The Bias of Physicians and Lack of Education in Patients of Color With Melanoma as Causes of Increased Mortality: A Scoping Review.

Minorities, particularly non-White minorities, often encounter implicit biases from healthcare professionals that may impact their standard of care and quality of life. The study of dermatology has long been based on Whites, unintentionally affecting the treatment of non-White patients. Melanoma, although mostly curable, can become fatal in those presenting with advanced stages at diagnosis.

Atorvastatin and blood flow regulate expression of distinctive sets of genes in mouse carotid artery endothelium.

Hypercholesterolemia is a well-known pro-atherogenic risk factor and statin is the most effective anti-atherogenic drug that lowers blood cholesterol levels. However, despite systemic hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis preferentially occurs in arterial regions exposed to disturbed blood flow (d-flow), while the stable flow (s-flow) regions are spared. Given their predominant effects on endothelial function and atherosclerosis, we tested whether (1) statin and flow regulate the same or independent sets of genes and (2) statin can rescue d-flow-regulated genes in mouse artery endothelial cells in vivo.

Endothelial Reprogramming by Disturbed Flow Revealed by Single-Cell RNA and Chromatin Accessibility Study.

Disturbed flow (d-flow) induces atherosclerosis by regulating gene expression in endothelial cells (ECs). For further mechanistic understanding, we carried out a single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and scATAC-seq study using endothelial-enriched single cells from the left- and right carotid artery exposed to d-flow (LCA) and stable-flow (s-flow in RCA) using the mouse partial carotid ligation (PCL) model. We find eight EC clusters along with immune cells, fibroblasts, and smooth muscle cells.

Microphysiological heart-liver body-on-a-chip system with a skin mimic for evaluating topical drug delivery.

Body-on-a-chip in vitro systems are a promising technology that aims to increase the predictive power of drug efficacy and toxicity in humans when compared to traditional animal models. Here, we developed a new heart-liver body-on-a-chip system with a skin surrogate to assess the toxicity of drugs that are topically administered. In order to test the utility of the system, diclofenac, ketoconazole, hydrocortisone and acetaminophen were applied topically through a synthetic skin surrogate (Strat-M membrane) and the toxicity results were compared to those of acute drug exposure from systemically applying the compounds.

Assessing differential expression measurements by highly parallel pyrosequencing and DNA microarrays: a comparative study.

To explore the feasibility of pyrosequencing for quantitative differential gene expression analysis we have performed a comparative study of the results of the sequencing experiments to those obtained by a conventional DNA microarray platform. A conclusion from our analysis is that, over a threshold of 35 normalized reads per gene, the measurements of gene expression display a good correlation with the references. The observed concordance between pyrosequencing and DNA microarray platforms beyond the threshold was of 0.

Use of grafting to prevent Hypsipyla grandella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) damage to new world Meliaceae species.

The susceptible species Cedrela odorata and Swietenia macrophylla to attack by Hypsipyla grandella (Zeller) larvae were grafted onto the resistant species Khaya senegalensis and Toona ciliata. Six-month-old grafted plants were then compared to their reciprocal grafts and to both intact (non-grafted) and autografted plants for damage due to H. grandella larvae and for their effects on larval performance.

Central nervous system paracoccidioidomycosis: case report and review.

Paracoccidioidomycosis is a systemic infection caused by a dimorphic fungus (Paracoccidioides brasiliensis). The most common lesions frequently occur in the bucopharinx mucosa. Other lesions occur in the adrenal glands, liver, bone, gastrointestinal tract, lungs and nervous system.

Female Wistar rats tested during late proestrus or during pregnancy and ovariectomized rats tested after receiving progesterone or allopregnanolone displayed reduced conflict behavior.

In a conflict test based on the rat's choice between an immediate punished reinforcer or a delayed nonpunished reinforcer, anxiolytic drugs increase the number of immediate punished reinforcers. In this study, two hypotheses were tested: first, during late proestrus or during midpregnancy, female rats will display an elevated amount of immediate punished reinforcers; second, ovariectomized rats will display an elevated amount of immediate punished reinforcers when they receive anxiolytic doses of neurosteroids. Thus, female rats (n = 15) were tested repeatedly during late proestrus, diestrus, and pregnancy in the aforementioned conflict task.