Effect of gestational age and fetal sex on metabolism of creatine by uteri, placentae, and fetuses of pigs†.

The creatine (Cr) biosynthesis pathway buffers ATP in metabolically active tissues. We investigated whether sex of fetus and day of gestation influence Cr in endometrial and conceptus tissues from gilts on Days 60 and Day 90 (n = 6 gilts/day) of gestation. Uterine and conceptus tissues associated with one male and one female fetus from each gilt were analyzed for creatine, mRNAs, and proteins for Cr biosynthesis.

Health-related Quality of Life and Exercise Capacity in Double Lung Transplant Recipients With Baseline Lung Allograft Dysfunction.

Background: Baseline lung allograft dysfunction (BLAD) after lung transplant is associated with an increased risk of dying, but the association with health-related quality of life (HRQL) and exercise capacity is not known. We hypothesized that BLAD would be associated with reduced HRQL and 6-min walk distance (6MWD) at 1 y post-lung transplant.

Methods: We analyzed patients who underwent lung transplants in our program from 2004 to 2018 who completed 1-y 36-item Short Form (SF-36) questionnaire and 6MWD testing.

Developmental programming: Preconceptional and gestational exposure of sheep to biosolids on offspring ovarian dynamics.

Developmental exposure to environmental chemicals (ECs) perturbs establishment and maintenance of the ovarian reserve across the reproductive lifetime, leading to premature follicle depletion and ovarian aging. Considering humans are exposed to a complex mixture of ECs, real-life models assessing their cumulative impact on the ovarian reserve are needed. Biosolids is a source of real-life mixture of ECs.

The lung transplant endobronchial biopsy: A forgotten specimen comes of age.

Mucosal or endobronchial biopsies (EBB) are typically used in the diagnosis of directly visualized bronchial lesions, infection, and sarcoidosis, but their utility in the evaluation of lung transplant recipients is controversial. EBB represents an attractive alternative to transbronchial biopsy (TBB): EBB provides straightforward sampling of airway pathology with decreased complication rates due to minimal and visualizable bleeding and the elimination of pneumothorax risk. In lung transplant recipients, EBB may be obtained when TBB is too high-risk, including in the setting of acute lung allograft dysfunction (ALAD) requiring mechanical ventilation or in advanced chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD).

How many polyps need to be histologically assessed when multiple polyps are submitted for the Bowel Cancer Screening Program?

Aims: Since 2020 there has been an increase in the number of polyps removed from patients scoped for the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) of England. General cellular pathology workload also continues to increase disproportionately ahead of consultant pathologist numbers in the United Kingdom. The Optical Diagnosis initiative for BCSP patients has not yet, and may not be, implemented at every hospital in England.

Kinematics-Based Predictions of External Loads during Handcycling.

The increased risk of cardiovascular disease in people with spinal cord injuries motivates work to identify exercise options that improve health outcomes without causing risk of musculoskeletal injury. Handcycling is an exercise mode that may be beneficial for wheelchair users, but further work is needed to establish appropriate guidelines and requires assessment of the external loads. The goal of this research was to predict the six-degree-of-freedom external loads during handcycling from data similar to those which can be measured from inertial measurement units (segment accelerations and velocities) using machine learning.

Treatment Responses in Histologic Versus Molecular Diagnoses of Lung Rejection.

Histologic evaluation of allograft biopsies after lung transplantation has several limitations, suggesting that molecular assessment using tissue transcriptomics could improve biopsy interpretation. This single-center, retrospective cohort study evaluated discrepancies between the histology of transbronchial biopsies (TBBs) with no rejection (NR) and T-cell mediated rejection (TCMR) by molecular diagnosis. The accuracy of diagnosis was assessed based on response to treatment.

Rationale and design of the multi organ inflammation with serial testing study: a comprehensive assessment of functional and structural abnormalities in patients with recovered COVID-19.

Introduction: Short-term clinical outcomes from SARS-CoV-2 infection are generally favorable. However, 15-20% of patients report persistent symptoms of at least 12 weeks duration, often referred to as long COVID. Population studies have also demonstrated an increased risk of incident diabetes and cardiovascular disease at 12 months following infection.

Outcomes of lung transplantation in cystic fibrosis.

Purpose Of Review: Lung transplantation (LTX) has transformed care for people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF) suffering from advanced cystic fibrosis lung disease (ACFLD), and it has evolved into an accepted therapy for patients with ACFLD across all ages. We review cystic fibrosis as a major indication for LTX, particularly highlighting outcomes including survival, a changing landscape over time, and factors affecting sequelae following LTX in cystic fibrosis.

Recent Findings: Although some populations such as those undergoing lung retransplantation exhibit inferior posttransplant outcomes, LTX for pwCF provides an excellent long-term survival that has significantly improved over time, likely due to specialized cystic fibrosis center care and recognition of common comorbidities in pwCF post-LTX.

Progesterone regulates tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) expression and activity in ovine utero-placental tissues.

Background: Tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP; encoded by the ALPL gene) has a critical role in the postnatal regulation of phosphate homeostasis, yet how TNSALP activity and expression are regulated during pregnancy remain largely unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that progesterone (P4) and/or interferon tau (IFNT) regulate TNSALP activity during pregnancy in sheep.

Methods: In Exp.

Metabolic complications in lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis - A case control study.

Background: Metabolic complications post-lung transplant are poorly understood and little is known about how these complications differ between patients with or without cystic fibrosis (pwCF and pwoCF). This study compared post-lung transplant outcomes between pwCF and pwoCF relating to survival and incidence of diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, and renal impairment.

Methods: A retrospective (2004-2017) case-control study involving 90 pwCF and 90 pwoCF (age, sex and year of transplant matched) was conducted.

Developmental programming: Testosterone excess masculinizes female pancreatic transcriptome and function in sheep.

Hyperandrogenic disorders, such as polycystic ovary syndrome, are often associated with metabolic disruptions such as insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. Studies in sheep, a precocial model of translational relevance, provide evidence that in utero exposure to excess testosterone during days 30-90 of gestation (the sexually dimorphic window where males naturally experience elevated androgens) programs insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia in female offspring. Extending earlier findings that adverse effects of testosterone excess are evident in fetal day 90 pancreas, the end of testosterone treatment, the present study provides evidence that transcriptomic and phenotypic effects of in utero testosterone excess on female pancreas persist after cessation of treatment, suggesting lasting organizational changes, and induce a male-like phenotype in female pancreas.

Metabolic pathways of glucose and fructose: II Spatiotemporal expression of genes involved in synthesis and transport of lactate in ovine conceptuses†.

Lactate, an abundant molecule in fetal fluids and blood of mammalian species, is often overlooked as a metabolic waste product generated during pregnancy. Most of the glucose and fructose consumed by ovine conceptuses is converted to lactate, but proteins involved in lactate metabolism and transport have not been investigated. This study characterized total lactate produced by ovine conceptuses throughout gestation, as well as expression of mRNAs and proteins involved in lactate metabolism.

Metabolic pathways for glucose and fructose: I synthesis and metabolism of fructose by ovine conceptuses†.

Fructose, the most abundant hexose sugar in fetal fluids and the blood of sheep and other ungulates and cetaceans, is synthesized from glucose via the polyol pathway in trophectoderm and chorion. However, the cell-specific and temporal expression of enzymes for the synthesis and metabolism of fructose in sheep conceptuses (embryo and placental membranes) and placentomes has not been characterized. This study characterized key enzymes involved in fructose synthesis and metabolism by ovine conceptuses throughout pregnancy.

Cardiorespiratory Responses to an Acute Bout of High Intensity Interval Training and Moderate Intensity Continuous Training on a Recumbent Handcycle in People With Spinal Cord Injury: A Within-Subject Design.

Objectives: To compare acute cardiorespiratory responses during high intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) on a recumbent handcycle in persons with spinal cord injury (PwSCI).

Methods: Eleven males and nine females with chronic SCI (T3 - L5), aged 23 (9) years, participated in this within-subject design. Based off peak power outputs from an incremental test to exhaustion, participants engaged in a HIIT and MICT session at matched workloads on a recumbent handcycle.

Systemic corticosteroids for outpatient respiratory viral infections in lung transplant recipients.

Introduction: Respiratory viral infections (RVI) in lung transplant recipients (LTR) have variably been associated with rejection and chronic lung allograft dysfunction. Our center has used systemic corticosteroids to treat outpatient RVI in some cases, but evidence is limited. We reviewed all adult LTR diagnosed with outpatient RVI January 2017 to December 2019.

A biomimetic chip to assess subcutaneous bioavailability of monoclonal antibodies in humans.

Subcutaneous (subQ) injection is a common route for delivering biotherapeutics, wherein pharmacokinetics is largely influenced by drug transport in a complex subQ tissue microenvironment. The selection of good drug candidates with beneficial pharmacokinetics for subQ injections is currently limited by a lack of reliable testing models. To address this limitation, we report here a cutaneous Co-lture issue-on-a-chip for njection imulation (SubCuTIS).

Metabolite diversity among representatives of divergent ecotypes.

Approximately half of the annual carbon fixation on Earth occurs in the surface ocean through the photosynthetic activities of phytoplankton such as the ubiquitous picocyanobacterium . Ecologically distinct subpopulations (or ecotypes) of are central conduits of organic substrates into the ocean microbiome, thus playing important roles in surface ocean production. We measured the chemical profile of three cultured ecotype strains, observing striking differences among them that have implications for the likely chemical impact of subpopulations on their surroundings in the wild.

Moving forward: A review of continuous kinetics and kinematics during handcycling propulsion.

Wheelchair users (WCUs) face high rates of shoulder overuse injuries. As exercise is recommended to reduce cardiovascular disease prevalent among WCUs, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the mechanisms behind shoulder soft-tissue injury in WCUs. Understanding the kinetics and kinematics during upper-limb propulsion is the first step toward evaluating soft-tissue injury risk in WCUs.

Placental assessment using spectral analysis of the envelope of umbilical venous waveforms in sheep.

Introduction: This study was designed to test the efficacy of an ultrasound flow measurement method to evaluate placental function in a hyperandrogenic sheep model that produces placental morphologic changes and an intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) phenotype.

Materials And Methods: Pregnant ewes were assigned randomly between control (n = 12) and testosterone-treatment (T-treated, n = 22) groups. The T-treated group was injected twice weekly intramuscularly (IM) with 100 mg testosterone propionate.

Characterization of TNSALP expression, localization, and activity in ovine utero-placental tissues†.

Tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP; encoded by ALPL gene) has a critical role in the regulation of phosphate homeostasis postnatally. However, the utero-placental expression of TNSALP and the role in phosphate transport in pregnancy is poorly understood. Estrous cycles of ewes were synchronized, and ewes were euthanized and hysterectomized on Days 1, 9, or 14 of the estrous cycle or bred to fertile rams and euthanized and hysterectomized on Days 9, 12, 17, 30, 50, 70, 90, 110, or 125 of pregnancy.