A fiery heart: case report of perimyocarditis in a patient with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

Background: Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare disease caused by small- to medium-sized vessel vasculitis which can also impact the heart. Because of its rarity and diverse clinical manifestations, diagnosis can be challenging. Here, we present a unique case of EGPA causing perimyocarditis in a young female patient.

Catabolism of extracellular glutathione supplies amino acids to support tumor growth.

Restricting amino acids from tumors is an emerging therapeutic strategy with significant promise. While typically considered an intracellular antioxidant with tumor-promoting capabilities, glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide of cysteine, glutamate, and glycine that can be catabolized, yielding amino acids. The extent to which GSH-derived amino acids are essential to cancers is unclear.

Activity, structure, and diversity of Type II proline-rich antimicrobial peptides from insects.

Apidaecin 1b (Api), the first characterized Type II Proline-rich antimicrobial peptide (PrAMP), is encoded in the honey bee genome. It inhibits bacterial growth by binding in the nascent peptide exit tunnel of the ribosome after the release of the completed protein and trapping the release factors. By genome mining, we have identified 71 PrAMPs encoded in insect genomes as pre-pro-polyproteins.

Innovative Cancer Immunotherapy with MAGE-A3 mRNA Cancer Vaccines.

Cancer causes over 10 million deaths annually worldwide and remains a significant global health challenge. This study investigated advanced immunotherapy strategies, focusing on mRNA vaccines that target tumor-specific antigens to activate the immune system. We developed a novel mRNA vaccine using O,O'-dimyristyl-N-lysyl aspartate (DMKD) to improve stability and phosphatidylserine (PS) to enhance antigen presentation to immune cells.

Image-Guided Superficial Radiation Therapy for Basal and Squamous Cell Carcinomas Produces Excellent Freedom from Recurrence Independent of Risk Factors.

: Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) are non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) and the most prevalent cancers in the United States. Image-guided superficial radiotherapy (IGSRT) is a relatively new treatment option that uses high-resolution dermal ultrasound integrated with superficial radiotherapy to improve tumor visualization. IGSRT is a clinically equivalent non-surgical alternative to Mohs micrographic surgery at 2 years of follow-up in early-stage NMSC, but larger cohort studies with longer follow-up periods that allow for analysis of patient outcomes by demographic and disease characteristics are needed.

Domain-specific balance training reduces slip-related fall risk in young adults: A potential alternative to perturbation training.

Background: External, environmental perturbations (e.g., slips) account for >60% of falls and lead to severe health-related consequences.

The Neural Correlates of Spontaneous Beat Processing and Its Relationship with Music-Related Characteristics of the Individual.

In the presence of temporally organized stimuli, there is a tendency to entrain to the beat, even at the neurological level. Previous research has shown that when adults listen to rhythmic stimuli and are asked to imagine the beat, their neural responses are the same as when the beat is physically accented. The current study explores the neural processing of simple beat structures where the beat is physically accented or inferred from a previously presented physically accented beat structure in a passive listening context.

Discovery of Antinociceptive α9α10 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Antagonists by Stable Receptor Expression.

Chronic neuropathic pain is an increasingly prevalent societal issue that responds poorly to existing therapeutic strategies. The α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) has emerged as a potential target to treat neuropathic pain. However, challenges in expressing functional α9α10 nAChRs in mammalian cell lines have slowed the discovery of α9α10 ligands and studies into the relationship between α9α10 nAChRs and neuropathic pain.

Role of DMP1-mediated GRP78 activation in osteoimmunomodulation of periodontal ligament stem cells.

The oral microbiome dysbiosis that causes periodontal disease leads to disruption of various signaling pathways that can result in alveolar bone degradation and subsequent tooth loss. Previous studies have demonstrated the potential of stem cell-based therapies in regeneration of the lost periodontium for the preservation of natural dentition. Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) have osteoblast differentiation potential and their proximity to bone makes them an ideal candidate for regenerative therapies.

Transcriptome profiling of DPP stimulated DPSCs identifies the role of autophagy in odontogenic differentiation.

Dentin phosphophoryn (DPP), synthesized and processed predominantly by the odontoblasts, serves both a structural and signaling role in dentin. In the ECM, DPP functions as an avid calcium and collagen binding protein and it also plays a crucial role as a scaffold for cell attachment and survival. The signaling function of DPP was demonstrated when undifferentiated mesenchymal cells stimulated with DPP, mediated calcium signaling through release of intracellular Ca.

End user experience of a widely used artificial intelligence based sepsis system.

Objectives: Research on the Epic Sepsis System (ESS) has predominantly focused on technical accuracy, neglecting the user experience of healthcare professionals. Understanding these experiences is crucial for the design of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in clinical settings. This study aims to explore the socio-technical dynamics affecting ESS adoption and use, based on user perceptions and experiences.

Cereblon regulates the production of hepatic fibroblast growth factor 23 in diabetes.

Cereblon (CRBN) is an extensively expressed protein involved in crucial physiological processes. This study reveals CRBN's role in governing hepatic fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) expression and production via the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) pathway in diabetic conditions. The expressions of hepatic Crbn, Yin Yang 1 (Yy1), and Fgf23 genes were significantly increased in diabetic mice and forskolin (FSK)-treated primary hepatocytes, correlating with elevated FGF23 production.

The Patterns of Failure and Prognostic Impact of Tumor Location in Patients Undergoing Reirradiation for Glioblastoma.

Introduction  RTOG 1205 is the only randomized study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of reirradiation (reRT) in recurrent glioblastoma (GBM). While this study showed that reRT was safe and improves progression-free survival (PFS), an improved approach to reRT is still needed. In this study, we report on patterns of failure and outcomes in a cohort of patients with recurrent GBM who underwent reRT.

The Effect of Patient-associated Factors on Long-Term Survival of Dental Implants.

Dental implant therapy has developed over the past half century to have documented successful outcomes in most patients who receive treatment. The long-term survival of dental implants depends upon a variety of factors including patient, surgeon, restorative dentist, and materials-related factors. The impact of patient-associated factors may impact significantly on the success of dental implants including diabetes mellitus, medications, smoking, parafunctional habits, oral hygiene, head and neck radiation, and the use of bisphosphonates, antiangiogenic, and antiresorptive medications.

A scoping review of reporting gaps in FDA-approved AI medical devices.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI/ML) models in healthcare may exacerbate health biases. Regulatory oversight is critical in evaluating the safety and effectiveness of AI/ML devices in clinical settings. We conducted a scoping review on the 692 FDA-approved AI/ML-enabled medical devices approved from 1995-2023 to examine transparency, safety reporting, and sociodemographic representation.

Tumor immunogenicity regulates host immune responses, and conventional dendritic cell type 2 uptakes the majority of tumor antigens in an orthotopic lung cancer model.

Human lung cancer carries high genetic alterations, expressing high tumor-specific neoantigens. Although orthotopic murine lung cancer models recapitulate many characteristics of human lung cancers, genetically engineered mouse models have fewer somatic mutations than human lung cancer, resulting in scarce immune cell infiltration and deficient immune responses. The endogenous mouse lung cancer model driven by Kras mutation and Trp53 deletion (KP model) has minimal immune infiltration because of a scarcity of neoantigens.

Dual-Column Stopped-Flow GC Method for Quantification of Permanent Gases, Water, and Organic Acids from a Single Injection.

Analysis of permanent gases and organic acids is typically performed with separate methods due to challenges in achieving sufficient resolution when using GC columns that are chemically compatible with acids. We developed a method to analyze samples containing high levels of water, organic acids, oxygenates, and permanent gases (CO, CO, and CH) using a single injection. Resolution is achieved using two columns: (1) an HP-FFAP column resistant to water and acids, which separates compounds based on hydrogen-bonding affinity, and (2) a GS-CarbonPLOT column capable of separating permanent gases.