The Effects of Anthropogenic Stressors on Above- and Belowground Phytochemical Diversity of the Wetland Grass, .

Coastal wetlands face threats from climate change-induced flooding and biological invasions. Plants respond to these stressors through changes in their phytochemical metabolome, but it is unclear whether stressors affecting one tissue compartment (e.g.

Role of prescribed medication in the development of iron deficiency anaemia in adults-a case-control study.

Objective: To estimate the strength of association between exposure to selected classes of prescribed medications and the risk of developing iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), specifically considering oral anticoagulants (OACs), antidepressants, antiplatelet agents, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories.

Design: A case-control study involving the analysis of community repeat prescriptions among subjects referred with IDA, and unmatched controls referred as gastroenterology fast-tracks for other indications. Multivariable logistic regression modelling was used to calculate ORs for the association between IDA presentation and each medication class, adjusted for age, sex and coprescribing.

Antibody levels following vaccination of beef calves with a tetanus toxoid.

Tetanus is a preventable, yet often fatal, disease affecting many species, including beef cattle. Vaccination for tetanus is recommended for calves at high risk of disease, but typical beef cattle management practices often make adherence to vaccine manufacturers' guidance for a second (booster) dose of vaccine difficult. This study examined the antibody response following a single dose of tetanus toxoid, as well as following booster vaccination at various intervals.

Avoiding artifacts in the determination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance sorbent-water distribution.

Characterizing sorbent affinity for a target compound (described by sorbent-water distribution coefficient, K) is a necessary step in the sorbent selection and performance-testing process in the process of capturing aquatic contaminants. However, no standardized procedure exists to measure K, and studies display significant variations in set-up and performance. For per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), most K determinations employ batch experiments with small-scale water-sorbent mixtures, methanol-based spike of target compound(s), and analysis after assumed equilibrium, but methodological details of the above procedure differ and might cause artifacts in the determination of K.

Circulatory HMGB1 is an early predictive and prognostic biomarker of ARDS and mortality in a swine model of polytrauma.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in polytrauma patients. Pharmacological treatments of ARDS are lacking, and ARDS patients rely on supportive care. Accurate diagnosis of ARDS is vital for early intervention and improved outcomes but is presently delayed up to days.

Calibration of Perfluorinated Alkyl Acid Uptake Rates by a Tube Passive Sampler in Water.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of 4000+ man-made compounds of great concern due to their environmental ubiquity and adverse effects. Despite a general interest, few reliable detection tools for integrative passive sampling of PFAS in water are available. A microporous polyethylene tube with a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance sorbent could serve as a flow-resistant passive sampler for PFAS.

Colorectal cancer and the blood loss paradox.

Background: Faecal occult blood (FOB) positivity and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) are common manifestations of colorectal cancer (CRC) and both potentially facilitate diagnosis at an earlier, more treatable stage. It has been assumed that both are the consequence of low-grade blood loss from the tumour bed.

Method: A retrospective analysis of 1121 cases of CRC diagnosed at a single centre between 2010 and 2016, comparing cases presenting via FOB-based Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) and IDA pathways for a series of variables including age, sex, tumour location and prevalence of anaemia.

Diagnostics for Dermatologic Diseases with Autoantibodies.

Background: Dermatologic diseases with autoantibodies were recognized early as autoimmunity became accepted as a pathogenic immunologic concept. Laboratory testing to identify disease-defining autoantibodies and investigate their role in pathophysiology has evolved since.

Content: Blistering dermatologic diseases, profiled by autoantibody production, target epithelial components critical in cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion, resulting in epithelial separation and other characteristic features of the disorders.

Broad external validation of a multivariable risk prediction model for gastrointestinal malignancy in iron deficiency anaemia.

Background: Using two large datasets from Dorset, we previously reported an internally validated multivariable risk model for predicting the risk of GI malignancy in IDA-the IDIOM score. The aim of this retrospective observational study was to validate the IDIOM model using two independent external datasets.

Methods: The external validation datasets were collected, in a secondary care setting, by different investigators from cohorts in Oxford and Sheffield derived under different circumstances, comprising 1117 and 474 patients with confirmed IDA respectively.

Neonatal pemphigoid gestationis: An atypical presentation of a rare disease.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering disease characterized by urticarial plaques and/or vesicles and tense bullae. A unique presentation of BP can occur during pregnancy, the postpartum period after delivery, or with the initiation of contraception, in which case it is referred to as pemphigoid gestationis (PG). In rare instances, newborns born to mothers with PG may also present with blisters due to transplacental passage of maternal anti-bullous pemphigoid 180 (BP180) or 230 (BP230) immunoglobulin G (IgG).

Numerical Modelling of a Distributed Acoustic Sensor Based on Ultra-Low Loss-Enhanced Backscattering Fibers.

In this study, a distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) was numerically modeled based on the non-ideal optical components with their noises and imperfections. This model is used to compare the response of DAS systems to standard single-mode fibers and ultra-low loss-enhanced backscattering (ULEB) fibers, a fiber with an array of high reflective points equally spaced along its length. It is shown that using ULEB fibers with highly reflective points improves the signal-to-noise ratio and linearity of the measurement, compared with the measurement based on standard single-mode fibers.

British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines for the management of iron deficiency anaemia in adults.

Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is a major cause of morbidity and burden of disease worldwide. It can generally be diagnosed by blood testing and remedied by iron replacement therapy (IRT) using the oral or intravenous route. The many causes of iron deficiency include poor dietary intake and malabsorption of dietary iron, as well as a number of significant gastrointestinal (GI) pathologies.

Evidence for improved prognosis of colorectal cancer diagnosed following the detection of iron deficiency anaemia.

Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is common in colorectal cancer (CRC), especially, in right-sided CRC which is known to have an overall worse prognosis. The associations between diagnostic pathway (Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP), IDA, symptomatic) and tumour side/stage was assessed using logistic regression models in 1138 CRC cases presenting during 2010-2016 at a single secondary-care centre in the UK. In the IDA sub-group, the relationship between CRC stage and the event of having a blood count prior to CRC diagnosis was examined using Bayesian parametric survival model.

The Continuing Decline of Clinical Research on Serious Mental Illnesses at NIMH.

It has been claimed that the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) budget, which traditionally has been evenly balanced between basic and clinical research, has shifted sharply and that 90% of NIMH resources are funding basic research. The authors used public data sources to assess this claim: the Research Condition and Disease Categorization Database, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the NIMH Strategic Plan for Research for 2020-2024.

Optimized culture of retinal ganglion cells and amacrine cells from adult mice.

Cell culture is widely utilized to study the cellular and molecular biology of different neuronal cell populations. Current techniques to study enriched neurons in vitro are primarily limited to embryonic/neonatal animals and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Although the use of these cultures is valuable, the accessibility of purified primary adult neuronal cultures would allow for improved assessment of certain neurological diseases and pathways at the cellular level.

Using the NIH Research, Condition and Disease Categorization Database for research advocacy: Schizophrenia research at NIMH as an example.

In 2008 the National Institutes of Health established the Research, Condition and Disease Categorization Database (RCDC) that reports the amount spent by NIH institutes for each disease. Its goal is to allow the public "to know how the NIH spends their tax dollars," but it has been little used. The RCDC for 2018 was used to assess 428 schizophrenia-related research projects funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Single-cell lineage mapping of a diverse virus-specific naive CD4 T cell repertoire.

Tracking how individual naive T cells from a natural TCR repertoire clonally expand, differentiate, and make lineage choices in response to an infection has not previously been possible. Here, using single-cell sequencing technology to identify clones by their unique TCR sequences, we were able to trace the clonal expansion, differentiation trajectory, and lineage commitment of individual virus-specific CD4 T cells during an acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection. Notably, we found previously unappreciated clonal diversity and cellular heterogeneity among virus-specific helper T cells.

The dedicated iron deficiency anaemia clinic: a 15-year experience.

Objective: To report our cumulative experience from a dedicated iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) clinic over the last 15 years-with particular emphasis on referral rate, uptake of investigation, impact on endoscopy services, diagnostic yield of gastrointestinal (GI) investigation and the issue of recurrent IDA.

Method: A series of analyses of a register of 2808 referrals to the Poole IDA clinic between 2004 and 2018.

Results: The study population of 2808 had a sex ratio of 1.

Refinement and validation of the IDIOM score for predicting the risk of gastrointestinal cancer in iron deficiency anaemia.

Objective: To refine and validate a model for predicting the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer in iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and to develop an app to facilitate use in clinical practice.

Design: Three elements: (1) analysis of a dataset of 2390 cases of IDA to validate the predictive value of age, sex, blood haemoglobin concentration (Hb), mean cell volume (MCV) and iron studies on the probability of underlying GI cancer; (2) a pilot study of the benefit of adding faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) into the model; and (3) development of an app based on the model.

Results: Age, sex and Hb were all strong, independent predictors of the risk of GI cancer, with ORs (95% CI) of 1.

Evolving patterns in the presentation of coeliac disease over the last 25 years.

Objective: To document changes in the clinical features of coeliac disease (CD) at presentation over the last 25 years.

Design: Observational study.

Patients: 802 subjects diagnosed between 1993 and 2017 at a single general hospital.

Inhibition of SHP-1 Expands the Repertoire of Antitumor T Cells Available to Respond to Immune Checkpoint Blockade.

The presence and activity of CD8 T cells within the tumor microenvironment are essential for the control of tumor growth. Utilizing B16-F10 melanoma tumors that express altered peptide ligands of chicken ovalbumin, OVA, we measured high- and low-affinity OVA-specific responses following adoptive transfer of OT-I CD8 T cell into mice subsequently challenged with tumors. T-cell receptor (TCR) affinity positively correlated with the frequency of OT-I tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL).

A Preclinical Safety Study of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells for Macular Degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common disease trending towards epidemic proportions and is a leading cause of irreversible vision loss in people over the age of 65. A pathomechanism of AMD is death and/or dysfunction of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells; RPE loss invariably results in photoreceptor atrophy. Treatment options for AMD are very limited, and include vitamin supplements and lifestyle changes.

Transcriptomic profiles of retinal ganglion cells are defined by the magnitude of intraocular pressure elevation in adult mice.

Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is the major risk factor for glaucoma, a sight threatening disease of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons. Despite the central importance of IOP, details of the impact of IOP elevation on RGC gene expression remain elusive. We developed a 4-step immunopanning protocol to extract adult mouse RGCs with high fidelity and used it to isolate RGCs from wild type mice exposed to 2 weeks of IOP elevation generated by the microbead model.