Multi-organ gene expression analysis and network modeling reveal regulatory control cascades during the development of hypertension in female spontaneously hypertensive rat.

Hypertension is a multifactorial disease with stage-specific gene expression changes occurring in multiple organs over time. The temporal sequence and the extent of gene regulatory network changes occurring across organs during the development of hypertension remain unresolved. In this study, female spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats were used to analyze expression patterns of 96 genes spanning inflammatory, metabolic, sympathetic, fibrotic, and renin-angiotensin (RAS) pathways in five organs, at five time points from the onset to established hypertension.

Analysis of Psychological Distress and Dental Anxiety in Patients Attending Dental Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 epidemic has affected all facets of patient care, including dentistry services, and placed hitherto unheard-of demands on healthcare systems throughout the world. More and more emphasis is being paid to psychological discomfort and dental anxiety that epidemic patients face when seeking dental care. The purpose of this research was to examine the psychological distress and dental anxiety levels of patients receiving dental care during the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary care setting between 2021 and 2022.

Neuromodulatory co-expression in cardiac vagal motor neurons of the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus.

Vagal innervation is well known to be crucial to the maintenance of cardiac health, and to protect and recover the heart from injury. Only recently has this role been shown to depend on the activity of the underappreciated dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV). By combining neural tracing, transcriptomics, and anatomical mapping in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats, we characterize cardiac-specific neuronal phenotypes in the DMV.

Development and evaluation of a mechanical ventilator-sharing system.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic surge in the hospitalization of critically ill patients and the global demand for mechanical ventilators, alternative strategies for device sharing were explored. We developed and assessed the performance of a system for shared ventilation that uses clinically available components to individualize tidal volumes under a variety of clinically relevant conditions. The feasibility of remote monitoring of ventilators was also assessed.

Recapitulation of human pathophysiology and identification of forensic biomarkers in a translational model of chlorine inhalation injury.

Chlorine gas (Cl) has been repeatedly used as a chemical weapon, first in World War I and most recently in Syria. Life-threatening Cl exposures frequently occur in domestic and occupational environments, and in transportation accidents. Modeling the human etiology of Cl-induced acute lung injury (ALI), forensic biomarkers, and targeted countermeasures development have been hampered by inadequate large animal models.