Spatiotemporal single-cell RNA sequencing of developing chicken hearts identifies interplay between cellular differentiation and morphogenesis.

Single-cell RNA sequencing is a powerful tool to study developmental biology but does not preserve spatial information about tissue morphology and cellular interactions. Here, we combine single-cell and spatial transcriptomics with algorithms for data integration to study the development of the chicken heart from the early to late four-chambered heart stage. We create a census of the diverse cellular lineages in developing hearts, their spatial organization, and their interactions during development.

Naturally Engineered Maturation of Cardiomyocytes.

Ischemic heart disease remains one of the most prominent causes of mortalities worldwide with heart transplantation being the gold-standard treatment option. However, due to the major limitations associated with heart transplants, such as an inadequate supply and heart rejection, there remains a significant clinical need for a viable cardiac regenerative therapy to restore native myocardial function. Over the course of the previous several decades, researchers have made prominent advances in the field of cardiac regeneration with the creation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte tissue engineered constructs.

α-Macroglobulin: Autologous Protease Inhibition Technology.

α-Macroglobulin (A2M) is a plasma glycoprotein best known for its ability to inhibit a broad spectrum of serine, threonine, and metalloproteases as well as inflammatory cytokines by a unique bait-and-trap method. A2M has emerged as a unique potential treatment of cartilage-based pathology and inflammatory arthritides. This article describes the unique method by which A2M not only inhibits the associated inflammatory cascade but also disrupts the catabolic process of cartilage degeneration.

Cytokines as a predictor of clinical response following hip arthroscopy: minimum 2-year follow-up.

Hip arthroscopy in patients with osteoarthritis has been shown to have suboptimal outcomes. Elevated cytokine concentrations in hip synovial fluid have previously been shown to be associated with cartilage pathology. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between hip synovial fluid cytokine concentration and clinical outcomes at a minimum of 2 years following hip arthroscopy.

Can We Improve Workflows in the OR? A Comparison of Quality Perceptions and Preoperative Efficiency across Institutions in Spine Surgery.

Introduction: Cost containment and surgical inefficiencies are major concerns for hospitals in this era of declining resources. The primary aim of this investigation was to understand subjective perceptions of perioperative spine surgical quality across three practice settings and to identify potential factors contributing to these perceptions. Subsequently, we objectively evaluated factors that influence the duration of time in which the patient is in the operating room (OR) prior to the surgical incision and assessed the influence of fluoroscopy technician expertise on radiation dose and imaging efficiency.

Fibronectin-aggrecan complex as a marker for cartilage degradation in non-arthritic hips.

Purpose: To report hip synovial fluid cytokine concentrations in hips with and without radiographic arthritis.

Methods: Patients with no arthritis (Tonnis grade 0) and patients with Tonnis grade 2 or greater hip osteoarthritis (OA) were identified from patients undergoing either hip arthroscopy or arthroplasty. Synovial fluid was collected at the time of portal establishment for those undergoing hip arthroscopy and prior to arthrotomy for the arthroplasty group.

Does the presence of the fibronectin-aggrecan complex predict outcomes from lumbar discectomy for disc herniation?

Background Context: Protein biomarkers associated with lumbar disc disease have been studied as diagnostic indicators and therapeutic targets. Recently, a cartilage degradation product, the fibronectin-aggrecan complex (FAC) identified in the epidural space, has been shown to predict response to lumbar epidural steroid injection in patients with radiculopathy from herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP).

Purpose: Determine the ability of FAC to predict response to microdiscectomy for patients with radiculopathy due to lumbar disc herniation STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: Single-center prospective consecutive cohort study.

Does a fibronectin and aggrecan complex play a role in painful vertebral disks?

Objective: To determine the presence of a fibronectin-aggrecan complex (FAC) in the disk space of persons with chronic low back pain as relates to provocative diskography.

Design: A single-center prospective consecutive case series.

Setting: A single private practice setting.

Platelet-rich plasma increases matrix metalloproteinases in cultures of human synovial fibroblasts.

Background: The effect of platelet-rich plasma on chondrocytes has been studied in cell and tissue culture. Less attention has been given to the effect of platelet-rich plasma on nonchondrocytic cell lineages within synovial joints, such as fibroblast-like synoviocytes, which produce cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that mediate cartilage catabolism. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of platelet-rich plasma on cytokines and proteases produced by fibroblast-like synoviocytes.

Correlation of intra-articular ankle pathology with cytokine biomarkers and matrix degradation products.

Background: Articular cartilage degeneration is mediated by inflammatory cytokines and fragments of structural matrix proteins. Few studies have examined the role of these biomarkers in intra-articular pathology of the ankle.

Methods: Four groups of patients with increasing ankle pathology were enrolled.

The effect of local anaesthetics on synoviocytes: a possible indirect mechanism of chondrolysis.

Purpose: While the effect of local anaesthetics on chondrocyte viability is widely documented, the effect of these medications on synoviocytes is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to understand the effect of 0.5 % bupivacaine and 0.

Cytokine expression in the epidural space: a model of noncompressive disc herniation-induced inflammation.

Study Design: Animal study.

Objective: Development of an animal model for the study of biochemical changes that occur in the epidural space after intervertebral disc herniation.

Summary Of Background Data: Although strong evidence for an inflammatory component exists, the biochemical processes underlying pain after disc herniation remain unknown.

Is the fibronectin-aggrecan complex present in cervical disk disease?

Objective: To investigate the presence of inflammatory cytokines and the fibronectin-aggrecan complex (FAC) in persons undergoing surgical treatment for cervical radiculopathy caused by disk herniation.

Design: Single-center, prospective, consecutive case series.

Setting: A single large academic institution.

Retrograde ejaculation after anterior lumbar interbody fusion using rhBMP-2: a cohort controlled study.

Background Context: The commercially available growth factor recombinant bone morphogenic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) used in spinal fusion has been associated with numerous adverse reactions, including inflammatory reactions in soft tissue, heterotopic bone formation, radiculitis, osteolysis, and cage or graft subsidence. The original Food and Drug Administration Summary of anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) reported 12 retrograde ejaculation (RE) events (8%) in the rhBMP-2 groups compared with (1.4%) in the control group.

Are persistently symptomatic vertebral compression fractures associated with abnormal inflammatory profiles? A prospective study.

Study Design: A case-control study with prospectively collected samples for laboratory analysis in a series of patients with spinal fragility fractures and a series of patients without fracture who underwent fusion for LBP.

Objective: Was an exploratory data analysis for candidate cytokine biomarkers present in the fracture milieu of patients with persistent back pain associated with vertebral compression fracture.

Summary Of Background Data: Lumbar and thoracic compression fractures are common.

Identification of a novel fibronectin-aggrecan complex in the synovial fluid of knees with painful meniscal injury.

Background: Molecular biomarkers associated with knee pain may be useful as diagnostic modalities, prognostic indicators, and surrogate end points for therapeutic trials. The present study describes a novel complex of fibronectin and aggrecan that is present in the affected knee of patients with pain and meniscal abnormality.

Methods: The present prospective study included thirty patients with knee pain, mechanical symptoms, and magnetic resonance imaging findings that were positive for a meniscal tear who chose arthroscopic partial meniscectomy after unsuccessful nonoperative management.

Outcome of lumbar epidural steroid injection is predicted by assay of a complex of fibronectin and aggrecan from epidural lavage.

Study Design: A single-center, prospective, consecutive case series of patients undergoing epidural lavage before the treatment of radiculopathy due to lumbar disc herniation.

Objective: To determine whether a novel complex of fibronectin and aggrecan predicts clinical response to epidural steroid injection (ESI) for the indication of radiculopathy from lumbar herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP).

Summary Of Background Data: ESI for lumbar radiculopathy due to HNP is widely used despite variable effectiveness for this indication.

Accelerated degeneration after failed cervical and lumbar nucleoplasty.

Study Design: Observational cohort study.

Summary Of Background Data: Studies evaluating the treatment of presumed discogenic spine pain using nucleoplasty have reported variable success rates. It has been suggested that these procedures lower the intradiscal pressure, reduce disk protrusion, improve disk hydration, and restore disk height.

A case of late epidural hematoma in a patient on clopidogrel therapy postoperatively: when is it safe to resume antiplatelet agents?

Background Context: The use of antiplatelet agents after coronary artery stent placement is currently recommended to prevent coronary stent obstruction. These patients may have concurrent disabling spinal stenosis and require spinal decompression. Resuming antiplatelet agents as soon as possible after spinal surgery is recommended.

Cytokine profiling in acute anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Purpose: To evaluate the presence and relative concentrations of cytokines, known to be involved in the inflammatory cascade, in acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

Methods: We evaluated an extensive cytokine profile in synovial fluid from 12 patients with acute ACL injury undergoing arthroscopy compared with 15 control subjects using a BioPlex assay (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA) to measure the concentration of 17 inflammatory cytokines.

Results: In patients with acute ACL injury compared with asymptomatic control subjects, the following cytokines were identified at significantly increased concentrations (P < .

Identification of a complex between fibronectin and aggrecan G3 domain in synovial fluid of patients with painful meniscal pathology.

Objectives: We previously described a panel of four cytokines biomarkers in knee synovial fluid for acute knee pain associated with meniscal pathology. The cytokine biomarkers included interferon gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin 6 (IL-6), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), and macrophage inflammatory protein-1 beta (MIP-1beta). Validation studies using other immunologic techniques confirmed the presence of IL-6, MCP-1 and MIP-1beta, but not IFN-gamma.

Cytokine evaluation in individuals with low back pain using discographic lavage.

Background Context: The pathophysiology underlying degenerative disc disease and its implication in painful syndromes remain unclear. However, spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can demonstrate changes in disc water content and the annulus; provocative discography purportedly identifies degenerate discs causing serious low back pain; and biochemical assays have identified local inflammatory markers. No study to date has correlated pain on disc injection during discography evaluation with relevant MRI findings and biochemical markers.

Epidural interferon gamma-immunoreactivity: a biomarker for lumbar nerve root irritation.

Study Design: Prospective observational cohort.

Objective: Correlate epidural inflammatory cytokines with the clinical response to epidural steroid injection in patients with lumbar nerve root irritation.

Summary Of Background Data: Some back pain syndromes are thought to be associated with activation of inflammatory pathways and others may be associated with primary mechanical derangements.