Proteomic analysis of human Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem/stromal cells and human amniotic epithelial stem cells: a comparison of therapeutic potential.

Perinatal stem cells have prominent applications in cell therapy and regenerative medicine. Among them, human Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hWJMSCs) and human amniotic epithelial stem cells (hAESCs) have been widely used. However, the distinction in the therapeutic potential of hWJMSCs and hAESCs is poorly understood.

Synergistic effect of Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells and insulin on Schwann cell proliferation in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A treatment.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A) is a demyelinating disease caused by PMP22 duplication and an exceedingly rare hereditary peripheral neuropathy, with an incidence of 1 in 2500. Currently, no cure exists for CMT1A; however, various therapeutic approaches are under development. Considering the known therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and the relation of blood sugar levels with nerve damage in CMT, this study aimed to confirm the therapeutic effects of MSCs and insulin on CMT, using both in-vitro and in-vivo models.

Tirzepatide for Obesity Treatment and Diabetes Prevention.

Background: Obesity is chronic disease and causal precursor to myriad other conditions, including type 2 diabetes. In an earlier analysis of the SURMOUNT-1 trial, tirzepatide was shown to provide substantial and sustained reductions in body weight in persons with obesity over a 72-week period. Here, we report the 3-year safety outcomes with tirzepatide and its efficacy in reducing weight and delaying progression to type 2 diabetes in persons with both obesity and prediabetes.

Does a single dose of testosterone increase willingness to compete, confidence, and risk-taking in men? Evidence from two randomised placebo-controlled experiments.

The sex steroid hormone testosterone regulates aggression and display of dominance in non-human animals. According to the Challenge Hypothesis, these effects arise from context-sensitive testosterone increases that facilitate inter-male competitions over resources, status, and mates. A growing body of literature documents similar testosterone effects on behaviors related to competition and risk-taking in humans, though the findings have been mixed.

Double Negative Control Inference in Test-Negative Design Studies of Vaccine Effectiveness.

The test-negative design (TND) has become a standard approach to evaluate vaccine effectiveness against the risk of acquiring infectious diseases in real-world settings, such as Influenza, Rotavirus, Dengue fever, and more recently COVID-19. In a TND study, individuals who experience symptoms and seek care are recruited and tested for the infectious disease which defines cases and controls. Despite TND's potential to reduce unobserved differences, in healthcare seeking behavior (HSB) between vaccinated and unvaccinated subjects, it remains subject to various potential biases.

Wisdom of the silicon crowd: LLM ensemble prediction capabilities rival human crowd accuracy.

Human forecasting accuracy improves through the "wisdom of the crowd" effect, in which aggregated predictions tend to outperform individual ones. Past research suggests that individual large language models (LLMs) tend to underperform compared to human crowd aggregates. We simulate a wisdom of the crowd effect with LLMs.

Large and small extracellular vesicles from Wharton's jelly MSCs: Biophysics, function, and strategies to improve immunomodulation.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as mediators of immunosuppression and pro-regenerative processes, particularly through mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) across various disease models. Despite significant progress, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of EV content and functionality to fully harness their biomedical potential. Moreover, strategies to enhance EV production for clinical scalability are still under development.

A randomized controlled trial of gamification to increase physical activity among black and Hispanic breast and prostate cancer survivors: Rationale and design of the ALLSTAR clinical trial.

Background: Survivors of breast and prostate cancer, especially those that are Black and/or Hispanic, are at high risk for cardiovascular events. Physical activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in cancer survivors, but Black and Hispanic people are less likely to engage in routine physical activity. Concepts from behavioral economics have been used to design scalable, low-touch gamification interventions that increase physical activity in individuals at high risk for cardiovascular events, but the effectiveness of these strategies in Black and Hispanic survivors of breast and prostate cancer is uncertain.

Inoculation and accuracy prompting increase accuracy discernment in combination but not alone.

Misinformation is a major focus of intervention efforts. Psychological inoculation-an intervention intended to help people identify manipulation techniques-is being adopted at scale around the globe. Yet the efficacy of this approach for increasing belief accuracy remains unclear, as prior work uses synthetic materials that do not contain claims of truth.

Mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles reduce inflammatory responses to SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza viral proteins via miR-146a/NF-κB pathway.

The risk of severe disease caused by co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus (IAV) raises an annual concern for global public health. Extracellular vesicles (EV) derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) possess anti-inflammatory properties that can attenuate the inflammatory cytokine levels induced by viral infection. However, the effects of MSC-EV treatment on SARS-CoV-2 and IAV co-infection have not been elucidated.

Survodutide for treatment of obesity: rationale and design of two randomized phase 3 clinical trials (SYNCHRONIZE™-1 and -2).

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the rationale and design of two multinational phase 3 clinical trials of survodutide, an investigational glucagon and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor dual agonist for the treatment of obesity with or without type 2 diabetes (T2D; SYNCHRONIZE-1 and -2).

Methods: In these ongoing double-blind trials, participants were randomized to once-weekly subcutaneous injections of survodutide or placebo added to lifestyle modification. Survodutide doses are uptitrated to 3.

Silk-hydrogel functionalized with human decellularized Wharton's jelly extracellular matrix as a minimally invasive injectable hydrogel system for potential nucleus pulposus tissue replacement therapy.

Intervertebral disc degeneration is a primary cause for chronic low back pain, a common health problem with high incidence and the leading cause of disability globally. The early stages of disc degeneration in terms of functional and anatomical abnormalities start from the central nucleus pulposus tissue of the intervertebral disc; hence its regeneration has become a prime concern. A plethora of hydrogel systems have been investigated as nucleus pulposus tissue substitute over the years, with limited clinical translation.

Search for the Exclusive W Boson Hadronic Decays W^{±}→π^{±}γ, W^{±}→K^{±}γ and W^{±}→ρ^{±}γ with the ATLAS Detector.

A search for the exclusive hadronic decays W^{±}→π^{±}γ, W^{±}→K^{±}γ, and W^{±}→ρ^{±}γ is performed using up to 140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=13  TeV. If observed, these rare processes would provide a unique test bench for the quantum chromodynamics factorization formalism used to calculate cross sections at colliders. Additionally, at future colliders, these decays could offer a new way to measure the W boson mass through fully reconstructed decay products.

ω-9 monounsaturated fatty acids in Sapindus mukorossi seed oil enhance calcium deposition expression of Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells.

Promoting osteogenesis is crucial to improve successful bone regeneration in bone tissue engineering. Several studies on osteogenesis have reported positive effects of ω-9 monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) on bone regeneration. This study examined the potential of ω-9 monounsaturated fatty acid abundant seed oil mechanically extracted from Sapindus mukorossi (S.

Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Persons with Obesity and Knee Osteoarthritis.

Background: Weight reduction has been shown to alleviate symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee, including pain. The effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists on outcomes in knee osteoarthritis among persons with obesity has not been well studied.

Methods: We conducted a 68-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial at 61 sites in 11 countries.

Drinking firsts at home and with parental knowledge: Racial/ethnic differences in associations with later alcohol outcomes among underage youth.

Background: Prior research has shown that early alcohol experiences, such as age of initiation and speed of progression between drinking milestones, vary across racial/ethnic groups. To inform culturally tailored prevention efforts, this longitudinal study examined racial/ethnic differences in the associations of drinking firsts at home and with parental knowledge with alcohol use outcomes among underage youth.

Methods: The study included baseline and five follow-up surveys, collected every 6 months, from California adolescents (ages 12-16 years at baseline).

Survodutide for the Treatment of Obesity: Rationale and Design of the SYNCHRONIZE Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial.

Dual agonism of glucagon and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptors may be more effective than GLP-1 receptor agonism alone in reducing body weight, but the cardiovascular (CV) effects are unknown. The authors describe the rationale and design of SYNCHRONIZE-CVOT, a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, event-driven, CV safety study of survodutide, a dual glucagon and GLP-1 receptor agonist, administered subcutaneously once weekly compared with placebo in adults with a body mass index ≥27 kg/m and established CV disease or chronic kidney disease, and/or at least 2 weight-related complications or risk factors for CV disease. The primary endpoint of SYNCHRONIZE-CVOT is time to first occurrence of the composite adjudicated endpoint of 5-point major adverse CV events.