The spatial and temporal effect of electrochromic windows on indoor and human microbiome in an inpatient hospital.

Objective: Improving the hospital environment and developing novel disinfection strategies are critical for infection control in healthcare settings. In this study, we explored the effects of electrochromic (EC) windows on indoor and patient microbiome in an inpatient hospital.

Patient And Setting: Hematology-Oncology patients at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Targeting of human cancer stem cells predicts efficacy and toxicity of FDA-approved oncology drugs.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide with approved oncology drugs continuing to have heterogenous patient responses and accompanied adverse effects (AEs) that limits effectiveness. Here, we examined >100 FDA-approved oncology drugs in the context of stemness using a surrogate model of transformed human pluripotent cancer stem cells (CSCs) vs. healthy stem cells (hSCs) capable of distinguishing abnormal self-renewal and differentiation.

ROS-dependent degeneration of human neurons induced by environmentally relevant levels of micro- and nanoplastics of diverse shapes and forms.

Our study explores the pressing issue of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) inhalation and their subsequent penetration into the brain, highlighting a significant environmental health concern. We demonstrate that MNPs can indeed penetrate murine brain, warranting further investigation into their neurotoxic effects in humans. We then proceed to test the impact of MNPs at environmentally relevant concentrations, with focusing on variations in size and shape.

Advancing Antimicrobial Textiles: A Comprehensive Study on Combating ESKAPE Pathogens and Ensuring User Safety.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, ESKAPE pathogens, present a significant and alarming threat to public health and healthcare systems. This study addresses the urgent need to combat antimicrobial resistance by exploring alternative ways to reduce the health and cost implications of infections caused by these pathogens. To disrupt their transmission, integrating antimicrobial textiles into personal protective equipment (PPE) is an encouraging avenue.

Magnetic Levitation System Isolates and Purifies Airborne Viruses.

Detection of viable viruses in the air is critical in order to determine the level of risk associated with the airborne diffusion of viruses. Different methods have been developed for the isolation, purification, and detection of viable airborne viruses, but they require an extensive processing time and often present limitations including low physical efficiency (i.e.

Reprogramming of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Cells: Harboring Cancer Mutations Requires Targeting of AML Hierarchy.

Screening of primary patient acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells is challenging based on intrinsic characteristics of human AML disease and patient-specific conditions required to sustain AML cells in culture. This is further complicated by inter- and intra-patient heterogeneity, and "contaminating" normal cells devoid of molecular AML mutations. Derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from human somatic cells has provided approaches for the development of patient-specific models of disease biology and has recently included AML.

The effect of indoor daylight spectrum and intensity on viability of indoor pathogens on different surface materials.

Built environments play a key role in the transmission of infectious diseases. Ventilation rates, air temperature, and humidity affect airborne transmission while cleaning protocols, material properties and light exposure can influence viability of pathogens on surfaces. We investigated how indoor daylight intensity and spectrum through electrochromic (EC) windows can impact the growth rate and viability of indoor pathogens on different surface materials (polyvinyl chloride [PVC] fabric, polystyrene, and glass) compared to traditional blinds.

Developing CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Fluorescent Reporter Human Pluripotent Stem-Cell Lines for High-Content Screening.

Application of the CRISPR/Cas9 system to knock in fluorescent proteins to endogenous genes of interest in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has the potential to facilitate hPSC-based disease modeling, drug screening, and optimization of transplantation therapy. To evaluate the capability of fluorescent reporter hPSC lines for high-content screening approaches, we targeted EGFP to the endogenous OCT4 locus. Resulting hPSC-OCT4-EGFP lines generated expressed EGFP coincident with pluripotency markers and could be adapted to multi-well formats for high-content screening (HCS) campaigns.

Targeting SUMOylation dependency in human cancer stem cells through a unique SAE2 motif revealed by chemical genomics.

Natural products (NPs) encompass a rich source of bioactive chemical entities. Here, we used human cancer stem cells (CSCs) in a chemical genomics campaign with NP chemical space to interrogate extracts from diverse strains of actinomycete for anti-cancer properties. We identified a compound (McM25044) capable of selectively inhibiting human CSC function versus normal stem cell counterparts.

Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathy and Drug Discovery Platform Using Human Sensory Neurons Converted Directly from Adult Peripheral Blood.

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (PN) is a disorder damaging the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and represents one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy, negatively impacting the quality of life of patients to the extent of withdrawing life-saving chemotherapy dose or duration. Unfortunately, the pathophysiological effects of PN are poorly understood, in part due to the lack of availability of large numbers of human sensory neurons (SNs) for study. Previous reports have demonstrated that human SNs can be directly converted from primitive CD34 hematopoietic cells, but was limited to a small-scale product of SNs and derived exclusively from less abundant allogenic sources of cord or drug mobilized peripheral blood (PB).

Functional Neuronal Differentiation of Injury-Induced Muscle-Derived Stem Cell-Like Cells with Therapeutic Implications.

Mammalian skeletal muscles contain a number of heterogeneous cell populations. Our previous study characterized a unique population of myogenic lineage stem cells that can be isolated from adult mammalian skeletal muscles upon injury. These injury-induced muscle-derived stem cell-like cells (iMuSCs) displayed a multipotent state with sensitiveness and strong migration abilities.

Characterization of an Injury Induced Population of Muscle-Derived Stem Cell-Like Cells.

We recently discovered a novel population of stem cells from the injured murine skeletal muscle. These injury induced muscle-derived stem cell-like cells (iMuSCs) are partially reprogrammed from differentiated myogenic cells and display a pluripotent-like state. The iMuSCs exhibit stem cell properties including the ability to differentiate into multiple lineages, such as neurogenic and myogenic differentiations; they also display a superior migration capacity that demonstrating a strong ability of muscle engraftment in vivo.

MMP1 gene expression enhances myoblast migration and engraftment following implanting into mdx/SCID mice.

Myoblast transplantation (MT) is a method to introduce healthy genes into abnormal skeletal muscle. It has been considered as a therapeutic modality in the last few decades for diseases such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). However, challenges including cell death and poor graft engraftment have limited its application.

Very small embryonic-like cells in the mirror of regenerative medicine.

Regenerative medicine with the promise of complete organ restoration could change the treatment paradigm for various degenerative disorders. In order to develop successful, safe and efficient regenerative therapies, appropriate amount of pluripotent autologous cells are desired. Pluripotent stem cell lines, such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), offer a unique opportunity to derive various cell types that can be exploited for regenerative medicine.

Current status of human pluripotent stem cell based in vitro toxicity tests.

The present review assesses the current status of in vitro tests based on human pluripotent stem cell-derived toxicologically relevant target cells. The majority of the evaluated test systems are in the phase of test development. In particular the success rates of differentiation protocols and their reproducibility are varying depending on different culture conditions but also on the assessed marker panel and the functional evaluation of the cells.

Challenges of using pluripotent stem cells for safety assessments of substances.

Various European Union (EU) legislations request the use of in vitro tests for toxicological evaluations in order to increase the safety of consumer and patients but also to reduce the number vertebrates. The review provides a brief overview on EU legislations in place but without further interpretation. At present several ongoing EU projects address the need of developing predictive in vitro tests including projects assessing the potential of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines as basis for a range of toxicity tests.