Inflammatory biomarkers and state of the tibiofemoral joint in the osteoarthritic knee: a narrative review.

Background: The healing process is initiated by injurious stimuli in response to cellular damage. Upon recruiting proinflammatory biomarkers to the tissue site of injury, the release of additional biomarkers occurs, including the likes of cytokines, matrix molecules, macrophages, neutrophils, and others. This influx of immune system mediators can occur for chronic periods, and though its intention is for healing the original injurious stimuli, it is also suspected of causing long term cartilage impairment following internal structure damage.

Developing Leaders in Surgical Residency: A Curriculum for Success.

Objective: As surgical residents continue in their training, they are expected to not only take part in more complicated procedures, but to also serve as leaders in their respective care teams. While surgical skills are intensively taught in surgical residency programs, leadership is often learned informally, to the detriment of residents. Our curriculum was developed and implemented to provide foundational knowledge for surgical residents as they take on senior roles so that they may successfully act as leaders.

Guardians of the Genome: How the Single-Stranded DNA-Binding Proteins RPA and CST Facilitate Telomere Replication.

Telomeres act as the protective caps of eukaryotic linear chromosomes; thus, proper telomere maintenance is crucial for genome stability. Successful telomere replication is a cornerstone of telomere length regulation, but this process can be fraught due to the many intrinsic challenges telomeres pose to the replication machinery. In addition to the famous "end replication" problem due to the discontinuous nature of lagging strand synthesis, telomeres require various telomere-specific steps for maintaining the proper 3' overhang length.

Effect of anti-inflammatory treatments on patient outcomes and concentrations of inflammatory modulators in the post-surgical and post-traumatic tibiofemoral joint setting: a narrative review.

Background And Objective: There are several anti-inflammatory therapeutic options that can be used in the context of post-surgical and post-traumatic knee settings. Each of these options carries with it certain benefits, as well as potential issues depending on the duration and administration of each therapy. An understanding of how these anti-inflammatory drugs modulate various biomarkers of inflammation is also necessary in understanding how they can affect patient and objective outcomes following acute knee injury or surgery.

Outcomes of Interfacility VV-Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Transfers: A Multicenter Study.

As the availability of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) expands, so has the need for interfacility transfer to ECMO centers. However, the impact of these transfers is unknown. We hypothesized that interfacility transfers would be associated with increased complications and mortality.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Patient Outcomes Following Restrictive Blood Transfusion Protocol.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of a restrictive blood product utilization protocol on blood product utilization and clinical outcomes.

Design: We retrospectively reviewed all adult extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) patients from January 2019 to December 2021. The restrictive protocol, implemented in March 2020, was defined as transfusion of blood products for a hemoglobin level less than 7, platelet levels less than 50, and/or fibrinogen levels less than 100.

Inconsistent Return to Sport Despite Improved Outcomes After Re-revision Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: An Updated Systematic Review.

Purpose: To systematically review the literature evaluating patient-reported outcomes and return to sport after re-revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) procedures. The secondary objectives were 2-fold: to identify the risk factors that lead to revision ACLR failure and to assess the secondary knee structure injuries after the initial revision ACLR.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature was performed using the MEDLINE/PubMed and Cochrane databases.

Reference standards for stress radiography measurements in knee ligament injury and instability: a systematic review.

Purpose: Stress radiographs are an easily accessible, cost-effective tool in the evaluation of acute and chronic ligament knee injuries. Stress radiographs provide an objective, quantifiable, and functional assessment of the injured ligament and can be a useful adjunct when planning surgical management and to objectively assess postoperative outcomes. This study aimed to review the literature reporting on stress radiographic techniques in evaluating knee ligament injury and instability and propose thresholds for interpreting stress radiography techniques.

RPA engages telomeric G-quadruplexes more effectively than CST.

G-quadruplexes (G4s) are a set of stable secondary structures that form within guanine-rich regions of single-stranded nucleic acids that pose challenges for DNA maintenance. The G-rich DNA sequence at telomeres has a propensity to form G4s of various topologies. The human protein complexes Replication Protein A (RPA) and CTC1-STN1-TEN1 (CST) are implicated in managing G4s at telomeres, leading to DNA unfolding and allowing telomere replication to proceed.

CST does not evict elongating telomerase but prevents initiation by ssDNA binding.

The CST complex (CTC1-STN1-TEN1) has been shown to inhibit telomerase extension of the G-strand of telomeres and facilitate the switch to C-strand synthesis by DNA polymerase alpha-primase (pol α-primase). Recently the structure of human CST was solved by cryo-EM, allowing the design of mutant proteins defective in telomeric ssDNA binding and prompting the reexamination of CST inhibition of telomerase. The previous proposal that human CST inhibits telomerase by sequestration of the DNA primer was tested with a series of DNA-binding mutants of CST and modeled by a competitive binding simulation.