Utility and interpretation of multiple breath washout in children with cystic fibrosis.

Transformative changes in the health of children with cystic fibrosis (CF) mean that more sensitive outcome measures are needed to monitor paediatric CF lung disease. Multiple breath washout (MBW) and its primary readout lung clearance index are gaining increasing traction as an endpoint for clinical trials in the CF space and show promise as a clinical investigation. In this article, we use four clinically based questions to explore what MBW can and cannot (yet) do and highlight some of its strengths and weaknesses as an investigation.

The Influence of Diet and Obesity in Lynch Syndrome: What Do We Know So Far.

Of all new cases of colorectal cancer, Lynch syndrome (LS) accounts for approximately 3%. This syndrome is the most common hereditary cancer syndrome and is caused by pathogenic variants in the genes responsible for DNA mismatch repair. Although the relationship between colorectal cancer risk and diet is well established, little is known regarding the influence of diet and nutritional characteristics on LS's clinical evolution.

Influenza vaccine effectiveness against hospitalizations and emergency department or urgent care encounters for children, adolescents, and adults during the 2023-2024 season, United States.

Background: The 2023-2024 influenza season had predominant influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus activity, but A(H3N2) and B viruses co-circulated. Seasonal influenza vaccine strains were well-matched to these viruses.

Methods: Using health care encounters data from health systems in 8 states, we evaluated influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against influenza-associated medical encounters from October 2023-April 2024.

Zebrafish model for functional screening of flow-responsive genes controlling endothelial cell proliferation.

Local haemodynamics control arterial homeostasis and dysfunction by generating wall shear stress (WSS) which regulates endothelial cell (EC) physiology. Here we use a zebrafish model to identify genes that regulate EC proliferation in response to flow. Suppression of blood flow in zebrafish embryos (by targeting cardiac troponin) reduced EC proliferation in the intersegmental vessels (ISVs) compared to controls exposed to flow.

Two codependent routes lead to high-level MRSA.

Methicillin-resistant (MRSA), in which acquisition of [which encodes the cell wall peptidoglycan biosynthesis component penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a)] confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, is of major clinical concern. We show that, in the presence of antibiotics, MRSA adopts an alternative mode of cell division and shows an altered peptidoglycan architecture at the division septum. PBP2a can replace the transpeptidase activity of the endogenous and essential PBP2 but not that of PBP1, which is responsible for the distinctive native septal peptidoglycan architecture.