Pulmonary Co-Infections Detected Premortem Underestimate Postmortem Findings in a COVID-19 Autopsy Case Series.

Bacterial and fungal co-infections are reported complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in critically ill patients but may go unrecognized premortem due to diagnostic limitations. We compared the premortem with the postmortem detection of pulmonary co-infections in 55 fatal COVID-19 cases from March 2020 to March 2021. The concordance in the premortem versus the postmortem diagnoses and the pathogen identification were evaluated.

Commentary: Prevention of saphenous vein graft disease remains elusive.

One-year outcomes of Ticagrelor Antiplatelet Therapy to Reduce Graft Events and Thrombosis (TARGET), a randomized double-blinded clinical trial comparing post-coronary artery bypass surgery antiplatelet therapy with ticagrelor versus aspirin are published in this issue of the Journal. Although the authors did not detect statistically significant differences in their primary outcome (saphenous vein graft patency at 1 year) and major adverse cardiovascular events, their findings must be interpreted with caution given important limitations in the design and execution of the trial.

Love at First Click: Surgery Residency Websites in the Virtual Era.

Introduction: Frequently, a residency program's website is the first interaction students interested in surgery have with the program. In the setting of virtual interviews for residency in 2020, the online availability of program information is of heightened importance. We sought to assess how academic versus community-based general surgery residency programs compared with respect to certain details on their websites.

Ultrasound-assisted catheter directed thrombolysis for pulmonary embolus during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Background: Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third most common cause of cardiovascular death. For patients who are hemodynamically unstable, veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) support has been shown to provide hemodynamic stability, and allow time for definitive treatment and recovery. Ultrasound-assisted catheter directed thrombolysis (USAT) has the potential to be a safe adjunct and expedite right ventricular (RV) recovery for patients requiring VA-ECMO for PE.

A Retrospective Study of Infection in Patients Requiring Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Support.

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in critically ill patients are a serious public health problem. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used increasingly for patients with severe cardiac or respiratory failure, but it may increase HAI risk. The goal of our study was to characterize HAIs in ECMO patients at an ECMO referral center.

Trends in female surgeon authorship - The role of the middle author.

Background: The objective of this study was to compare middle authorships between male and female general surgeons in the United States.

Methods: A stratified random sample of American College of Surgeons general surgery fellows was identified. Relevant author demographic, affiliation, and publication metrics were collected and compared across cohorts to determine which demographics were prognostic for each outcome variable.

A porous collagen-GAG scaffold promotes muscle regeneration following volumetric muscle loss injury.

Volumetric muscle loss (VML) is a segmental loss of skeletal muscle which commonly heals with fibrosis, minimal muscle regeneration, and loss of muscle strength. Treatment options for these wounds which promote functional recovery are currently lacking. This study was designed to investigate whether the collagen-GAG scaffold (CGS) promotes functional muscle recovery following VML.

Pathogen-induced maternal effects result in enhanced immune responsiveness across generations.

Parental investment theory postulates that adults can accurately perceive cues from their surroundings, anticipate the needs of future offspring based on those cues, and selectively allocate nongenetic resources to their progeny. Such context-dependent parental contributions can result in phenotypically variable offspring. Consistent with these predictions, we show that bacterially exposed mothers oviposited significantly more variable embryos (as measured by mass, volume, hatching time, and hatching success) relative to naïve and control mothers.

Unraveling transcription factor interactions with heterochromatin protein 1 using fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

The epigenetic control of heterochromatin deposition is achieved through a network of protein interactions mediated by the heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1). In earlier studies, we showed that the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (C/EBPα), a transcription factor that controls cell differentiation, localizes to heterochromatin, and interacts with HP1α. Here, deletion and mutagenesis are combined with live-cell imaging approaches to characterize these protein interactions.

Monitoring protein interactions in living cells with fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) is now routinely used for dynamic measurements of signaling events inside single living cells, such as monitoring changes in intracellular ions and detecting protein-protein interactions. Here, we describe the digital frequency domain FLIM data acquisition and analysis. We describe the methods necessary to calibrate the FLIM system and demonstrate how they are used to measure the quenched donor fluorescence lifetime that results from Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET).