ENTPD3 Marks Mature Stem Cell-Derived β-Cells Formed by Self-Aggregation In Vitro.

Stem cell-derived β-like cells (sBC) carry the promise of providing an abundant source of insulin-producing cells for use in cell replacement therapy for patients with diabetes, potentially allowing widespread implementation of a practical cure. To achieve their clinical promise, sBC need to function comparably with mature adult β-cells, but as yet they display varying degrees of maturity. Indeed, detailed knowledge of the events resulting in human β-cell maturation remains obscure.

Islet Regeneration: Endogenous and Exogenous Approaches.

Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are characterized by a progressive loss of beta cell mass that contributes to impaired glucose homeostasis. Although an optimal treatment option would be to simply replace the lost cells, it is now well established that unlike many other organs, the adult pancreas has limited regenerative potential. For this reason, significant research efforts are focusing on methods to induce beta cell proliferation (replication of existing beta cells), promote beta cell formation from alternative endogenous cell sources (neogenesis), and/or generate beta cells from pluripotent stem cells.

Animal Models of Pancreas Development, Developmental Disorders, and Disease.

The pancreas is a glandular organ responsible for diverse homeostatic functions, including hormone production from the endocrine islet cells to regulate blood sugar levels and enzyme secretion from the exocrine acinar cells to facilitate food digestion. These pancreatic functions are essential for life; therefore, preserving pancreatic function is of utmost importance. Pancreas dysfunction can arise either from developmental disorders or adult onset disease, both of which are caused by defects in shared molecular pathways.

"Yeah that Made a Big Difference!": The Importance of the Relationship between Health Professionals and Fathers Who Have a Child with Down Syndrome.

Evidence suggests that medical services do not reflect the increased involvement of fathers in childcare, a discrepancy that can often lead to feelings of exclusion and inequality. Fathers who have a child with Down syndrome may encounter many different health professionals during their child's life, therefore it is important to consider this relationship, and investigate the factors that influence their experiences. This is particularly important because the limited research focusing on fathers suggest that those who have a child with Down syndrome can experience increased stress levels and lasting feelings of loss and grief.

The frequency of osteolytic bone metastasis is determined by conditions of the soil, not the number of seeds; evidence from in vivo models of breast and prostate cancer.

Background: While both preclinical and clinical studies suggest that the frequency of growing skeletal metastases is elevated in individuals with higher bone turnover, it is unclear whether this is a result of increased numbers of tumour cells arriving in active sites or of higher numbers of tumour cells being induced to divide by the bone micro-environment. Here we have investigated how the differences in bone turnover affect seeding of tumour cells and/or development of overt osteolytic bone metastasis using in vivo models of hormone-independent breast and prostate cancer.

Methods: Cohorts of 6 (young) and 16 (mature)-week old BALB/c nude mice were culled 1, 7 and 21 days after received intracardiac injection of luciferase expressing human prostate (PC3) or breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines labelled with a fluorescent cell membrane dye (Vybrant DiD).