Wnt16 Increases Bone-to-Implant Contact in an Osteopenic Rat Model by Increasing Proliferation and Regulating the Differentiation of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells.

Osseointegration is a complex biological cascade that regulates bone regeneration after implant placement. Implants possessing complex multiscale surface topographies augment this regenerative process through the regulation of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) that are in contact with the implant surface. One pathway regulating osteoblastic differentiation is Wnt signaling, and upregulation of non-canonical Wnts increases differentiation of MSCs on these titanium substrates.

Mortality Among Persons With HIV in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Population-Level Analysis.

Background: Whether the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on mortality among persons with diagnosed HIV (PWDH) in the United States is unclear. Through our macroscale analysis, we seek to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected mortality among PWDH.

Methods: We obtained mortality and population data for the years 2018-2020 from the National HIV Surveillance System for the US PWDH population and from publicly available data for the general population.

Bone marrow stromal cells generate an osteoinductive microenvironment when cultured on titanium-aluminum-vanadium substrates with biomimetic multiscale surface roughness.

Osseointegration of titanium-based implants possessing complex macroscale/microscale/mesoscale/nanoscale (multiscale) topographies support a direct and functional connection with native bone tissue by promoting recruitment, attachment and osteoblastic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs). Recent studies show that the MSCs on these surfaces produce factors, including bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) that can cause MSCs not on the surface to undergo osteoblast differentiation, suggesting they may produce an osteogenic environment. This study examined if soluble factors produced by MSCs in contact with titanium-aluminum-vanadium (Ti6Al4V) implants possessing a complex multiscale biomimetic topography are able to induce osteogenesis ectopically.

Assessing concordance of HIV risk behaviors collected by different surveillance systems.

Objectives: Assess concordance of assigned transmission category between National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS) and Medical Monitoring Project (MMP); assess persistence of behaviors by comparing transmission category to current behavior.

Design: Retrospective analysis of HIV surveillance data.

Methods: For 4034 participants in the 2016 MMP cycle, transmission category was assigned in NHSS and MMP by applying a hierarchy to acquisition risk behaviors and selecting the most likely risk behavior that led to HIV acquisition.

Change in unemployment by social vulnerability among United States counties with rapid increases in COVID-19 incidence-July 1-October 31, 2020.

Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate in the United States peaked at 14.8% in April 2020. We examined patterns in unemployment following this peak in counties with rapid increases in COVID-19 incidence.