A Recombinant Antibody Against ALK2 Promotes Tissue Iron Redistribution and Contributes to Anemia Resolution in a Mouse Model of Anemia of Inflammation.

Patients with chronic inflammation are burdened with anemia of inflammation (AI), where inflammatory cytokines inhibit erythropoiesis, impede erythropoietin production, and limit iron availability by inducing the iron regulator hepcidin. High hepcidin hinders iron absorption and recycling, thereby worsening the impaired erythropoiesis by restricting iron availability. AI management is important as anemia impacts quality of life and potentially affects morbidity and mortality.

Influence of anterior chamber depth and vault on anterior chamber angle morphology after phakic posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the influence of anterior chamber depth (ACD) and vault on the anterior chamber angle (ACA) morphology in myopic individuals implanted with posterior chamber phakic intraocular lenses.

Methods: This retrospective case series involved 231 eyes receiving a 13.2-mm implantable collamer lens (ICL).

Impact of Biological Agents on Postsurgical Complications in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Multicentre Study of Geteccu.

Background: The impact of biologics on the risk of postoperative complications (PC) in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is still an ongoing debate. This lack of evidence is more relevant for ustekinumab and vedolizumab.

Aims: To evaluate the impact of biologics on the risk of PC.

Comparison of two different doses of bleomycin in electrochemotherapy protocols for feline cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma nonsegregated from ultraviolet light exposure.

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is one of the most common skin tumors in cats due to chronic exposure to ultraviolet light. Local treatments such as electrochemotherapy (ECT) promote disease control or even complete remission. We hypothesize that cats could benefit from treatments using bleomycin at reduced dosages.

Response dataset from canine extramedullary plasmacytoma treated with lipophobic drugs enhanced by electroporation.

Over the past 15 years, lipophobic drugs, such as bleomycin and cisplatin, have been used combined with electroporation, which promotes their uptake through the cell membrane. The present data describe general findings following electrochemotherapy and how plasmacytomas can respond to this technique. We will explain and illustrate specific outcomes during the remission process.

Outcome Following Curative-Intent Electrochemotherapy for Extramedullary Plasmocytoma in Dogs - Case Reports.

Plasma cell tumors can occur as solitary collections referred as extramedullary plasmocytoma (EMP). The present report describes four cases of EMP treated with a local nonthermal ablative approach. Four dogs were diagnosed with extramedullary plasmocytomas (EMP) in different body regions (oral cavity, digits, and lip).

Determining vault size in implantable collamer lenses: preoperative anatomy and lens parameters.

Purpose: To determine patient preoperative anatomical features and the parameters of implantable collamer lenses (ICLs) relevant in explaining vault variability.

Setting: Ophthalmology Clinic Vista Sánchez Trancón, Badajoz, Spain.

Design: Retrospective case series.

In-Depth Study of a Nosocomial Outbreak Caused by Extensively Drug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Using Whole Genome Sequencing Coupled With a Polymerase Chain Reaction Targeting Strain-Specific Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.

In 2013-2014, an outbreak involving 14 patients infected by an extensively drug-resistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected in a hospital in Madrid, Spain. Our objective was to evaluate an alternative strategy for investigating the outbreak in depth by means of molecular and genomic approaches. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was applied as a first-line approach, followed by a more refined whole genome sequencing analysis.

Vitamin B12 deficiency and diabetic neuropathy in patients taking metformin: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Vitamin B12 deficiency resulting from metformin use has been demonstrated in multiple studies. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with chronic metformin use and the relationship between vitamin B12 deficiency and diabetic neuropathy.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 162 patients.

Hydroxyurea-induced onychomadesis in a dog with chronic myeloid leukemia: A case report.

A 12-year-old Rottweiler dog was presented with a history of prostration, weight loss and hyporexia for six months. Based on complete blood tests (hematological and biochemical analyses), bone marrow examination and imaging analysis, a diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukemia was made. Treatment with hydroxyurea at a dosage of 18 mg/kg twice daily was not effective in controlling the high count of white blood cells.

Analysis of drug resistance mutations in whole blood DNA from HIV-1 infected patients by single genome and ultradeep sequencing analysis.

In HIV-1 infected patients blood CD4 T lymphocytes could be a valuable target to analyse drug resistance mutations (DRM) selected over the course of the infection. However, detection of viral resistance mutations in cellular DNA by standard genotype resistance techniques (SGRT) is suboptimal. Whole blood DNA (wbDNA) from 12 HIV-1 infected patients on ART was studied by Single Genome Sequencing (SGS) and 8 of them also by Ultradeep pyrosequencing (UDP).

In-Depth Characterization and Functional Analysis of Clonal Variants in a Strain Prone to Microevolution.

The role of clonal complexity has gradually been accepted in infection by (MTB), although analyses of this issue are limited. We performed an in-depth study of a case of recurrent MTB infection by integrating genotyping, whole genome sequencing, analysis of gene expression and infectivity in and models. Four different clonal variants were identified from independent intrapatient evolutionary branches.

Skeletal muscle inflammation and atrophy in heart failure.

Heart failure represents a systemic disease with profound effects on multiple peripheral tissues including skeletal muscle. Within the context of heart failure, perturbations in skeletal muscle physiology, structure, and function strongly contribute to exercise intolerance and the morbidity of this devastating disease. There is growing evidence that chronic heart failure imparts specific pathological changes within skeletal muscle beds resulting in muscle dysfunction and tissue atrophy.

A novel strategy based on genomics and specific PCR reveals how a multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain became prevalent in Equatorial Guinea 15 years after its emergence.

Objective: Molecular epidemiology techniques in tuberculosis (TB) can identify high-risk strains that are actively transmitted. We aimed to implement a novel strategy to optimize the identification and control of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB in a specific population.

Methods: We developed a strain-specific PCR tailored from whole genome sequencing (WGS) data to track a specific MDR prevalent strain in Equatorial Guinea (EG-MDR).

Vitamin D Levels Are Unrelated to the Severity of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Bronchiolitis Among Hospitalized Infants.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency at birth has been reported as a risk factor for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) lower respiratory tract infection during the first year of life. Limited data are available on whether an infant's vitamin D status is associated with the severity of acute RSV bronchiolitis.

Methods: Infants < 1 year of age and hospitalized with their first episode of RSV bronchiolitis were enrolled into the RSV Bronchiolitis in Early Life II cohort.

Deletion of macrophage Vitamin D receptor promotes insulin resistance and monocyte cholesterol transport to accelerate atherosclerosis in mice.

Intense effort has been devoted to understanding predisposition to chronic systemic inflammation because it contributes to cardiometabolic disease. We demonstrate that deletion of the macrophage vitamin D receptor (VDR) in mice (KODMAC) is sufficient to induce insulin resistance by promoting M2 macrophage accumulation in the liver as well as increasing cytokine secretion and hepatic glucose production. Moreover, VDR deletion increases atherosclerosis by enabling lipid-laden M2 monocytes to adhere, migrate, and carry cholesterol into the atherosclerotic plaque and by increasing macrophage cholesterol uptake and esterification.

Longitudinal changes in airway remodeling and air trapping in severe asthma.

Rationale And Objectives: Previous cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that airway wall thickness and air trapping are greater in subjects with severe asthma than in those with mild-to-moderate asthma. However, a better understanding of how airway remodeling and lung density change over time is needed. This study aimed to evaluate predictors of airway wall remodeling and change in lung function and lung density over time in severe asthma.

Integrative Approach for Computationally Inferring Interactions between the Alpha and Beta Subunits of the Calcium-Activated Potassium Channel (BK): a Docking Study.

Three-dimensional models of the alpha- and beta-1 subunits of the calcium-activated potassium channel (BK) were predicted by threading modeling. A recursive approach comprising of sequence alignment and model building based on three templates was used to build these models, with the refinement of non-conserved regions carried out using threading techniques. The complex formed by the subunits was studied by means of docking techniques, using 3D models of the two subunits, and an approach based on rigid-body structures.

Implementation of basic quality control tests for malaria medicines in Amazon Basin countries: results for the 2005-2010 period.

Background: Ensuring the quality of malaria medicines is crucial in working toward malaria control and eventual elimination. Unlike other validated tests that can assess all critical quality attributes, which is the standard for determining the quality of medicines, basic tests are significantly less expensive, faster, and require less skilled labour; yet, these tests provide reproducible data and information on several critical quality attributes, such as identity, purity, content, and disintegration. Visual and physical inspection also provides valuable information about the manufacturing and the labelling of medicines, and in many cases this inspection is sufficient to detect counterfeit medicines.

A rat model of post-traumatic stress disorder reproduces the hippocampal deficits seen in the human syndrome.

Despite recent progress, the causes and pathophysiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remain poorly understood, partly because of ethical limitations inherent to human studies. One approach to circumvent this obstacle is to study PTSD in a valid animal model of the human syndrome. In one such model, extreme and long-lasting behavioral manifestations of anxiety develop in a subset of Lewis rats after exposure to an intense predatory threat that mimics the type of life-and-death situation known to precipitate PTSD in humans.

Lack of the detection of XMRV or polytropic MLV-related sequences in blood cells from HIV-1-infected patients in Spain.

Background: Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) and polytropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related virus are recently described human gammaretroviruses that have been associated with prostate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome. These studies have been controversial because a number of laboratories have been unable to find evidence of XMRV in similar groups of patients or controls. Because the existence of XMRV raises many questions, we decided to study its presence in a group of patients infected with HIV-1 with a high proportion of intravenous drug use and coinfection by hepatitis C virus.