Parent Engagement in a COVID-19 Cohort Study of Children and Families: Successes, Challenges and Next Steps.

This article describes the methods, successes and challenges of engaging parents while studying the impacts of COVID-19 on healthy children and families. Parent partners in a Parent and Clinician Team (PACT) informed study aims, supported feasibility and recommended changes to enhance participation. PACT members stated that they felt a sense of connectedness and purpose by contributing to COVID-19 research.

X-inactivation status varies in human embryonic stem cell lines.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) derived from human blastocysts have an apparently unlimited proliferative capacity and can differentiate into ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. As such, hESC lines have enormous potential for use in cell replacement therapies. It must first be demonstrated, however, that hESCs maintain a stable karyotype and phenotype and that gene expression is appropriately regulated.

Enhanced in vitro proliferation of aortic endothelial cells from plasminogen activator inhibitor-1-deficient mice.

A number of studies have identified a role for plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in regulating angiogenesis, although results from these investigations have been controversial. Among key cellular components of an angiogenic vessel are endothelial cells (ECs), which are known to express several components of the fibrinolytic system, including PAI-1. Thus, alterations in expression of this protein may have direct effects on cell functions involved in vascular development.