Quantitative analysis of the dexamethasone side effect on human-derived young and aged skeletal muscle by myotube and nuclei segmentation using deep learning.

Motivation: Skeletal muscle cells (skMCs) combine together to create long, multi-nucleated structures called myotubes. By studying the size, length, and number of nuclei in these myotubes, we can gain a deeper understanding of skeletal muscle development. However, human experimenters may often derive unreliable results owing to the unusual shape of the myotube, which causes significant measurement variability.

Barriers and Facilitators to End-of-Life Care Delivery in ICUs: A Qualitative Study.

Objectives: To understand frontline ICU clinician's perceptions of end-of-life care delivery in the ICU.

Design: Qualitative observational cross-sectional study.

Setting: Seven ICUs across three hospitals in an integrated academic health system.

Silver electroceutical technology to treat sarcopenia.

While the world is rapidly transforming into a superaging society, pharmaceutical approaches to treat sarcopenia have hitherto not been successful due to their insufficient efficacy and failure to specifically target skeletal muscle cells (skMCs). Although electrical stimulation (ES) is emerging as an alternative intervention, its efficacy toward treating sarcopenia remains unexplored. In this study, we demonstrate a silver electroceutical technology with the potential to treat sarcopenia.

Targeting CHAF1B Enhances IFN Activity against Myeloproliferative Neoplasm Cells.

Unlabelled: Interferons (IFNs) are cytokines with potent antineoplastic and antiviral properties. IFNα has significant clinical activity in the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), but the precise mechanisms by which it acts are not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that chromatin assembly factor 1 subunit B (CHAF1B), an Unc-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1)-interactive protein in the nuclear compartment of malignant cells, is overexpressed in patients with MPN.

A qualitative study of how team characteristics and leadership are associated with information sharing in multidisciplinary intensive care units.

Background: Better information sharing in intensive care units has been associated with lower risk-adjusted mortality. This study explored how team characteristics and leadership are associated with information sharing in 4 intensive care units in a single large urban, academic medical center.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted to understand how team characteristics and leadership are associated with information sharing.

Cytokine engineered NK-92 therapy to improve persistence and anti-tumor activity.

Natural killer (NK) cells are an attractive cell source in cancer immunotherapy due to their potent antitumor ability and promising safety for allogenic applications. However, the clinical outcome of NK cell therapy has been limited due to poor persistence and loss of activity in the cytokine-deficient tumor microenvironment. Benefits from exogenous administration of soluble interleukin-2 (IL-2) to stimulate the activity of NK cells have not been significant due to cytokine consumption and activation of other immune cells, compromising both efficacy and safety.