A systematic review of evidence that environmental contaminant exposure impedes weight loss and glycemic control during calorie-restricted diets in humans.

Calorie-restricted diets cause weight loss and can drive type 2 diabetes remission. However, many patients struggle to achieve clinically relevant weight loss, and the reasons are not well understood. Chemical exposure is associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes development, and some evidence from preclinical experiments suggests it can limit the clinical benefits of calorie restriction.

Uptake of guideline-based testing for chronic viral hepatitis in Australian primary care: retrospective analysis of electronic medical record data.

Background Diagnosis is essential for engagement in care for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC), however, many Australians remain undiagnosed, especially for CHB. Primary care represents an important setting for testing, and this study sought to examine coverage in a large representative cohort of patients. Methods We analysed retrospective data from the electronic medical records of active patients visiting 566 primary care clinics in Victoria, Australia.

Fertilization induces reproductive changes in male mouse offspring and has multigenerational effects.

fertilization (IVF) is a non-coital method of conception used to treat human infertility. Although IVF is viewed as largely safe, it is associated with adverse outcomes in the fetus, placenta, and adult offspring life. Because studies focusing on the effect of IVF on the male reproductive system are limited, we used a mouse model to assess the morphological and molecular effects of IVF on male offspring.

Systemic inflammation and lymphocyte activation precede rheumatoid arthritis.

Some autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), are preceded by a critical subclinical phase of disease activity. Proactive clinical management is hampered by a lack of biological understanding of this subclinical 'at-risk' state and the changes underlying disease development. In a cross-sectional and longitudinal multi-omics study of peripheral immunity in the autoantibody-positive at-risk for RA period, we identified systemic inflammation, proinflammatory-skewed B cells, expanded Tfh17-like cells, epigenetic bias in naive T cells, TNF+IL1B+ monocytes resembling a synovial macrophage population, and CD4 T cell transcriptional features resembling those suppressed by abatacept (CTLA4-Ig) in RA patients.

Challenges in assessing the effects of environmental governance systems on conservation outcomes.

Effective governance is crucial for the success of conservation projects aimed at protecting wildlife populations and supporting human well-being. However, few large-scale, comprehensive syntheses have been conducted on the effects of different environmental governance types on conservation outcomes (i.e.

TITIRITIANDO: Creating an engaging theatrical education program to teach children that cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) are not pets.

Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) are a critically endangered primate found only in Colombia. Proyecto Tití has been leading conservation efforts in Colombia and has developed successful conservation education programs that engage communities in activities that promote the long-term survival of cotton-top tamarins. TITIRITIANDO is an educational theatrical program that introduces children to cotton-top tamarins and the challenges they face in the illegal pet trade.

Longitudinal Multi-omic Immune Profiling Reveals Age-Related Immune Cell Dynamics in Healthy Adults.

The generation and maintenance of protective immunity is a dynamic interplay between host and environment that is impacted by age. Understanding fundamental changes in the healthy immune system that occur over a lifespan is critical in developing interventions for age-related susceptibility to infections and diseases. Here, we use multi-omic profiling (scRNA-seq, proteomics, flow cytometry) to examined human peripheral immunity in over 300 healthy adults, with 96 young and older adults followed over two years with yearly vaccination.

Testing of rapid evaporative mass spectrometry for histological tissue classification and molecular diagnostics in a multi-site study.

Background: While REIMS technology has successfully been demonstrated for the histological identification of ex-vivo breast tumor tissues, questions regarding the robustness of the approach and the possibility of tumor molecular diagnostics still remain unanswered. In the current study, we set out to determine whether it is possible to acquire cross-comparable REIMS datasets at multiple sites for the identification of breast tumors and subtypes.

Methods: A consortium of four sites with three of them having access to fresh surgical tissue samples performed tissue analysis using identical REIMS setups and protocols.

Human papillomavirus type-specific distribution in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cancer in The Gambia prior to HPV immunization programme: a baseline for monitoring the quadrivalent vaccine.

Background: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Gambian women. Current estimates indicate that 286 women are annually diagnosed with cervical cancer with a fatality rate of 70%. In an attempt to address this, in 2019 the quadrivalent HPV vaccine was incorporated into the Gambia's Expanded Programme on Immunisation.

Amputation Triggers Long-Range Epidermal Permeability Changes in Evolutionarily Distant Regenerative Organisms.

Previous studies have reported that amputation invokes body-wide responses in regenerative organisms, but most have not examined the implications of these changes beyond the region of tissue regrowth. Specifically, long-range epidermal responses to amputation are largely uncharacterized, with research on amputation-induced epidermal responses in regenerative organisms traditionally being restricted to the wound site. Here, we investigate the effect of amputation on long-range epidermal permeability in two evolutionarily distant, regenerative organisms: axolotls and planarians.

Understanding healing complications in implant-based breast reconstruction using novel metrics for indocyanine green angiography.

Introduction: Indocyanine green (ICG) angiography for the intraoperative evaluation of tissue perfusion is commonly used in implant-based breast reconstruction (IBR). The assessment of ICG images depends on the surgeon's interpretation and is qualitative or semiqualitative in nature. To quantify ICG metrics, this study aimed to apply a novel assessment of fill-rate dynamics to predict wound-healing complications and provide pragmatic assessment tools in IBR.

Low Ventricular Stiffness Is Associated With Suboptimal Outcomes in Patients With a Single Right Ventricle After the Fontan Operation: A Novel Phenotype.

Background: Despite a rigorous screening process, including cardiac catheterization, a subset of patients with a single right ventricle (SRV) demonstrates suboptimal short-term outcomes after the Fontan operation. The goal of this study was to perform a comprehensive assessment of diastolic function in pre-Fontan patients with an SRV using invasive reference-standard measures and determine their associations with post-Fontan outcomes.

Methods And Results: Children aged 2 to 6 years with SRV physiology undergoing pre-Fontan heart catheterization were recruited prospectively.

Selection and Gene Duplication Associated With High-Elevation Diversification in Pristimantis, the Largest Terrestrial Vertebrate Genus.

The genus Pristimantis diversified in the tropical Andes mountains and is the most speciose genus of terrestrial vertebrates. Pristimantis are notable among frogs in that they thrive at high elevations (>2,000 m) and are direct developers without a tadpole stage. Despite their ecological significance, little is known about the genetic and physiological traits enabling their success.

Youth Participatory Action Communication Research: A Model for Developing Youth-Driven Health Campaigns.

Youth offer valuable insight on health communication needs and solutions in their communities. We propose youth participatory action communication research (YPACR) as a model for health campaign development that engages youth perspectives in applying systematic theory-informed communication research to addressing youth-identified health priorities. YPACR informed a series of paid high school internship programs in West Philadelphia, in which youth interns identified mental health help-seeking communication as a need among peers.

Online toolkits for collaborative and inclusive global research in urban evolutionary ecology.

Urban evolutionary ecology is inherently interdisciplinary. Moreover, it is a field with global significance. However, bringing researchers and resources together across fields and countries is challenging.

Systemic delivery of bictegravir and tenofovir alafenamide using dissolving microneedles for HIV preexposure prophylaxis.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to pose a serious threat to global health. Oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), considered highly effective for HIV prevention, is the utilisation of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs before HIV exposure in high-risk uninfected individuals. However, ARV drugs are associated with poor patient compliance and pill fatigue due to their daily oral dosing.

Relationships among age, motivation, and exercise among women Veterans.

Physical activity (PA) and exercise are central to maintaining health, however research has shown steep declines in PA and exercise among women Veterans as they age. Though motivation may be an important contributor to initiating and sustaining exercise that may change across the lifespan, little is known about exercise motivation and its relation to age and exercise behavior among women Veterans. This cross-sectional study sought to describe exercise motivations, examine relationships among exercise motivations and age, and explore the degree to which age and motivation predict self-reported exercise behavior among women Veterans.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of environmental contaminant exposure impacts on weight loss and glucose regulation during calorie-restricted diets in preclinical studies: Persistent organic pollutants may impede glycemic control.

Epidemiological evidence links chemical exposure with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) risk and prevalence. Chemical exposure may therefore also limit success of weight loss or restoration of glycemic control during calorie restricted diets. Few human studies examine this hypothesis.

Abatacept increases T cell exhaustion in early RA individuals who carry HLA risk alleles.

Exhausted CD8 T cells (T) are associated with worse outcome in cancer yet better outcome in autoimmunity. Building on our past findings of increased TIGITKLRG1 T with teplizumab therapy in type 1 diabetes (T1D), in the absence of treatment we found that the frequency of TIGITKLRG1 T is stable within an individual but differs across individuals in both T1D and healthy control (HC) cohorts. This TIGITKLRG1 CD8 T population shares an exhaustion-associated EOMES gene signature in HC, T1D, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and cancer subjects, expresses multiple inhibitory receptors, and is hyporesponsive , together suggesting co-expression of TIGIT and KLRG1 may broadly define human peripheral exhausted cells.

Gut bacteria-derived serotonin promotes immune tolerance in early life.

The gut microbiota promotes immune system development in early life, but the interactions between the gut metabolome and immune cells in the neonatal gut remain largely undefined. Here, we demonstrate that the neonatal gut is uniquely enriched with neurotransmitters, including serotonin, and that specific gut bacteria directly produce serotonin while down-regulating monoamine oxidase A to limit serotonin breakdown. We found that serotonin directly signals to T cells to increase intracellular indole-3-acetaldehdye and inhibit mTOR activation, thereby promoting the differentiation of regulatory T cells, both ex vivo and in vivo in the neonatal intestine.

Sequence capture identifies fastidious chytrid fungi directly from host tissue.

The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) was discovered in 1998 as the cause of chytridiomycosis, an emerging infectious disease causing mass declines in amphibian populations worldwide. The rapid population declines of the 1970s-1990s were likely caused by the spread of a highly virulent lineage belonging to the Bd-GPL clade that was introduced to naïve susceptible populations. Multiple genetically distinct and regional lineages of Bd have since been isolated and sequenced, greatly expanding the known biological diversity within this fungal pathogen.