One Health Assessment of Incidence and Detection in Anthrax-Endemic Areas of Pakistan.

Anthrax, a severe zoonotic disease, is infrequently reported in anthrax-endemic regions of Pakistan. Despite clinical reports indicating its presence, particularly cutaneous anthrax, there is insufficient laboratory evidence regarding disease occurrence and environmental persistence. The present study aimed to confirm presence, accountable for animal mortality and human infection, while exploring environmental transmission factors.

CRISPR interference to interrogate genes that control biofilm formation in Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Bacterial biofilm formation involves signaling and regulatory pathways that control the transition from motile to sessile lifestyle, production of extracellular polymeric matrix, and maturation of the biofilm 3D structure. Biofilms are extensively studied because of their importance in biomedical, ecological and industrial settings. Gene inactivation is a powerful approach for functional studies but it is often labor intensive, limiting systematic gene surveys to the most tractable bacterial hosts.

One-Year Outcomes of an Integrated Multiple Sclerosis Disease Management Program.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with high total health care cost, the majority of which is attributable to medications. Patients with MS are less likely to experience relapses, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations when they are adherent to disease-modifying treatments. Disease management programs are hypothesized to improve medication adherence thereby improving clinical and economic outcomes.

Drug Treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a form of chronic progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease of unknown origin. Recently, nintedanib and pirfenidone demonstrated efficacy in slowing disease progression and were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Although numerous treatments have been evaluated in IPF, none have shown significant decreases in mortality.

Fast, Ratiometric FRET from Quantum Dot Conjugated Stabilized Single Chain Variable Fragments for Quantitative Botulinum Neurotoxin Sensing.

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) presents a significant hazard under numerous realistic scenarios. The standard detection scheme for this fast-acting toxin is a lab-based mouse lethality assay that is sensitive and specific, but slow (∼2 days) and requires expert administration. As such, numerous efforts have aimed to decrease analysis time and reduce complexity.

Cost-effectiveness of a computerized provider order entry system in improving medication safety ambulatory care.

Background: Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) is the process of entering physician orders directly into an electronic health record. Although CPOE has been shown to improve medication safety and reduce health care costs, these improvements have been demonstrated largely in the inpatient setting; the cost-effectiveness in the ambulatory setting remains uncertain.

Objective: The objective was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of CPOE in reducing medication errors and adverse drug events (ADEs) in the ambulatory setting.

Comprehensive proteome analysis of an Apc mouse model uncovers proteins associated with intestinal tumorigenesis.

Tumor-derived proteins may occur in the circulation as a result of secretion, shedding from the cell surface, or cell turnover. We have applied an in-depth comprehensive proteomic strategy to plasma from intestinal tumor-bearing Apc mutant mice to identify proteins associated with tumor development. We used quantitative tandem mass spectrometry of fractionated mouse plasma to identify differentially expressed proteins in plasma from intestinal tumor-bearing Apc mutant mice relative to matched controls.

Design and synthesis of 2-pyridones as novel inhibitors of the Bacillus anthracis enoyl-ACP reductase.

Enoyl-ACP reductase (ENR), the product of the FabI gene, from Bacillus anthracis (BaENR) is responsible for catalyzing the final step of bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis. A number of novel 2-pyridone derivatives were synthesized and shown to be potent inhibitors of BaENR.

Low-volume, high-throughput sandwich immunoassays for profiling plasma proteins in mice: identification of early-stage systemic inflammation in a mouse model of intestinal cancer.

Mouse models of human cancers may provide a valuable resource for the discovery of cancer biomarkers. We have developed a practical strategy for profiling specific proteins in mouse plasma using low-volume sandwich-immunoassays. We used this method to profile the levels of 14 different cytokines, acute-phase reactants, and other cancer markers in plasma from a mouse models of intestinal tumors and their wild-type littermates, using as little as 1.

An experimental strategy for quantitative analysis of the humoral immune response to prostate cancer antigens using natural protein microarrays.

The identification of human tumor antigens has potential utility in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. We demonstrate here a complete strategy to profile immunoreactivity and identify tumor antigens from proteins derived from tumor cell lines. Microarrays of proteins produced from 2-D LC fractionation of prostate tumor cell-line lysates were used to profile immunoreactivity in the sera of prostate cancer patients and control subjects.

Mass spectrometry-based study of the plasma proteome in a mouse intestinal tumor model.

Early detection of cancer can greatly improve prognosis. Identification of proteins or peptides in the circulation, at different stages of cancer, would greatly enhance treatment decisions. Mass spectrometry (MS) is emerging as a powerful tool to identify proteins from complex mixtures such as plasma that may help identify novel sets of markers that may be associated with the presence of tumors.

Immunoassay and antibody microarray analysis of the HUPO Plasma Proteome Project reference specimens: systematic variation between sample types and calibration of mass spectrometry data.

Four different immunoassay and antibody microarray methods performed at four different sites were used to measure the levels of a broad range of proteins (N = 323 assays; 39, 88, 168, and 28 assays at the respective sites; 237 unique analytes) in the human serum and plasma reference specimens distributed by the Plasma Proteome Project (PPP) of the HUPO. The methods provided a means to (1) assess the level of systematic variation in protein abundances associated with blood preparation methods (serum, citrate-anticoagulated-plasma, EDTA-anticoagulated-plasma, or heparin-anticoagulated-plasma) and (2) evaluate the dependence on concentration of MS-based protein identifications from data sets using the HUPO specimens. Some proteins, particularly cytokines, had highly variable concentrations between the different sample preparations, suggesting specific effects of certain anticoagulants on the stability or availability of these proteins.