of the probes in the circulation by exploiting inherent transport mechanisms. Human serum albumin (HSA) is playing an increasingly important role as a drug carrier in clinical settings and drugs directly bound to albumin or attached to albumin binding moieties have been successfully developed for treatment approaches.