Dual sensory impairments in companion dogs: Prevalence and relationship to cognitive impairment.

Purpose: Many older dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) develop cognitive impairment. Dog owners often describe impairments in multiple sensory functions, yet the relationships between sensory and cognitive function in older dogs is not well understood.

Methods: We performed assessments of dog vision and hearing, both clinically (n = 91, electroretinography and brainstem auditory evoked potential) and via validated questionnaire (n = 238).

Validation of 3D cryoEM single particle reconstruction correctness and handedness with Ewald's sphere correction.

The correct description of quantum scattering places the observed scattering contributions on the Ewald's sphere and its Friedel mate. In electron microscopy, due to the large radius of the Ewald's sphere, these contributions are typically merged during data analysis. We present an approach that separates and factorizes these contributions into inversion-symmetric and inversion-antisymmetric components.

CryoEM single particle reconstruction with a complex-valued particle stack.

Single particle reconstruction (SPR) in cryoEM is an image processing task with an elaborate hierarchy that starts with many very noisy multi-frame images. Efficient representation of the intermediary image structures is critical for keeping the calculations manageable. One such intermediary structure is called a particle stack and contains cut-out images of particles in square boxes of predefined size.

A case report of severe systemic herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) infection with multi-organ involvement after a course of oral corticosteroid treatment.

Background: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) rarely causes organ-invasive infection. Diagnosis and treatment for such infections are often delayed, and mortality is high. We present the first reported case of disseminated HSV-1 infection in an adult causing liver failure, myocarditis, and encephalitis in a patient who recovered after receiving parenteral acyclovir treatment.

A Rare Case of Latent Tuberculosis Reactivation Secondary to a COVID-19 Infection.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and tuberculosis (TB) are currently the two leading causes of death among infectious diseases. As we progress towards a "new normal", more information is required regarding post-COVID-19 syndromes. We present a case of latent tuberculosis reactivation 3 months after a successful inpatient treatment of COVID-19.

Occurrence of the Seven Most Common Serotypes of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli in Beef Cuts Produced in Meat Processing Plants in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Abstract: Healthy cattle are considered the main reservoir of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains, so in some places in the world, products derived from beef are the most common source for disease outbreaks caused by these bacteria. Therefore, to guarantee that the beef produced by our slaughterhouses is safe, there is a need for continuous monitoring of these bacteria. In this study, 215 beef cuts were evaluated, including chilled vacuum-packed striploins (151 samples), rib eyes (30 samples), and knuckles (34 samples), from March to June 2018.

High-resolution cryo-EM reconstructions in the presence of substantial aberrations.

Here, an analysis is performed of how uncorrected antisymmetric aberrations, such as coma and trefoil, affect cryo-EM single-particle reconstruction (SPR) results, and an analytical formula quantifying information loss owing to their presence is inferred that explains why Fourier-shell coefficient-based statistics may report significantly overestimated resolution if these aberrations are not fully corrected. The analysis is validated with reference-based aberration refinement for two cryo-EM SPR data sets acquired with a 200 kV microscope in the presence of coma exceeding 40 µm, and 2.3 and 2.

Severe aortic regurgitation masked as sepsis-induced ARDS in a patient with endocarditis.

Septic shock is the most common type of shock in the intensive care unit with an associated mortality close to 50%. Infective endocarditis (IE) is a rare cause of septic shock but carries significant morbidity and mortality. Group B IE (GBS-IE) is an invasive infection with an incidence of approximately 1.

A Dual-H-NOX Signaling System in Saccharophagus degradans.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a critical signaling molecule involved in the regulation of a wide variety of physiological processes across every domain of life. In most aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria, heme-nitric oxide/oxygen binding (H-NOX) proteins selectively sense NO and inhibit the activity of a histidine kinase (HK) located on the same operon. This NO-dependent inhibition of the cognate HK alters the phosphorylation of the downstream response regulators.

Differential Morphological and Biochemical Recovery from Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Following Paclitaxel, Ixabepilone, or Eribulin Treatment in Mouse Sciatic Nerves.

The reversibility of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a disabling and potentially permanent side effect of microtubule-targeting agents (MTAs), is becoming an increasingly important issue as treatment outcomes improve. The molecular mechanisms regulating the variability in time to onset, severity, and time to recovery from CIPN between the common MTAs paclitaxel and eribulin are unknown. Previously (Benbow et al.

Real-space analysis of radiation-induced specific changes with independent component analysis.

A method of analysis is presented that allows for the separation of specific radiation-induced changes into distinct components in real space. The method relies on independent component analysis (ICA) and can be effectively applied to electron density maps and other types of maps, provided that they can be represented as sets of numbers on a grid. Here, for glucose isomerase crystals, ICA was used in a proof-of-concept analysis to separate temperature-dependent and temperature-independent components of specific radiation-induced changes for data sets acquired from multiple crystals across multiple temperatures.

Evaluation of Probiotic Potential of Bacteriocinogenic Lactic Acid Bacteria Strains Isolated from Meat Products.

In this study, the probiotic potential of five bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, isolated from meat products, was investigated. They were presumptively identified as Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris CTC 204 and CTC 483, L.

Digital quantification of neurite outgrowth and retraction by phase-contrast microscopy: A tau perspective.

The proper organization and function of the mammalian nervous system relies on neuronal processes or "neurites," extended morphological projections that include axons and dendrites. Tau is a structural microtubule-associated protein that is widely expressed in the nervous system that mediates the establishment of cell polarity, neurite outgrowth, and axonal transport. A useful model for studying the establishment and maintenance of these neuronal structures are rat neuronal PC12 cells, which can be induced to express tau and project neurites by treating the cells with nerve growth factor.

Clinical Management of Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome: Part II-Use of Immunomodulatory Therapies.

Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) is a clinically heterogeneous disorder with a number of different etiologies and disease mechanisms. Inflammatory and postinfectious autoimmune presentations of PANS occur frequently, with some clinical series documenting immune abnormalities in 75%-80% of patients. Thus, comprehensive treatment protocols must include immunological interventions, but their use should be reserved only for PANS cases in which the symptoms represent underlying neuroinflammation or postinfectious autoimmunity, as seen in the PANDAS subgroup (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders associated with Streptococcal infections).

Seven Cases of Zika Virus Infection in South Florida.

Introduction: Zika virus, an arbovirus of the family, is a mosquito-borne virus known to cause microcephaly through vertical transmission. Infection presents with mild, self-limiting symptoms. Currently, a Zika virus outbreak has spread across most of South and Central America.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of non-irradiated and chlorine-free packaging for fresh beef preservation.

This study evaluates the potential of using non-irradiated barrier-shrink bags containing ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), polyamide (PA) and ethylene ionomer in their structures to preserve vacuum-packaged fresh beef as an alternative to traditional gamma-ray cross-linked bags containing polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC). Boneless beef rib eye roll cuts were vacuum-packed in an industrial processing plant using EVOH 44% mol, EVOH 32% mol and a control PVDC barrier shrink bags. The cuts were evaluated during storage at 0.

Phylogeny Reconstruction with Alignment-Free Method That Corrects for Horizontal Gene Transfer.

Advances in sequencing have generated a large number of complete genomes. Traditionally, phylogenetic analysis relies on alignments of orthologs, but defining orthologs and separating them from paralogs is a complex task that may not always be suited to the large datasets of the future. An alternative to traditional, alignment-based approaches are whole-genome, alignment-free methods.

A tethered delivery mechanism explains the catalytic action of a microtubule polymerase.

Stu2p/XMAP215 proteins are essential microtubule polymerases that use multiple αβ-tubulin-interacting TOG domains to bind microtubule plus ends and catalyze fast microtubule growth. We report here the structure of the TOG2 domain from Stu2p bound to yeast αβ-tubulin. Like TOG1, TOG2 binds selectively to a fully 'curved' conformation of αβ-tubulin, incompatible with a microtubule lattice.

Identification of anticitrullinated protein antibody reactivities in a subset of anti-CCP-negative rheumatoid arthritis: association with cigarette smoking and HLA-DRB1 'shared epitope' alleles.

Introduction: A hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the development of autoantibodies targeting proteins that contain citrulline. Anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are currently detected by the commercial cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) assay, which uses a mix of cyclised citrullinated peptides as an artificial mimic of the true antigen(s). To increase the sensitivity of ACPA detection and dissect ACPA specificities, we developed a multiplex assay that profiles ACPAs by measuring their reactivity to the citrullinated peptides and proteins derived from RA joint tissue.

Autoantibody epitope spreading in the pre-clinical phase predicts progression to rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prototypical autoimmune arthritis affecting nearly 1% of the world population and is a significant cause of worldwide disability. Though prior studies have demonstrated the appearance of RA-related autoantibodies years before the onset of clinical RA, the pattern of immunologic events preceding the development of RA remains unclear. To characterize the evolution of the autoantibody response in the preclinical phase of RA, we used a novel multiplex autoantigen array to evaluate development of the anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) and to determine if epitope spread correlates with rise in serum cytokines and imminent onset of clinical RA.

Targeted reduction of KLF6-SV1 restores chemotherapy sensitivity in resistant lung adenocarcinoma.

Kruppel-like factor 6 splice variant 1 (KLF6-SV1) is an oncogenic splice variant of the KLF6 tumor suppressor gene that is specifically overexpressed in a number of human cancers. Previously, we have demonstrated that increased expression of KLF6-SV1 is associated with decreased survival in lung adenocarcinoma patient samples and that targeted reduction of KLF6-SV1 using siRNA induced apoptosis both alone and in combination with the chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin. Here, we demonstrate that chemoresistant lung cancer cells express increased levels of KLF6-SV1.

Functional role of the KLF6 tumour suppressor gene in gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is the second most common cancer and a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The Kruppel-like factor 6 (KLF6) tumour suppressor gene had been previously shown to be inactivated in a number of human cancers through loss of heterozygosity (LOH), somatic mutation, decreased expression and increased alternative splicing into a dominant negative oncogenic splice variant, KLF6-SV1. In the present study, 37 gastric cancer samples were analysed for the presence of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the KLF6 locus and somatic mutation.