Impact of urbanization on the house sparrow (Passer domesticus): Serum proteome and pathogen prevalence.

The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a globally distributed species found in rural, urban and other humanised environments. In Europe, sparrow populations have significantly declined in recent decades, especially in urbanised areas. In the present study, we analysed the impact of urbanization on sparrow body condition, pathogen prevalence, and serum proteome changes.

COVID-19 Humic/Fulvic Acid Plus Epigallocatechin Gallate Treatment: A Retrospective Chart Review.

Introduction: The initial COVID-19 infection caused significant mortality in the nursing home setting. The mortality in our facility was approximately 50% and occurred in the later phase of the initial infection. In the nursing home setting, there were no approved treatment regimes.

The Clinical Impact of Somatic Copy Number Variations in Patients With Stage IV Wilms Tumor Enrolled in the SIOP 2001 Trial and Study.

Background: Recent research elucidated the prognostic significance of molecular biology in Wilms tumor (WT) by linking somatic genomic variants (such as gain of chromosome 1q) to unfavorable patient outcomes. This analysis describes the clinical impact of copy number variations (CNV) in tumor samples of WT patients with stage IV disease.

Methods: Tumor samples of 55 WT patients with stage IV disease from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany enrolled in the SIOP 2001 study and treated with preoperative chemotherapy (pCHT) were examined for their CNVs of chromosome 1q and other regions of interest using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA).

A Prospective Crossover Study Comparing Six Current Generation Supraglottic Airway Device's Ability to Seal During CPR in Human Cadavers.

Background: Supraglottic airway (SGA) devices are frequently used during cardiopulmonary respiration (CPR), but little is known about their ability to consistently seal the airway during CPR.

Objectives: The objective of this prospective crossover human cadaver study was a comparison of intrathoracic pressures (ITPs) generated during automated CPR (aCPR) with an Impedance Threshold Device (ZOLL Medical Corporation, Chelmsford, MA) with six currently available SGAs to a standard endotracheal tube (ETT). The hypothesis was that current SGAs would vary in their ability to develop ITPs compared with the ETT.

Hallmark discoveries in the biology of non-Wilms tumour childhood kidney cancers.

Approximately 20% of paediatric and adolescent/young adult patients with renal tumours are diagnosed with non-Wilms tumour, a broad heterogeneous group of tumours that includes clear-cell sarcoma of the kidney, congenital mesoblastic nephroma, malignant rhabdoid tumour of the kidney, renal-cell carcinoma, renal medullary carcinoma and other rare histologies. The differential diagnosis of these tumours dates back many decades, when these pathologies were identified initially through clinicopathological observation of entities with outcomes that diverged from Wilms tumour, corroborated with immunohistochemistry and molecular cytogenetics and, subsequently, through next-generation sequencing. These advances enabled near-definitive recognition of different tumours and risk stratification of patients.

The Diagnostic Utility of PRAME in Primary Cutaneous Dedifferentiated and Transdifferentiated Melanomas.

Melanomas show a wide spectrum of clinical, morphological, immunohistochemical, and molecular features, which can impact treatment and prognosis. Dedifferentiated and transdifferentiated melanomas (DTM) are defined as melanomas which have lost conventional melanocytic morphologic and immunohistochemical features, showing sarcomatous morphology and/or immunohistochemical staining of other cell lineages, and as such, can be mistaken for other entities such as collision tumors and undifferentiated spindle cell tumors. In this series, we highlight the utility of preferentially expressed antigen in melanomas (PRAME) in diagnosing undifferentiated/dedifferentiated melanomas.

Healthcare utilisation of 282,080 individuals with long COVID over two years: a multiple matched control, longitudinal cohort analysis.

Objectives: To investigate healthcare utilisation and cost in individuals with long COVID (LC) at population level.

Design: Case-control cohort analysis with multiple age-, sex-, ethnicity-, deprivation-, region- and comorbidity-matched control groups: (1) COVID only, no LC; (2) pre-pandemic; (3) contemporary non-COVID; and (4) pre-LC (self-controlled, pre-COVID pandemic).

Setting: National, population-based, linked UK electronic health records (British Heart Foundation/NHS England Secure Data Environment).

Cast from the Past? Microbial Diversity of a Neolithic Stone Circle.

We studied the microbial diversity colonizing limestone rock pools at a Neolithic Monument (Arbor Low, Derbyshire, England). Five pools were analyzed: four located at the megaliths of the stone circle and one pool placed at the megalith at the Gib Hill burial mound 300 m distant. Samples were taken from rock pool walls and sediments, and investigated through molecular metabarcoding.

Tailored bioengineering and nanomedicine strategies for sex-specific healing of chronic wounds.

Chronic wounds, defined by their prolonged healing process, significantly impair patients' quality of life and impose a hefty financial burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Sex- and gender-specific mechanisms regulate inflammation and infection, angiogenesis, matrix synthesis and cell recruitment. All of these processes contribute to cutaneous wound healing but remain largely understudied.

Patient use of pulse oximetry to support management of COVID-19 in Greater Manchester: A non-randomised evaluation using a target trial approach.

Introduction: The pandemic saw widespread use of home pulse oximeters to patients diagnosed with COVID-19 to support early detection of low oxygen saturation levels and appropriate care. Rapid implementation made conventional evaluation challenging, highlighting the need for rigorous non-randomised methods to support decision-making about future use of these technologies. We used routine data to explore the benefits of pulse oximetry in Greater Manchester, under the 'COVID-19 oximetry at home' (CO@h) programme.

Transition metal homoeostasis is key to metabolism and drug tolerance of .

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the major challenges humans are facing this century. Understanding the mechanisms behind the rise of AMR is therefore crucial to tackling this global threat. The presence of transition metals is one of the growth-limiting factors for both environmental and pathogenic bacteria, and the mechanisms that bacteria use to adapt to and survive under transition metal toxicity resemble those correlated with the rise of AMR.

The Complex World of Kynurenic Acid: Reflections on Biological Issues and Therapeutic Strategy.

It has been unequivocally established that kynurenic acid has a number of actions in a variety of cells and tissues, raising, in principle, the possibility of targeting its generation, metabolism or sites of action to manipulate those effects to a beneficial therapeutic end. However, many basic aspects of the biology of kynurenic acid remain unclear, potentially leading to some confusion and misinterpretations of data. They include questions of the source, generation, targets, enzyme expression, endogenous concentrations and sites of action.

Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-2 (PCK2) is a therapeutic target in triple-negative breast cancer.

Purpose: Metabolic rewiring in malignant transformation is often accompanied by altered expression of metabolic isozymes. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-2 (PCK2) catalyzes the rate-limiting step of gluconeogenesis and is the dominant isoform in many cancers including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Our goal was to identify small molecule inhibitors of PCK2 enzyme activity.

Mining human clinical waste as a rich source of stem cells for neural regeneration.

Neural diseases are challenging to treat and are regarded as one of the major causes of disability and morbidity in the world. Stem cells can provide a solution, by offering a mechanism to replace damaged circuitry. However, obtaining sufficient cell sources for neural regeneration remains a significant challenge.

The extracellular heparan sulfatase SULF2 limits myeloid IFNβ signaling and Th17 responses in inflammatory arthritis.

Heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans are important regulators of cellular responses to soluble mediators such as chemokines, cytokines and growth factors. We profiled changes in expression of genes encoding HS core proteins, biosynthesis enzymes and modifiers during macrophage polarisation, and found that the most highly regulated gene was Sulf2, an extracellular HS 6-O-sulfatase that was markedly downregulated in response to pro-inflammatory stimuli. We then generated Sulf2 bone marrow chimeric mice and examined inflammatory responses in antigen-induced arthritis, as a model of rheumatoid arthritis.

Multimodality detection of tumour rupture in children with Wilms tumour.

Background And Aims: Tumour rupture (TR) signifies stage III disease and requires treatment intensification, which includes radiotherapy. We studied the associations between radiological, surgical and pathology TR in children with Wilms tumour (WT) in a United Kingdom multicentre clinical study.

Patients And Methods: The IMPORT (Improving Population Outcomes for Renal Tumours of Childhood) study registered 712 patients between 2012 and 2021.

Inflammatory disease status and response to TNF blockade are associated with mechanisms of endotoxin tolerance.

The mechanisms of endotoxin tolerance (ET), which down-regulate inflammation, are well described in response to exogenous toll-like receptor ligands, but few studies have focused on ET-associated mechanisms in inflammatory disease. As blocking TNF can attenuate the development of ET, the effect of anti-TNF on the expression of key ET-associated molecules in inflammatory auto-immune disease was measured; changes in inflammatory gene expression were confirmed using an ET bioassay. The expression of immunomodulatory molecules was measured in a murine model of arthritis treated with anti-TNF and the expression of ET-associated molecules was measured in whole blood in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients, before and after therapy.

Residential greenspace and COVID-19 Severity: A cohort study of 313,657 individuals in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Background: Greenspaces contribute positively to mental and physical well-being, promote social cohesion, and alleviate environmental stressors, such as air pollution. Ecological studies suggest that greenspace may affect incidence and severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Objective: This study examines the association between residential greenspace and COVID-19 related hospitalization and death.

West Nile Virus Seroprevalence in Wild Birds and Equines in Madrid Province, Spain.

West Nile virus (WNV) is a re-emerging flavivirus, primarily circulating among avian hosts and mosquito vectors, causing periodic outbreaks in humans and horses, often leading to neuroinvasive disease and mortality. Spain has reported several outbreaks, most notably in 2020 with seventy-seven human cases and eight fatalities. WNV has been serologically detected in horses in the Community of Madrid, but to our knowledge, it has never been reported from wild birds in this region.

Engineering interfacial tissues: The myotendinous junction.

The myotendinous junction (MTJ) is the interface connecting skeletal muscle and tendon tissues. This specialized region represents the bridge that facilitates the transmission of contractile forces from muscle to tendon, and ultimately the skeletal system for the creation of movement. MTJs are, therefore, subject to high stress concentrations, rendering them susceptible to severe, life-altering injuries.

The prevalence of long COVID in people with diabetes mellitus-evidence from a UK cohort.

Background: It was apparent from the early phase of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) pandemic that a multi-system syndrome can develop in the weeks following a COVID-19 infection, now referred to as Long COVID. Given that people living with diabetes are at increased risk of hospital admission/poor outcomes following COVID-19 infection we hypothesised that they may also be more susceptible to developing Long COVID. We describe here the prevalence of Long COVID in people living with diabetes when compared to matched controls in a Northwest UK population.

Controlled oxygen delivery to power tissue regeneration.

Oxygen plays a crucial role in human embryogenesis, homeostasis, and tissue regeneration. Emerging engineered regenerative solutions call for novel oxygen delivery systems. To become a reality, these systems must consider physiological processes, oxygen release mechanisms and the target application.