A Novel Preclinical Murine Model of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus-Like Cardiovascular Disease.

Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects nine women to every man worldwide, and these patients are at greater risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Clinical studies have demonstrated that patients with SLE are more likely to develop CVD, including cardiac and vascular dysfunction. Although many preclinical models of SLE are available, including treatment with Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8 agonists, a consistent preclinical model of SLE-like CVD with systemic, cardiac, renal, and cerebral endothelial activation and cardiac dysfunction has yet to be described.

Molecular encoding of stimulus features in a single sensory neuron type enables neuronal and behavioral plasticity.

Neurons modify their transcriptomes in response to an animal's experience. How specific experiences are transduced to modulate gene expression and precisely tune neuronal functions are not fully defined. Here, we describe the molecular profile of a thermosensory neuron pair in C.

Molecular encoding of stimulus features in a single sensory neuron type enables neuronal and behavioral plasticity.

Neurons modify their transcriptomes in response to an animal’s experience. How specific experiences are transduced to modulate gene expression and precisely tune neuronal functions are not fully defined. Here, we describe the molecular profile of a thermosensory neuron pair in experiencing different temperature stimuli.

Generation of anti-GD2 CAR macrophages from human pluripotent stem cells for cancer immunotherapies.

Macrophages armed with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) provide a potent new option for treating solid tumors. However, genetic engineering and scalable production of somatic macrophages remains significant challenges. Here, we used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing methods to integrate an anti-GD2 CAR into the AAVS1 locus of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs).

SpatialCorr identifies gene sets with spatially varying correlation structure.

Recent advances in spatially resolved transcriptomics technologies enable both the measurement of genome-wide gene expression profiles and their mapping to spatial locations within a tissue. A first step in spatial transcriptomics data analysis is identifying genes with expression that varies spatially, and robust statistical methods exist to address this challenge. While useful, these methods do not detect spatial changes in the coordinated expression within a group of genes.

Quality of Late-Life Depression Information on the Internet: Website Evaluation Study.

Background: The internet can increase the accessibility of mental health information and improve the mental health literacy of older adults. The quality of mental health information on the internet can be inaccurate or biased, leading to misinformation.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the quality, usability, and readability of websites providing information concerning depression in later life.

Examining Anxiety Treatment Information Needs: Web-Based Survey Study.

Background: Several treatments for anxiety are available, which can make treatment decisions difficult. Resources are often produced with limited knowledge of what information is of interest to consumers. This is a problem because there is limited understanding of what people want to know when considering help for anxiety.

An evaluation of the quality of online perinatal depression information.

Background: During the perinatal period (including pregnancy and up to 12 months after childbirth), expectant and new mothers are at an elevated risk of developing depression. Inadequate knowledge about perinatal depression and treatment options may contribute to the low help-seeking rates exhibited by perinatal people. The Internet can be an accessible source of information about perinatal depression; however, the quality of this information remains to be evaluated.

Identification of direct transcriptional targets of NFATC2 that promote β cell proliferation.

The transcription factor NFATC2 induces β cell proliferation in mouse and human islets. However, the genomic targets that mediate these effects have not been identified. We expressed active forms of Nfatc2 and Nfatc1 in human islets.

The Anna Karenina Model of β-Cell Maturation in Development and Their Dedifferentiation in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.

Loss of mature β-cell function and identity, or β-cell dedifferentiation, is seen in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Two competing models explain β-cell dedifferentiation in diabetes. In the first model, β-cells dedifferentiate in the reverse order of their developmental ontogeny.

Do anxiety websites have the answers people are looking for?

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: A wealth of online anxiety information exists but much of it is not evidence-based or well-balanced. This study evaluated anxiety websites (N = 20) on readability, quality, usability, visual design, and content.

Results: Overall, websites were of reasonable quality but only half were considered understandable according to the PEMAT usability scale (70% cutoff value).

CHARTS: a web application for characterizing and comparing tumor subpopulations in publicly available single-cell RNA-seq data sets.

Background: Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) enables the profiling of genome-wide gene expression at the single-cell level and in so doing facilitates insight into and information about cellular heterogeneity within a tissue. This is especially important in cancer, where tumor and tumor microenvironment heterogeneity directly impact development, maintenance, and progression of disease. While publicly available scRNA-seq cancer data sets offer unprecedented opportunity to better understand the mechanisms underlying tumor progression, metastasis, drug resistance, and immune evasion, much of the available information has been underutilized, in part, due to the lack of tools available for aggregating and analysing these data.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Diagnostic Accuracy of the Advanced Clinical Solutions Word Choice Test as a Performance Validity Test.

Thorough assessment of performance validity has become an established standard of practice in neuropsychological assessment. While there has been a large focus on the development and cross-validation of embedded performance validity tests (PVTs) in recent years, new freestanding PVTs have also been developed, including the Word Choice Test (WCT) as part of the Advanced Clinical Solutions Effort System. And, while the WCT's general utility for identifying invalid performance has been demonstrated in the ensuing decade since its initial publication, optimal cut-scores and associated psychometric properties have varied widely across studies.

Victoria Symptom Validity Test: A Systematic Review and Cross-Validation Study.

The Victoria Symptom Validity Test (VSVT) is a performance validity test (PVT) with over two decades of empirical backing, although methodological limitations within the extant literature restrict its clinical and research generalizability. Chief among these constraints includes limited consensus on the most accurate index within the VSVT and the most appropriate cut-scores within each VSVT validity index. The current systematic review synthesizes existing VSVT validation studies and provides additional cross-validation in an independent sample using a known-groups design.

CellO: comprehensive and hierarchical cell type classification of human cells with the Cell Ontology.

Cell type annotation is a fundamental task in the analysis of single-cell RNA-sequencing data. In this work, we present CellO, a machine learning-based tool for annotating human RNA-seq data with the Cell Ontology. CellO enables accurate and standardized cell type classification of cell clusters by considering the rich hierarchical structure of known cell types.

Large-Scale Multi-omic Analysis of COVID-19 Severity.

We performed RNA-seq and high-resolution mass spectrometry on 128 blood samples from COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative patients with diverse disease severities and outcomes. Quantified transcripts, proteins, metabolites, and lipids were associated with clinical outcomes in a curated relational database, uniquely enabling systems analysis and cross-ome correlations to molecules and patient prognoses. We mapped 219 molecular features with high significance to COVID-19 status and severity, many of which were involved in complement activation, dysregulated lipid transport, and neutrophil activation.

New Patient Education Video on Colonoscopy Preparation: Development and Evaluation Study.

Background: Although several patient education materials on colonoscopy preparation exist, few studies have evaluated or compared them; hence, there is no professional consensus on recommended content or media to use.

Objective: This study aims to address this need by developing and evaluating a new video on colonoscopy preparation.

Methods: We developed a new video explaining split-dose bowel preparation for colonoscopy.

Jupyter notebook-based tools for building structured datasets from the Sequence Read Archive.

The Sequence Read Archive (SRA) is a large public repository that stores raw next-generation sequencing data from thousands of diverse scientific investigations.  Despite its promise, reuse and re-analysis of SRA data has been challenged by the heterogeneity and poor quality of the metadata that describe its biological samples. Recently, the MetaSRA project standardized these metadata by annotating each sample with terms from biomedical ontologies.

Out of sight, out of mind: The impact of material-specific memory impairment on Rey 15-Item Test performance.

This study examined the effect of increasing material-specific verbal and visual memory impairment severity on Rey 15-Item Test (RFIT) and RFIT/Recognition Trial performance. Data from 146 clinically referred patients (109 valid/37 invalid) who completed the RFIT, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test were analyzed. Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test/BVMT memory impairment was operationalized as ≥40T (no memory impairment), 30T-39T (mild memory impairment), or ≤29T (severe memory impairment).

Large-scale Multi-omic Analysis of COVID-19 Severity.

We performed RNA-Seq and high-resolution mass spectrometry on 128 blood samples from COVID-19 positive and negative patients with diverse disease severities. Over 17,000 transcripts, proteins, metabolites, and lipids were quantified and associated with clinical outcomes in a curated relational database, uniquely enabling systems analysis and cross-ome correlations to molecules and patient prognoses. We mapped 219 molecular features with high significance to COVID-19 status and severity, many involved in complement activation, dysregulated lipid transport, and neutrophil activation.

The Psychological and Financial Impact of Long-distance Travel for Liver Transplantation.

Background: Patients who travel long distances to undergo liver transplantation have limited opportunities to develop confidence in their new healthcare providers and experience fewer support visits from family and friends at the transplant site. The objectives of this study were to document the psychological and financial impact of having to travel long distances for liver transplantation in adult liver disease patients.

Methods: This was a single-center, prospective study that used a 7-question survey, including Likert scales, patient recall, and administrative databases.

Impaired or invalid? Limitations of assessing performance validity using the Boston Naming Test.

The Boston Naming Test (BNT) has been proposed as an embedded performance validity test (PVT), though replication is needed to provide further empirical support of its simultaneous use as a cognitive ability measure and embedded PVT. This cross-sectional study examined BNT performance in a mixed neuropsychiatric sample of 137 patients with/without cognitive impairment. Four independent criterion PVTs classified 109 (80%) as valid and 28 (20%) as invalid.