Anabolic deficits and divergent unfolded protein response underlie skeletal and cardiac muscle growth impairments in the Yoshida hepatoma tumor model of cancer cachexia.

Cancer cachexia manifests as whole body wasting, however, the precise mechanisms governing the alterations in skeletal muscle and cardiac anabolism have yet to be fully elucidated. In this study, we explored changes in anabolic processes in both skeletal and cardiac muscles in the Yoshida AH-130 ascites hepatoma model of cancer cachexia. AH-130 tumor-bearing rats experienced significant losses in body weight, skeletal muscle, and heart mass.

Immune cell populations and induced immune responses at admission in patients hospitalized with vaccine breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Background: Vaccine breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections are common and of clinical and public health concern. However, little is known about the immunological characteristics of patients hospitalized due to these infections. We aimed to investigate and compare immune cell subpopulations and induced immune responses in vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19.

Erratum: Author Correction: Early stimulated immune responses predict clinical disease severity in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/s43856-022-00178-5.].

Risk of colorectal cancer after use of fertility drugs-results from a large Danish population-based cohort of women with infertility.

Objective: To study the association between use of fertility drugs and colorectal cancer among women with infertility.

Design: Population-based cohort study.

Setting: Not applicable.

Tumors of the central nervous system among women treated with fertility drugs: a population-based cohort study.

Purpose: To investigate the association between fertility drugs and tumors of the central nervous system (CNS).

Methods: This cohort study was based on The Danish Infertility Cohort and included 148,016 infertile women living in Denmark (1995-2017). The study cohort was linked to national registers to obtain information on use of specific fertility drugs, cancer diagnoses, covariates, emigration, and vital status.

Prediction of Respiratory Failure and Mortality in COVID-19 Patients Using Long Pentraxin PTX3.

The course of COVID-19 is unpredictable, ranging from asymptomatic to respiratory failure and death. Prognostic biomarkers are urgently needed. We hypothesized that long pentraxin PTX3 could be a valuable plasma biomarker due to its essential role in inflammatory processes.

Risk Factors for Being Seronegative following SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Large Cohort of Health Care Workers in Denmark.

Most individuals seroconvert after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but being seronegative is observed in 1 to 9%. We aimed to investigate the risk factors associated with being seronegative following PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. In a prospective cohort study, we screened health care workers (HCW) in the Capital Region of Denmark for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

Risk of primary brain tumour after breast cancer.

Introduction: Cancer registry data in the USA indicated that women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40 were at increased risk of a new primary tumour within the brain and women aged 50 years or above were at lower risk than expected. Our aim was to investigate if similar results could be found in Danish population-based data, considering an explanatory role of hormonal status.

Methods: Our study cohort included all women diagnosed with breast cancer below the age of 60 between 1978 and 2013 in Denmark.

Sinus bacteriology in patients with cystic fibrosis or primary ciliary dyskinesia: A systematic review.

Background: A correlation exists between the microbial flora of the upper and lower airways in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). The sinuses can function as a bacterial reservoir where gram-negative bacteria adapt to the airways and repeatedly are aspirated to and colonize the lungs according to the theory of the united (unified) airways. Whereas the pattern of bacterial flora in the lower airways has been extensively studied, the upper airways have drawn limited attention.

Subcritical water as reaction environment: fundamentals of hydrothermal biomass transformation.

Subcritical water, that is, water above the boiling and below critical point, is a unique and sustainable reaction medium. Based on its solvent properties, in combination with the often considerable intrinsic water content of natural biomass, it is often considered as a potential solvent for biomass processing. Current knowledge on biomass transformation in subcritical water is, however, still rather scattered without providing a consistent picture.

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin is present in human breast milk.

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) has emerged as a potential key mediator of both the initiation and maintenance of Th2 responsiveness and thereby the allergic inflammatory cascade. Given the possible role of TSLP in initiating Th2-mediated allergic disease more detailed investigation of TSLP expression and responsiveness in early life is warranted. Therefore, the presence of TSLP in breast milk was evaluated.

Serum angiotensin converting enzyme and the obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome.

Study Objectives: We wanted to see if the obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) causes hypertension and endothelial dysfunction through activation of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE).

Methods: A cross-sectional followed by a prospective, interventional study in a sleep disordered breathing clinic in a UK Hospital. We measured baseline serum ACE activity and ACE allele frequencies in 26 consecutive (untreated) OSAHS patients, 26 consecutive Sleepy Snorers, and 26 healthy (non-sleepy) controls.

Binding of serotonin to the human serotonin transporter. Molecular modeling and experimental validation.

Molecular modeling and structure-activity relationship studies were performed to propose a model for binding of the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) to the human serotonin transporter (hSERT). Homology models were constructed using the crystal structure of a bacterial homologue, the leucine transporter from Aquifex aeolicus, as the template and three slightly different sequence alignments. Induced fit docking of 5-HT into hSERT homology models resulted in two different binding modes.

Genetic haplotypes of Th-2 immune signalling link allergy to enhanced protection to parasitic worms.

Parasitic worm infection, allergy and asthma involve increased IgE production, eosinophil activity, mucus secretion and smooth muscle reactivity, effected through Th-2 immune signalling. These pathological features of allergic disorder, common in developed countries, appear to be protective features in resistance to parasitic worm infections prevalent in many developing countries. We investigated how genetic variation in the Th-2 signalling transduction molecule STAT6 relates to these clinical disorders, using immune phenotyping by serum IgE levels and haplotyping nine STAT6 genetic variants in a rural Chinese population, where Ascaris infection is prevalent, and an urban UK population where Ascaris is largely unknown but asthma and allergy are prevalent.

Refined localization of the FAT1 quantitative trait locus on pig chromosome 4 by marker-assisted backcrossing.

Background: A major QTL for fatness and growth, denoted FAT1, has previously been detected on pig chromosome 4q (SSC4q) using a Large White - wild boar intercross. Progeny that carried the wild boar allele at this locus had higher fat deposition, shorter length of carcass, and reduced growth. The position and the estimated effects of the FAT1 QTL for growth and fatness have been confirmed in a previous study.

Stable overexpression of Smad7 in human melanoma cells inhibits their tumorigenicity in vitro and in vivo.

We previously identified constitutive Smad signaling in human melanoma cells despite resistance to transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) control of cell proliferation. This led us to investigate the effect of inhibitory Smad7 overexpression on melanoma cell behavior. Using the highly metastatic cell line, 1205-Lu, we thus generated melanoma cell clones constitutively expressing Smad7, and their mock-transfected counterparts.

High-resolution comparative mapping of pig Chromosome 4, emphasizing the FAT1 region.

The first quantitative trait locus (QTL) in pigs, FAT1, was found on Chromosome 4 (SSC4) using a Wild Boar intercross. Further mapping has refined the FAT1 QTL to a region with conserved synteny to both human Chromosomes 1 and 8. To both improve the comparative map of the entire SSC4 and to define the specific human chromosome region with conserved synteny to FAT1, we have now mapped 103 loci to pig Chromosome 4 using a combination of radiation hybrid and linkage mapping.

Identification of interaction partners and substrates of the cyclin A1-CDK2 complex.

The CDK2-associated cyclin A1 is essential for spermatogenesis and contributes to leukemogenesis. The detailed molecular functions of cyclin A1 remain unclear, since the molecular networks involving cyclin A1-CDK2 have not been elucidated. Here, we identified novel cyclin A1/CDK2 interaction partners in a yeast triple-hybrid approach.