Correlates of fentanyl preference among people who use drugs in Rhode Island.

Background: Fentanyl is increasingly pervasive in the unregulated drug supply and is a driver of drug overdose deaths in the United States. The aims of this study were to characterize and identify correlates of fentanyl preference among people who use drugs (PWUD) in Rhode Island (RI).

Methods: Using bivariate analysis, we examined associations between fentanyl preference and sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics at baseline among participants enrolled in the RI Prescription Drug and Illicit Drug Study from August 2020-February 2023.

Healthcare workers' experiences protecting themselves and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021.

We characterized experiences and strategies used by frontline healthcare workers to prevent severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-related coronavirus transmission at work and to household members during the coronavirus disease pandemic. Alongside an online questionnaire (n = 234), remote semi-structured interviews (n = 23: 15 clinicians, 8 non-clinicians) were conducted in 2021. Mitigation challenges and facilitators were identified from data to represent experiences as a process considering the before, during, and after work shifts.

Altered projection-specific synaptic remodeling and its modification by oxytocin in an idiopathic autism marmoset model.

Alterations in the experience-dependent and autonomous elaboration of neural circuits are assumed to underlie autism spectrum disorder (ASD), though it is unclear what synaptic traits are responsible. Here, utilizing a valproic acid-induced ASD marmoset model, which shares common molecular features with idiopathic ASD, we investigate changes in the structural dynamics of tuft dendrites of upper-layer pyramidal neurons and adjacent axons in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex through two-photon microscopy. In model marmosets, dendritic spine turnover is upregulated, and spines are generated in clusters and survived more often than in control marmosets.

A Community-engaged Curriculum at Alpert Medical School: Centering Patient Communities in Medical Education.

Background: Incorporating opportunities for community engagement into undergraduate medical education (UME) can help learners to identify and address social determinants of health (SDoH). Multiple challenges exist in operationalizing these experiences.

Methods: Using the Assessing Community Engagement (ACE) model, course directors at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (AMS) mapped community engagement initiatives to the four-year curriculum.

Kaempferol Protects Against Retinal Photoreceptor Degeneration in a Mouse Model of Light-Induced Retinal Injury.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness in developed countries with little in the way of treatment that prevents progression to end-stage disease. Kaempferol (KF) is a plant-derived dietary flavonoid that has demonstrated as a strong antioxidant showing neuroprotection in stroke models. We hypothesize that KF has protective effects against retinal degeneration and may serve as a therapeutic agent against AMD.

My Life, My Story: Integrating a Life Story Narrative Component Into Medical Student Curricula.

Introduction: Medical students experience burnout, depersonalization, and decreases in empathy throughout medical training. My Life, My Story (MLMS) is a narrative medicine project that aims to combat these adverse outcomes by teaching students to interview patients about their life story, with the goal of improving patient-centered care competencies, such as empathy.

Methods: The MLMS project was started in the Veterans Affairs (VA) system and has since spread to dozens of VA sites.

Mechanical actions of dendritic-spine enlargement on presynaptic exocytosis.

Synaptic transmission involves cell-to-cell communication at the synaptic junction between two neurons, and chemical and electrical forms of this process have been extensively studied. In the brain, excitatory glutamatergic synapses are often made on dendritic spines that enlarge during learning. As dendritic spines and the presynaptic terminals are tightly connected with the synaptic cleft, the enlargement may have mechanical effects on presynaptic functions.

Excess polyspermy reduces the ability of porcine oocytes to promote male pronuclear formation after in vitro fertilization.

Male pronucleus (MPN) formation is a very important physiological event during fertilization, which affects in vitro production of transferrable embryos. The aim of this study was to find out the correlation between the number of penetrated sperm and the occurrence of failure of MPN formation in porcine oocytes. In vitro matured porcine oocytes were fertilized in vitro with frozen epididymal sperm.

Silkworm recombinant bovine zona pellucida protein 4 (bZP4) as a potential female immunocontraceptive antigen; impaired sperm-oocyte interaction and ovarian dysfunction.

Porcine zona pellucida proteins (ZPs) have been utilized as female immunocontraceptive antigens. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential use of silkworm recombinant bovine ZP4 as an alternative. When the protein was injected with monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) - an immuno-stimulative agent - into two female goats, marked elevation of the anti-ZP4 titer was detected.

Successful perioperative management using prothrombin complex concentrates in patients with severe congenital protein C deficiency.

Perioperative management of severe congenital protein C deficiency remains unestablished. This deficiency is often treated with anticoagulants, such as warfarin. Although anticoagulants need to be perioperatively discontinued, there are few methods for the management of such patients.

Low Multiplication Value of Absolute Monocyte Count and Absolute Lymphocyte Count at Diagnosis May Predict Poor Prognosis in Neuroblastoma.

Despite the growing evidences that immune dysfunction contributes to tumor progression, the prognostic value in patients with neuroblastoma regarding circulating immune blood cell counts has not been well characterized. To answer this, we conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the prognostic value of the circulating immune cell counts at diagnosis in a cohort of 55 patients with neuroblastoma. Based on a novel index by multiplying the absolute monocyte count (AMC)/μl and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC)/μl, we sub-grouped patients with AMC × ALC ≥ 1 × 10 (/μl) as high group and patients with AMC × ALC < 1 × 10 (/μl) as low group.

Successful activation of rat T lymphocytes by sperm specific antigens in vitro.

Autoimmune orchitis is a condition related to cellular immunity. A disease model involving transfer of T lymphocytes activated by known antigens would be useful for defining pathogenical molecules. Since no method for activating rat T cells using specific antigens is available, we started the study to develop the method.

Doubling of the cytoplasm volume improves the developmental competence of porcine oocytes injected with freeze-dried somatic cells.

In the present study using pig cells, we examined the effect of the cryoprotectant trehalose on the DNA integrity of freeze-dried cells. We then investigated whether donor cell types and storage duration had impact on DNA integrity in freeze-dried cells or developmental competence of oocytes injected with freeze-dried somatic cells. We also examined whether double cytoplasm nuclear transfer (DCNT) would improve developmental competence of such oocytes.

Pluripotency-associated genes reposition during early embryonic developmental stages in pigs.

We examined the allelic expression and positioning of two pluripotency-associated genes, OCT4 and SOX2, and two housekeeping genes, ACTB and TUBA, in 4- and 8-cell porcine embryos utilizing RNA and DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in single blastomeres. The proportion of blastomeres expressing SOX2 bi-allelically increased from 45% at the 4-cell stage to 60% at the 8-cell stage. Moreover, in 8-cell embryos, SOX2 was expressed bi-allelically in significantly more blastomeres than was the case for OCT4, and this was associated with a tendency for SOX2 alleles to move toward the nuclear interior during 4- to 8-cell transition.

Selection based on morphological features of porcine embryos produced by in vitro fertilization: Timing of early cleavages and the effect of polyspermy.

The aim of this study was to examine whether a morphological approach is efficient for selecting high-quality porcine embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) under high polyspermy conditions. Frozen-thawed Meishan epididymal spermatozoa showing moderate and high polyspermy were subjected to IVF (1 × 10  sperms/ml). Under conditions of moderate polyspermy, 4-cell embryos selected at 48 hr after IVF (single selection) and 8-cell embryos selected at 79 hr after IVF from the collected 4-cell embryos (double selection) showed high developmental competence.

[Gilteritinib for pediatric FLT3 internal tandem duplication-positive recurrent acute myeloid leukemia].

Gilteritinib is an FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitor that has shown efficacy in patients with refractory or recurrent adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with FLT3 mutations. However, there are limited data for pediatric patients treated with this drug. Herein, we report the clinical courses of two children with FLT3-mutated recurrent AML who received gilteritinib.

Combined refinements to somatic cell nuclear transfer methods improve porcine embryo development.

The discovery of how to utilize CRISPR (clustered, regularly interspaced, short, palindromic repeats)-Cas (CRISPR-associated) systems for genome modification has accelerated development of the field of genome editing, especially in large animals such as pigs. The low efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is now becoming a major obstacle in the production of genome-edited animals via cell-mediated approaches and improving efficacy of this technique is crucial. In this study, we propose a few simple modifications to a zona-free SCNT protocol that are effective to produce numerous high-quality blastocysts.

Vitrification of porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes at the germinal vesicle stage does not trigger apoptosis in oocytes and early embryos, but activates anti-apoptotic Bcl-XL gene expression beyond the 4-cell stage.

The aim of the present study was to clarify whether or not our vitrification procedure at the germinal vesicle (GV)-stage triggers the apoptotic cascade in oocytes and subsequent embryos. Immature porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes were either vitrified and warmed (vitrified group) or subjected to cryoprotectant agents (CPA group) or cultured without any treatment (control). Oocytes of all treatment groups were subjected to in vitro maturation (IVM), fertilization, and embryo culture.

Bidirectional in vivo structural dendritic spine plasticity revealed by two-photon glutamate uncaging in the mouse neocortex.

Most excitatory synapses in the brain form on dendritic spines. Two-photon uncaging of glutamate is widely utilized to characterize the structural plasticity of dendritic spines in brain slice preparations in vitro. In the present study, glutamate uncaging was used to investigate spine plasticity, for the first time, in vivo.