Association between renin-angiotensin antagonism and COVID-19-related mortality in patients with essential hypertension: A single center, retrospective cohort study.

There is conflicting evidence in select mouse models and humans that suggest angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 expression is increased due to treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ACEI/ARBs). Given the wide range of conditions that these medications treat, further evaluation is necessary to determine safety in the context of COVID-19. We sought to determine the association between use of ACEI/ARBs and COVID-19 severity in patients with essential hypertension.

Novel Image-Guided Flexible-Probe Transbronchial Microwave Ablation for Stage 1 Lung Cancer.

Background: Image-guided percutaneous thermal ablation is an established treatment option for early-stage lung cancer in medically inoperable patients but carries a high risk of pleura-related complications, particularly pneumothorax.

Objective: This study aimed to determine if image-guided transbronchial microwave ablation (tMWA) is a feasible approach to treat peripheral stage 1 lung cancer.

Method: A prospective, single-arm, multicenter study sought to enroll 40 adults who were medically inoperable or declined surgery for peripheral stage 1 lung tumors (≤20 mm).

Contrasting effects of afferent and efferent vagal nerve stimulation on insulin secretion and blood glucose regulation.

Parasympathetic activation reduces hepatic glucose release and increases pancreatic insulin secretion in hyperglycemic conditions. Thus, vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) may potentially be effective in treating type II diabetes. To investigate this possibility, we hypothesized that VNS reduces blood glucose concentration [Glu] via insulin secretion.

Differential expression of the beta4 neuronal nicotinic receptor subunit affects tolerance development and nicotinic binding sites following chronic nicotine treatment.

The role of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) containing the β4 subunit in tolerance development and nicotinic binding site levels following chronic nicotine treatment was investigated. Mice differing in expression of the β4-nAChR subunit [wild-type (β4(++)), heterozygote (β4(+-)) and null mutant (β4(--))] were chronically treated for 10 days with nicotine (0, 0.5, 1.

uPA binding to PAI-1 induces corneal myofibroblast differentiation on vitronectin.

Purpose: Vitronectin (VN) in provisional extracellular matrix (ECM) promotes cell migration. Fibrotic ECM also includes VN and, paradoxically, strongly adherent myofibroblasts (Mfs). Because fibrotic Mfs secrete elevated amounts of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), we tested whether increased extracellular uPA promotes the persistence of Mfs on VN.

Degradation of internalized αvβ5 integrin is controlled by uPAR bound uPA: effect on β1 integrin activity and α-SMA stress fiber assembly.

Myofibroblasts (Mfs) that persist in a healing wound promote extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation and excessive tissue contraction. Increased levels of integrin αvβ5 promote the Mf phenotype and other fibrotic markers. Previously we reported that maintaining uPA (urokinase plasminogen activator) bound to its cell-surface receptor, uPAR prevented TGFβ-induced Mf differentiation.

Concentration-dependent effects of transforming growth factor β1 on corneal wound healing.

Purpose: There is an unmet challenge to promote wound healing in non-healing wounds such as in the post-LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) cornea. Using human corneal fibroblasts (HCFs) in cell culture, we investigated the concentration dependence of the growth factor transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) on wound closure. Although high concentrations of TGFβ1 leads to scarring, we asked whether low concentrations of TGFβ1 could promote wound healing without generating a large fibrotic response.

Nicotine-mediated activation of dopaminergic neurons in distinct regions of the ventral tegmental area.

Nicotine activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) within the dopaminergic (DAergic) neuron-rich ventral tegmental area (VTA) is necessary and sufficient for nicotine reinforcement. In this study, we show that rewarding doses of nicotine activated VTA DAergic neurons in a region-selective manner, preferentially activating neurons in the posterior VTA (pVTA) but not in the anterior VTA (aVTA) or in the tail VTA (tVTA). Nicotine (1 μM) directly activated pVTA DAergic neurons in adult mouse midbrain slices, but had little effect on DAergic neurons within the aVTA.