Retinoic Acid Signaling Is Required for Dendritic Cell Maturation and the Induction of T Cell Immunity.

Vitamin A and its biologically active metabolites, all-trans and 9-cis retinoic acid (RA), are thought to be important in generating and modulating immune function. However, RA modulates the function of many types of immune cells, and its specific role in dendritic cell (DC) activation, Ag presentation, and T cell effector function has not been fully characterized. Because RA works primarily through RA receptor (RAR)α, we examined mice with a myeloid cell-specific defect in RA signaling.

Cutting Edge: The Expression of Transcription Inhibitor GFI1 Is Induced by Retinoic Acid to Rein in Th9 Polarization.

IL-9, produced mainly by specialized T cells, mast cells, and group 2 innate lymphoid cells, regulates immune responses, including anti-helminth and allergic responses. Polarization of naive CD4 T cells into IL-9-producing T cells (Th9s) is induced by IL-4 and TGF-β1 or IL-1β. In this article, we report that the transcription factor growth factor-independent 1 transcriptional repressor (GFI1) plays a negative role in mouse Th9 polarization.

Key stakeholders' experiences and expectations of the care system for individuals affected by borderline personality disorder: An interpretative phenomenological analysis towards co-production of care.

Background: The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) consists of extreme emotional dysregulation and long-term disability when left untreated. It is associated with ineffective use of health care systems and mismanaged care in emergency departments, which can result in a revolving door phenomenon of urgent system usage, poor treatment outcomes, or patients falling out of care entirely-all of which primarily affect patients with BPD as well as their caregivers and clinicians. This crisis must be addressed with a comprehensive understanding of key stakeholder perspectives on the challenges of the system and potential solutions.

Bilateral Implantation of Double-Branched Iliac Branch Devices for Endovascular Repair of Aorto-Bi-Iliac Aneurysm With Concomitant Hypogastric Aneurysms: The Quadruple Branch.

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to describe the use of a double-branched custom-made iliac branch device (IBD) for the endovascular repair of an aorto-bi-iliac aneurysm with concomitant bilateral hypogastric aneurysms.

Technique: A 61-year-old man on peritoneal dialysis underwent a computed tomography (CT) of the infrarenal aorta before planned kidney transplantation. The CT showed an asymptomatic aorto-bi-iliac aneurysm of 54 mm involving the hypogastric artery (HA) bilaterally (right HA 31 mm; left HA 40 mm).

Realignment of Migrated Celiac Stent Graft After Branched Stent Graft Implantation Through Retrograde Cannulation of the Superior Mesenteric Artery Using a Single Vascular Access.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to present an endovascular management of a type IIIc endoleak (EL) in a patient with migration of the bridging stent graft of the celiac trunk (CT) after branched aortic aneurysm repair with retrograde cannulation of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA).

Technique: The therapy was applied in a 62-year-old man who underwent a branched EVAR 2 years ago. Meanwhile, the patient was treated due to type Ia EL 6 months ago.

A comparison of panoramic radiographic findings in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis and the general population: a multicenter study.

Objectives: Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a hereditable disorder characterized by early and unremitting development of intestinal polyps and extraintestinal manifestations requiring multidisciplinary surveillance. Herein we describe a multicenter cross-sectional analysis of the dento-osseous radiographic findings of patients with FAP from North and South America.

Study Design: Groups I and II included individuals with FAP diagnosed by standard clinical criteria.

Risk Taking with Left- and Right-Skewed Lotteries.

Unlabelled: While much literature has focused on preferences regarding risk, preferences over skewness also have significant economic implications. An important and understudied aspect of skewness preferences is how they affect risk taking. In this paper, we design a novel laboratory experiment that elicits certainty equivalents over lotteries where the variance and skewness of the outcomes are orthogonal to each other.

Scaling up a community-led health promotion initiative: Lessons learned and promising practices from the Healthy Weights for Children Project.

The increase in overweight and obesity among children has emerged as an important public health issue. This trend has highlighted the need for accessible and novel approaches to support healthy weights for children and their families to prevent childhood obesity. The purpose of this article is to describe the iterative development and scale-up of a community-led, national-level project to promote healthy weights among Canadian children and families who may be experiencing vulnerabilities.

BATF regulates innate lymphoid cell hematopoiesis and homeostasis.

Early hematopoietic progenitors undergo sophisticated developmental processes to become committed innate lymphoid cell (ILC) progenitors and ultimately mature ILC subsets in the periphery. Basic leucine zipper ATF-like transcription factor (Batf) plays important roles in lymphocyte biology. We report here that Batf regulates the production of bone marrow ILC progenitors and maintenance of peripheral ILCs.

Single-Cell Transcriptome Analysis of Colon Cancer Cell Response to 5-Fluorouracil-Induced DNA Damage.

DNA damage often induces heterogeneous cell-fate responses, such as cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Through single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we characterize the transcriptome response of cultured colon cancer cell lines to 5-fluorouracil (5FU)-induced DNA damage. After 5FU treatment, a single population of colon cancer cells adopts three distinct transcriptome phenotypes, which correspond to diversified cell-fate responses: apoptosis, cell-cycle checkpoint, and stress resistance.

Dietary fiber metabolites regulate innate lymphoid cell responses.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) rapidly undergo expansion in population size and functional maturation in response to cytokines that signal infection, tissue damage, or changes in physiology. Optimal ILC responses are shaped, in part, by the microbiota but the mechanisms remain unclear. We report that short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), produced by the commensal microbiota from dietary fibers, support optimal expansion of ILCs, including ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 in the intestines through their G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

A ligand-independent fast function of RARα promotes exit from metabolic quiescence upon T cell activation and controls T cell differentiation.

Vitamin A metabolites play important roles in T cell activation and differentiation. A conventional model of RARα function relies upon retinoic acid (RA)-liganded RARα binding to specific DNA motifs to regulate gene expression in the nucleus. However, this genomic function fails to explain many of the biological responses of the RA-RARα axis on T cells.

The structural origins of brittle star arm kinematics: An integrated tomographic, additive manufacturing, and parametric modeling-based approach.

Brittle stars are known for the high flexibility of their arms, a characteristic required for locomotion, food grasping, and for holding onto a great diversity of substrates. Their high agility is facilitated by the numerous discrete skeletal elements (ossicles) running through the center of each arm and embedded in the skin. While much has been learned regarding the structural diversity of these ossicles, which are important characters for taxonomic purposes, their impact on the arms' range of motion, by contrast, is poorly understood.

RARα supports the development of Langerhans cells and langerin-expressing conventional dendritic cells.

Langerhans cells (LC) are the prototype langerin-expressing dendritic cells (DC) that reside specifically in the epidermis, but langerin-expressing conventional DCs also reside in the dermis and other tissues, yet the factors that regulate their development are unclear. Because retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) is highly expressed by LCs, we investigate the functions of RARα and retinoic acid (RA) in regulating the langerin-expressing DCs. Here we show that the development of LCs from embryonic and bone marrow-derived progenitors and langerinconventional DCs is profoundly regulated by the RARα-RA axis.

Outcomes of collaborative and interdisciplinary palliative education for health care assistants: A qualitative metasummary.

Aim: To explore collaborative and interdisciplinary palliative educational strategies and corresponding outcomes for health care assistants.

Background: Health care assistants are frontline staff who provide almost all hands-on care to seniors. Health care managers are responsible to provide ongoing support and a working environment conducive to health care assistants' abilities to provide quality, safe, evidence-based care.

Microbial metabolites, short-chain fatty acids, restrain tissue bacterial load, chronic inflammation, and associated cancer in the colon of mice.

The intestinal immune system is regulated by microbes and their metabolites. The roles of gut microbial metabolites in regulating intestinal inflammation and tumorigenesis are incompletely understood. We systematically studied the roles of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and their receptors (GPR43 or GPR41) in regulating tissue bacterial load, acute versus chronic inflammatory responses, and intestinal cancer development.

Comparative Antiplaque Effect of Two Antimicrobial Dentifrices: Laboratory and Clinical Evaluations.

Objectives: To compare the effect of a stannous fluoride dentifrice versus a triclosan-containing dentifrice on the reduction of plaque using in vitro and clinical models.

Methods: Both investigations evaluated a novel 0.454% stabilized stannous fluoride dentifrice (Crest® Pro-Health™ smooth formula) versus a sodium fluoride/triclosan positive control dentifrice (Colgate® Total®).

The Role of Preoperative Steroids for Hearing Preservation Cochlear Implantation: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: To determine whether preoperative steroids can improve hearing outcomes in cochlear implantation (CI).

Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial involving 30 postlingual deaf CI patients. Subjects had preoperative thresholds of better than or equal to 80 dB at 125 and 250 Hz, and better than or equal to 90 dB at 500 and 1,000 Hz.

Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Curriculum to Prepare Volunteer Navigators to Support Older Persons Living With Serious Illness.

The purpose of this article is to report the development, implementation, and evaluation of a curriculum designed to prepare volunteer navigators to support community-dwelling older persons with serious chronic illness. The role of the volunteer navigator was to facilitate independence and quality of life through building social connections, improving access to resources, and fostering engagement. A curriculum was constructed from evidence-based competencies, piloted and revised, and then implemented in 7 subsequent workshops.

Dental anomalies in pediatric patients with familial adenomatous polyposis.

Familial adenomatous polyposis patients often present with non-malignant extra-intestinal manifestations which include dental anomalies that may be evident prior to the appearance of the colonic adenomas. The aims of this study were to describe the prevalence and type of dental anomalies and the relationships between gene mutations and dental anomalies in these patients. Twenty-two pediatric familial adenomatous polyposis patients and 46 controls, who were age and gender matched participated.

Is histologic esophagitis associated with dental erosion: a cross-sectional observational study?

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) affects 15-25% of children and adolescents in the United States. The diagnosis of GERD in children is complex as reported symptoms or symptom profiles have been found to be unreliable. Frequently, the diagnosis must be confirmed by objective tests such as pH monitoring or histological evidence of esophagitis on an esophageal biopsy.

A novel method for extraction of neural response from single channel cochlear implant auditory evoked potentials.

Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEP) are used to evaluate cochlear implant (CI) patient auditory pathways, but the CI device produces an electrical artifact, which obscures the relevant information in the neural response. Currently there are multiple methods, which attempt to recover the neural response from the contaminated CAEP, but there is no gold standard, which can quantitatively confirm the effectiveness of these methods. To address this crucial shortcoming, we develop a wavelet-based method to quantify the amount of artifact energy in the neural response.