Workplace genetic testing: which employees are likely to participate, what are their concerns with employer sponsorship, and which design features could reduce barriers and increase participation?

Voluntary genetic testing (GT) leverages low-cost DNA sequencing and other testing methods to provide genetic risk screening for healthy individuals. Given the potential to prevent disease and promote health, some employers now offer GT as an employee benefit (workplace GT, or wGT), but participation remains low. To investigate facilitators and barriers to wGT participation, we conducted one of the first representative surveys of working U.

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Transient Systemic Hypoxia-Ischemia Result in Subtle Alterations in Dendritic Complexity in Medial Frontal Cortical Neurons in Juvenile and Young Adult Rat Offspring in a Pilot Study.

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with long-term neurodevelopmental deficits resulting in impaired executive functioning and motor control. Intriguingly, PAE has been linked with an increased risk of transient systemic hypoxia-ischemia (TSHI), which alone results in suboptimal fetal growth and neurodevelopmental consequences. Here, using two translationally relevant preclinical models, we investigated the short-term and lasting effects of PAE and TSHI on the morphology of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a region important in executive function, and tested whether PAE interacts with TSHI to produce a distinct pattern of injury relative to either condition alone.

Process of development of decentralised clinical trial methodology for cancer clinical trials in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Aim: To develop processes for the development of decentralised clinical trial methodology for Aotearoa New Zealand, focussing on equity of access to cancer clinical trials for Māori, Pacific people, vulnerable communities and those in rural settings.

Methods: A national steering committee supported by Te Aho o Te Kahu - Cancer Control Agency was formed to: guide the adaptation and implementation of overseas decentralised clinical trial models to suit the needs of Aotearoa New Zealand with an equity focus; provide high-level oversight and expertise for direction and development of policies, procedures and infrastructure compliant with ICH GCP R2; and implement a national strategy.

Results: Twelve standard operating procedures were developed, as well as a supervision plan and a glossary.

The athletes heart-from acute stimulus to chronic adaptation.

Introduction: The complex phenomenon of the athlete's heart (AH) describes the chronic physiological structural and functional adaptation secondary to repeated exposure of an acute exercise stimulus.

Sources Of Data: This narrative review is based on published evidence.

Areas Of Agreement: Highly trained athletic individuals frequently display cardiac parameters which are suggestive of an AH and can exceed the traditional 'normal' limits.

Clinical Reasoning: A 70-Year-Old Man With Systemic Illness Related Strokes Refractory to Medical Treatment Managed With Intracranial Stent.

We present the case of a 70-year-old man with a history of embolic stroke, atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis, and polymyalgia rheumatica who presented as a stroke code with transient right-sided focal neurologic deficits (motor and sensory), mild alteration in consciousness, and mild aphasia. His cerebrovascular imaging revealed new multifocal intracranial stenoses. Despite best medical management, this patient continued to have recurrent symptomatic cerebrovascular events.

Discovery of Selective Cyclic d-Sulfopeptide Ligands of the Chemokine CCL22 via Mirror-Image mRNA Display with Genetic Reprogramming.

Chemokines are small proteins involved in recruiting leukocytes to sites of inflammation via interactions with specific cell surface receptors. CCL22 is a chemokine known to play a critical role in inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis and asthma; inhibition of this chemokine therefore represents an attractive therapeutic strategy. Herein, we describe the discovery of cyclic d-sulfopeptide inhibitors of CCL22 identified through mirror-image mRNA display with genetic reprogramming.

Feasibility of Super-thin Anterolateral Thigh Free Flap for Oral and Pharyngeal Reconstruction.

Objectives: To highlight the feasibility of employing super-thin ALT free flaps for reconstruction of complex oral cavity and oropharyngeal defects.

Methods: Retrospective chart review.

Results: Sixteen super-thin ALT free flaps were performed in 15 patients between 2020 and 2023 for reconstruction of oral cavity defects (seven oral tongue, three floor of mouth, three buccal, two oropharynx, one lower lip).

Single cell spatial profiling of FFPE splenic tissue from a humanized mouse model of HIV infection.

Background: Latency remains a major obstacle to finding a cure for HIV despite the availability of antiretroviral therapy. Due to virus dormancy, limited biomarkers are available to identify latent HIV-infected cells. Profiling of individual HIV-infected cells is needed to explore potential latency biomarkers and to study the mechanisms of persistence that maintain the HIV reservoir.

The impact of a web-based prognostic calculator on prognostic confidence in outpatient palliative care.

Purpose: Clinicians are often uncertain about their prognostic estimates, which may impede prognostic communication and clinical decision-making. We assessed the impact of a web-based prognostic calculator on physicians' prognostic confidence.

Methods: In this prospective study, palliative care physicians estimated the prognosis of patients with advanced cancer in an outpatient clinic using the temporal, surprise, and probabilistic approaches for 6 m, 3 m, 2 m, 1 m, 2 w, 1 w, and 3 d.

Total Venous Control and Vein-to-the-Right Superior Mesenteric Artery Approach in Robotic Pancreatoduodenectomy.

Background: Robotic pancreatoduodenectomy is an increasingly accepted alternative for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, the ability to perform a meticulous robotic-assisted superior mesenteric artery (SMA) dissection to obtain a margin-negative resection remains unknown. PDAC within the head of the pancreas (HOP) that involves the superior mesenteric vein (SMV) and portal vein (PV) requires total venous control (TVC) and a 'vein-to-the-right' (or anterior artery-first) approach to SMA dissection to minimize venous congestion and operative blood loss.

Cell-based therapies reverse the heart failure-altered right ventricular proteome.

Background: Congenital heart defects can lead to right ventricular (RV) pressure-overload and heart failure. Cell-based therapies, including mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and c-kit positive cells (CPCs) have been studied clinically as options to restore heart function in disease states. Many studies have indicated these cells act through paracrine mechanisms to prevent apoptosis, promote cellular function, and regulate gene/protein expression.

Gene-environment correlation: the role of family environment in academic development.

Academic achievement is partly heritable and highly polygenic. However, genetic effects on academic achievement are not independent of environmental processes. We investigated whether aspects of the family environment mediated genetic effects on academic achievement across development.

Loss of prohibitin 2 in Schwann cells dysregulates key transcription factors controlling developmental myelination.

Schwann cells are critical for the proper development and function of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), where they form a collaborative relationship with axons. Past studies highlighted that a pair of proteins called the prohibitins play major roles in Schwann cell biology. Prohibitins are ubiquitously expressed and versatile proteins.

Biopsy Proteome Score Performs Well as an Effect Measure in a Gluten Challenge Trial of Celiac Disease.

Background And Aims: Development of novel treatments for celiac disease is dependent on precise tools to monitor changes in gluten-induced mucosal damage. Current histology measures are subjective and difficult to standardize. Biopsy proteome scoring is an objective alternative to histology which is based on robust changes in biological pathways that directly reflect gluten-induced mucosal damage.

Intranasal Self-Adjuvanted Lipopeptide Vaccines Elicit High Antibody Titers and Strong Cellular Responses against SARS-CoV-2.

Despite concerted efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, the persistent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 demands continued research into novel vaccination strategies to combat the virus. In light of this, intranasally administered peptide vaccines, particularly those conjugated to an immune adjuvant to afford so-called "self-adjuvanted vaccines", remain underexplored. Here, we describe the synthesis and immunological evaluation of self-adjuvanting peptide vaccines derived from epitopes of the spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 covalently fused to the potent adjuvant, PamCys, that targets toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2).

Asymmetric effects of hydroclimate extremes on eastern US tree growth: Implications on current demographic shifts and climate variability.

Forests around the world are experiencing changes due to climate variability and human land use. How these changes interact and influence the vulnerability of forests are not well understood. In the eastern United States, well-documented anthropogenic disturbances and land-use decisions, such as logging and fire suppression, have influenced forest species assemblages, leading to a demographic shift from forests dominated by xeric species to those dominated by mesic species.

The enzymatic oxygen sensor cysteamine dioxygenase binds its protein substrates through their N-termini.

The non-heme iron-dependent dioxygenase 2-aminoethanethiol (aka cysteamine) dioxygenase (ADO) has recently been identified as an enzymatic oxygen sensor that coordinates cellular changes to hypoxia by regulating the stability of proteins bearing an N-terminal cysteine (Nt-cys) through the N-degron pathway. It catalyzes O-dependent Nt-cys sulfinylation, which promotes proteasomal degradation of the target. Only a few ADO substrates have been verified, including regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) 4 and 5, and the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-32, all of which exhibit cell and/or tissue specific expression patterns.

Love Lost in Translation: Avoidant Individuals Inaccurately Perceive Their Partners' Positive Emotions During Love Conversations.

Empathic accuracy-the ability to decipher others' thoughts and feelings-promotes relationship satisfaction. Those high in attachment avoidance tend to be less empathically accurate; however, past research has been limited to relatively negative or neutral contexts. We extend work on attachment and empathic accuracy to the positive context of love.

Transcriptomics Provide Insights into Early Responses to Sucrose Signaling in , a Model Plant for Adaptations to Phosphorus and Iron Deficiency.

Phosphorus (P) and iron (Fe) deficiency are major limiting factors for plant productivity worldwide. White lupin ( L.) has become a model plant for understanding plant adaptations to P and Fe deficiency, because of its ability to form cluster roots, bottle-brush-like root structures play an important role in the uptake of P and Fe from soil.