Fluorescence of 2-Hydroxy Chalcone Analogs with Extended Conjugation: ESIPT vs. ICT Pathways.

The chalcone derivatives with hydroxy group () have been examined using low-temperature fluorescence spectroscopy. The study aimed to freeze the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) motion in order to reveal the potential hidden transition(s) that are difficult to observe at room temperature. Although chalcone revealed one emission peak at ~667 nm at room temperature, it exhibited two emission peaks (λ = 580 and 636 nm) in EtOH at liquid N temperatures (77 K).

Pediatric to Adult Care Transition in the Hospital Context (PATCH) Tool: A Novel Tool to Assess Pediatric Institutional Guidelines for Inpatient Care of Adults.

Objective: The growing number of adults with childhood onset chronic conditions (COCC) is reflected in the increase of adult-aged admissions to pediatric institutions. Despite national bodies advising pediatric institutions to have a pediatric to adult health care transition (HCT) policy, little guidance is available on if or how to include inpatient care. We sought to create a framework-based Pediatric to Adult Transitional Care in the Hospital Context (PATCH) tool to assess how inpatient care of adults is addressed in pediatric institutional guidelines or policies (hereafter guidelines) as a first step towards informing future PATCH guideline development.

Attitudes towards models of abortion care in sexual and reproductive health: perspectives of Australian health professionals.

Background Abortion care is typically undertaken by doctors; however, alternate models, including nurse-led care, are increasingly seen as viable alternatives. However, attitudes towards the leadership of alternate models can be a barrier to change. We explored the acceptability of different models of abortion care, and whether attitudes differed by health profession for those working in sexual and reproductive health.

Bright NIR-Emitting Styryl Pyridinium Dyes with Large Stokes' Shift for Sensing Applications.

Two NIR-emitting donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) type regioisomeric styryl pyridinium dyes (-) were synthesized and studied for their photophysical performance and environment sensitivity. The two regioisomers, and , exhibited interesting photophysical properties including, longer wavelength excitation (λ ≈ 530-560 nm), bright near-infrared emission (λ ≈ 690-720 nm), high-fluorescence quantum yields (ϕ ≈ 0.24-0.

Systemic Delivery of Divalent Europium from Ligand Screening with Implications to Direct Imaging of Hypoxia.

Hypoxia is a hallmark of many diseases, including cancer, arthritis, heart and kidney diseases, and diabetes, and it is often associated with disease aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Consequently, there is a critical need for imaging hypoxia in a noninvasive and direct way to diagnose, stage, and monitor the treatment and development of new therapies for these diseases. Eu-containing contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging have demonstrated potential for in vivo imaging of hypoxia via changes in metal oxidation state from +2 to +3, but rapid oxidation in blood limits Eu-containing complexes to studies compatible with direct injection to sites.

Reproductive coercion and abuse among pregnancy counselling clients in Australia: trends and directions.

Background: Reproductive coercion and abuse (RCA) interferes with a person's reproductive autonomy and can be classified into behaviours that are pregnancy promoting or pregnancy preventing (including coerced abortion). However, prevalence data are lacking, and little is known about whether particular forms of RCA are more or less common. The aims of our study were to explore how frequently people seeking pregnancy counselling reported RCA, the proportions reporting the different forms of RCA, and whether there were different trends based on a range of demographic factors.

The Unexpected Selectivity Switching from Mitochondria to Lysosome in a D-π-A Cyanine Dye.

Two interesting benzothizolium-based D-π-A type hemicyanine dyes (-) with a diphenylamine (-NPh) donor group were evaluated for fluorescence confocal microscopy imaging ability in live cells (MO3.13, NHLF). In sharp contrast to previously reported D-π-A dyes with alkyl amine donor (-NR) groups (), and exhibited significantly different photophysical properties and organelle selectivity.

Identification and validation of a prognostic proteomic signature for cervical cancer.

Objective: To date, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) has provided the most extensive molecular characterization of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). Analysis of reverse phase protein array (RPPA) data from TCGA samples showed that cervical cancers could be stratified into 3 clusters exhibiting significant differences in survival outcome: hormone, EMT, and PI3K/AKT. The goals of the current study were to: 1) validate the TCGA RPPA results in an independent cohort of ICC patients and 2) to develop and validate an algorithm encompassing a small antibody set for clinical utility.

Summary of Imaging in 2020: Visualizing the Future of Healthcare with MR Imaging.

The Imaging in 2020 meeting convenes biannually to discuss innovations in medical imaging. The 2018 meeting, titled "Visualizing the Future of Healthcare with MR Imaging," sought to encourage discussions of the future goals of MRI research, feature important discoveries, and foster scientific discourse between scientists from a variety of fields of expertise. Here, we highlight presented research and resulting discussions of the meeting.

Photophysical characterization of a highly luminescent divalent-europium-containing azacryptate.

We report a new luminescent EuII-containing complex. The complex is excited with visible light, leading to emission centered at 447 nm with a lifetime of 1.25 μs.

Screening of ligands for redox-active europium using magnetic resonance imaging.

We report a screening procedure to predict ligand coordination to Eu and Eu using magnetic resonance imaging in which bright images indicate complexation and dark images indicate no complexation. Here, paramagnetic Gd is used as a surrogate for Eu in the screening procedure to enable detection with magnetic resonance imaging. The screening procedure was tested using a set of eight ligands with known coordination to Eu and Eu, and results were found to be consistent with expected binding.

Inducible podocyte-specific deletion of CTCF drives progressive kidney disease and bone abnormalities.

Progressive chronic kidney diseases (CKDs) are on the rise worldwide. However, the sequence of events resulting in CKD progression remain poorly understood. Animal models of CKD exploring these issues are confounded by systemic toxicities or surgical interventions to acutely induce kidney injury.

The SMARxT Media Literacy Program: Improving Evidence-Based Prescribing among Medical Students.

Media literacy may help medical trainees optimize evidence-based decision-making. Many prescriptions written are not evidence-based, resulting in unnecessary morbidity and mortality. In this study, we aimed to assess feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a media literacy prescribing program.

Modeling mutant/wild-type interactions to ascertain pathogenicity of PROKR2 missense variants in patients with isolated GnRH deficiency.

A major challenge in human genetics is the validation of pathogenicity of heterozygous missense variants. This problem is well-illustrated by PROKR2 variants associated with Isolated GnRH Deficiency (IGD). Homozygous, loss of function variants in PROKR2 was initially implicated in autosomal recessive IGD; however, most IGD-associated PROKR2 variants are heterozygous.

Acute Parathyroid Hormone Injection Increases C-Terminal but Not Intact Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 Levels.

The acute effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH) on fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) in vivo are not well understood. After a single subcutaneous PTH (1-34) injection (50 nmol/kg) in mice, FGF23 levels were assessed in plasma using assays that measure either intact alone (iFGF23) or intact/C-terminal FGF23 (cFGF23). Furthermore, FGF23 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels were assessed in bone.

SIKs control osteocyte responses to parathyroid hormone.

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) activates receptors on osteocytes to orchestrate bone formation and resorption. Here we show that PTH inhibition of SOST (sclerostin), a WNT antagonist, requires HDAC4 and HDAC5, whereas PTH stimulation of RANKL, a stimulator of bone resorption, requires CRTC2. Salt inducible kinases (SIKs) control subcellular localization of HDAC4/5 and CRTC2.

Declines in traditional marine food intake and vitamin D levels from the 1960s to present in young Alaska Native women.

Objective: To measure the trends in traditional marine food intake and serum vitamin D levels in Alaska Native women of childbearing age (20-29 years old) from the 1960s to the present.

Design: We measured a biomarker of traditional food intake, the δ15N value, and vitamin D level, as 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25(OH)D3) concentration, in 100 serum samples from 20-29-year-old women archived in the Alaska Area Specimen Bank, selecting twenty-five per decade from the 1960s to the 1990s. We compared these with measurements of red-blood-cell δ15N values and serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations from 20-29-year-old women from the same region collected during the 2000s and 2010s in a Center for Alaska Native Health Research study.

Binding Selectivity of Abaloparatide for PTH-Type-1-Receptor Conformations and Effects on Downstream Signaling.

The PTH receptor type 1 (PTHR1) mediates the actions of two endogenous polypeptide ligands, PTH and PTHrP, and thereby plays key roles in bone biology. Based on its capacity to stimulate bone formation, the peptide fragment PTH (1-34) is currently in use as therapy for osteoporosis. Abaloparatide (ABL) is a novel synthetic analog of human PTHrP (1-34) that holds promise as a new osteoporosis therapy, as studies in animals suggest that it can stimulate bone formation with less of the accompanying bone resorption and hypercalcemic effects that can occur with PTH (1-34).

The G protein α subunit variant XLαs promotes inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate signaling and mediates the renal actions of parathyroid hormone in vivo.

GNAS, which encodes the stimulatory G protein (heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein) α subunit (Gαs), also encodes a large variant of Gαs termed extra-large α subunit (XLαs), and alterations in XLαs abundance or activity are implicated in various human disorders. Although XLαs, like Gαs, stimulates generation of the second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), evidence suggests that XLαs and Gαs have opposing effects in vivo. We investigated the role of XLαs in mediating signaling by parathyroid hormone (PTH), which activates a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that stimulates both Gαs and Gαq/11 in renal proximal tubules to maintain phosphate and vitamin D homeostasis.

Vestibular function assessment using the NIH Toolbox.

Objective: Development of an easy to administer, low-cost test of vestibular function.

Methods: Members of the NIH Toolbox Sensory Domain Vestibular, Vision, and Motor subdomain teams collaborated to identify 2 tests: 1) Dynamic Visual Acuity (DVA), and 2) the Balance Accelerometry Measure (BAM). Extensive work was completed to identify and develop appropriate software and hardware.

New portable tool to screen vestibular and visual function--National Institutes of Health Toolbox initiative.

As part of the National Institutes of Health Toolbox initiative, we developed a low-cost, easy-to-administer, and time-efficient test of vestibular and visual function. A computerized test of dynamic visual acuity (cDVA) was used to measure the difference in visual acuity between head still and moving in yaw. Participants included 318 individuals, aged 3 to 85 years (301 without and 17 with vestibular pathology).

Staphylococcus aureus fur regulates the expression of virulence factors that contribute to the pathogenesis of pneumonia.

The tremendous success of Staphylococcus aureus as a pathogen is due to the controlled expression of a diverse array of virulence factors. The effects of host environments on the expression of virulence factors and the mechanisms by which S. aureus adapts to colonize distinct host tissues are largely unknown.

Characterization of forces applied by endoscopists during colonoscopy by using a wireless colonoscopy force monitor.

Background: To perform a colonoscopy, the endoscopist maneuvers the colonoscope through a series of loops by applying force to the insertion tube. Colonoscopy insertion techniques are operator dependent but have never been comprehensively quantified.

Objective: To determine whether the Colonoscopy Force Monitor (CFM), a device that continually measures force applied to the insertion tube, can identify different force application patterns among experienced endoscopists.