A new era of targeting cystic fibrosis with non-viral delivery of genomic medicines.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a complex genetic respiratory disorder that necessitates innovative gene delivery strategies to address the mutations in the gene. This review delves into the promises and challenges of non-viral gene delivery for CF therapy and explores strategies to overcome these hurdles. Several emerging technologies and nucleic acid cargos for CF gene therapy are discussed.

Prevalence of covid-19 and long covid in collegiate student athletes from spring 2020 to fall 2021: a retrospective survey.

Background: Symptomatic COVID-19 and Long COVID, also referred to as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) or post-COVID conditions, have been widely reported in young, healthy people, but their prevalence has not yet been determined in student athletes. We sought to estimate the prevalence of reported COVID-19, symptomatic COVID-19, and Long COVID in college athletes in the United States attending 18 schools from spring 2020 to fall 2021.

Methods: We developed an online survey to measure the prevalence of student athletes who tested positive for COVID-19, developed Long COVID, and did not return to their sport during the relevant time period.

Septic shock prediction and knowledge discovery through temporal pattern mining.

Sepsis is the body's adverse response to infection which can lead to septic shock and eventually death if not treated in a timely manner. Analyzing patterns in sepsis patients' health status over time can help predict septic shock before its onset allowing healthcare providers to be more proactive. Temporal pattern mining methods can be used to identify trends in a patient's health status over time.

Feline Ovarian Pedicle Ligation: A Comparison of Two Techniques Taught among AAVMC Institutions.

Ligation of the feline ovarian pedicle during ovariohysterectomy is achieved, principally, via one of the following methods: double ligation of the ovarian pedicle or autoligation of the ovarian pedicle, also known as the pedicle tie. The objective of this study was to assess and quantify two methods of teaching feline ovariohysterectomies, specifically ligation of the ovarian pedicle, at American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges-accredited veterinary schools. Surveys were sent to 52 AAVMC member schools, with an overall response rate of 67.

Should Clinicians Ever Recommend Supplements to Patients Trying to Lose Weight?

Helping patients lose weight can mitigate their risk of chronic disease and improve their quality of life. Over-the-counter dietary supplements for weight loss, however, are not reviewed or approved for safety or efficacy, nor does evidence support their clinical use. This commentary on a case suggests 3 reasons why clinicians cannot ethically recommend these supplements to patients: these products' safety and efficacy are unknown, ingredient lists might not be complete, and advertising could be misleading.

Systematic developmental toxicity assessment of a structurally diverse library of PFAS in zebrafish.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of widely used chemicals with limited human health effects data relative to the diversity of structures manufactured. To help fill this data gap, an extensive in vivo developmental toxicity screen was performed on 139 PFAS provided by the US EPA. Dechorionated embryonic zebrafish were exposed to 10 nominal water concentrations of PFAS (0.

Comparative liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry lipidomics analysis of macaque heart tissue flash-frozen or embedded in optimal cutting temperature polymer (OCT): Practical considerations.

Rationale: Biobanks of patient tissues have emerged as essential resources in biomedical research. Optimal cutting temperature compound (OCT) blends have shown to provide stability to the embedded tissue and are compatible with spectroscopic methods, such as infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy. Data derived from omics-methods are only useful if tissue damage caused by storage in OCT blends is minimal and well understood.

Assessment of clinical and microbiota responses to fecal microbial transplantation in adult horses with diarrhea.

Background And Aims: Fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) is empirically implemented in horses with colitis to facilitate resolution of diarrhea. The purpose of this study was to assess FMT as a clinical treatment and modulator of fecal microbiota in hospitalized horses with colitis.

Methods: A total of 22 horses with moderate to severe diarrhea, consistent with a diagnosis of colitis, were enrolled at two referral hospitals (L1: n = 12; L2: n = 10).

The multi-dimensional embryonic zebrafish platform predicts flame retardant bioactivity.

Flame retardant chemicals (FRCs) commonly added to many consumer products present a human exposure burden associated with adverse health effects. Under pressure from consumers, FRC manufacturers have adopted some purportedly safer replacements for first-generation brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs). In contrast, second and third-generation organophosphates and other alternative chemistries have limited bioactivity data available to estimate their hazard potential.

A harmonized meta-knowledgebase of clinical interpretations of somatic genomic variants in cancer.

Precision oncology relies on accurate discovery and interpretation of genomic variants, enabling individualized diagnosis, prognosis and therapy selection. We found that six prominent somatic cancer variant knowledgebases were highly disparate in content, structure and supporting primary literature, impeding consensus when evaluating variants and their relevance in a clinical setting. We developed a framework for harmonizing variant interpretations to produce a meta-knowledgebase of 12,856 aggregate interpretations.

Assessment of a 12-story Reinforced Concrete Special Moment Frame Building Using Performance-Based Seismic Engineering Standards and Guidelines: ASCE 41, TBI, and LATBSDC.

A 160-foot (≈ 49 m) tall 12-story reinforced concrete special moment frame building is designed following ASCE 7-16 and ACI 318-14, and assessed using three Performance-Based Seismic Engineering (PBSE) standards and guidelines including ASCE/SEI 41, the Tall Buildings Initiative (TBI) guidelines for performance-based design of tall buildings, and the Los Angeles Tall Buildings Structural Design Council (LATBSDC) procedures. The assessments are performed at the combination of two performance and hazard levels including Collapse Prevention (CP) at the risk-targeted maximum considered earthquake (MCE) hazard level and Immediate Occupancy (IO) at a frequent ground motion level with 50 percent probability of exceedance in 30 years, serviceability performance level. Based on the recommendations of each of the three PBSE documents, nonlinear finite element models are implemented in OpenSees.

Assessing the hazard of E-Cigarette flavor mixtures using zebrafish.

Since 2007, electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) sales in the U.S. have surpassed those of tobacco cigarettes.

Profiling 58 compounds including cosmetic-relevant chemicals using ToxRefDB and ToxCast.

Safety assessment for cosmetic-relevant chemicals (CRCs) in the European Union has been reshaped by restrictions on animal testing, and new approach methodologies (NAMs) for predicting toxicity are critical to ensure new cosmetic product safety. To demonstrate NAMs for safety assessment, we surveyed in vitro bioactivity and in vivo systemic toxicity data in the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Toxicity Forecaster (ToxCast) and Toxicity Reference databases (ToxRefDB), respectively, for 58 chemicals identified as CRCs, including cosmetic ingredients as well as trace contaminants. CRCs were diverse in use types as suggested by broad chemical use categories.

Integrating Subjective and Objective Dimensions of Resilience in Fire-Prone Landscapes.

Resilience has become a common goal for science-based natural resource management, particularly in the context of changing climate and disturbance regimes. Integrating varying perspectives and definitions of resilience is a complex and often unrecognized challenge to applying resilience concepts to social-ecological systems (SESs) management. Using wildfire as an example, we develop a framework to expose and separate two important dimensions of resilience: the inherent properties that maintain structure, function, or states of an SES and the human perceptions of desirable or valued components of an SES.

The Ethics of Eliminating Harmful Species: The Case of the Tsetse Fly.

Wildlife species harmful to humans are often targets of control and elimination programs. A contemporary example is the tsetse fly, a vector of sleeping sickness and African animal trypanosomosis. Tsetse flies have recently been targeted by a pan-African eradication campaign.

Evidence-Based Causal Chains for Linking Health, Development, and Conservation Actions.

Sustainability challenges for nature and people are complex and interconnected, such that effective solutions require approaches and a common theory of change that bridge disparate disciplines and sectors. Causal chains offer promising approaches to achieving an integrated understanding of how actions affect ecosystems, the goods and services they provide, and ultimately, human well-being. Although causal chains and their variants are common tools across disciplines, their use remains highly inconsistent, limiting their ability to support and create a shared evidence base for joint actions.

Chest Trauma in Athletic Medicine.

While overall sports participation continues at high rates, chest injuries occur relatively infrequently. Many conditions of chest injury are benign, related to simple contusions and strains, but the more rare, severe injuries carry a much higher risk of morbidity and mortality than the typical issues encountered in athletic medicine. Missed or delayed diagnosis can prove to be catastrophic.

Predicting in vivo effect levels for repeat-dose systemic toxicity using chemical, biological, kinetic and study covariates.

In an effort to address a major challenge in chemical safety assessment, alternative approaches for characterizing systemic effect levels, a predictive model was developed. Systemic effect levels were curated from ToxRefDB, HESS-DB and COSMOS-DB from numerous study types totaling 4379 in vivo studies for 1247 chemicals. Observed systemic effects in mammalian models are a complex function of chemical dynamics, kinetics, and inter- and intra-individual variability.

Ecotoxicity of the insensitive munitions compound 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) and its reduced metabolite 3-amino-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (ATO).

The insensitive munitions compound 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) was recently approved by the U.S. Army to replace cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) in conventional explosives.