Endothelial cell Piezo1 promotes vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation on large arteries.

Vascular stabilization is a mechanosensitive process, in part driven by blood flow. Here, we demonstrate the involvement of the mechanosensitive ion channel, Piezo1, in promoting arterial accumulation of vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) during zebrafish development. Using a series of small molecule antagonists or agonists to temporally regulate Piezo1 activity, we identified a role for the Piezo1 channel in regulating klf2a, a blood flow responsive transcription factor, expression levels and altered targeting of vSMCs between arteries and veins.

Regulation of pathway choice in DNA repair after double-strand breaks.

DNA damage signaling is a highly coordinated cellular process which is required for the removal of DNA lesions. Amongst the different types of DNA damage, double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the most harmful type of lesion that attenuates cellular proliferation. DSBs are repaired by two major pathways-homologous recombination (HR), and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and in some cases by microhomology-mediated end-joining (MMEJ).

A Novel Crosslinking Approach for Biomanufacturing of a Collagen-Based Skin Dermal Template.

Third-degree burns result in extensive damage to the skin's epidermal and dermal layers, with limited treatment options available. Currently, xenogeneic collagen-based skin grafts are used as scaffolds to integrate into the wound bed and provide a template for neodermis formation. Existing commercial products like Integra dermal templates rely on a time-consuming and variable dehydrothermal (DHT) crosslinking process.

Switchable Adhesion of Hydrogels to Plant and Animal Tissues.

The ability to "switch on" adhesion between a thin hydrogel and a biological tissue can be useful in biomedical applications such as surgery. One way to accomplish this is with an electric field, a phenomenon termed electroadhesion (EA). Here, it is shown that cationic gels can be adhered by EA to tissues across all of biology.

Cardiovascular Health Score and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in the Million Veteran Program.

Importance: The American Heart Association proposed Life's Essential 8 (LE8) as an enhanced measurement tool for cardiovascular health.

Objective: To examine the association of LE8 with risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) incidence and prognosis in veterans.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a prospective cohort study of US veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Million Veteran Program (MVP) between 2011 and 2022.