Oral vancomycin treatment alters levels of indole derivatives and secondary bile acids modulating the expression of mTOR pathway genes in astrocytes during EAE.

Astrocytes play important roles in the central nervous system (CNS) during health and disease. Prior studies have shown that gut commensals derived indole derivatives as well as secondary bile acids modulate astrocyte function during the late stage of EAE (recovery phase). Here we show that administering vancomycin to mice starting during the early stage of EAE improved disease recovery, an effect that is mediated by the gut microbiota.

Co-essentiality analysis identifies PRR12 as a cohesin interacting protein and contributor to genomic integrity.

The cohesin complex is critical for genome organization and regulation, relying on specialized co-factors to mediate its diverse functional activities. Here, by analyzing patterns of similar gene requirements across cell lines, we identify PRR12 as a mediator of cohesin and genome integrity. We show that PRR12 interacts with NIPBL/MAU2 and the cohesin complex, and that the loss of PRR12 results in reduced cohesin localization and a substantial increase in DNA double-strand breaks in mouse NIH-3T3 cells.

Turning garbage into gold: Autophagy in synaptic function.

Trillions of synapses in the human brain enable thought and behavior. Synaptic connections must be established and maintained, while retaining dynamic flexibility to respond to experiences. These processes require active remodeling of the synapse to control the composition and integrity of proteins and organelles.

An Automated Conversational Agent Self-Help Program: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Health promotion and growth-based interventions can effectively improve individual well-being; however, significant gaps in access and utilization still exist.

Objective: This study aims to develop and test the effectiveness and implementation of a new, widely targeted conversational agent prevention program (Zenny) designed to enhance well-being.

Methods: A total of 1345 individuals in the United States were recruited online and randomly assigned to either (1) a self-help program intervention delivered via an automated conversational agent on WhatsApp or (2) an active control group that had access to evidence-based wellness resources available online.

Reliability of cushion construction for a low-cost pressure-reducing wheelchair cushion for less-resourced settings.

In less-resourced settings, 80% of people with spinal cord injuries die from pressure ulcer complications within two years. Appropriately constructed wheelchair cushions are effective in reducing incidence and severity of pressure ulcers. The Tuball is an inexpensive wheelchair cushion designed for users in less-resourced settings, which can be reproduced by local clinicians using locally sourced materials.

Development of Priority Assistive Product Lists in Three African Countries.

National Assistive Product Lists (APLs) play an important role in improving access to assistive products (APs). Assistive products are critical to enhancing the health, well-being, and quality of life of persons with disabilities and other functional limitations, including those associated with aging. Comparing national APL development across Malawi, Liberia, and Sierra Leone may provide insight into the differences between the resulting national APLs and how to enhance AP service delivery systems.

Developmental stage and level of submersion in water impact the viability of lone star and winter tick eggs.

Female ticks deposit large egg clusters that range in size from hundreds to thousands. These egg clusters are restricted to a deposition site as they are stationary, usually under leaf litter and other debris. In some habitats, these sites can be exposed to periodic flooding.

Scale invariance in early embryonic development.

The expression of a few key genes determines the body plan of the fruit fly. We show that the spatial expression patterns for several of these genes scale precisely with embryo size. Discrete positional markers such as the peaks in striped patterns or the boundaries of expression domains have positions along the embryo's major axis proportional to embryo length, accurate to within 1%.

Contributors to Organ Damage in Childhood Lupus: Corticosteroid Use and Disease Activity.

Background: Awareness of paediatric-specific predictors of damage in Childhood-lupus is needed to inform mitigation measures.

Objectives: To ascertain how clinical and demographic variables correlate with damage accrual and identify predictors of damage.

Methods: Analysis included UK JSLE Cohort Study participants.

Parents providing palliative care for children with cancer.

Parents of children with cancer provide paediatric palliative care (PPC). However, the activities they perform remain underexplored, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the care heavily relies on family involvement. The aim of this study is to identify parental PPC tasks and intentions to perform PPC tasks and to determine their associated factors.

Hyperexcitability and translational phenotypes in a preclinical mouse model of SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability.

Disruption of SYNGAP1 directly causes a genetically identifiable neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) called SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability (SRID). Without functional SynGAP1 protein, individuals are developmentally delayed and have prominent features of intellectual disability (ID), motor impairments, and epilepsy. Over the past two decades, there have been numerous discoveries indicating the critical role of Syngap1.

Strategic attitude expressions as identity performance and identity creation in interaction.

We assess the strategic alignment of attitudes and the active construction of attitude-based identity across two studies. Study one assessed the twitter response (hashtags in English) to the war in Ukraine for five months after Russia's first invasion of Ukraine 2022 (N = 8149). Results demonstrated that individuals publicly expressed hashtags similar to others close to them in the followership network, showing their support for Ukraine and condemnation of the Russian invasion in qualitatively different ways.

Childhood-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (cSLE): An International Perspective.

Purpose Of Review: Childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) is a severe and potentially life-threatening chronic autoimmune disease. cSLE is more aggressive and has poorer outcomes than adult-onset disease. The global burden of cSLE is poorly understood, with most publications on cSLE originating from high-resourced settings.

Estimation of sex assigned at birth using dental crown and cervical measurements in a modern global sample.

Despite developing prior to the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics of the skeleton, the permanent dentition exhibits sexual dimorphism. Therefore, teeth can serve as a means to estimate sex assigned at birth even in young individuals. This project takes a large global sample of maximum dimensions of the crown as well as measurements of the crown at the cervix to explore sexual dimorphism.

Test-Retest Reliability and Visual Perturbation Performance Costs During 2 Reactive Agility Tasks.

Context: High secondary injury rates after orthopedic surgeries have motivated concern toward the construct validity of return-to-sport test batteries, as it is evident that common strength and functional assessments fail to elicit pertinent behaviors like visual search and reactive decision making. This study aimed to establish the test-retest reliability of 2 reactive agility tasks and evaluate the impact of visual perturbation on physical performance.

Methods: Fourteen physically active individuals completed 2 agility tasks with reaction time (ie, 4 corner agility), working memory, and pathfinding (ie, color recall) components.

A diverse set of Enterococcus-infecting phage provides insight into phage host-range determinants.

Enterococci are robust Gram-positive bacteria that pose a significant threat in healthcare settings due to antibiotic resistance, with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) most prominent. To tackle this issue, bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) can be exploited as they specifically and efficiently target bacteria. Here, we successfully isolated and characterised a set of novel phages: SHEF10, SHEF11, SHEF13, SHEF14, and SHEF16 which target E.

Home-based aerobic exercise feasibility in oxaliplatin-receiving newly-diagnosed cancer survivors.

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) is beneficial but difficult to maintain during chemotherapy. This pilot RCT explored the feasibility of the MI-Walk intervention-an 8-week motivational enhancement therapy- and home-based brisk walking intervention-among gastrointestinal (GI) cancer survivors receiving chemotherapy.

Methods: Sixty stage II-IV GI cancer survivors were recruited from 5 sites at their second infusion visit.

Prazosin as an Adjuvant to Increase Effectiveness of Duloxetine in a Rat Model of Oxaliplatin-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

Objectives: Duloxetine, the only American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) treatment recommended for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in cancer survivors, is not effective for 40% of survivors. This study examined the ability of a duloxetine-prazosin combination to prevent the development of allodynia and hyperalgesia in a rat model of oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OPIN).

Methods: Female (n = 24) and male (n = 41) rats were started on duloxetine (15 mg), prazosin (2 mg), or a duloxetine-prazosin combination one week prior to administration of the chemotherapy drug, oxaliplatin, and continued the duloxetine-prazosin combination for 32 days.

Developmental stage and level of submersion in water impact the viability of lone star and winter tick eggs during flooding.

Female ticks deposit large egg clusters that range in size from hundreds to thousands. These clusters are restricted to a deposition site, usually under leaf litter and other debris. These sites can be exposed to periodic flooding, where the cluster of tick eggs can float to the surface or remain underneath organic debris entirely underwater.