Metagenomics education in a modular CURE format positively affects students' scientific discovery perception and data analytical skills.

Targeted metagenomics is a rapidly expanding technology to analyze complex biological samples and genetic monitoring of environmental samples. In this research field, data analytical aspects play a crucial role. In order to teach targeted metagenomics data analysis, we developed a 4-week inquiry-driven modular course-based undergraduate research experience (mCURE) using publicly available Australian coral microbiome DNA sequencing data and associated metadata.

Cardiac fibroblast BAG3 regulates TGFBR2 signaling and fibrosis in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Loss of Bcl2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) is associated with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). BAG3 regulates sarcomere protein turnover in cardiomyocytes; however, the function of BAG3 in other cardiac cell types is understudied. In this study, we used an isogenic pair of BAG3-knockout and wild-type human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to interrogate the role of BAG3 in hiPSC-derived cardiac fibroblasts (CFs).

An engineered human cardiac tissue model reveals contributions of systemic lupus erythematosus autoantibodies to myocardial injury.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogenous autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs, including the heart. The mechanisms of myocardial injury in SLE remain poorly understood. In this study, we engineered human cardiac tissues and cultured them with IgG from patients with SLE, with and without myocardial involvement.

Macrophages enhance contractile force in iPSC-derived human engineered cardiac tissue.

Resident cardiac macrophages are critical mediators of cardiac function. Despite their known importance to cardiac electrophysiology and tissue maintenance, there are currently no stem-cell-derived models of human engineered cardiac tissues (hECTs) that include resident macrophages. In this study, we made an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived hECT model with a resident population of macrophages (iM0) to better recapitulate the native myocardium and characterized their impact on tissue function.

An engineered human cardiac tissue model reveals contributions of systemic lupus erythematosus autoantibodies to myocardial injury.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a highly heterogenous autoimmune disease that affects multiple organs, including the heart. The mechanisms by which myocardial injury develops in SLE, however, remain poorly understood. Here we engineered human cardiac tissues and cultured them with IgG fractions containing autoantibodies from SLE patients with and without myocardial involvement.

Using case vignettes to study the presence of outcome, hindsight, and implicit bias in acute unplanned medical care: a cross-sectional study.

Background And Importance: Various biases can impact decision-making and judgment of case quality in the Emergency Department (ED). Outcome and hindsight bias can lead to wrong retrospective judgment of care quality, and implicit bias can result in unjust treatment differences in the ED based on irrelevant patient characteristics.

Objectives: First, to evaluate the extent to which knowledge of an outcome influences physicians' quality of care assessment.

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART RATE IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT PATIENTS: A MULTICENTER COHORT STUDY.

Background: Guidelines and textbooks assert that tachycardia is an early and reliable sign of hypotension, and an increased heart rate (HR) is believed to be an early warning sign for the development of shock, although this response may change by aging, pain, and stress.

Objective: To assess the unadjusted and adjusted associations between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and HR in emergency department (ED) patients of different age categories (18-50 years; 50-80 years; > 80 years).

Methods: A multicenter cohort study using the Netherlands Emergency department Evaluation Database (NEED) including all ED patients ≥ 18 years from three hospitals in whom HR and SBP were registered at arrival to the ED.

Directed differentiation of human iPSCs into mesenchymal lineages by optogenetic control of TGF-β signaling.

In tissue development and homeostasis, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling is finely coordinated by latent forms and matrix sequestration. Optogenetics can offer precise and dynamic control of cell signaling. We report the development of an optogenetic human induced pluripotent stem cell system for TGF-β signaling and demonstrate its utility in directing differentiation into the smooth muscle, tenogenic, and chondrogenic lineages.

Engineered cardiac tissue model of restrictive cardiomyopathy for drug discovery.

Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) is defined as increased myocardial stiffness and impaired diastolic relaxation leading to elevated ventricular filling pressures. Human variants in filamin C (FLNC) are linked to a variety of cardiomyopathies, and in this study, we investigate an in-frame deletion (c.7416_7418delGAA, p.

Healthcare professionals' knowledge of the systematic ABCDE approach: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability and Exposure (ABCDE) approach is a universal, priority-based approach for the assessment and treatment of critically ill patients. Although the ABCDE approach is widely recommended, adherence in practice appears to be suboptimal. The cause of this non-compliance is unknown.

Alzheimer's Disease: Treatment Strategies and Their Limitations.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most frequent case of neurodegenerative disease and is becoming a major public health problem all over the world. Many therapeutic strategies have been explored for several decades; however, there is still no curative treatment, and the priority remains prevention. In this review, we present an update on the clinical and physiological phase of the AD spectrum, modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for AD treatment with a focus on prevention strategies, then research models used in AD, followed by a discussion of treatment limitations.

[Hardly any objection from patients against medical information feedback among healthcare workers in the acute care].

Objective: Feedback of patients' medical information among healthcare workers within the acute care could improve the quality of care during an Emergency Department (ED) visit. However, in practice, feedback among healthcare workers leads to juridical discussions. Therefore, this study explores whether ED patients agree with medical information feedback among healthcare workers in the acute care, such as the ambulance staff and ED physicians, and whether this was different from permission for feedback to the general practitioner.

Effects of electrically conductive nano-biomaterials on regulating cardiomyocyte behavior for cardiac repair and regeneration.

Myocardial infarction (MI) represents one of the most prevalent cardiovascular diseases, with a highly relevant and impactful role in public health. Despite the therapeutic advances of the last decades, MI still begets extensive death rates around the world. The pathophysiology of the disease correlates with cardiomyocyte necrosis, caused by an imbalance in the demand of oxygen to cardiac tissues, resulting from obstruction of the coronary flow.

Nanotherapeutics and Nanotheragnostics for Cancers: Properties, Pharmacokinetics, Biopharmaceutics, and Biosafety.

With the increasing worldwide rate of chronic diseases, such as cancer, the development of novel techniques to improve the efficacy of therapeutic agents is highly demanded. Nanoparticles are especially well suited to encapsulate drugs and other therapeutic agents, bringing additional advantages, such as less frequent dosage requirements, reduced side effects due to specific targeting, and therefore increased patient compliance. However, with the increasing use of nanoparticles and their recent launch on the pharmaceutical market, it is important to achieve high-quality control of these advanced systems.

Biofabrication of natural hydrogels for cardiac, neural, and bone Tissue engineering Applications.

Natural hydrogels are one of the most promising biomaterials for tissue engineering applications, due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and extracellular matrix mimicking ability. To surpass the limitations of conventional fabrication techniques and to recapitulate the complex architecture of native tissue structure, natural hydrogels are being constructed using novel biofabrication strategies, such as textile techniques and three-dimensional bioprinting. These innovative techniques play an enormous role in the development of advanced scaffolds for various tissue engineering applications.

Synthesis and characterization of C2C12-laden gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) from marine and mammalian sources.

Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) is widely used for tissue engineering applications as an extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicking scaffold due to its cost-effectiveness, ease of synthesis, and high biocompatibility. GelMA is widely synthesized from porcine skin gelatin, which labors under clinical, religious, and economical restrictions. In order to overcome these limitations, GelMA can be produced from fish skin gelatin, which is eco-friendly as well.

Immune Organs and Immune Cells on a Chip: An Overview of Biomedical Applications.

Understanding the immune system is of great importance for the development of drugs and the design of medical implants. Traditionally, two-dimensional static cultures have been used to investigate the immune system in vitro, while animal models have been used to study the immune system's function and behavior in vivo. However, these conventional models do not fully emulate the complexity of the human immune system or the human in vivo microenvironment.

Properties, Extraction Methods, and Delivery Systems for Curcumin as a Natural Source of Beneficial Health Effects.

This review discusses the impact of curcumin-an aromatic phytoextract from the turmeric () rhizome-as an effective therapeutic agent. Despite all of the beneficial health properties ensured by curcumin application, its pharmacological efficacy is compromised in vivo due to poor aqueous solubility, high metabolism, and rapid excretion that may result in poor systemic bioavailability. To overcome these problems, novel nanosystems have been proposed to enhance its bioavailability and bioactivity by reducing the particle size, the modification of surfaces, and the encapsulation efficiency of curcumin with different nanocarriers.

Nanotoxicology and Nanosafety: Safety-By-Design and Testing at a Glance.

This review offers a systematic discussion about nanotoxicology and nanosafety associated with nanomaterials during manufacture and further biomedical applications. A detailed introduction on nanomaterials and their most frequently uses, followed by the critical risk aspects related to regulatory uses and commercialization, is provided. Moreover, the impact of nanotoxicology in research over the last decades is discussed, together with the currently available toxicological methods in cell cultures (in vitro) and in living organisms (in vivo).

Naringenin-Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: A Potential Approach for Site-Specific Remote-Controlled Anticancer Delivery for the Treatment of Lung Cancer Cells.

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes functionalized with naringenin have been developed as new drug carriers to improve the performance of lung cancer treatment. The nanocarrier was characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Drug release rates were determined in vitro by the dialysis method.

New Trends in Drug Delivery Systems for Veterinary Applications.

Background: The veterinary pharmaceutical industry has shown significant growth in recent decades. Several factors contribute to this increase as the demand for the improvement of the quality of life of both domestic and wild animals, together with the need to improve the quality, productivity, and safety of foodstuffs of animal origin.

Methods: The goal of this work was to identify the most suitable medicines for animals that focus on drug delivery routes as those for humans, although they may have different devices, such as collars and ear tags.

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Gram-positive and -negative bacterial isolates directly from spiked blood culture media with Raman spectroscopy.

Patients suffering from bacterial bloodstream infections have an increased risk of developing systematic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), which can result in rapid deterioration of the patients' health. Diagnostic methods for bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility tests are time-consuming. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Raman spectroscopy would be able to rapidly provide an antimicrobial susceptibility profile from bacteria isolated directly from positive blood cultures.

Comparison of Raman spectroscopy and two molecular diagnostic methods for Burkholderia cepacia complex species identification.

Objectives: Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains, colonize the respiratory tract of cyctic fibrosis patients. These strains are phenotypically difficult to discriminate, but differ greatly in their pathogenic potential and species identification is relevant. Here, three methods were compared for their diagnostic capacity.

Molecular diagnostic analysis of outbreak scenarios.

In the current laboratory assignment, technical aspects of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are integrated in the context of six different bacterial outbreak scenarios. The "Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus Sequence" (ERIC) PCR was used to analyze different outbreak scenarios. First, groups of 2-4 students determined optimal ERIC-PCR conditions to validate the protocol and subsequently applied ERIC-PCR to identify genetic relatedness among bacterial strains.

Internal jugular vein thrombosis as paraneoplastic syndrome of primary ovarian non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Primary malignant lymphoma involving the ovaries is extremely rare. We present a unique case of a primary Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of both ovaries, preceded by an internal jugular vein trombosis (IJVT) as paraneoplastic syndrome. Currently, 36 months after surgical treatment of this FIGO Stage Ib, Ann Arbor Stage 2E NHL, the patient is clinically free of disease.