Adrenergic signaling gates astrocyte responsiveness to neurotransmitters and control of neuronal activity.

How astrocytes regulate neuronal circuits is a fundamental, unsolved question in neurobiology. Nevertheless, few studies have explored the rules that govern when astrocytes respond to different neurotransmitters and how they affect downstream circuit modulation. Here, we report an unexpected mechanism in by which G-protein coupled adrenergic signaling in astrocytes can control, or "gate," their ability to respond to other neurotransmitters.

Community-based, inclusive design of a 3D tactile map to enable playground navigation for children who are visually impaired and blind.

The LSU Community Playground Project (LSUCPP) collaborates with communities (especially the true experts at play, the children) to design and build playgrounds that reflect "the soul of the community." One member of the LSUCPP undertook a research project in an effort to design better playgrounds for use by children who are visually impaired or blind. A recommendation from this research was to provide a 3D-printed tactile map of each play area, such that children who were visually impaired or blind could feel the location and type of equipment and ground surfaces prior to entering a playground, which would enable them to play independently.

Evaluating a Novel AI Tool for Automated Measurement of the Aortic Root and Valve in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Objective Evaluating an artificial intelligence (AI) tool (AIATELLA, version 1.0; AIATELLA Oy, Helsinki, Finland) in interpreting cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to produce measurements of the aortic root and valve by comparison of accuracy and efficiency with that of three National Health Service (NHS) cardiologists. Methods AI-derived aortic root and valve measurements were recorded alongside manual measurements from three experienced NHS consultant cardiologists (CCs) over three separate sites in the northeast part of the United Kingdom.

Cardiovascular and bone health outcomes in older people with subclinical hypothyroidism treated with levothyroxine: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Thyroid dysfunction is common in older people, with females at higher risk. Evidence suggests that thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels naturally increase with age. However, as uniform serum TSH reference ranges are applied across the adult lifespan, subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) diagnosis is more likely in older people, with some individuals also being commenced treatment with levothyroxine (LT4).

Assessing the cardiovascular effects of levothyroxine use in an ageing United Kingdom population (ACEL-UK) protocol: a cohort and target trial emulation study.

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism is diagnosed when serum thyroid stimulating hormone levels are higher whilst free thyroxine levels remain within their respective reference ranges. These reference ranges are uniformly applied in all adults, despite serum thyroid stimulating hormone levels naturally increasing with age. Research has found that mildly elevated thyroid stimulating hormone levels may be associated with some benefits in ageing patients, including reduced mortality and better cardiorespiratory fitness.

Psychological Well-Being of Australian Actors and Performing Artists: Life Satisfaction and Negative Affect.

Background: Anecdotal evidence and media reports suggest that actors and other performing artists experience high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. However, no empirical study has examined the psychological well-being of this professional group.

Objective: The Australian Actors' Wellbeing Study (AWS) was conducted to examine the general wellbeing of Australian actors and performing artists.

Alcohol Use by Australian Actors and Performing Artists: A Preliminary Examination from the Australian Actors' Wellbeing Study.

Background: Anecdotal and media reports suggest that actors and performing artists are vulnerable to high levels of alcohol use. However, little empirical research is available to document the extent and correlates of alcohol use amongst these artists, particularly in an Australian context.

Objective: This study investigated alcohol use in a sample of Australian actors and other performing artists and its associations with sociodemographic background, psychological wellbeing, and work stress.

Eating Disorder Symptoms in Australian Actors and Performing Artists.

Aims: Anecdotal evidence suggests that actors and other performing artists are under great pressure to conform to idealized appearances and body types. The pursuit of such appearances may trigger eating disorder symptoms, such as unhealthy attitudes towards body weight and shape. Thus far, there has been no dedicated empirical study of the prevalence of such problems in Australian actors and performing artists specifically.

Autologous Fat Grafting as a Novel Approach to Parastomal Soft-tissue Volume Deficiencies.

The aim of this study is to describe a novel approach to revise maladaptive soft-tissue contour around an ileostomy. A patient with permanent ileostomy suffered from significant defects in soft-tissue contour due to scarring and wound contraction. He underwent autologous fat grafting to achieve sealing of his stoma appliance and improve cosmesis.

Fs-laser scissors for photobleaching, ablation in fixed samples and living cells, and studies of cell mechanics.

The use of ultrashort laser pulses for microscopy has steadily increased over the past years. In this so-called multiphoton microscopy, laser pulses with pulse duration around 100 femtoseconds (fs) are used to excite fluorescence within the samples. Due to the high peak powers of fs lasers, the absorption mechanism of the laser light is based on nonlinear absorption.

Viscoelastic retraction of single living stress fibers and its impact on cell shape, cytoskeletal organization, and extracellular matrix mechanics.

Cells change their form and function by assembling actin stress fibers at their base and exerting traction forces on their extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesions. Individual stress fibers are thought to be actively tensed by the action of actomyosin motors and to function as elastic cables that structurally reinforce the basal portion of the cytoskeleton; however, these principles have not been directly tested in living cells, and their significance for overall cell shape control is poorly understood. Here we combine a laser nanoscissor, traction force microscopy, and fluorescence photobleaching methods to confirm that stress fibers in living cells behave as viscoelastic cables that are tensed through the action of actomyosin motors, to quantify their retraction kinetics in situ, and to explore their contribution to overall mechanical stability of the cell and interconnected ECM.

RhoC promotes human melanoma invasion in a PI3K/Akt-dependent pathway.

Overexpression of the small GTPase, RhoC, in various human cancers has been correlated with high metastatic ability and poor prognosis. Rho-kinase (ROCK) is an important effector of Rho GTPases. The oncogenic serine/threonine kinase Akt (also known as PKB) is a downstream effector of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K).

Pulse energy dependence of subcellular dissection by femtosecond laser pulses.

Precise dissection of cells with ultrashort laser pulses requires a clear understanding of how the onset and extent of ablation (i.e., the removal of material) depends on pulse energy.

Parvovirus LuIII transducing vectors packaged by LuIII versus FPV capsid proteins: the VP1 N-terminal region is not a major determinant of human cell permissiveness.

Human cell lines are permissive for LuIII, a member of the rodent group of autonomous parvoviruses. However, LuIII vectors pseudotyped with feline panleukopaenia virus (FPV) capsid proteins can transduce feline cells but not human cells. Feline transferrin receptor (FelTfR) functions as a receptor for FPV.

Subwavelength-diameter silica wires for low-loss optical wave guiding.

Silica waveguides with diameters larger than the wavelength of transmitted light are widely used in optical communications, sensors and other applications. Minimizing the width of the waveguides is desirable for photonic device applications, but the fabrication of low-loss optical waveguides with subwavelength diameters remains challenging because of strict requirements on surface roughness and diameter uniformity. Here we report the fabrication of subwavelength-diameter silica 'wires' for use as low-loss optical waveguides within the visible to near-infrared spectral range.

Targeting diphtheria toxin A-chain transcription to activated endothelial cells using an E-selectin promoter.

Targeting the transcription of a toxin gene to activated endothelial cells might be used for inhibiting angiogenesis in solid tumors. As a model, we transiently transfected human endothelial cells (HUVEC) in culture with expression plasmids for the toxic A-chain of diphtheria toxin (DT-A), using electroporation (achieving approximately 70% transfection efficiency). Protein synthesis in HUVEC was highly sensitive to DT-A expression from constitutive viral promoters.

Autonomous parvovirus vectors.

Parvoviruses are small, icosahedral viruses (approximately 25 nm) containing a single-strand DNA genome (approximately 5 kb) with hairpin termini. Autonomous parvoviruses (APVs) are found in many species; they do not require a helper virus for replication but they do require proliferating cells (S-phase functions) and, in some cases, tissue-specific factors. APVs can protect animals from spontaneous or experimental tumors, leading to consideration of these viruses, and vectors derived from them, as anticancer agents.

Promoter strength in adenovirus transducing vectors: down-regulation of the adenovirus E1A promoter in 293 cells facilitates vector construction.

Most adenovirus transducing vectors have the cytomegalovirus major immediate-early (CMV) or the Rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat (RSV) promoter driving expression of the transgene. Both of these promoters are highly active in transfection and transduction assays in 293 cells, in which transducing vectors are constructed and grown, and in HeLa cells. The CMV promoter exhibits rapid activation while the RSV promoter exhibits a lag prior to the onset of viral DNA replication in transduction assays.

Expansion of tropism of a feline parvovirus to target a human tumor cell line by display of an alpha(v) integrin binding peptide on the capsid.

The autonomous parvoviruses are small, non-enveloped, single strand DNA viruses. They occur in many species and they have oncolytic properties. We are modifying the capsid of feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), a parvovirus which normally infects feline cells, with the goal of targeting human tumor cells for potential cancer therapy.

Expression of activated N-ras in a primary melanoma cell line counteracts growth inhibition by transforming growth factor-beta.

One critical factor in melanoma progression is the change from radial growth phase to vertical growth phase. We previously showed a high incidence of ras mutations in progressing but not early human melanomas. We also found that stable expression of activated Ras in a primary human melanoma cell line (WM35) led to enhanced proliferation, anchorage-independent survival, migration and invasion in vitro and enhanced subcutaneous tumor formation in vivo, transforming the melanoma phenotype from the radial growth phase to the vertical growth phase.

Positive tetracycline control of expression of p15INK4B from an Epstein-Barr autonomous plasmid in a human melanoma cell line.

Homozygous deletions in the region of chromosome 9p21 are frequent in human melanoma. Mutations in the p16INK4A cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CDI) gene at this locus have implicated the product of this gene as a tumor suppressor. Less attention has been focused on the homologous, closely linked p15INK4B gene.

Overexpression of mutant ras in human melanoma increases invasiveness, proliferation and anchorage-independent growth in vitro and induces tumour formation and cachexia in vivo.

Malignant melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer. Previous studies have shown that the incidence of ras mutation increases with progression of melanoma, but that such mutations may not be present in the earliest radial growth phase melanomas. Recently it has been proposed that introduction of ras mutations into cells deficient in tumour suppressor genes such as p16 (INK4a) is sufficient to induce characteristics of cellular transformation such as anchorage-independent growth and tumour formation in vivo.

Control of parvovirus DNA replication by a tetracycline-regulated repressor.

Autonomous parvoviruses are small, single strand DNA viruses which preferentially replicate in transformed and tumor cells, causing cell death by expression of the cytotoxic nonstructural protein, NS1. Several parvoviruses of the rodent group, including LuIII, efficiently infect human transformed cell lines. The potential for systemic use of these viruses in targeting metastases might be enhanced if NS1 expression and viral replication could be controlled by an innocuous drug such as tetracycline.