Spatial mapping of the HCC landscape identifies unique intratumoral perivascular-immune neighborhoods.

Background: HCC develops in the context of chronic inflammation; however, the opposing roles the immune system plays in both the development and control of tumors are not fully understood. Mapping immune cell interactions across the distinct tissue regions could provide greater insight into the role individual immune populations have within tumors.

Methods: A 39-parameter imaging mass cytometry panel was optimized with markers targeting immune cells, stromal cells, endothelial cells, hepatocytes, and tumor cells.

Pharmacological PTP1B inhibition rescues motor learning, neuroinflammation, and hyperglycaemia in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) frequently suffer from comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), accompanied by shared common pathologies such as increased inflammation and impaired glucose homeostasis. Beta-secretase 1 (BACE1), the rate limiting enzyme in AD associated beta-amyloid (Aβ) production, is also implicated in metabolic dysfunction and can increase central and peripheral protein levels of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B). PTP1B is a validated target in diabetes and obesity, and is a neuroinflammatory regulator involved in degenerative processes.

PLB2 mice are impaired in novel and temporal object recognition and show corresponding traits in brain MRI.

Recent clinical trials targeting tau protein aggregation have heightened interest in tau-based therapies for dementia. Success of such treatments depends crucially on translation from non-clinical animal models. Here, we present the age profile of the PLB2 knock-in model of fronto-temporal dementia in terms of cognition, and by utilising a directly translatable magnetic resonance imaging approach.

Evaluation of variation in preclinical electroencephalographic (EEG) spectral power across multiple laboratories and experiments: An EQIPD study.

The European Quality In Preclinical Data (EQIPD) consortium was born from the fact that publications report challenges with the robustness, rigor, and/or validity of research data, which may impact decisions about whether to proceed with further preclinical testing or to advance to clinical testing, as well as draw conclusions on the predictability of preclinical models. To address this, a consortium including multiple research laboratories from academia and industry participated in a series of electroencephalography (EEG) experiments in mice aimed to detect sources of variance and to gauge how protocol harmonisation and data analytics impact such variance. Ultimately, the goal of this first ever between-laboratory comparison of EEG recordings and analyses was to validate the principles that supposedly increase data quality, robustness, and comparability.

Mouse Exploratory Behaviour in the Open Field with and without NAT-1 EEG Device: Effects of MK801 and Scopolamine.

One aspect of reproducibility in preclinical research that is frequently overlooked is the physical condition in which physiological, pharmacological, or behavioural recordings are conducted. In this study, the physical conditions of mice were altered through the attachments of wireless electrophysiological recording devices (Neural Activity Tracker-1, NAT-1). NAT-1 devices are miniaturised multichannel devices with onboard memory for direct high-resolution recording of brain activity for >48 h.

Effects of a behavioral intervention with foster families: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: The health and well-being of children in foster care are of high concern. A resource with which to disrupt maladaptation and promote healing are positive relationships among children and caregivers within the foster home. The research question was: Can an online intervention improve family hardiness and sibling relationships within foster care families?

Objectives: To: (1) establish feasibility and acceptability of an online behavioral intervention within the foster family, (2) explore the effects of the intervention on relational quality outcomes, and (3) decompose the mechanisms driving improved family hardiness through mediation analysis.

Does the use of double hormone replacement therapy for trauma patient organ donors improve organ recovery for transplant.

Background: With an ongoing demand for transplantable organs, optimization of donor management protocols, specifically in trauma populations, is important for obtaining a high yield of viable organs per patient. Endocrine management of brain-dead potential organ donors (BPODs) is controversial, leading to heterogeneous clinical management approaches. Previous studies have shown that when levothyroxine was combined with other treatments, including steroids, vasopressin, and insulin, BPODs had better organ recovery and survival outcomes were increased for transplant recipients.

Advanced qEEG analyses discriminate between dementia subtypes.

Background: Dementia is caused by neurodegenerative conditions and characterized by cognitive decline. Diagnostic accuracy for dementia subtypes, such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's Disease with dementia (PDD), remains challenging.

Methods: Here, different methods of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) analyses were employed to assess their effectiveness in distinguishing dementia subtypes from healthy controls under eyes closed (EC) and eyes open (EO) conditions.

Seeing oneself as an unattractive loser: Similar interpretation and memory biases in adolescents with anorexia nervosa and adolescents with depression or anxiety.

Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterised by dysfunctional cognitive biases but these have rarely been investigated in adolescents with AN. The present study systematically assessed cognitive biases in adolescents with AN and addressed the questions of content-specificity (i.e.

Parent-child agreement on children's psychopathology and the impact of parental depression.

Background: Parental depression increases children's risk of mental illness and may simultaneously impair the detection of children's symptoms. Here we investigate the nature of parent-child agreement of children's psychopathology in children of parents with current (cMD) versus remitted (rMD) major depression.

Methods: Baseline data from 100 parent-child dyads including healthy children aged 8-17 (M = 11.

The influence of outcome expectancy on interpretation bias training in social anxiety: an experimental pilot study.

Background: Cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) trainings have shown positive effects on interpretation bias in both active interpretation bias training conditions and structurally similar control conditions. Outcome expectations have been suggested to contribute to these placebo effects. The goal of this pilot experimental study was to test the feasibility of positive expectancy induction, to gain preliminary insight into whether this has implications for the efficacy of CBM-I training, and to assess the feasibility of recruitment and the overall study design.

Comparison of automated video tracking systems in the open field test: ANY-Maze versus EthoVision XT.

Background: ANY-Maze and EthoVision XT are two commonly used automated animal tracking systems employed to produce reliable and consistent results in behavioural paradigms. Data obtained with both tracking systems have presented differences, particularly when varying laboratory lighting conditions and contrasts of mice coat colour against the arena background in both water maze and tunnel maze.

Method: In this study, two fluorescent lighting conditions (58 and 295 lux), local to our laboratory, and different coat-coloured mouse lines (C57BL/6 J - black; CD1 - agouti; C3H/HeN - white) were used to compare reproducibility in measures of tracking systems (ANY-Maze versus EthoVision) in the open field test.

How stra(i)nge are your controls? A comparative analysis of metabolic phenotypes in commonly used C57BL/6 substrains.

In recent years, insufficiently characterised controls have been a contributing factor to irreproducibility in biomedical research including neuroscience and metabolism. There is now a growing awareness of phenotypic differences between the C57BL/6 substrains which are commonly used as control animals. We here investigated baseline metabolic characteristics such as glucose regulation, fasted serum insulin levels and hepatic insulin signalling in five different C57BL/6 substrains (N, J, JOla, JRcc) of both sexes, obtained from two commercial vendors, Charles River Laboratories (Crl) and Envigo (Env).

Look me in the eyes! A preliminary study on eye-contact in adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is often associated with impairments in the socio-emotional domain. Avoidance of eye-contact may underlie some of these difficulties and has been found in adults with AN in several studies. This study aimed to clarify whether adolescents with AN also show reduced eye-contact when viewing social stimuli, that is, faces.

A randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention for the children of parents with depression: mid-term effects, mediators and moderators.

Background: In a parallel randomized controlled trial the effectiveness of the family- and group-based cognitive-behavioural "Gug-Auf" intervention in preventing depression in children of depressed parents was evaluated. We hypothesized that the intervention would be associated with reduced incidence of depression at 15 months as well as with reduced symptom severity at 6, 9, and 15 months. We also explored the role of a number of mediators and moderators.

Middle-Range Theory of the Adapting Foster Family: Mathematical Modeling in Nursing Science.

Nursing science has the epistemic advantage of using nursing practice for developing middle-range theories to bridge abstract ideas with clinical research. The theory of the adapting foster family draws upon extant theories of both family systems theory and transition theory while integrating experiences from nursing practice. The new theory provides a framework for improving outcomes for children in foster care through greater placement stability.

Watch out! A path from anxiety to anorexia nervosa through biased attention?

Objective: Evidence points towards heightened anxiety and attention biases (AB) towards disorder-specific (threatening) stimuli in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). To date, it is unclear how anxiety and AB interact in eating disorders (ED). The present study tests the causal role of anxiety by inducing anxiety before a dot-probe task with either ED-specific stimuli or unspecific negative (threat-related) information.

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of online interpretation bias intervention on stress reactivity in the children of parents with depression: the CoCo study.

Background: Current preventive interventions for the children of parents with depression demonstrate modest effects on depression incidence. This may be because existing interventions tend to comprise general psychotherapeutic tools, rather than targeting the specific mechanisms underlying familial transmission. Improved theoretical models of familial transmission could enhance the development of targeted interventions.

BACE cleavage of APP does not drive the diabetic phenotype of PLB4 mice.

Background: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), two prevalent diseases related to ageing, often share common pathologies including increased inflammation, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and impaired metabolic homeostasis predominantly affecting different organs. Therefore, it was unexpected to find in a previous study that neuronal hBACE1 knock-in (PLB4 mouse) leads to both an AD- and T2DM- like phenotype. The complexity of this co-morbidity phenotype required a deeper systems approach to explore the age-related changes in AD and T2DM-like pathologies of the PLB4 mouse.

Apolipoprotein E loss of function: Influence on murine brain markers of physiology and pathology.

The canonical role of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is related to lipid and cholesterol metabolism, however, additional functions of this protein have not been fully described. Given the association of ApoE with diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD), it is clear that further characterisation of its roles, especially within the brain, is needed. Therefore, using protein and gene expression analyses of neonatal and 6-month old brain tissues from an ApoE knockout mouse model, we examined ApoE's contribution to several CNS pathways, with an emphasis on those linked to AD.

Does Vehicle Intrusion Alone Still Predict Injury: A Retrospective Analysis of Mechanism as Trauma Activation Criteria.

Automobile collisions with driver side intrusion >12 inches or >18 elsewhere meet criteria for trauma activation. However, vehicle safety features have improved since this inception. We hypothesized vehicle intrusion (VI) alone as mechanism-of-injury (MOI) criteria inadequately predicts trauma center activation.