Transplantation of decellularized porcine kidney grafts repopulated with primary human cells demonstrates filtration function in pigs.

Background: End-stage renal disease is a growing global health issue, disproportionately impacting low- and middle-income countries. While kidney transplantation remains the best treatment for end-stage renal disease, access to this treatment modality is limited by chronic donor organ shortages. To address this critical need, we are developing transplantable bioengineered kidney grafts.

Role of Imaging in Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Multidisciplinary Perspective.

With the expansion in cross-sectional imaging over the past few decades, there has been an increase in the number of incidentally detected renal masses and an increase in the incidence of renal cell carcinomas (RCCs). The complete characterization of an indeterminate renal mass on CT or MR images is challenging, and the authors provide a critical review of the best imaging methods and essential, important, and optional reporting elements used to describe the indeterminate renal mass. While surgical staging remains the standard of care for RCC, the role of renal mass CT or MRI in staging RCC is reviewed, specifically with reference to areas that may be overlooked at imaging such as detection of invasion through the renal capsule or perirenal (Gerota) fascia.

Restored TDCA and valine levels imitate the effects of bariatric surgery.

Background: Obesity is widespread and linked to various co-morbidities. Bariatric surgery has been identified as the only effective treatment, promoting sustained weight loss and the remission of co-morbidities.

Methods: Metabolic profiling was performed on diet-induced obese (DIO) mice, lean mice, and DIO mice that underwent sleeve gastrectomies (SGx).

Breast Cancer Risk Genes - Association Analysis in More than 113,000 Women.

Background: Genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility is widely used, but for many genes, evidence of an association with breast cancer is weak, underlying risk estimates are imprecise, and reliable subtype-specific risk estimates are lacking.

Methods: We used a panel of 34 putative susceptibility genes to perform sequencing on samples from 60,466 women with breast cancer and 53,461 controls. In separate analyses for protein-truncating variants and rare missense variants in these genes, we estimated odds ratios for breast cancer overall and tumor subtypes.

One-Year Outcomes in Caregivers of Critically Ill Patients.

Background: Few resources are available to support caregivers of patients who have survived critical illness; consequently, the caregivers' own health may suffer. We studied caregiver and patient characteristics to determine which characteristics were associated with caregivers' health outcomes during the first year after patient discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 280 caregivers of patients who had received 7 or more days of mechanical ventilation in an ICU.

Does correlation of cellulase gene expression and cellulolytic activity in the gut of termite suggest synergistic collaboration of cellulases?

Termites play an important role in degradation of dead plant materials in nature. Over the last century, many researchers have investigated the mechanisms of their lignocellulose digesting system. A recent publication by Zhou et al.