Although development of microbiota in childhood has been linked to chronic immune-related conditions, early childhood determinants of microbiota development have not been fully elucidated. We used 16S rRNA sequencing to analyse faecal and saliva samples from 83 children at four time-points during their first 2 years of life and from their mothers. Our findings confirm that gut microbiota in infants have low diversity and highlight that some properties are shared with the oral microbiota, although inter-individual differences are present.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn EMS mutagenesis screen was conducted in to identify growth control mutants. The multi-institution Fly-CURE consortium phenotypically characterized the mutant using the system which displayed a mutant lethal phenotype with reduced head development, and darkened ocular tissue. Complementation mapping was conducted to identify the affected gene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A substantial proportion of persons who develop COVID-19 report persistent symptoms after acute illness. Various pathophysiologic mechanisms have been implicated in the pathogenesis of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC).
Objective: To characterize medical sequelae and persistent symptoms after recovery from COVID-19 in a cohort of disease survivors and controls.
Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria is an accelerated aging syndrome caused by permanently farnesylated mutant lamin A, termed progerin. Recently, the FDA approved Lonafarnib, a farnesyltransferase inhibitor, to treat progeria, while Koblan and colleagues used novel gene editing methods to target the root cause of this disease by correcting the LMNA mutation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
July 2022
The deep ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet, constituting greater than 90% of all habitable space. Over three-quarters of countries globally have deep ocean within their Exclusive Economic Zones. While maintaining deep-ocean function is key to ensuring planetary health, deficiencies in knowledge and governance, as well as inequitable global capacity, challenge our ability to safeguard the resilience of this vast realm, leaving the fate of the deep ocean in the hands of a few.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn compression optical coherence elastography (OCE), deformation is quantified as the local strain at each pixel in the OCT field-of-view. A range of strain estimation methods have been demonstrated, yet it is unclear which method provides the best performance. Here, we analyze the two most prevalent strain estimation methods used in phase-sensitive compression OCE, weighted least squares (WLS) and the vector method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBamlanivimab-etesevimab and casirivimab-imdevimab are authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency treatment of mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in high-risk persons. There has been no study comparing their clinical efficacy. In this retrospective study of 681 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 during a period dominated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 wild-type and alpha variants, 25 patients (3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImproving the efficacy of immune checkpoint therapies will require a better understanding of how immune cells are recruited and sustained in tumors. Here, we used the photoconversion of the tumor immune cell compartment to identify newly entering lymphocytes, determine how they change over time, and investigate their egress from the tumor. Combining single-cell transcriptomics and flow cytometry, we found that while a diverse mix of CD8 T cell subsets enter the tumor, all CD8 T cells retained within this environment for more than 72 h developed an exhausted phenotype, revealing the rapid establishment of this program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRAB28 is a farnesylated, ciliary G-protein. Patient variants in RAB28 are causative of autosomal recessive cone-rod dystrophy (CRD), an inherited human blindness. In rodent and zebrafish models, the absence of Rab28 results in diminished dawn, photoreceptor, outer segment phagocytosis (OSP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe app-based COVID Symptom Study was launched in Sweden in April 2020 to contribute to real-time COVID-19 surveillance. We enrolled 143,531 study participants (≥18 years) who contributed 10.6 million daily symptom reports between April 29, 2020 and February 10, 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study of moral judgements often centres on moral dilemmas in which options consistent with deontological perspectives (that is, emphasizing rules, individual rights and duties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (that is, following the greater good based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (for example, the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (for example, the trolley problem).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) have extremely elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), with premature atherosclerosis and aortic valve disease. Available drug treatments are inadequate, and even with serial apheresis, HoFH patients rarely achieve acceptable LDL-C levels. Evinacumab is a monoclonal antibody against angiopoietin-like protein 3 that lowers LDL-C via a novel receptor-independent mechanism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntermittent fasting (IF) remains the most effective intervention to achieve robust anti-aging effects and attenuation of age-related diseases in various species. Epigenetic modifications mediate the biological effects of several environmental factors on gene expression; however, no information is available on the effects of IF on the epigenome. Here, we first found that IF for 3 months caused modulation of H3K9 trimethylation (H3K9me) in the cerebellum, which in turn orchestrated a plethora of transcriptomic changes involved in robust metabolic switching processes commonly observed during IF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Functional complexity of the eukaryotic mitochondrial proteome is augmented by independent gene acquisition from bacteria since its endosymbiotic origins. Mammalian homologs of many ancestral mitochondrial proteins have uncharacterized catalytic activities. Recent forward genetic approaches attributed functions to proteins in established metabolic pathways, thereby limiting the possibility of identifying novel biology relevant to human disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Approximately half of patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis have tried non-surgical management before surgical consultation. Understanding the many factors affecting the uptake of recommended strategies is important to inform future development of such management strategies.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore and identify factors that patients with osteoarthritis consider when choosing non-surgical management for hip and knee osteoarthritis, as formative research for a study of patient preferences for non-surgical management programs for osteoarthritis.
Biological age (BA) has been proposed to evaluate the aging status instead of chronological age (CA). Our study shows evidence that there might be multiple "clocks" within the whole-body system: systemic aging drivers/clocks overlaid with organ/tissue-specific counterparts. We utilize multi-omics data, including clinical tests, immune repertoire, targeted metabolomic molecules, gut microbiomes, physical fitness examinations, and facial skin examinations, to estimate the BA of different organs (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitochondrial biogenesis has two major steps: the transcriptional activation of nuclear genome-encoded mitochondrial proteins and the import of nascent mitochondrial proteins that are synthesized in the cytosol. These nascent mitochondrial proteins are aggregation-prone and can cause cytosolic proteostasis stress. The transcription factor-dependent transcriptional regulations and the TOM-TIM complex-dependent import of nascent mitochondrial proteins have been extensively studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGeroprotectors slow down aging and promote healthy longevity in model animals. Although hundreds of compounds have been shown to extend the life of laboratory model organisms, clinical studies on potential geroprotectors are exceedingly rare, especially in healthy elders. This review aims to classify potential geroprotectors based on the mechanisms by which they influence aging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOtoliths are frequently used to infer environmental conditions or fish life history events based on trace-element concentrations. However, otoliths can be comprised of any one or combination of the three most common polymorphs of calcium carbonate-aragonite, calcite, and vaterite-which can affect the ecological interpretation of otolith trace-element results. Previous studies have reported heterogeneous calcium carbonate compositions between left and right otoliths but did not provide quantitative assessments of polymorph abundances.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Osteoarthritis management aims to reduce pain and improve function. Many factors affect whether patients follow recommended strategies. Locus of control refers to individual beliefs around who and what influences health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe recently identified microRNAs (miRNAs) associated with chronic mucus hypersecretion (CMH) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which were expressed in both airway epithelial cells and fibroblasts. We hypothesized that these miRNAs are involved in communication between fibroblasts and epithelium, contributing to airway remodeling and CMH in COPD. Primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs) differentiated at the air-liquid interface, and airway fibroblasts (PAFs) from severe COPD patients with CMH were cultured alone or together.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastatic uveal melanoma (MUM) is characterized by poor patient survival. Unfortunately, current treatment options demonstrate limited benefits. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy of ACY-1215, a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), to attenuate growth of primary ocular UM cell lines and, in particular, a liver MUM cell line in vitro and in vivo, and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigate how an intrinsic speckle tracking approach to speckle-based x-ray imaging is used to extract an object's effective dark-field (DF) signal, which is capable of providing object information in three dimensions. The effective DF signal was extracted using a Fokker-Planck type formalism, which models the deformations of illuminating reference beam speckles due to both coherent and diffusive scatter from the sample. Here, we assumed that (a) small-angle scattering fans at the exit surface of the sample are rotationally symmetric and (b) the object has both attenuating and refractive properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA better understanding of the strains experienced by the Achilles tendon during commonly prescribed exercises and locomotor tasks is needed to improve efficacy of Achilles tendon training and rehabilitation programs. The aim of this study was to estimate in vivo free Achilles tendon strain during selected rehabilitation, locomotor, jumping, and landing tasks. Sixteen trained runners with no symptoms of Achilles tendinopathy participated in this study.
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