Tissue-engineered vascular conduits (TEVCs), often made by seeding autologous bone marrow cells onto biodegradable polymeric scaffolds, hold promise toward treating single-ventricle congenital heart defects (SVCHDs). However, the clinical adoption of TEVCs has been hindered by a high incidence of graft stenosis in prior TEVC clinical trials. Herein, we developed endothelialized TEVCs by coating the luminal surface of decellularized human umbilical arteries with human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived endothelial cells (ECs), followed by shear stress training, in flow bioreactors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Psychiatry
November 2024
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Off-label tenecteplase use for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has increased due to ease of administration and comparable efficacy and safety to alteplase.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate time to thrombolysis before and after transition from alteplase to tenecteplase for treatment of AIS at 2 institutions.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study included adult patients receiving thrombolysis for AIS before and after transition from alteplase to tenecteplase at 2 academic medical centers from January 1, 2020 to January 31, 2024.
Chicken ceca are a rich source of bacteria, including zoonotic pathogens such as Salmonella enterica. The microbiota includes strains/species carrying antimicrobial resistance genes and horizontal transfer of resistance determinants between species may increase the risk to public health and farming systems. Possible sources of these antimicrobial resistance donors - the eggshell carrying bacteria from the hen vertically transmitted to the offspring, or the barn environment where chicks are hatched and raised - has been little explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a common causative agent of infectious intestinal and systemic disease and has been extensively studied for several decades. Yet, much of pathogenicity remains a mystery due in part to the highly complex virulence and adaptation strategies at the pathogen's disposal. One of the more influential tools within the field, an attenuated deficient strain, has been used for many years to probe the host immune response that would otherwise be impossible with a fully virulent strain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGreat Salt Lake is a critical habitat for migratory birds that is threatened by elevated metal concentrations, including mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb), and is subject to severe hydrologic changes, such as declining lake level. When assessing metal profiles recorded in Great Salt Lake sediment, a large data gap exists regarding the sources of metals within the system, which is complicated by various source inputs to the lake and complex biogeochemistry. Here, we leverage Hg and Pb stable isotopes to track relative changes in metal source contributions to Great Salt Lake over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: The 21-point Brain Care Score (BCS) is an index that ranks behaviors and clinical measurements with the aim of encouraging lifestyle adjustments to lower the incidence of age-related brain disease, including stroke, late-life depression (LLD), and dementia. A higher BCS at baseline is associated with a lower risk of these outcomes. We aimed to investigate whether the associations between BCS and stroke, LLD, and dementia risks are independent of genetic predisposition for these conditions and quantify the effect of healthy lifestyle across genetic risk distributions for these outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Due to its biological properties, the omentum is a very useful tool in the hands of reconstructive urologists. The purpose of this systematic review is to present all existing evidence regarding the use of omentum during different robotic-assisted reconstructive urological surgeries.
Methods: In accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Guidelines, three databases (PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane) were systematically screened.
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of global mortality, is driven by lipid accumulation and plaque formation within arterial walls. Carotid plaques, detectable via ultrasound, are a well-established marker of subclinical atherosclerosis. In this study, we trained a deep learning model to detect plaques in 177,757 carotid ultrasound images from 19,499 UK Biobank (UKB) participants (aged 47-83 years) to assess the prevalence, risk factors, prognostic significance, and genetic architecture of carotid atherosclerosis in a large population-based cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe simultaneous presence of microplastics (MPs) and cadmium (Cd) in soil environments has raised concerns regarding their potential interactive effects on soil-plant ecosystems. This study explores how polyethylene (PE) at concentrations of 0.5 % (w/w), 1 % (w/w), and 2 % (w/w), and Cd at concentrations of 3 mg kg and 12 mg kg, either alone or combined, impact soil physicochemical properties, microbial community structures, and bok choy growth through a 40-day pot experiment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The vitamin K-dependent coagulation factor protein Z (PZ), encoded by the PROZ gene, is canonically considered to have anticoagulant effects through negative regulation of factor Xa. Paradoxically, higher circulating PZ concentrations have repeatedly been associated with an elevated risk of acute ischemic stroke.
Objectives: We performed a large-scale genetic association study to examine the relationship between germline genetic variants in PROZ and the risk of ischemic stroke.
Background: Recent investigations have determined that abnormal postoperative glycemia following primary total joint arthroplasty is associated with adverse events. Our study aimed to determine if hyperglycemia and glycemic variability following aseptic revision total joint arthroplasty were associated with periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) within two years postoperatively.
Methods: A retrospective review was performed of 2,208 patients within a single institution undergoing aseptic revision total joint arthroplasty from 2012 to 2019.
Purpose: Renal transplantation and end-stage renal disease are increasingly common. Renal dysfunction and immunosuppression are two risk factors in the development of renal cell carcinoma. Carcinomas in these patients are thought to be more indolent, however data are limited and mixed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Phase 3 licensing trials for the recently approved respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines did not include many residents of long-term care facilities (LTCF). Our primary objective was to assess humoral immune responses in LTCF residents, aged 60 and older, to the RSV vaccines, and demonstrate noninferiority to antibody responses in community-dwelling (CD) adults who were representative of the phase 3 trial participants in whom the vaccines were highly efficacious.
Design: Prospective non-randomized intervention trial of RSV vaccines in LTCF residents.
medRxiv
September 2024
Men with high-risk localized prostate cancer exhibit high rates of post-surgical recurrence. In these patients, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is immunomodulatory, however increased infiltration of regulatory T cells (Tregs) may limit the antitumor immune effects of ADT. We designed a neoadjuvant clinical trial to test whether BMS-986218 - a next-generation non-fucosylated anti-CTLA-4 antibody engineered for enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity or phagocytosis (ADCC/P) - depletes intratumoral Tregs and augments the response to ADT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Of Review: This manuscript aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the pathophysiology, risk factors, prevention strategies, and management options for radiation cystitis.
Recent Findings: Recent studies have shed light on the pathophysiology of radiation cystitis, highlighting the role of inflammation, fibrosis, and vascular damage. Emerging preventive measures like stem cell therapy offer promise, alongside novel treatments such as amniotic bladder therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Scientists and managers seek to implement more inclusive and effective conservation strategies by incorporating plural valuations of nature and nature's contributions to people (NCP) into research and decision-making. For Argentina's threatened Espinal ecoregion, this need is particularly acute. In Entre Ríos province, practically all of these forests are devoted to production, and the expanding agricultural frontier increases their conversion to crops.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Genetic variants in COL4A1 and COL4A2 (encoding collagen IV alpha chain 1/2) occur in genetic and sporadic forms of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), a leading cause of stroke, dementia and intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). However, the molecular mechanisms of CSVD with ICH and COL4A1/COL4A2 variants remain obscure.
Methods: Vascular function and molecular investigations in mice with a Col4a1 missense mutation and heterozygous Col4a2 knock-out mice were combined with analysis of human brain endothelial cells harboring COL4A1/COL4A2 mutations, and brain tissue of patients with sporadic CSVD with ICH.
Introduction: Evidence suggests that higher C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with lower risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and lobar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Whether interleukin (IL)-6 signaling, an active pharmacological target upstream of CRP, is associated with these amyloid-related pathologies remains unknown.
Methods: We used 26 CRP-lowering variants near the IL-6 receptor gene to perform Mendelian randomization analyses for AD (111,326 cases, 677,663 controls) and ICH (1545 cases, 1481 controls).