Application of mesenchymal stem cells for neurodegenerative diseases therapy discovery.

Neurodegenerative diseases are central or peripheral nervous system disorders associated with progressive brain cell degeneration. Common neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis have been widely studied. However, current therapeutics only reduce the symptoms and do not ameliorate the pathogenesis of these diseases.

An open annotated dataset and baseline machine learning model for segmentation of vertebrae with metastatic bone lesions from CT.

Automatic analysis of pathologic vertebrae from computed tomography (CT) scans could significantly improve the diagnostic management of patients with metastatic spine disease. We provide the first publicly available annotated imaging dataset of cancerous CT spines to help develop artificial intelligence frameworks for automatic vertebrae segmentation and classification. This collection contains a dataset of 55 CT scans collected on patients with various types of primary cancers at two different institutions.

Registration of Longitudinal Spine CTs for Monitoring Lesion Growth.

Accurate and reliable registration of longitudinal spine images is essential for assessment of disease progression and surgical outcome. Implementing a fully automatic and robust registration is crucial for clinical use, however, it is challenging due to substantial change in shape and appearance due to lesions. In this paper we present a novel method to automatically align longitudinal spine CTs and accurately assess lesion progression.

Could prophylactic antivirals reduce dengue incidence in a high-prevalence endemic area?

Prophylactic drugs against dengue are currently under development. In this study, we explored how such prophylactic approaches might affect dengue cases in four communes of Nha Trang City, Vietnam. A community level dengue transmission survey indicated high levels of previous exposure to dengue (89.

Enhanced Solubility and Polarization of C-Fumarate with Meglumine Allows for In Vivo Detection of Gluconeogenic Metabolism in Kidneys.

Hyperpolarized C-labeled fumarate probes tissue necrosis via the production of C-malate. Despite its promises in detecting tumor necrosis and kidney injuries, its clinical translation has been limited, primarily due to the low solubility in conventional glassing solvents. In this study, we introduce a new formulation of fumarate for dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) by using meglumine as a counterion, a nonmetabolizable derivative of sorbitol.

Set8 and L(3)mbt function in gene expression independently of histone H4 lysine 20 methylation.

Monomethylation of lysine 20 of histone H4 (H4K20me1) is catalyzed by Set8 and thought to play important roles in many aspects of genome function that are mediated by H4K20me binding proteins. We interrogated this model in a developing animal by comparing in parallel the transcriptomes of , , and mutant We found that the gene expression profiles of and larvae are markedly different than larvae despite similar reductions in H4K20me1. mutant cells have a severely disrupted transcriptome and fail to proliferate in vivo, but these phenotypes are not recapitulated by mutation of , indicating that the developmental defects of animals are largely due to H4K20me1-independent effects on gene expression.

Hyperpolarized [2-C, 3-H]Pyruvate Detects Hepatic Gluconeogenesis .

The feasibility of hyperpolarized [2-C, 3-H]pyruvate for probing gluconeogenesis was investigated in this study. Whereas hyperpolarized [1-C]pyruvate has clear access to metabolic pathways that convert pyruvate to lactate, alanine, and bicarbonate, its utility for assessing pyruvate carboxylation and gluconeogenesis has been limited by technical challenges, including spectral overlap and an obscure enzymatic step that decarboxylates the labeled carbon. To achieve unambiguous detection of gluconeogenic products, the carbonyl carbon in pyruvate was labeled with C.

Age-specific prevalence of IgG against measles/rubella and the impact of routine and supplementary immunization activities: A multistage random cluster sampling study with mathematical modelling.

Background: Vietnam continues to have measles and rubella outbreaks following supplementary immunization activities (SIA) and routine immunization despite both having high reported coverage. To evaluate immunization activities, age-specific immunity against measles and rubella, and the number of averted Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) cases, must be estimated.

Methods: Dried blood spots were collected from 2091 randomly selected individuals aged 1-39 years.

Role of Metastasis-Directed Therapy in Genitourinary Cancers.

The treatment of oligometastatic genitourinary cancers is a rapidly advancing field with ablative radiotherapy as one of the critical treatment components. The oligometastatic disease state, which can be defined as 1-5 metastatic sites with a controlled primary, represents a distinct clinical state where comprehensive ablative local therapies may provide improved outcomes. Enhanced imaging has increased the number of patients identified with oligometastatic disease.

Multi-institutional Analysis of Metastasis-directed Therapy with or Without Androgen Deprivation Therapy in Oligometastatic Castration-sensitive Prostate Cancer.

Background: Metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) is increasingly being used in oligometastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (omCSPC). However, it is currently unclear how to optimally integrate MDT with the standard of care of systemic hormonal therapy.

Objective: To report long-term outcomes of MDT alone versus MDT and a defined course of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in omCSPC.

Set8 and L(3)mbt function in gene expression independently of histone H4 lysine 20 methylation.

Mono-methylation of Lysine 20 of histone H4 (H4K20me1) is catalyzed by Set8 and thought to play important roles in many aspects of genome function that are mediated by H4K20me-binding proteins. We interrogated this model in a developing animal by comparing in parallel the transcriptomes of , , and mutant . We found that the gene expression profiles of and larvae are markedly different than larvae despite similar reductions in H4K20me1.

Clinical Outcomes Among Patients Treated With Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy to Femur Metastases for Oligometastatic Disease Control or Reirradiation: Results From a Large Single-Institution Experience.

Purpose: There are limited data regarding outcomes after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for femur metastases, which was an exclusion criteria for the Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy for the Comprehensive Treatment of Oligometastatic Cancers (SABR-COMET) trial. We aimed to characterize clinical outcomes from a large single institution experience.

Methods And Materials: Forty-eight patients with 53 lesions were consecutively treated with femur SBRT from May 2017 to June 2022.

Widening the therapeutic window for central and ultra-central thoracic oligometastatic disease with stereotactic MR-guided adaptive radiation therapy (SMART).

Background/purpose: Central/ultra-central thoracic tumors are challenging to treat with stereotactic radiotherapy due potential high-grade toxicity. Stereotactic MR-guided adaptive radiation therapy (SMART) may improve the therapeutic window through motion control with breath-hold gating and real-time MR-imaging as well as the option for daily online adaptive replanning to account for changes in target and/or organ-at-risk (OAR) location.

Materials/methods: 26 central (19 ultra-central) thoracic oligoprogressive/oligometastatic tumors treated with isotoxic (OAR constraints-driven) 5-fraction SMART (median 50 Gy, range 35-60) between 10/2019-10/2022 were reviewed.

Prospective Evaluation of the Clinical Benefits of a Novel Tattoo-less Workflow for Nonspine Bone Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: Integrating Surface-Guidance With Triggered Imaging Reduces Treatment Time and Eliminates the Need for Tattoos.

Purpose: Oligometastatic disease has expanded the indications for nonspine bone stereotactic body radiation therapy (NSB SBRT). We investigated whether optical surface monitoring systems (OSMS) could enable tattoo-less setup and substitute for 2-dimensional/3-dimensional or cone beam computed tomography (CBCT)-based mid-imaging in NSB SBRT.

Methods And Materials: OSMS was incorporated in parallel with an existing workflow using pretreatment CBCT and 2-dimensional/3-dimensional kV/kV mid-imaging beginning November 2019.

StereoPHIP: Stereoselective Parahydrogen-Induced Polarization.

Parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) followed by polarization transfer to C is a rapidly developing technique for the generation of C-hyperpolarized substrates. Chirality plays an essential role in living systems and differential metabolism of enantiomeric pairs of metabolic substrates is well documented. Inspired by asymmetric hydrogenation, here we report stereoPHIP, which involves the addition of parahydrogen to a prochiral substrate with a chiral catalyst followed by polarization transfer to C spins.

Spontaneous histone exchange between nucleosomes.

The nucleosome is the fundamental gene-packing unit in eukaryotes. Nucleosomes comprise ∼147 bp DNA wrapped around an octameric histone protein core composed of two H2A-H2B dimers and one (H3-H4) tetramer. The strong yet flexible DNA-histone interactions are the physical basis of the dynamic regulation of genes packaged in chromatin.

Methods to investigate nucleosome structure and dynamics with single-molecule FRET.

The nucleosome is the fundamental building block of chromatin. Changes taking place at the nucleosome level are the molecular basis of chromatin transactions with various enzymes and factors. These changes are directly and indirectly regulated by chromatin modifications such as DNA methylation and histone post-translational modifications including acetylation, methylation, and ubiquitylation.

Spontaneous Histone Exchange Between Nucleosomes.

The nucleosome is the fundamental gene-packing unit in eukaryotes. Nucleosomes comprise ∼147 bp DNA wrapped around an octameric histone protein core composed of two H2A-H2B dimers and one (H3-H4) tetramer. The strong yet flexible DNA-histone interactions are a physical basis of the dynamic regulation of genes packaged in chromatin.

Three reasons why parental burnout is more prevalent in individualistic countries: a mediation study in 36 countries.

Purpose: The prevalence of parental burnout, a condition that has severe consequences for both parents and children, varies dramatically across countries and is highest in Western countries characterized by high individualism.

Method: In this study, we examined the mediators of the relationship between individualism measured at the country level and parental burnout measured at the individual level in 36 countries (16,059 parents).

Results: The results revealed three mediating mechanisms, that is, self-discrepancies between socially prescribed and actual parental selves, high agency and self-directed socialization goals, and low parental task sharing, by which individualism leads to an increased risk of burnout among parents.

A phylogenetic study of dengue virus in urban Vietnam shows long-term persistence of endemic strains.

Dengue virus (DENV) causes repeated outbreaks of disease in endemic areas, with patterns of local transmission strongly influenced by seasonality, importation via human movement, immunity, and vector control efforts. An understanding of how each of these interacts to enable endemic transmission (continual circulation of local virus strains) is largely unknown. There are times of the year when no cases are reported, often for extended periods of time, perhaps wrongly implying the successful eradication of a local strain from that area.

Comparison of MR-soft tissue based versus biliary stent based alignment for image guidance in pancreatic SBRT.

Purpose: The role of biliary stents in image-guided localization for pancreatic cancer has been inconclusive. To date, stent accuracy has been largely evaluated against implanted fiducials on cone beam computed tomography. We aim to use magnetic resonance (MR) soft tissue as a direct reference to examine the geometric and dosimetric impacts of stent-based localization on the newly available MR linear accelerator.

Spinal Cord Delineation Based on Computed Tomography Myelogram Versus T2 Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Spinal Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: Spinal cord delineation is critical to the delivery of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Although underestimating the spinal cord can lead to irreversible myelopathy, overestimating the spinal cord may compromise the planning target volume coverage. We compare spinal cord contours based on computed tomography (CT) simulation with a myelogram to spinal cord contours based on fused axial T2 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).