Organotypic human lung bud microarrays identify BMP-dependent SARS-CoV-2 infection in lung cells.

Although lung disease is the primary clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients, how SARS-CoV-2 induces lung pathology remains elusive. Here we describe a high-throughput platform to generate self-organizing and commensurate human lung buds derived from hESCs cultured on micropatterned substrates. Lung buds resemble human fetal lungs and display proximodistal patterning of alveolar and airway tissue directed by KGF.

Head removal enhances planarian electrotaxis.

Certain animal species utilize electric fields for communication, hunting and spatial orientation. Freshwater planarians move toward the cathode in a static electric field (cathodic electrotaxis). This planarian behavior was first described by Raymond Pearl more than a century ago.

L-Carnitine alleviates hepatic and renal mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic progression induced by letrozole in female rats through modulation of - signaling.

Letrozole (LTZ) is a non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor that is commonly used in breast cancer therapy. It has several side effects that might lead to the drug's cessation and data of LTZ's potential adverse effects on the hepatorenal microenvironment was conflicting. In addition, searching for therapeutic interventions that could modulate its adverse effects will be very beneficial.

Planarian fragments behave as whole animals.

Behavioral responses of freshwater planarians have been studied for over a century. In recent decades, behavior has been used as a readout to study planarian development and regeneration, wound healing, molecular evolution, neurotoxicology, and learning and memory.The planarian nervous system is among the simplest of the bilaterally symmetric animals, with an anterior brain attached to two ventral nerve cords interconnected by multiple commissures.

Gracilis Muscle Flap After Superficial Inguinal Lymphadenectomy in an Irradiated Inguinal Field.

The sartorius muscle transposition flap is the traditional method of femoral vessel coverage after superficial inguinal lymphadenectomy for regionally-metastatic cancers to the inguinal lymph nodes. However, if the groin has undergone radiotherapy, the sartorius muscle is contained within the irradiated field, and may be problematic for wound healing, in addition to being thin at its insertion and intimately related to several nerves. The gracilis muscle has been used for soft tissue defects and vascular graft infections, but its utility as an alternative to the sartorius muscle flap in the setting of radiation has never been reported.

Planarian Scrunching as a Quantitative Behavioral Readout for Noxious Stimuli Sensing.

Freshwater planarians normally glide smoothly through ciliary propulsion on their ventral side. Certain environmental conditions, however, can induce musculature-driven forms of locomotion: peristalsis or scrunching. While peristalsis results from a ciliary defect, scrunching is independent of cilia function and is a specific response to certain stimuli, including amputation, noxious temperature, extreme pH, and ethanol.

Pharmacological or genetic targeting of Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels can disrupt the planarian escape response.

In response to noxious stimuli, planarians cease their typical ciliary gliding and exhibit an oscillatory type of locomotion called scrunching. We have previously characterized the biomechanics of scrunching and shown that it is induced by specific stimuli, such as amputation, noxious heat, and extreme pH. Because these specific inducers are known to activate Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels in other systems, we hypothesized that TRP channels control scrunching.

Mouth Function Determines the Shape Oscillation Pattern in Regenerating Hydra Tissue Spheres.

Hydra is a small freshwater polyp capable of regeneration from small tissue pieces and from aggregates of cells. During regeneration, a hollow bilayered sphere is formed that undergoes osmotically driven shape oscillations of inflation and rupture. These oscillations are necessary for successful regeneration.

Macronutrient intake of black and white adolescent girls over 10 years: the NHLBI Growth and Health Study.

Objective: To compare age-related changes in macronutrient and cholesterol intake between black and white girls, compare intakes with National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) recommendations, and examine sociodemographic associations with macronutrient intake.

Design: Cohort study with 3-day food records collected over 10 years.

Subjects: 2,379 girls, 1,166 white and 1,213 black, age 9 to 10 years at baseline, recruited from three geographic locations.

Obesity development during adolescence in a biracial cohort: the NHLBI Growth and Health Study.

Objective: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study (NGHS) is a 10-year study to investigate the development of obesity in black and white girls during adolescence and its environmental and psychosocial correlates. The purpose of this report was to examine changes in the annual prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in the NGHS cohort from ages 9 to 19 years.

Participants And Setting: A total of 2379 black and white girls, aged 9 to 10 years, were recruited from schools in Richmond, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio, and from families enrolled in a health maintenance organization in the Washington, DC area.

Decline in physical activity in black girls and white girls during adolescence.

Background: Physical activity declines during adolescence, but the underlying reasons remain unknown.

Methods: We prospectively followed 1213 black girls and 1166 white girls enrolled in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study from the ages of 9 or 10 to the ages of 18 or 19 years. We used a validated questionnaire to measure leisure-time physical activity on the basis of metabolic equivalents (MET) for reported activities and their frequency in MET-times per week; a higher score indicated greater activity.

Ethnic issues in the epidemiology of childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity may be seen as a marker for high-risk dietary and physical inactivity practices. Recent increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among American children are not limited to one age, gender, or ethnic group, which suggests that unique behaviors of the members of various racial or ethnic subgroups of the population are unlikely to be the major contributing factors. Rather, it seems that environmental changes promoting increased energy intake and decreased energy output are occurring and have widespread impact on children from various backgrounds.

Racial divergence in adiposity during adolescence: The NHLBI Growth and Health Study.

Background: Black women are particularly vulnerable to obesity, with a prevalence rate of >50%. The higher mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes have been attributed, in part, to their obesity. In recent years, a particular public health concern is the increasing secular trend in obesity with an even greater racial disparity, especially in girls and women.

Influence of pre-adolescent diet on quantitative ultrasound measurements of the calcaneus in young adult women.

Nongenetic determinants of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) properties of the bone remain to be identified. The purpose of this study was to determine relationships between early adolescent diet and QUS bone measurements taken in young adulthood. Subjects were participants in the 10-year longitudinal National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study (NGHS).

Preference for thinness in Singapore--a newly industrialised society.

Background/aims: A cultural preference for thinness has been implicated in the development of eating disorders in Western, post-industrialised societies. In transitional societies like Singapore, a shift in expectations of ideal body size (toward thinness) may lead to an increase in eating disorders. This study investigated perceptions about body size and shape in over 200 youths living in Singapore, and the influences of adiposity, gender, Westernization and parents' education.

Lipoprotein and apolipoprotein differences in black and white girls. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study.

Objective: To define racial differences in lipoprotein and apolipoprotein levels in girls aged 9 to 10 years.

Design: Baseline analysis of a prospective cohort study.

Setting: Three clinical sites.

Race, socioeconomic status, and obesity in 9- to 10-year-old girls: the NHLBI Growth and Health Study.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether measures of socioeconomic status (SES) are inversely associated with obesity in 9- to 10-year-old black and white girls and their parents. Subjects were participants in the Growth and Health Study (NGHS) of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Extensive SES, anthropometric, and dietary data were collected at baseline on 2379 NGHS participants.

The effects of race, household income, and parental education on nutrient intakes of 9- and 10-year-old girls. NHLBI Growth and Health Study.

Nutrient intakes of 2149 black and white, 9- and 10-year-old girls varied by race, household income, and parental education. Of the three variables, higher education was most consistently associated with more desirable levels of nutrient intakes, that is, lower percentage of dietary fat and higher levels of vitamin C, calcium, and potassium. Higher income was related to higher intakes of vitamin C, but lower intakes of calcium and iron.

Adiposity, dietary and physical activity patterns in ethnic Chinese youths: a cross-country comparison of Singaporean Chinese and Chinese Americans.

During the last decade, childhood obesity has been on the increase in Singapore and many newly industrialized Asian countries. We compared the mean body mass index (BMI) and triceps skinfold (TSF) values, as well as the dietary and physical activity patterns of Singaporean Chinese and Chinese American youths. Chinese Americans had a higher mean BMI but a lower mean TSF than Singaporean Chinese.

Comparative advantage of 3-day food records over 24-hour recall and 5-day food frequency validated by observation of 9- and 10-year-old girls.

Objective: The validity of the 24-hour recall, 3-day food record, and 5-day food frequency was assessed to decide on a dietary assessment method for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Growth and Health Study.

Design: All subjects were assigned to one of three dietary assessment methods. Unobtrusive observers recorded types and amounts of foods eaten during lunch, and these were compared with the foods reported by the girls in the study.

Dietary vitamin C and serum lipids in black and white girls.

We examined the cross-sectional relation of dietary vitamin C intake to serum lipids in 1,825 preadolescent black and white girls. Dietary vitamin C intake exclusive of supplement use, determined by 3-day diet record, appeared unrelated to total serum cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. Because other investigators have demonstrated an inverse association between vitamin C and total serum cholesterol in individuals with elevated total serum cholesterol levels, we analyzed the subgroup of 285 girls (142 blacks and 143 whites) with total serum cholesterol levels > or = 200 mg per dl.

Income and racial patterns of dietary vitamin C intake among black and white girls.

The authors examined the influence of income and race on mean dietary vitamin C intake and the risk of dietary vitamin C intake at levels below the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). They performed a cross-sectional analysis of 2,032 black and white 9- and 10-year-old females, from a wide range of income groups, who participated in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. Mean intake of vitamin C, exclusive of vitamin supplements and determined by 3-day diet records, exceeded the RDA of 45 milligrams per day for that age group in all racial and income categories.