Forested versus herbaceous wetlands: Can management mitigate ecohydrologic regime shifts from invasive emerald ash borer?

Wetlands self-organize through reciprocal controls between vegetation and hydrology, but external disturbance may disrupt these feedbacks with consequent changes to ecosystem state. Imminent and widespread emerald ash borer (EAB) infestation throughout North American forested wetlands has raised concern over possible ecosystem state shifts (i.e.

Phase III study with FOLFIRI + cetuximab versus FOLFIRI + cetuximab followed by cetuximab alone in RAS and BRAF WT mCRC.

The optimal duration and intensity of first-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer patients once they have achieved an objective response is controversial. In a molecularly selected RAS and BRAF wild-type (wt) population, this concern is amplified. Once disease control has been achieved with a combination therapy including an anti-EGFR antibody, further exposure both to cytotoxic drugs and targeted therapy might result only in increased toxicity.

Electrospun fiber surface nanotopography influences astrocyte-mediated neurite outgrowth.

Aligned, electrospun fiber scaffolds provide topographical guidance for regenerating neurons and glia after central nervous system injury. To date, no study has explored how fiber surface nanotopography affects astrocyte response to fibrous scaffolds. Astrocytes play important roles in the glial scar, the blood brain barrier, and in maintaining homeostasis in the central nervous system.

Poly-l-lactic acid--poly(pentadecalactone) Electrospun Fibers Result in Greater Neurite Outgrowth of Chick Dorsal Root Ganglia in Vitro Compared to Poly-l-lactic Acid Fibers.

Electrospun poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) fiber scaffolds are used to direct axonal extension in neural engineering models. We aimed to improve the efficacy of these fibers in promoting neurite outgrowth by altering surface topography and reducing fiber elastic modulus through the incorporation of a compatibilized blend, poly-l-lactic acid-poly(pentadecalactone) (PLLA-PPDL) into the solution prior to electrospinning. PLLA+PLLA-PPDL fibers had a larger diameter, increased surface nanotopography, and lower glass transition temperature than PLLA fibers but had similar mechanical properties.

Rac1 Modulates Endothelial Function and Platelet Aggregation in Diabetes Mellitus.

Background: Vascular complications and abnormal platelet function contribute to morbidity and mortality in diabetes mellitus. We hypothesized that the Rho-related GTPase protein, Rac1, can influence both endothelial and platelet function and might represent a potential novel therapeutic target in diabetes mellitus.

Methods And Results: We used both in vitro and ex vivo approaches to test the effects of pharmacological inhibition of Rac1 during hyperglycemic condition.

Target Organ Damage and Target Systolic Blood Pressure in Clinical Practice: The Campania Salute Network.

Background: Lowering systolic blood pressure (SBP) below the conventional threshold (140 mm Hg) reduces left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and incident cardiovascular (CV) events. We assessed whether different thresholds of SBP as the average value during follow-up (FU) have different impact on changes in target organ damage (TOD).

Methods: From the Campania Salute Network registry, we selected 4,148 hypertensive patients with average SBP-FU <140 mm Hg, and without history of prevalent CV or chronic kidney disease (i.

A challenging diagnosis of dyspnea: A case report of contralateral reexpansion pulmonary edema.

Reexpansion pulmonary edema (RPE) is an uncommon complication of thoracentesis or chest drainage. It occurs in the ipsilateral or contralateral lung. Causes, pathogenesis and therapy are not well understood especially for contralateral RPE.

Diabetes Mellitus and Ischemic Heart Disease: The Role of Ion Channels.

Diabetes mellitus is one the strongest risk factors for cardiovascular disease and, in particular, for ischemic heart disease (IHD). The pathophysiology of myocardial ischemia in diabetic patients is complex and not fully understood: some diabetic patients have mainly coronary stenosis obstructing blood flow to the myocardium; others present with coronary microvascular disease with an absence of plaques in the epicardial vessels. Ion channels acting in the cross-talk between the myocardial energy state and coronary blood flow may play a role in the pathophysiology of IHD in diabetic patients.

Phase II Study of Preoperative Treatment with External Radiotherapy Plus Panitumumab in Low-Risk, Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer (RaP Study/STAR-03).

Background: Treatment with fluoropyrimidines and concomitant long-course external radiotherapy (RTE) is the standard of care in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) preoperative chemoradiation. A randomized phase II study (RaP/STAR-03) was conducted that aimed to evaluate the activity and safety of the monoclonal antibody anti-epidermal growth factor receptor panitumumab as a single agent in combination with radiotherapy in low-risk LARC preoperative treatment.

Materials And Methods: Patients had adenocarcinoma of the mid-low rectum, cT3N- or cT2-T3N+, wild-type status, and negative circumferential radial margin.

Anton Chekhov and Robert Koch Cheek to Cheek: A Proteomic Study.

Five different letters and post cards as well as the shirt worn by Anton Chekhov on his death bed, stored in the State Literary-Memorial Museum-Reserve A. P. Chekhov Melikhovo (nearby Moscow), have been analyzed by applying EVA (an ethyl vinyl acetate foil studded with crushed strong anion and cation exchangers and with C resins) diskettes to these surfaces.

CDK9 inhibitors in acute myeloid leukemia.

Current treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is less than optimal, but increased understanding of disease pathobiology and genomics has led to clinical investigation of novel targeted therapies and rational combinations. Targeting the cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) pathway, which is dysregulated in AML, is an attractive approach. Inhibition of CDK9 leads to downregulation of cell survival genes regulated by super enhancers such as MCL-1, MYC, and cyclin D1.

The Impact of Aging on Cardio and Cerebrovascular Diseases.

A growing number of evidences report that aging represents the major risk factor for the development of cardio and cerebrovascular diseases. Understanding Aging from a genetic, biochemical and physiological point of view could be helpful to design a better medical approach and to elaborate the best therapeutic strategy to adopt, without neglecting all the risk factors associated with advanced age. Of course, the better way should always be understanding risk-to-benefit ratio, maintenance of independence and reduction of symptoms.

Solvent retention in electrospun fibers affects scaffold mechanical properties.

Electrospinning is a robust material fabrication method allowing for fine control of mechanical, chemical, and functional properties in scaffold manufacturing. Electrospun fiber scaffolds have gained prominence for their potential in a variety of applications such as tissue engineering and textile manufacturing, yet none have assessed the impact of solvent retention in fibers on the scaffold's mechanical properties. In this study, we hypothesized that retained electrospinning solvent acts as a plasticizer, and gradual solvent evaporation, by storing fibers in ambient air, will cause significant increases in electrospun fiber scaffold brittleness and stiffness, and a significant decrease in scaffold toughness.

Cyclic Peptoids as Topological Templates: Synthesis via Central to Conformational Chirality Induction.

Chiral induction was utilized for the synthesis of diastereopure cyclic peptoids containing an N-benzyl alanine residue. Molecular modeling, NMR spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies, and HPLC with chiral stationary phase demonstrated easy formation of free and sodium/benzylammonium complexed cyclic oligomers through strategic incorporation of a single stereogenic center in the oligomeric backbone. The synthesis of cyclic peptoids with defined conformational chirality and appropriate side chain topology is now possible.

Regulates Vascular Function and Endothelial Cells Behavior.

MitoAKAPs (mitochondrial A kinase anchoring proteins), encoded by the gene, regulate multiple cellular processes governing mitochondrial homeostasis and cell viability. Although mitochondrial alterations have been associated to endothelial dysfunction, the role of mitoAKAPs in the vasculature is currently unknown. To test this, postischemic neovascularization, vascular function, and arterial blood pressure were analyzed in knockout mice ( ) and their wild-type (wt) littermates.

Of mice and men: Traces of life in the death registries of the 1630 plague in Milano.

Unlabelled: The death registries of the plague epidemic of 1630, stored at the Archivio di Stato of Milano, have been interrogated via the EVA film technology (ethyl vinyl acetate film studded with crushed strong anion and cation exchangers as well as C resins). The EVA diskettes have been left in contact with the lower right margins of 11 different pages pertaining to the peak months of the raging disease (June through end of September) for 60-90min and then the captured material, after elution and digestion, analysed by mass spectrometry. The main findings: 17 Yersiniaceae family proteins, 31 different human keratins, 22 unique mouse keratins, about 400 peptides from different bacterial strains, 58 human tissue proteins and 130 additional mouse and rat tissue proteins.

Placement of an absorbable rectal hydrogel spacer in patients undergoing low-dose-rate brachytherapy with palladium-103.

Purpose: Rates of rectal toxicity after low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy for prostate cancer are dependent on rectal dose, which is associated with rectal distance from prostate and implanted seeds. Placement of a hydrogel spacer between the prostate and rectum has proven to reduce the volume of the rectum exposed to higher radiation dose levels in the setting of external beam radiotherapy. We present our findings with placing a rectal hydrogel spacer in patients following LDR brachytherapy, and we further assess the impact of this placement on dosimetry and acute rectal toxicity.

Removal of Retained Electrospinning Solvent Prolongs Drug Release from Electrospun PLLA Fibers.

A major challenge in developing drug-releasing electrospun nanofibers is obtaining long-term drug release over many weeks with no burst release of drug. Here, we present new methods capable of prolonging the diffusive release of small molecule drugs from electrospun poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) nanofibers. The methods focus on removal of retained electrospinning solvent through fiber heating, maintaining fibers in a laboratory setting, or a combination of these methods.

Linkage, whole genome sequence, and biological data implicate variants in RAB10 in Alzheimer's disease resilience.

Background: While age and the APOE ε4 allele are major risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD), a small percentage of individuals with these risk factors exhibit AD resilience by living well beyond 75 years of age without any clinical symptoms of cognitive decline.

Methods: We used over 200 "AD resilient" individuals and an innovative, pedigree-based approach to identify genetic variants that segregate with AD resilience. First, we performed linkage analyses in pedigrees with resilient individuals and a statistical excess of AD deaths.

Conformational isomerism in cyclic peptoids and its specification.

Most of the structural studies made on the secondary structure of peptoids describe their geometric attributes in terms of the classic Ramachandran plot (based on the local analysis of ω, ψ, χ, φ dihedral angles). However, little intuitive understanding is available from internal coordinates when stereochemistry is involved. In this contribution we list all the conformationally stable cyclic peptoids reported up to the year 2017 and propose a simple method to define their geometric arrangement in terms of planar chirality.

Correction to: "Non alcoholic fatty liver disease and eNOS dysfunction in humans".

After publication of the original article [1], it was noticed that one of the affiliations of author Carmine Vecchione was missing.

Threats to North American forests from southern pine beetle with warming winters.

In coming decades, warmer winters are likely to ease range constraints on many cold-limited forest insects. Recent unprecedented expansion of the southern pine beetle (SPB, ) into New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut in concert with warming annual temperature minima highlights the risk that this insect pest poses to the pine forests of the northern United States and Canada under continued climate change. Here we present projections of northward expansion in SPB-suitable climates using a statistical bioclimatic range modeling approach and current-generation general circulation model (GCM) output under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.

Long-term services for the care and rehabilitation of people with severe acquired brain injury: a multicentre, cross-sectional study of 536 Italian families.

Background: People with severe acquired brain injuries (ABIs) require complex, long-term multidisciplinary healthcare, and social welfare programmes, and their families experience social and emotional consequences that profoundly condition their quality of life.

Objective: To investigate whether the possibility of gaining access to local rehabilitation and other services positively influences not only the quality of life of the patients but also the quality of life of their families.

Methods: The sample consisted of 536 families of patients with severe ABIs.