The Presence of Residual Vascular and Adipose Tissue Inflammation on F-FDG PET in Patients with Chronic Coronary Artery Disease.

Purpose: We evaluated the residual vascular and adipose tissue inflammation in patients with chronic coronary artery disease (CAD) using positron emission tomography (PET).

Methods: Our study population consisted of 98 patients with known CAD and 94 control subjects who had undergone F-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) PET due to non-cardiac reasons. Aortic root and vena cava superior F-FDG uptake were measured to obtain the aortic root target-to-background ratio (TBR).

GLP-1R agonists demonstrate potential to treat Wolfram syndrome in human preclinical models.

Aims/hypothesis: Wolfram syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the WFS1 gene. It is characterised by insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, optic nerve atrophy, diabetes insipidus, hearing loss and neurodegeneration. Considering the unmet treatment need for this orphan disease, this study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists under wolframin (WFS1) deficiency with a particular focus on human beta cells and neurons.

The omnitig framework can improve genome assembly contiguity in practice.

Despite the long history of genome assembly research, there remains a large gap between the theoretical and practical work. There is practical software with little theoretical underpinning of accuracy on one hand and theoretical algorithms which have not been adopted in practice on the other. In this paper we attempt to bridge the gap between theory and practice by showing how the theoretical safe-and-complete framework can be integrated into existing assemblers in order to improve contiguity.

An Integrated Fusion Engine for Early Threat Detection Demonstrated in Public-Space Trials.

Counter terrorism is a huge challenge for public spaces. Therefore, it is essential to support early detection of threats, such as weapons or explosives. An integrated fusion engine was developed for the management of a plurality of sensors to detect threats without disrupting the flow of commuters.

In depth functional characterization of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived beta cells and .

differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into beta cells represents an important cell source for diabetes research. Here, we fully characterized iPSC-derived beta cell function and in humanized mice. Using a 7-stage protocol, human iPSCs were differentiated into islet-like aggregates with a yield of insulin-positive beta cells comparable to that of human islets.

Acute Neuromuscular and Hormonal Responses to Power, Strength, and Hypertrophic Protocols and Training Background.

This study investigated how two slightly different athlete groups would differ in acute neuromuscular and endocrine responses to specific resistance exercise loadings and recovery compared to untrained participants. Power athletes (PA, = 8), strength athletes (SA, = 8) and non-athletes (NA, = 7) performed power (PL, 7 × 6 × 50% of 1RM), maximal strength (MSL, 7 × 3 × 3RM), and hypertrophic (HL, 5 × 10 × 10RM) loadings in Smith-machine back-squat. Neuromuscular performance, serum testosterone, growth hormone, and cortisol concentrations, and blood lactate (BL) were measured before (Pre), at Mid and after (Post) loading, and after recovery for 24 and 48 h.

Time points and risk factors for RhD immunizations after the implementation of targeted routine antenatal anti-D prophylaxis: A retrospective nationwide cohort study.

Introduction: Targeted routine antenatal anti-D prophylaxis was introduced to the national prophylaxis program in Finland in late 2013. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence, time-points, and risk factors for Rhesus D immunization after the implementation of routine antenatal anti-D prophylaxis, in all women in Finland with antenatal anti-D antibodies detected in 2014-2017.

Material And Methods: In a nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study, the incidence, time-points, and risk factors of anti-D immunizations were analyzed.

Afucosylated IgG characterizes enveloped viral responses and correlates with COVID-19 severity.

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies are crucial for protection against invading pathogens. A highly conserved N-linked glycan within the IgG-Fc tail, which is essential for IgG function, shows variable composition in humans. Afucosylated IgG variants are already used in anticancer therapeutic antibodies for their increased activity through Fc receptors (FcγRIIIa).

Exenatide induces frataxin expression and improves mitochondrial function in Friedreich ataxia.

Friedreich ataxia is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease associated with a high diabetes prevalence. No treatment is available to prevent or delay disease progression. Friedreich ataxia is caused by intronic GAA trinucleotide repeat expansions in the frataxin-encoding FXN gene that reduce frataxin expression, impair iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis, cause oxidative stress, and result in mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis.

Stearoyl CoA desaturase is a gatekeeper that protects human beta cells against lipotoxicity and maintains their identity.

Aims/hypothesis: During the onset of type 2 diabetes, excessive dietary intake of saturated NEFA and fructose lead to impaired insulin production and secretion by insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells. The majority of data on the deleterious effects of lipids on functional beta cell mass were obtained either in vivo in rodent models or in vitro using rodent islets and beta cell lines. Translating data from rodent to human beta cells remains challenging.

Pancreatic β-cell tRNA hypomethylation and fragmentation link TRMT10A deficiency with diabetes.

Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules essential for protein synthesis. Post-transcriptionally they are heavily modified to improve their function, folding and stability. Intronic polymorphisms in CDKAL1, a tRNA methylthiotransferase, are associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk.

Endoplasmic reticulum stress and eIF2α phosphorylation: The Achilles heel of pancreatic β cells.

Background: Pancreatic β cell dysfunction and death are central in the pathogenesis of most if not all forms of diabetes. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying β cell failure is important to develop β cell protective approaches.

Scope Of Review: Here we review the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress and dysregulated endoplasmic reticulum stress signaling in β cell failure in monogenic and polygenic forms of diabetes.

Community Partnership Designed to Promote Lyme Disease Prevention and Engagement in Citizen Science.

The goal of this project is to promote Lyme disease prevention and to cultivate an interest in science through a citizen-science project coordinated by researchers at a public university and teachers at rural high schools. The lesson plan is designed to increase student interest in pursuing a science career through participation in an authentic research experience, utilizing a topic that has implications on the health of the surrounding community. Students are introduced in the classroom to zoonotic diseases transmitted by the Ixodes tick, the health risks of Lyme disease, and disease prevention strategies.

Intestinal Commitment and Maturation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Is Independent of Exogenous FGF4 and R-spondin1.

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling plays a central role in guiding the differentiation of the posterior parts of the primitive gut tube into intestinal structures in vivo and some studies suggest that FGF4 is another crucial factor for intestinal development. The aim of this study was to define the effects of Wnt and FGF4 on intestinal commitment in vitro by establishing conditions for differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) into posterior endoderm (hindgut) and further to self-renewing intestinal-like organoids. The most prominent induction of the well-established intestinal marker gene CDX2 was achieved when hPSC-derived definitive endoderm cells were treated with Wnt agonist molecule CHIR99021 during differentiation to hindgut.

Selective microRNA-Offset RNA expression in human embryonic stem cells.

Small RNA molecules, including microRNAs (miRNAs), play critical roles in regulating pluripotency, proliferation and differentiation of embryonic stem cells. miRNA-offset RNAs (moRNAs) are similar in length to miRNAs, align to miRNA precursor (pre-miRNA) loci and are therefore believed to derive from processing of the pre-miRNA hairpin sequence. Recent next generation sequencing (NGS) studies have reported the presence of moRNAs in human neurons and cancer cells and in several tissues in mouse, including pluripotent stem cells.

[Human stem cells in the treatment of pancreatic and hepatic diseases].

The pancreas and the liver are developmentally closely connected with each other.The development of stem cell technology has enabled the production of functional pancreatic endocrine cells and hepatocytes from pluripotent human stem cells. The differentiation of cells takes place by mimicking the events of developmental biology on a cell culture dish.

A novel feeder-free culture system for human pluripotent stem cell culture and induced pluripotent stem cell derivation.

Correct interactions with extracellular matrix are essential to human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) to maintain their pluripotent self-renewal capacity during in vitro culture. hPSCs secrete laminin 511/521, one of the most important functional basement membrane components, and they can be maintained on human laminin 511 and 521 in defined culture conditions. However, large-scale production of purified or recombinant laminin 511 and 521 is difficult and expensive.

Activin A and Wnt-dependent specification of human definitive endoderm cells.

Activin/Nodal and Wnt signaling are known to play important roles in the regional specification of endoderm. Here we have investigated the effect of the length of stimulation with Activin A plus Wnt3a on the development of hepatic and pancreatic progenitors from the definitive endoderm (DE) cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC). We show that DE-cells derived from hPSC with 3 days high Activin A and Wnt3a treatment were able to differentiate further into both tested endodermal lineages.

Comparative analysis of targeted differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and human embryonic stem cells reveals variability associated with incomplete transgene silencing in retrovirally derived hiPSC lines.

Functional hepatocytes, cardiomyocytes, neurons, and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) or human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) could provide a defined and renewable source of human cells relevant for cell replacement therapies, drug discovery, toxicology testing, and disease modeling. In this study, we investigated the differences between the differentiation potentials of three hESC lines, four retrovirally derived hiPSC lines, and one hiPSC line derived with the nonintegrating Sendai virus technology. Four independent protocols were used for hepatocyte, cardiomyocyte, neuronal, and RPE cell differentiation.

Clinical isolates of Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 1A represent two phylogenetic lineages with differing pathogenicity-related properties.

Background: Y. enterocolitica biotype (BT) 1A strains are often isolated from human clinical samples but their contribution to disease has remained a controversial topic. Variation and the population structure among the clinical Y.

Identification of distinct lipopolysaccharide patterns among Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. enterocolitica-like bacteria.

The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of strains representing various serotypes of Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. enterocolitica-like bacteria was studied by deoxycholate-PAGE and silver staining analysis. Four main types of LPS were detected based on the O-polysaccharide (O-PS): (i) LPS with homopolymeric O-PS, (ii) LPS with ladder-forming heteropolymeric O-PS, (iii) LPS with single-length O-PS, and (iv) semi-rough LPS without O-PS.

Multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in discrimination of sporadic and outbreak-related strains of Yersinia enterocolitica.

Background: We assessed the potential of multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and antimicrobial susceptibility testing for discriminating 104 sporadic and outbreak-related Yersinia enterocolitica (YE) bio/serotype 3-4/O:3 and 2/O:9 isolates. MLVA using six VNTR markers was performed in two separate multiplex PCRs, and the fluorescently labeled PCR products were accurately sized on an automated DNA sequencer.

Results: MLVA discriminated 82 sporadic YE 3-4/O:3 and 2/O:9 strains into 77 types, whereas PFGE with the restriction enzyme NotI discriminated the strains into 23 different PFGE pulsotypes.

Polymorphism of the interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL1Ra) gene and placental abruption.

Candidate genes with a possible involvement in placental abruption are mainly those related to thrombophilia and preeclampsia. Some reports have shown by placental histologic investigation that increased risk of placental abruption is associated with prolonged inflammation. The polymorphic allele A2 in the gene coding for interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL1Ra) has been associated in various diseases of autoimmune or inflammatory nature.