Accuracy and Interpretation of Transcutaneous Carbon Dioxide Monitoring in Critically Ill Children.

Objectives: Transcutaneous carbon dioxide (Tc co2 ) monitoring can noninvasively assess ventilation by estimating carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) levels in the blood. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of Tc co2 monitoring in critically ill children by comparing it to the partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide (Pa co2 ). In addition, we sought to determine the variation between Tc co2 and Pa co2 acceptable to clinicians to modify patient care and to determine which patient-level factors may affect the accuracy of Tc co2 measurements.

Cilia-related gene signature in the nasal mucosa correlates with disease severity and outcomes in critical respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause life-threatening respiratory failure in infants. We sought to characterize the local host response to RSV infection in the nasal mucosa of infants with critical bronchiolitis and to identify early admission gene signatures associated with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Nasal scrape biopsies were obtained from 33 infants admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) with critical RSV bronchiolitis requiring non-invasive respiratory support (NIS) or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed.

Age-related Differences in the Nasal Mucosal Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 180 million people since the onset of the pandemic. Despite similar viral load and infectivity rates between children and adults, children rarely develop severe illness. Differences in the host response to the virus at the primary infection site are among the mechanisms proposed to account for this disparity.

Immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in the nasal mucosa in children and adults.

Rationale: Despite similar viral load and infectivity rates between children and adults infected with SARS-CoV-2, children rarely develop severe illness. Differences in the host response to the virus at the primary infection site are among the proposed mechanisms.

Objectives: To investigate the host response to SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza virus (IV) in the nasal mucosa in children and adults.

In vivo manipulation of the extracellular matrix induces vascular regression in a basal chordate.

We investigated the physical role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in vascular homeostasis in the basal chordate , which has a large, transparent, extracorporeal vascular network encompassing an area >100 cm We found that the collagen cross-linking enzyme lysyl oxidase is expressed in all vascular cells and that in vivo inhibition using β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) caused a rapid, global regression of the entire network, with some vessels regressing >10 mm within 16 h. BAPN treatment changed the ultrastructure of collagen fibers in the vessel basement membrane, and the kinetics of regression were dose dependent. Pharmacological inhibition of both focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and Raf also induced regression, and levels of phosphorylated FAK in vascular cells decreased during BAPN treatment and FAK inhibition but not Raf inhibition, suggesting that physical changes in the vessel ECM are detected via canonical integrin signaling pathways.

Wnt affects symmetry and morphogenesis during post-embryonic development in colonial chordates.

Background: Wnt signaling is one of the earliest and most highly conserved regulatory pathways for the establishment of the body axes during regeneration and early development. In regeneration, body axes determination occurs independently of tissue rearrangement and early developmental cues. Modulation of the Wnt signaling in either process has shown to result in unusual body axis phenotypes.