PDGFRα inhibition reduces myofibroblast expansion in the fibrotic rim and enhances recovery after ischemic stroke.

Ischemic stroke is a major cause of adult disability. Early treatment with thrombolytics and/or thrombectomy can significantly improve outcomes; however, following these acute interventions, treatment is limited to rehabilitation therapies. Thus, the identification of therapeutic strategies that can help restore brain function in the post-acute phase remains a major challenge.

Mammographic Vascular Microcalcifications as a Surrogate Parameter for Coronary Heart Disease: Correlation to Cardiac Computer Tomography and Proposal of a Classification Score.

Objective: This study develops a BI-RADS-like scoring system for vascular microcalcifications in mammographies, correlating breast arterial calcification (BAC) in a mammography with coronary artery calcification (CAC), and specifying differences between microcalcifications caused by BAC and microcalcifications potentially associated with malignant disease.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective single-center cohort study evaluated 124 consecutive female patients (with a median age of 57 years). The presence of CAC was evaluated based on the Agatston score obtained from non-enhanced coronary computed tomography, and the calcifications detected in the mammography were graded on a four-point Likert scale, with the following criteria: (1) no visible or sporadically scattered microcalcifications, (2) suspicious microcalcification not distinguishable from breast arterial calcification, (3) minor breast artery calcifications, and (4) major breast artery calcifications.

Vascular endothelial growth factor B-mediated fatty acid flux in the adipose-kidney axis contributes to lipotoxicity in diabetic kidney disease.

A common observation in diabetic kidney disease is lipid accumulation, but the mechanism(s) underlying this pathology is unknown. Inhibition of Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) signaling was shown to prevent glomerular lipid accumulation and ameliorated diabetic kidney disease in experimental models. Here, we examined kidney biopsies from patients with Type 2 (84%) and Type 1 diabetes (16%), combined with data mining of RNA-seq dataset analyses in patients with diabetic kidney disease.

Thrombolysis exacerbates cerebrovascular injury after ischemic stroke via a VEGF-B dependent effect on adipose lipolysis.

Cerebrovascular injuries leading to edema and hemorrhage after ischemic stroke are common. The mechanisms underlying these events and how they are connected to known risk factors for poor outcome, like obesity and diabetes, is relatively unknown. Herein we demonstrate that increased adipose tissue lipolysis is a dominating risk factor for the development of a compromised cerebrovasculature in ischemic stroke.

Occurrence and Fate of Fluoroalkyl Sulfonamide-Based Copolymers in Earthworms-Bioavailability, Transformation, and Potential Impact of Sludge Application.

To date, considerable knowledge and data gaps regarding the occurrence, environmental levels, and fate of polymeric perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exist. In the present study availability, accumulation, and transformation of C4- and C8-fluoroalkylsulfonamide (FASA)-based copolymers were assessed in laboratory-grown earthworms (, triplicate of exposure tests and control). Further, a field study on earthworms (18 pooled samples) in sludge-amended soil was conducted to assess the environmental impact of sludge-amended soil with regard to the FASA-based copolymers, together with the applied sludge ( = 3), and the field soils during the period ( = 4).