Purpose: The measurement of corneal sensation can be useful in the diagnosis of corneal neuropathies. Although the Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer (CB) is the gold standard, cotton wisp (CW) and dental floss are commonly used in clinical practice.
Methods: We assessed the steady-state force of thick dental floss (tkDF), thin dental floss (tnDF), and CW compared with that of CB.
The combination of elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI, Trikafta) reverses the primary defect in cystic fibrosis (CF) by improving CFTR-mediated Cl and HCO secretion by airway epithelial cells (AECs), leading to improved lung function and less frequent exacerbations and hospitalizations. However, studies have shown that CFTR modulators like ivacaftor, a component of ETI, have numerous effects on CF cells beyond improved CFTR channel function. Because little is known about the effect of ETI on CF AEC gene expression, we exposed primary human AEC to ETI for 48 h and interrogated the transcriptome by RNA-seq and qPCR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: E.PathDash facilitates re-analysis of gene expression data from pathogens clinically relevant to chronic respiratory diseases, including a total of 48 studies, 548 samples, and 404 unique treatment comparisons. The application enables users to assess broad biological stress responses at the KEGG pathway or gene ontology level and also provides data for individual genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adult people with cystic fibrosis (PwCF) have a higher risk of end-stage kidney disease than the general population. The nature and mechanism of kidney disease in CF are unknown. This study quantifies urinary kidney injury markers and examines the hypothesis that neutrophil activation and lung infection are associated with early kidney injury in CF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The combination of elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI, Trikafta) reverses the primary defect in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) by improving CFTR mediated Cl and HCO secretion by airway epithelial cells (AEC), leading to improved lung function and less frequent exacerbations and hospitalizations. However, studies have shown that CFTR modulators like ivacaftor, a component of ETI, has numerous effects on CF cells beyond improved CFTR channel function. Because little is known about the effect of ETI on CF AEC gene expression we exposed primary human AEC to ETI for 48 hours and interrogated the transcriptome by RNA-seq and qPCR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The disability-adjusted life year (DALY), a key metric for health resource allocation, encompasses morbidity through disability weights. Widely used in tuberculosis cost-effectiveness analysis (CEAs), DALYs play a significant role in informing intervention adopt/reject decisions. This study reviews the values and consistency of disability weights applied in tuberculosis-related CEAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol
May 2024
Although tobramycin increases lung function in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), the density of () in the lungs is only modestly reduced by tobramycin; hence, the mechanism whereby tobramycin improves lung function is not completely understood. Here, we demonstrate that tobramycin increases 5' tRNA-fMet halves in outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) secreted by laboratory and CF clinical isolates of . The 5' tRNA-fMet halves are transferred from OMVs into primary CF human bronchial epithelial cells (CF-HBEC), decreasing OMV-induced IL-8 and IP-10 secretion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic lung infections are a feature of cystic fibrosis (CF) that many patients experience even with the advent of highly effective modulator therapies. Identifying factors that impact in the CF lung could yield novel strategies to eradicate infection or otherwise improve outcomes. To complement published studies using laboratory models or RNA isolated from sputum, we analyzed transcripts of strain PAO1 after incubation in sputum from different CF donors prior to RNA extraction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Although tobramycin increases lung function in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), the density of in the lungs is only modestly reduced by tobramycin; hence, the mechanism whereby tobramycin improves lung function is not completely understood. Here, we demonstrate that tobramycin increases 5' tRNA-fMet halves in outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) secreted by laboratory and CF clinical isolates of . The 5' tRNA-fMet halves are transferred from OMVs into primary CF human bronchial epithelial cells (CF-HBEC), decreasing OMV-induced IL-8 and IP-10 secretion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe gut physiology of pediatric and adult persons with cystic fibrosis (pwCF) is altered relative to healthy persons. The CF gut is characterized, in part, as having excess mucus, increased fat content, acidic pH, increased inflammation, increased antibiotic perturbation, and the potential for increased oxygen availability. These physiological differences shift nutritional availability and the local environment for intestinal microbes, thus likely driving significant changes in microbial metabolism, colonization, and competition with other microbes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe availability of multiple publicly-available datasets studying the same phenomenon has the promise of accelerating scientific discovery. Meta-analysis can address issues of reproducibility and often increase power. The promise of meta-analysis is especially germane to rarer diseases like cystic fibrosis (CF), which affects roughly 100,000 people worldwide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrobial-resistant infections contribute to millions of deaths worldwide every year. In particular, the group of bacteria collectively known as ESKAPE ( and sp) pathogens are of considerable medical concern due to their virulence and exceptional ability to develop antibiotic resistance. New kinds of antimicrobial therapies are urgently needed to treat patients for whom existing antibiotics are ineffective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 13-year-old child with hearing loss secondary to chronic serous otitis media and bilateral tympanic perforations had been unable to hear the teacher at school and unable to pass end-of-year exams. In 2020, she trialed a bone conduction headset paired by Bluetooth to a remote microphone and used this to support her hearing at school, socializing with friends and in the family home. Due to the COVID (COronaVIrus Disease) pandemic and a cholera epidemic, she was followed up 3 years later.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: This study aims to explore the suitability of using smartphone applications with low-cost external microphones in measuring noise levels in intensive care units.
Methods: Four apps and two external microphones were tested in a laboratory by generating test signals at five noise levels. The average noise levels were measured using the apps and a professional device (i.
Chronic lung infections are a distinctive feature of cystic fibrosis (CF) pathology, that challenge adults with CF even with the advent of highly effective modulator therapies. Characterizing transcription in the CF lung and identifying factors that drive gene expression could yield novel strategies to eradicate infection or otherwise improve outcomes. To complement published gene expression studies in laboratory culture models designed to model the CF lung environment, we employed an ex vivo sputum model in which laboratory strain PAO1 was incubated in sputum from different CF donors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe gut physiology of pediatric and adult persons with cystic fibrosis (pwCF) is altered relative to healthy persons. The CF gut is characterized, in part, as having excess mucus, increased fat content, acidic pH, increased inflammation, increased antibiotic perturbation and the potential for increased oxygen availability. These physiological differences shift nutritional availability and the local environment for intestinal microbes, thus likely driving significant changes in microbial metabolism, colonization and competition with other microbes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMacrophage dysfunction has been well-described in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and may contribute to bacterial persistence in the lung. Whether CF macrophage dysfunction is related directly to Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) in macrophages or an indirect consequence of chronic inflammation and mucostasis is a subject of ongoing debate. CFTR modulators that restore CFTR function in epithelial cells improve global CF monocyte inflammatory responses but their direct effects on macrophages are less well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg
September 2023
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a heritable disease that causes altered physiology at mucosal sites; these changes result in chronic infections in the lung, significant gastrointestinal complications as well as dysbiosis of the gut microbiome, although the latter has been less well explored. Here, we describe the longitudinal development of the gut microbiome in a cohort of children with CF (cwCF) from birth through early childhood (0-4 years of age) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of stool samples as a surrogate for the gut microbiota. Similar to healthy populations, alpha diversity of the gut microbiome increases significantly with age, but diversity plateaus at ~2 years of age for this CF cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGene editing using CRISPR/Cas (clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated) is under development as a therapeutic tool for the modification of genes in eukaryotic cells. While much effort has focused on CRISPR/Cas9 systems from and , alternative CRISPR systems have been identified from non-pathogenic microbes, including previously unknown class 2 systems, adding to a diverse toolbox of CRISPR/Cas enzymes. The Cas12e enzymes from non-pathogenic Deltaproteobacteria (CasX1, DpeCas12e) and Planctomycetes (CasX2, PlmCas12e) are smaller than Cas9, have a selective protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), and deliver a staggered cleavage cut with a 5-7 nucleotide overhang.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLung infections caused by antibiotic-resistant strains of are difficult to eradicate in immunocompromised hosts such as those with cystic fibrosis. We previously demonstrated that extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by primary human airway epithelial cells (AECs) deliver microRNA let-7b-5p to to suppress biofilm formation and increase sensitivity to beta-lactam antibiotics. In this study, we show that EVs secreted by AECs transfer multiple distinct short RNA fragments to that are predicted to target the three subunits of the fluoroquinolone efflux pump MexHI-OpmD, thus increasing antibiotic sensitivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Children with a history of recurrent croup alert the ENT clinician to the potential for underlying laryngotracheal pathology. There is equipoise about the likelihood of identifying any underlying structural issues or subglottic stenosis in those children who undergo airway assessment.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study in a tertiary UK paediatric hospital of a decade of children with recurrent croup who underwent a rigid laryngo-tracheo-bronchoscopy (airway endoscopy).
Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol
June 2023
We present the first two cases in the literature of tabletop party confetti mimicking button batteries in two infants. Both patients presented to the Emergency Department with an incidentally noticed shiny, metallic appearing, disc-shaped foreign body impacted in the hard palate. Both objects were understandably misdiagnosed as button batteries.
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