Decreasing waiting time for new patients at a community pain clinic.

Long waiting time to access pain medicine clinics poses a significant mental, physical, and socioeconomic burden on patients with chronic pain. This project aimed to develop interventions to reduce the waiting time for new referrals. We used the define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) method.

Loneliness in adults awaiting liver transplantation at 7 U.S. transplant centers.

Introduction: Loneliness, "a subjective feeling of being isolated", is a strong predictor of adverse health. We characterized loneliness in patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) awaiting liver transplantation (LT).

Methods: We surveyed loneliness in ambulatory ESLD adults awaiting LT at 7 U.

SCAI Position Statement on Best Practices for Percutaneous Axillary Arterial Access and Training.

Axillary artery access has become increasingly widespread as an alternative to the femoral route for large-bore transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), endovascular aortic repair (EVAR), and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) procedures. Advantages of percutaneous access include avoidance of a surgical incision, general anesthesia, and conduit graft infection. This statement aims to review the anatomic considerations and risks for percutaneous axillary artery access, suggest best practices for access techniques, hemostasis/closure strategies, and complication management, and recommend options for training and privileging.

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor: models, biology, and translation.

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are aggressive, invasive cancer that comprise around 10% of all soft tissue sarcomas and develop in about 8-13% of patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1. They are associated with poor prognosis and are the leading cause of mortality in NF1 patients. MPNSTs can also develop sporadically or following exposure to radiation.

Training on a virtual reality cricothyroidotomy simulator improves skills and transfers to a simulated procedure.

Objective: The virtual airway skills trainer (VAST) is a virtual reality simulator for training in cricothyroidotomy (CCT). The goal of the study is to test the effectiveness of training and transfer of skills of the VAST-CCT.

Methods: Two groups, control (no training) and simulation (2 weeks of proficiency-based training), participated in this study.

Achieving pain control in early rheumatoid arthritis with baricitinib monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate versus methotrexate monotherapy.

Objectives: This post hoc analysis assessed speed, magnitude and maintenance of pain improvement in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving baricitinib, baricitinib and methotrexate (MTX), or MTX over 1 year. Cumulative pain and quality of life benefits were also assessed.

Methods: Randomised, double-blind, phase 3 study RA-BEGIN (NCT01711359) compared baricitinib 4 mg (N=159), baricitinib 4 mg +MTX (N=215) and MTX (N=210) in patients with RA who had no or limited prior disease-modifying antirheumatic drug treatment.

SLC38A2 provides proline to fulfill unique synthetic demands arising during osteoblast differentiation and bone formation.

Cellular differentiation is associated with the acquisition of a unique protein signature that is essential to attain the ultimate cellular function and activity of the differentiated cell. This is predicted to result in unique biosynthetic demands that arise during differentiation. Using a bioinformatic approach, we discovered that osteoblast differentiation is associated with increased demand for the amino acid proline.

Hepatic recruitment of eosinophils and their protective function during acute liver injury.

Background & Aims: Beyond the classical description of eosinophil functions in parasite infections and allergic diseases, emerging evidence supports a critical role of eosinophils in resolving inflammation and promoting tissue remodeling. However, the role of eosinophils in liver injury and the underlying mechanism of their recruitment into the liver remain unclear.

Methods: Hepatic eosinophils were detected and quantified using flow cytometry and immunohistochemical staining.

Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery After Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair.

Up to 28% of patients may need mitral valve (MV) surgery after transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER). This study evaluates the outcomes of minimally invasive MV surgery after TEER. International multicenter registry of minimally invasive MV surgery after TEER between 2013 and 2020.

Cytoskeleton Protein EB3 Contributes to Dendritic Spines Enlargement and Enhances Their Resilience to Toxic Effects of Beta-Amyloid.

EB3 protein is expressed abundantly in the nervous system and transiently enters the dendritic spines at the tip of the growing microtubule, which leads to spine enlargement. Nevertheless, the role of dynamic microtubules, and particularly EB3 protein, in synapse function is still elusive. By manipulating the EB3 expression level, we have shown that this protein is required for a normal dendritogenesis.

The Antimalarial Drug Pyronaridine Inhibits Topoisomerase II in Breast Cancer Cells and Hinders Tumor Progression .

Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. Pyronaridine (PND), an antimalarial drug, was shown to exert anticancer activity on seventeen different human cancer cells, seven from female breast tissue. Additionally, PND induced apoptosis mitochondrial depolarization, alteration of cell cycle progression, and DNA intercalation.

RNA sequencing on muscle biopsy from a 5-week bed rest study reveals the effect of exercise and potential interactions with dorsal root ganglion neurons.

Sedentary lifestyle, chronic disease, or microgravity can cause muscle deconditioning that then has an impact on other physiological systems. An example is the nervous system, which is adversely affected by decreased physical activity resulting in increased incidence of neurological problems such as chronic pain. We sought to better understand how this might occur by conducting RNA sequencing experiments on muscle biopsies from human volunteers in a 5-week bed-rest study with an exercise intervention arm.

Neurofibromin and suppression of tumorigenesis: beyond the GAP.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease and one of the most common inherited tumor predisposition syndromes, affecting 1 in 3000 individuals worldwide. The NF1 gene encodes neurofibromin, a large protein with RAS GTP-ase activating (RAS-GAP) activity, and loss of NF1 results in increased RAS signaling. Neurofibromin contains many other domains, and there is considerable evidence that these domains play a role in some manifestations of NF1.

Identification of polo-like kinase 1 as a therapeutic target in murine lupus.

Introduction: The signalling cascades that contribute to lupus pathogenesis are incompletely understood. We address this by using an unbiased activity-based kinome screen of murine lupus.

Methods: An unbiased activity-based kinome screen (ABKS) of 196 kinases was applied to two genetically different murine lupus strains.

ACE2 pathway regulates thermogenesis and energy metabolism.

Identification of key regulators of energy homeostasis holds important therapeutic promise for metabolic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes. ACE2 cleaves angiotensin II (Ang II) to generate Ang-(1-7) which acts mainly through the Mas1 receptor. Here, we identify ACE2 pathway as a critical regulator in the maintenance of thermogenesis and energy expenditure.