Effective team science requires procedural harmonization for rigor and reproducibility. Multicenter studies across experimental modalities (domains) can help accelerate translation. The Translational Outcomes Project in NeuroTrauma (TOP-NT) is a pre-clinical traumatic brain injury (TBI) consortium charged with establishing and validating noninvasive TBI assessment tools through team science.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData interoperability is crucial for effectively combining data for scientific inquiry. To facilitate interoperability, data standards such as a common definition of variables are often developed. The Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury (odc-sci.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Contemporary surgical practices for traumatic brain injury (TBI) remain unclear. We describe the clinical profile of an 18-centre US TBI cohort with cranial surgery.
Methods: The prospective, observational Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury Study (2014-2018; ClinicalTrials.
Western blot is a popular biomolecular analysis method for measuring the relative quantities of independent proteins in complex biological samples. However, variability in quantitative western blot data analysis poses a challenge in designing reproducible experiments. The lack of rigorous quantitative approaches in current western blot statistical methodology may result in irreproducible inferences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtant salamanders are used as modern analogs of early digit-bearing tetrapods due to general similarities in morphology and ecology, but the study species have been primarily terrestrial and relatively smaller when the earliest digit-bearing tetrapods were aquatic and an order of magnitude larger. Thus, we created a 3D computational model of underwater walking in extant Japanese giant salamanders (Andrias japonicus) using 3D photogrammetry and open-access graphics software (Blender) to broaden the range of testable hypotheses about the incipient stages of terrestrial locomotion. Our 3D model and software protocol represent the initial stages of an open-access pipeline that could serve as a "one-stop-shop" for studying locomotor function, from creating 3D models to analyzing the mechanics of locomotor gaits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTeeth reveal how organisms interact with their environment. Biologists have long looked at the diverse form and function of teeth to study the evolution of feeding, fighting, and development. The exponential rise in the quantity and accessibility of computed tomography (CT) data has enabled morphologists to study teeth at finer resolutions and larger macroevolutionary scales.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEffective data management and sharing have become increasingly crucial in biomedical research; however, many laboratory researchers lack the necessary tools and knowledge to address this challenge. This article provides an introductory guide into research data management (RDM), and the importance of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data-sharing principles for laboratory researchers produced by practicing scientists. We explore the advantages of implementing organized data management strategies and introduce key concepts such as data standards, data documentation, and the distinction between machine and human-readable data formats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although many molecules have been investigated as biomarkers for spinal cord injury (SCI) or ischemic stroke, none of them are specifically induced in central nervous system (CNS) neurons following injuries with low baseline expression. However, neuronal injury constitutes a major pathology associated with SCI or stroke and strongly correlates with neurological outcomes. Biomarkers characterized by low baseline expression and specific induction in neurons post-injury are likely to better correlate with injury severity and recovery, demonstrating higher sensitivity and specificity for CNS injuries compared to non-neuronal markers or pan-neuronal markers with constitutive expressions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a significant clinical concern. This study sought to determine the incidence of VTE and hemorrhagic complications among patients with SCI who received low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) within 24 hours of injury or surgery and identify variables that predict VTE using the prospective Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in SCI (TRACK-SCI) database.
Methods: The TRACK-SCI database was queried for individuals with traumatic SCI from 2015 to 2022.
Importance: One traumatic brain injury (TBI) increases the risk of subsequent TBIs. Research on longitudinal outcomes of civilian repetitive TBIs is limited.
Objective: To investigate associations between sustaining 1 or more TBIs (ie, postindex TBIs) after study enrollment (ie, index TBIs) and multidimensional outcomes at 1 year and 3 to 7 years.
The species Anolis incredulus was proposed based on a single, poorly preserved specimen from the Sierra Maestra (mountain range) of southeastern Cuba. As its name suggests, this species was considered likely to raise doubts when it was first proposed, and it has been explicitly treated by some recent authors as a species inquirenda (a species of doubtful identity). Here we report on a second specimen of Anolis incredulus discovered in the amphibian and reptile collection of the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution) that was collected more than 100 years before the holotype.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlmost nothing is known about the diets of bathypelagic fishes, but functional morphology can provide useful tools to infer ecology. Here we quantify variation in jaw and tooth morphologies across anglerfishes (Lophiiformes), a clade spanning shallow and deep-sea habitats. Deep-sea ceratioid anglerfishes are considered dietary generalists due to the necessity of opportunistic feeding in the food-limited bathypelagic zone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArmor is a multipurpose set of structures that has evolved independently at least 30 times in fishes. In addition to providing protection, armor can manipulate flow, increase camouflage, and be sexually dimorphic. There are potential tradeoffs in armor function: increased impact resistance may come at the cost of maneuvering ability; and ornate armor may offer visual or protective advantages, but could incur excess drag.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is characterized by heterogeneity in terms of injury severity, mechanism, outcome, and pathophysiology. A single biomarker alone is unlikely to capture the heterogeneity of even one injury subtype, necessitating the use of panels of biomarkers. Herein, we focus on traumatic cerebrovascular injury and investigate associations of a panel of 16 vascular injury-related biomarkers with indices of TBI severity and outcomes using data from 159 participants in the Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in TBI (TRACK-TBI) Pilot Study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-olfactory cells have excellent biosensor potential because they express functional olfactory receptors (ORs) and are non-neuronal cells that are easy to culture. ORs are G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), and there is a well-established link between different classes of G-proteins and cytoskeletal structure changes affecting cellular morphology that has been unexplored for odorant sensing. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine if odorant binding in non-olfactory cells causes cytoskeletal changes that will lead to cell changes detectable by electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relationship between systemic inflammation and secondary injury in traumatic brain injury (TBI) is complex. We investigated associations between inflammatory markers and clinical confirmation of TBI diagnosis and prognosis. The prospective TRACK-TBI Pilot (Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury Pilot) study enrolled TBI patients triaged to head computed tomography (CT) and received blood draw within 24 h of injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Comput Neurosci
January 2023
Chronic low back pain (cLBP) afflicts 8. 2% of adults in the United States, and is the leading global cause of disability. Neuropsychiatric co-morbidities including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse- are common in cLBP patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe coastal waters of the North Pacific are home to the northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus), Pacific spiny lumpsucker (Eumicrotremus orbis) and marbled snailfish (Liparis dennyi) - three fishes that have evolved ventral adhesive discs. Clingfish adhesive performance has been studied extensively, but relatively little is known about the performance of other sticky fishes. Here, we compared the peak adhesive forces and work to detachment of clingfish, lumpsuckers and snailfish on surfaces of varying roughness and over ontogeny.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe reported previously that neural progenitor cell (NPC) grafts form neural relays across sites of subacute spinal cord injury (SCI) and support functional recovery. Here, we examine whether NPC grafts after chronic delays also support recovery and whether intensive rehabilitation further enhances recovery. One month after severe bilateral cervical contusion, rats received daily intensive rehabilitation, NPC grafts, or both rehabilitation and grafts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus) has a suction-based adhesive disc that can stick to incredibly rough surfaces, a challenge for stiff commercial suction cups. Both clingfish discs and bioinspired suction cups have stiff cores but flexible edges that can deform to overcome surface irregularities. Compliant surfaces are common in nature and technical settings, but performance data for fish and commercial cups are gathered from stiff surfaces.
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