Deletion of murine astrocytic vesicular nucleotide transporter increases anxiety and depressive-like behavior and attenuates motivation for reward.

Astrocytes are multi-functional glial cells in the central nervous system that play critical roles in modulation of metabolism, extracellular ion and neurotransmitter levels, and synaptic plasticity. Astrocyte-derived signaling molecules mediate many of these modulatory functions of astrocytes, including vesicular release of ATP. In the present study, we used a unique genetic mouse model to investigate the functional significance of astrocytic exocytosis of ATP.

Insulin and IGF-1 elicit robust transcriptional regulation to modulate autophagy in astrocytes.

Objective: Insulin is a principal metabolic hormone. It regulates a plethora of metabolic pathways in peripheral tissues. The highly homologous insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), on the other hand, is important for development and growth.

SEC is an antiangiogenic virulence factor that promotes endocarditis independent of superantigen activity.

The superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin C (SEC) is critical for infective endocarditis (SAIE) in rabbits. Superantigenicity, its hallmark function, was proposed to be a major underlying mechanism driving SAIE but was not directly tested. With the use of MW2 expressing SEC toxoids, we show that superantigenicity does not sufficiently account for vegetation growth, myocardial inflammation, and acute kidney injury in the rabbit model of native valve SAIE.

β-Toxin Exerts Anti-angiogenic Effects by Inhibiting Re-endothelialization and Neovessel Formation.

causes severe, life-threatening infections that often are complicated by severe local and systemic pathologies with non-healing lesions. A classic example is infective endocarditis (IE), where the secreted hemolysin β-toxin potentiates the disease via its sphingomyelinase and biofilm ligase activities. Although these activities dysregulate human aortic endothelial cell activation, β-toxin effect on endothelial cell function in wound healing has not been addressed.

Evolution of antibiotic cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity in using the mutant prevention concentration and the mutant selection window.

In bacteria, evolution of resistance to one antibiotic is frequently associated with increased resistance (cross-resistance) or increased susceptibility (collateral sensitivity) to other antibiotics. Cross-resistance and collateral sensitivity are typically evaluated at the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). However, these susceptibility changes are not well characterized with respect to the mutant prevention concentration (MPC), the antibiotic concentration that prevents a single-step mutation from occurring.

Functional equivalence of stem cell and stem cell-derived extracellular vesicle transplantation to repair the irradiated brain.

Cranial radiotherapy, although beneficial for the treatment of brain tumors, inevitably leads to normal tissue damage that can induce unintended neurocognitive complications that are progressive and debilitating. Ionizing radiation exposure has also been shown to compromise the structural integrity of mature neurons throughout the brain, an effect believed to be at least in part responsible for the deterioration of cognitive health. Past work has shown that cranially transplanted human neural stem cells (hNSCs) or their extracellular vesicles (EVs) afforded long-term beneficial effects on many of these cognitive decrements.

Macrophage Response to Allogeneic Adipose Tissue-Derived Stromal Cells in Hyaluronan-Based Hydrogel in a Porcine Vocal Fold Injury Model.

Objective: Adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ASC) embedded in hyaluronan scaffold is a beneficial prophylactic treatment for vocal fold (VF) surgical scar. Here, we investigated the macrophage inflammatory response to allogeneic ASC-constructs and identified changes in lamina propria extracellular matrix.

Method: Pig ASC were characterized and transfected with GFP+ lentivirus.

Insights Into the Role of Collagen in Vocal Fold Health and Disease.

As one of the key fibrous proteins in the extracellular matrix, collagen plays a significant role in the structural and biomechanical characteristics of the vocal fold. Anchored fibrils of collagen create secure structural regions within the vocal folds and are strong enough to sustain vibratory impact and stretch during phonation. This contributes tensile strength, density, and organization to the vocal folds and influences health and pathogenesis.

Timing of Voice Therapy: A Primary Investigation of Voice Outcomes for Surgical Benign Vocal Fold Lesion Patients.

Objective: This study aims to examine the role of timing of speech-language pathology intervention on outcomes for surgical patients with benign vocal fold lesions as measured by a patient self-reported scale (Voice Handicap Index [VHI]) and objective acoustic measures (jitter %, Dysphonia Severity Index, noise-to-harmonics ratio). For the purpose of this study, interventions were categorized into three groups: preoperative (preoperative counseling session followed by postoperative therapy), pre- and postoperative therapy (multiple therapy sessions preoperatively and postoperatively), and postoperative therapy alone.

Study Design: Retrospective review of a prospective disease-specific outcomes database.

Characterization of sporulation histidine kinases of Bacillus anthracis.

The initiation of sporulation in Bacillus species is regulated by the phosphorelay signal transduction pathway, which is activated by several histidine sensor kinases in response to cellular and metabolic signals. Comparison of the protein components of the phosphorelay between Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus anthracis revealed high homology in the phosphorelay orthologs of Spo0F, Spo0B, and Spo0A. The sensor domains of sensor histidine kinases are poorly conserved between species, making ortholog recognition tenuous.

Biflavonoids with cytotoxic and antibacterial activity from Ochna macrocalyx.

Six biflavonoid and related compounds were isolated from the ethanolic extract of Ochna macrocalyx bark. One is a new compound, the isoflavanone dimer dehydroxyhexaspermone C ( 1). Previously isolated compounds obtained from the bark are biisoflavonoid hexaspermone C ( 2).