Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential is associated with increased risk of immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis in a prospective study of a cardio-oncology cohort.

Background: Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) has been shown to increase all-cause mortality and risk of cardiomyopathy in patients with solid malignancies. CHIP has also been shown to increase T cell activation in heart failure patients. It is unclear whether CHIP can affect the risk of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) myocarditis in patients with cancer treated with immunotherapy.

Evaluation of hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure among groundskeepers in the southeastern United States.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to evaluate daily hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure among groundskeepers, characterize power tools used, and estimate lifetime cumulative HAV exposure dose.

Methods: Seventeen groundskeepers and ten office workers employed at two US southeasterrn institutions were recruited as a target exposure group and a reference group, respectively. A 6-d exposure assessment of HAV was scheduled, and vibration dosimeters were used to obtain daily vibration exposure value, A(8).

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on physician-scientist trainees to faculty one year into the pandemic.

Purpose: Physician-scientists play a crucial role in advancing biomedical sciences. Proportionally fewer physicians are actively engaged in scientific pursuits, attributed to attrition in the training and retention pipeline. This national study evaluated the ongoing and longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress levels, research productivity, and optimism for physician-scientists at all levels of training.

Differential Effects of Ascites and Hepatic Encephalopathy on Waitlist Mortality in Liver Transplantation by MELD 3.0.

Background: MELD 3.0 introduces changes to address waitlist disparities for liver transplant (LT) candidates. Ascites and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) are important milestones in the natural history of cirrhosis regardless of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score.

Loss of Sarm1 reduces retinal ganglion cell loss in chronic glaucoma.

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness worldwide and vision loss in the disease results from the deterioration of retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and their axons. Metabolic dysfunction of RGC plays a significant role in the onset and progression of the disease in both human patients and rodent models, highlighting the need to better define the mechanisms regulating cellular energy metabolism in glaucoma. This study sought to determine if Sarm1, a gene involved in axonal degeneration and NAD+ metabolism, contributes to glaucomatous RGC loss in a mouse model with chronic elevated intraocular pressure (IOP).

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Physician-Scientist Trainees to Faculty One Year into the Pandemic.

Purpose: Physician-scientists play a crucial role in advancing biomedical sciences. Proportionally fewer physicians are actively engaged in scientific pursuits, attributed to attrition in the training and retention pipeline. This national study evaluated the ongoing and longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on research productivity for physician-scientists at all levels of training.

Laboratory evaluation of occupational exposure to hand-arm vibration (HAV) during grounds maintenance equipment operations.

Introduction And Objective: About 2.5 million workers in the USA are exposed to hand-arm vibration (HAV) from power tools. The aims of the study were to evaluate occupational exposure to HAV during grounds maintenance equipment operations and the effect of general work gloves on vibration magnitude under controlled laboratory conditions.

Tracking B Cell Memory to SARS-CoV-2 Using Rare Cell Analysis System.

Rapid mutations within SARS-CoV-2 are driving immune escape, highlighting the need for in-depth and routine analysis of memory B cells (MBCs) to complement the important but limited information from neutralizing antibody (nAb) studies. In this study, we collected plasma samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 35 subjects and studied the nAb titers and the number of antigen-specific memory B cells at designated time points before and after vaccination. We developed an assay to use the MiSelect R II System with a single-use microfluidic chip to directly detect the number of spike-receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific MBCs in PBMCs.

Access to Neurorehabilitation Interdisciplinary Outpatient Programs in British Columbia.

This survey explored access to British Columbia (BC) hospital-based neurorehabilitation outpatient programs (HB-NROPs). Fifteen rehabilitation-focused healthcare providers were interviewed. Wait times for HB-NROPs were up to 3 months for initial appointments, and inclusion criteria were variable.

Effects of low-frequency noise from wind turbines on heart rate variability in healthy individuals.

Wind turbines generate low-frequency noise (LFN, 20-200 Hz), which poses health risks to nearby residents. This study aimed to assess heart rate variability (HRV) responses to LFN exposure and to evaluate the LFN exposure (dB, L) inside households located near wind turbines. Thirty subjects living within a 500 m radius of wind turbines were recruited.

A community-based study on associations between PM and PM exposure and heart rate variability using wearable low-cost sensing devices.

Few studies have investigated the effect of personal PM and PM exposures on heart rate variability (HRV) for a community-based population, especially in Asia. This study evaluates the effects of personal PM and PM exposure on HRV during two seasons for 35 healthy adults living in an urban community in Taiwan. The low-cost sensing (LCS) devices were used to monitor the PM levels and HRV, respectively, for two consecutive days.

A ferrobotic system for automated microfluidic logistics.

Automated technologies that can perform massively parallelized and sequential fluidic operations at small length scales can resolve major bottlenecks encountered in various fields, including medical diagnostics, -omics, drug development, and chemical/material synthesis. Inspired by the transformational impact of automated guided vehicle systems on manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution industries, we devised a ferrobotic system that uses a network of individually addressable robots, each performing designated micro-/nanofluid manipulation-based tasks in cooperation with other robots toward a shared objective. The underlying robotic mechanism facilitating fluidic operations was realized by addressable electromagnetic actuation of miniature mobile magnets that exert localized magnetic body forces on aqueous droplets filled with biocompatible magnetic nanoparticles.

Correction: Panel study using novel sensing devices to assess associations of PM with heart rate variability and exposure sources.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Panel study using novel sensing devices to assess associations of PM with heart rate variability and exposure sources.

Background/objective: This work applied a newly developed low-cost sensing (LCS) device (AS-LUNG-P) and a certified medical LCS device (Rooti RX) to assessing PM impacts on heart rate variability (HRV) and determining important exposure sources, with less inconvenience to subjects.

Methods: Observations using AS-LUNG-P were corrected by side-by-side comparison with GRIMM instruments. Thirty-six nonsmoking healthy subjects aged 20-65 years were wearing AS-LUNG-P and Rooti RX for 2-4 days in both Summer and Winter in Taiwan.

Two Distinct L-Lactate Dehydrogenases Play a Role in the Survival of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Cervical Epithelial Cells.

L-lactate is an abundant metabolite in a number of niches in host organisms and represents an important carbon source for bacterial pathogens such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae. In this study, we describe an alternative, iron-sulfur cluster-containing L-lactate dehydrogenase (LutACB), that is distinct from the flavoprotein L-lactate dehydrogenase (LldD). Expression of lutACB was found to be positively regulated by iron, whereas lldD was more highly expressed under conditions of iron-limitation.

Structural basis of thiol-based regulation of formaldehyde detoxification in H. influenzae by a MerR regulator with no sensor region.

Pathogenic bacteria such as Haemophilus influenzae, a major cause of lower respiratory tract diseases, must cope with a range of electrophiles generated in the host or by endogenous metabolism. Formaldehyde is one such compound that can irreversibly damage proteins and DNA through alkylation and cross-linking and interfere with redox homeostasis. Its detoxification operates under the control of HiNmlR, a protein from the MerR family that lacks a specific sensor region and does not bind metal ions.

Formaldehyde Stress Responses in Bacterial Pathogens.

Formaldehyde is the simplest of all aldehydes and is highly cytotoxic. Its use and associated dangers from environmental exposure have been well documented. Detoxification systems for formaldehyde are found throughout the biological world and they are especially important in methylotrophic bacteria, which generate this compound as part of their metabolism of methanol.

A role for lactate dehydrogenases in the survival of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes and cervical epithelial cells.

Lactate is an abundant metabolite, produced by host tissues and commensal organisms, and it represents an important potential carbon source for bacterial pathogens. In the case of Neisseria spp., the importance of the lactate permease in colonization of the host has been demonstrated, but there have been few studies of lactate metabolism in pathogenic Neisseria in the postgenomic era.

A glutathione-dependent detoxification system is required for formaldehyde resistance and optimal survival of Neisseria meningitidis in biofilms.

Aim: The glutathione-dependent AdhC-EstD formaldehyde detoxification system is found in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. It is established that it confers protection against formaldehyde that is produced from environmental sources or methanol metabolism. Thus, its presence in the human host-adapted bacterial pathogen Neisseria meningitidis is intriguing.

Phenotypic characterization of a copA mutant of Neisseria gonorrhoeae identifies a link between copper and nitrosative stress.

NGO0579 is annotated copA in the Neisseria gonorrhoeae chromosome, suggesting that it encodes a cation-transporting ATPase specific for copper ions. Compared to wild-type cells, a copA mutant was more sensitive to killing by copper ions but not to other transition metals. The mutant also accumulated a greater amount of copper, consistent with the predicted role of CopA as a copper efflux pump.

Novel bacterial MerR-like regulators their role in the response to carbonyl and nitrosative stress.

Recognition of the diversity of transcriptional regulators of the MerR family has increased considerably over the last decade and it has been established that not all MerR-like regulators are involved in metal ion recognition. A new type of MerR-like regulator was identified in Neisseria gonorrhoeae that is distinct from metal-binding MerR proteins. This novel transcription factor, the Neisseria merR-like regulator (NmlR) is related to a large and diverse group of MerR-like regulators.

Association of DRD4 uVNTR and TP53 codon 72 polymorphisms with schizophrenia: a case-control study.

Background: The tumour supressor gene TP53 is thought to be involved in neural apoptosis. The polymorphism at codon 72 in TP53 and the long form variants of the upstream variable number of tandem repeats (uVNTR) polymorphism in the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene are reported to confer susceptibility to schizophrenia.

Methods: We recruited 934 patients with schizophrenia and 433 healthy individuals, and genotyped the locus of the TP53 codon 72 and DRD4 uVNTR polymorphisms by combining the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method (PCR-RFLP) with direct sequencing.

Genetic pathway of major depressive disorder in shortening telomeric length.

Context: Shortened telomeric length has been associated with aging and monoamine oxidase A gene activity. The pathways of genetic activity and mental disorder in shortening telomeric length, however, remain unclear.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the possible pathways of the monoamine oxidase A promoter, ApoE polymorphisms and telomeric length in major depressive disorder.