High-throughput micro-CT analysis identifies sex-dependent biomarkers of erosive arthritis in TNF-Tg mice and differential response to anti-TNF therapy.

Background: Development of reliable disease activity biomarkers is critical for diagnostics, prognostics, and novel drug development. Although computed tomography (CT) is the gold-standard for quantification of bone erosions, there are no consensus approaches or rationales for utilization of specific outcome measures of erosive arthritis in complex joints. In the case of preclinical models, such as sexually dimorphic tumor necrosis factor transgenic (TNF-Tg) mice, disease severity is routinely quantified in the ankle through manual segmentation of the talus or small regions of adjacent bones primarily due to the ease in measurement.

Implementation of automated behavior metrics to evaluate voluntary wheel running effects on inflammatory-erosive arthritis and interstitial lung disease in TNF-Tg mice.

Background: Although treatment options and algorithms for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have improved remarkably in recent decades, there continues to be no definitive cure or pharmacologic intervention with reliable long-term efficacy. For this reason, the combination of medications and healthy lifestyle modifications are essential for controlling joint disease, and extra-articular manifestations of RA, such as interstitial lung disease (ILD) and other lung pathologies, which greatly impact morbidity and mortality. Generally, exercise has been deemed beneficial in RA patients, and both patients and clinicians are motivated to incorporate effective non-pharmacologic interventions.

A high-throughput semi-automated bone segmentation workflow for murine hindpaw micro-CT datasets.

Introduction: Micro-computed tomography (μCT) is a valuable imaging modality for longitudinal quantification of bone volumes to identify disease or treatment effects for a broad range of conditions that affect bone health. Complex structures, such as the hindpaw with up to 31 distinct bones in mice, have considerable analytic potential, but quantification is often limited to a single bone volume metric due to the intensive effort of manual segmentation. Herein, we introduce a high-throughput, user-friendly, and semi-automated method for segmentation of murine hindpaw μCT datasets.

Global genome diversity of the complex.

Protozoan parasites of the complex - and - cause the fatal disease visceral leishmaniasis. We present the first comprehensive genome-wide global study, with 151 cultured field isolates representing most of the geographical distribution. isolates separated into five groups that largely coincide with geographical origin but vary greatly in diversity.

Increased prevalence of human cutaneous leishmaniasis in Israel and the Palestinian Authority caused by the recent emergence of a population of genetically similar strains of Leishmania tropica.

Twelve unlinked microsatellite markers were used to determine the microsatellite profiles of 50 newly and 46 previously typed strains of L. tropica from various Israeli and Palestinian foci. Their microsatellite profiles were compared to those of 99 previously typed strains of L.