Lateral Decubitus Dynamic CT Myelography with Real-Time Bolus Tracking (dCTM-BT) for Evaluation of CSF-Venous Fistulas: Diagnostic Yield Stratified by Brain Imaging Findings.

Background And Purpose: CSF-venous fistulas (CVFs) associated with spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) may have a transient appearance, relative to contrast arrival, which may influence the diagnostic performance of lateral decubitus CT myelography (CTM). We developed a dynamic CTM protocol using real-time bolus-tracking (dCTM-BT) to improve the temporal resolution and standardize the timing of CTM acquisitions post-intrathecal contrast administration. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the feasibility of the dCTM-BT technique and evaluate its diagnostic yield for CVF detection, stratified by brain MRI SIH findings.

Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 5A2 localizes to actively translating ribosomes to promote cancer cell protrusions and invasive capacity.

Background: Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 5A (eIF-5A), an essential translation factor, is post-translationally activated by the polyamine spermidine. Two human genes encode eIF-5A, being eIF5-A1 constitutively expressed whereas eIF5-A2 is frequently found overexpressed in human tumours. The contribution of both isoforms with regard to cellular proliferation and invasion in non-small cell lung cancer remains to be characterized.

New roles for AP-1/JUNB in cell cycle control and tumorigenic cell invasion via regulation of cyclin E1 and TGF-β2.

Background: JUNB transcription factor contributes to the formation of the ubiquitous transcriptional complex AP-1 involved in the control of many physiological and disease-associated functions. The roles of JUNB in the control of cell division and tumorigenic processes are acknowledged but still unclear.

Results: Here, we report the results of combined transcriptomic, genomic, and functional studies showing that JUNB promotes cell cycle progression via induction of cyclin E1 and repression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β2 genes.

LPDA: A new classification method based on linear programming.

The search of separation hyperplanes is an efficient way to find rules with classification purposes. This paper presents an alternative mathematical programming formulation to existing methods to find a discriminant hyperplane. The hyperplane H is found by minimizing the sum of all the distances to the area assigned to the group each individual belongs to.

Correction: Pardo-Sánchez et al. Increased Tumor Growth Rate and Mesenchymal Properties of NSCLC-Patient-Derived Xenograft Models during Serial Transplantation. 2021, , 2980.

The authors would like to make a correction to their published paper [...

Increased Tumor Growth Rate and Mesenchymal Properties of NSCLC-Patient-Derived Xenograft Models during Serial Transplantation.

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The high mortality is very often a consequence of its late diagnosis when the cancer is already locally advanced or has disseminated. Advances in the study of NSCLC tumors have been achieved by using in vivo models, such as patient-derived xenografts.

Lung tumorspheres reveal cancer stem cell-like properties and a score with prognostic impact in resected non-small-cell lung cancer.

The high resistance against current therapies found in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been associated to cancer stem-like cells (CSCs), a population for which the identification of targets and biomarkers is still under development. In this study, primary cultures from early-stage NSCLC patients were established, using sphere-forming assays for CSC enrichment and adherent conditions for the control counterparts. Patient-derived tumorspheres showed self-renewal and unlimited exponential growth potentials, resistance against chemotherapeutic agents, invasion and differentiation capacities in vitro, and superior tumorigenic potential in vivo.

Human stem cell decorated nanocellulose threads for biomedical applications.

Upon surgery, local inflammatory reactions and postoperative infections cause complications, morbidity, and mortality. Delivery of human adipose mesenchymal stem cells (hASC) into the wounds is an efficient and safe means to reduce inflammation and promote wound healing. However, administration of stem cells by injection often results in low cell retention, and the cells deposit in other organs, reducing the efficiency of the therapy.

Heart valve tissue engineering: how far is the bedside from the bench?

Heart disease, including valve pathologies, is the leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the progress made thanks to improving transplantation techniques, a perfect valve substitute has not yet been developed: once a diseased valve is replaced with current technologies, the newly implanted valve still needs to be changed some time in the future. This situation is particularly dramatic in the case of children and young adults, because of the necessity of valve growth during the patient's life.

A xenogeneic-free protocol for isolation and expansion of human adipose stem cells for clinical uses.

Human adipose stem cells (HASCS) play a crucial role in the fields of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering for different reasons: the abundance of adipose tissue, their easy harvesting, the ability to multipotent differentiation and the fact that they do not trigger allogeneic blood response or secrete cytokines that act as immunosuppressants. The vast majority of protocols use animal origin reagents, with the underlying risk of transmitting infections by non-human pathogens. We have designed a protocol to isolate and maintain the properties of hASCs avoiding xenogeneic reagents.

Cardiac transcription factors driven lineage-specification of adult stem cells.

Differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSC) into the cardiac lineage has been assayed using different approaches such as coculture with cardiac or embryonic cells, treatment with factors, or by seeding cells in organotypic cultures. In most cases, differentiation was evaluated in terms of expression of cardiac-specific markers at protein or molecular level, electrophysiological properties, and formation of sarcomers in differentiated cells. As observed in embryonic stem cells and cardiac progenitors, differentiation of MSC towards the cardiac lineage was preceded by translocation of NKX2.

Mesenchymal stem cells provide better results than hematopoietic precursors for the treatment of myocardial infarction.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of human CD34(+) hematopoietic stem cells and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) to treat myocardial infarction (MI) in a model of permanent left descendent coronary artery (LDA) ligation in nude rats.

Background: Transplantation of human CD34(+) cells and MSC has been proved to be effective in treating MI, but no comparative studies have been performed to elucidate which treatment prevents left ventricular (LV) remodelling more efficiently.

Methods: Human bone marrow MSC or freshly isolated CD34(+) cells from umbilical cord blood were injected intramyocardially in infarcted nude rats.

Hypoxia promotes efficient differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to functional endothelium.

Early development of mammalian embryos occurs in an environment of relative hypoxia. Nevertheless, human embryonic stem cells (hESC), which are derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst, are routinely cultured under the same atmospheric conditions (21% O(2)) as somatic cells. We hypothesized that O(2) levels modulate gene expression and differentiation potential of hESC, and thus, we performed gene profiling of hESC maintained under normoxic or hypoxic (1% or 5% O(2)) conditions.

Cardiac differentiation is driven by NKX2.5 and GATA4 nuclear translocation in tissue-specific mesenchymal stem cells.

Myocardial infarction is a major public health problem that causes significant mortality despite recent advances in its prevention and treatment. Therefore, approaches based on adult stem cells represent a promising alternative to conventional therapies for this life-threatening condition. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing pluripotent cells that have been isolated from multiple tissues and differentiate to various cell types.

Human dental pulp stem cells improve left ventricular function, induce angiogenesis, and reduce infarct size in rats with acute myocardial infarction.

Human dental pulp contains precursor cells termed dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) that show self-renewal and multilineage differentiation and also secrete multiple proangiogenic and antiapoptotic factors. To examine whether these cells could have therapeutic potential in the repair of myocardial infarction (MI), DPSC were infected with a retrovirus encoding the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and expanded ex vivo. Seven days after induction of myocardial infarction by coronary artery ligation, 1.

An easy and safe model of kidney transplantation in rats.

A technical innovation of a novel ureter implantation technique on rat kidney allograft transplantation is described. The left kidney graft is transplanted heterotopically into the left infrarenal position, using vascular conduits from donor abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava in continuity to renal vessels, to perform arterial and venous end-to-side anastomoses to the recipient vessels. A new ureter implantation technique was employed by placing a purse-string suture around the uretero-vesical anastomosis and ligated at the end of the anastomosis to invaginate the ureter and relieve tension at its junction to the bladder.

Testing of a new prototype surgical stapler that automates the rollover sleeve technique for venous anastomoses.

The creation of successful vascular anastomoses is of primary importance in many surgical fields. Numerous attempts to automate this process have been made. These techniques have slowly gained acceptance, but their use is still limited.

Utilization of dried blood spot citrulline level as a noninvasive method for monitoring graft function following intestinal transplantation.

Background: Citrulline concentrations have been proposed as a marker for intestinal allograft rejection. We instituted dried blood spot (DBS) specimen monitoring of citrulline to simplify sample collection posttransplant. This study demonstrates the correlation between plasma and dried blood spot specimen citrulline concentrations after intestinal transplantation.

Study of the development and evolution of neointestine in a rat model.

The implantation of fragmented rat intestinal epithelium into the omentum of syngeneic animals results in the formation of a cyst containing neointestine. The purpose of our project was to study the evolution of this neointestine-containing cyst over time. Harvested jejunum and ileum of neonatal DA rats (6 to 8 days old) was digested with collagenase type XI and dispase at room temperature.

Expression of MUC2 and MUC4 proteins and cytokines: early markers of intestinal graft rejection.

Background: Histopathologic examination (HP) is the primary method of monitoring intestinal graft rejection. Alterations in mucin levels have been demonstrated in bowel diseases. The aim of this study was to detect early markers of intestinal graft rejection based on mucin and cytokine levels.

Host-derived enterocytes in intestinal grafts.

Replacement of donor lymphoid tissue by lymphocytes of recipient origin is an established phenomenon in small bowel transplants. However, replacement of donor epithelial cells of bowel grafts by host cells has not been demonstrated. The objective of our study was to determine whether donor enterocytes are replaced by host-derived enterocytes in the intestinal allograft.

Heterotopic sternum transplant in rats: A new model of a vascularized bone marrow transplantation.

We introduced the heterotopic vascularized sternum transplant as a more simple and pure alternative to allogeneic hind limb transplantation for the study of bone marrow transplantation. We report the clinical and histopathological manifestations after transplantation of syngeneic and allogeneic sternal grafts with and without immunosuppression with FK-506. Syngeneic grafts maintained normal histology, whereas allografts showed rejection, which was prevented by FK-506.

Correlation between allograft survival and chimeric state after bone marrow infusion in rat small bowel transplantation.

Methods to enhance natural microchimerism, which occurs after any successful organ transplant, are currently explored using unmodified donor bone marrow both in experimental and in clinical trials. Because of the potential immunomodulatory effects of donor bone marrow cells, we performed this study to evaluate the effect of single and multiple donor-specific bone marrow infusions (DSBMI) on chimerism and small bowel allograft survival in a fully histoincompatible rat model. Forty-five male DA rats and 45 female Lewis rats were used as donors and recipients, respectively, for a heterotopic small bowel transplant.