Cybersecurity Risks in a Pandemic.

Cybersecurity threats are estimated to cost the world US $6 trillion a year by 2021, and the number of attacks has increased five-fold after COVID-19. Although there is substantial literature on the threats technological vulnerabilities have on the health care industry, less research exists on how pandemics like COVID-19 are opportunistic for cybercriminals. This paper outlines why cyberattacks have been particularly problematic during COVID-19 and ways that health care industries can better protect patient data.

Antimicrobial Use on 36 Beef Feedlots in Western Canada: 2008-2012.

The accurate quantification of antimicrobial use (AMU) in production animals is critical for monitoring trends in exposure to antimicrobial drugs (AMD) over time and examining potential associations with antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. In this study, a census sample of cattle was used to quantify individually-dosed and in-feed AMU as both numbers of animal daily doses (nADD) and total grams of AMD (gAMD) used in cattle placed in 36 western Canadian feedlots between 1-November, 2008 and 31-October, 2012; representing about 21.5% of fed cattle in Canada during that time period.

Intracoronary allogeneic cardiosphere-derived stem cells are safe for use in dogs with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) have been shown to reduce scar size and increase viable myocardium in human patients with mild/moderate myocardial infarction. Studies in rodent models suggest that CDC therapy may confer therapeutic benefits in patients with non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). We sought to determine the safety and efficacy of allogeneic CDC in a large animal (canine) model of spontaneous DCM.

Microstructure and elution of tetracycline from block copolymer coatings.

A critical metrology issue for pharmaceutical industries is the application of analytical techniques for the characterization of drug delivery systems to address interrelationships between processing, structure, and drug release. In this study, cast coatings were formed from solutions of poly(styrene-b-isobutylene-b-styrene) (SIBS) and tetracycline in tetrahydrofuran (THF). These coatings were characterized by several imaging modalities, including time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) for chemical imaging and analysis, atomic force microscopy (AFM) for determination of surface structure and morphology, and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), which was used to characterize the three-dimensional structure beneath the surface.

Ankyrin G overexpression in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome fibroblasts identified through biological filtering of expression profiles.

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS; MIM 176670) is a rare disease characterized by accelerated aging. In this study, light and immunofluorescence microscopy were used to assess morphological changes, measures of cell growth kinetics and gene expression profiles in HGPS cells and normal fibroblasts in culture. A filtering strategy was developed based on differentially expressed transcripts seen consistently across three culture stages based on cell passage number.

Mechanical properties of biomimetic tissue adhesive based on the microbial transglutaminase-catalyzed crosslinking of gelatin.

Fibrin sealants are a type of soft tissue adhesive that employs biochemical reactions from the late stages of the blood coagulation cascade. Intrinsic to these adhesives are a structural protein and a transglutaminase crosslinking enzyme. We are investigating an alternative biomimetic adhesive based on gelatin and a calcium-independent microbial transglutaminase (mTG).