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Neurosurgery 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, Yakima, Washington, USA.

Background: Preoperative depression is a risk factor for poor outcomes after spine surgery.

Objective: To understand effects of depression on spine surgery outcomes and healthcare resource utilization.

Methods: Using IBM's MarketScan Database, we identified 52 480 patients who underwent spinal fusion. Read More

J Colloid Interface Sci 2021 Apr 1;597:56-65. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, PR China; Environmental Materials and Pollution Control Laboratory, Institute of Solid State Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, PR China. Electronic address:

The use of single-atom iron catalysts in heterogeneous Fenton-like reactions has demonstrated tremendous potential for antibiotic wastewater treatment. In this study, single-atom iron fixed on nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials (Fe-ISAs@CN) was synthesised using a metal organic framework (MOF) as a precursor. Fe-ISAs@CN was applied as a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst to activate HO for the degradation of sulfadiazine (SDZ) in an aqueous solution. Read More

Int J Surg Case Rep 2021 Apr 6;82:105863. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Department of Surgery, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Introduction: Non-operative management and minimally invasive surgery reduce the burden of negative laparotomies in patients with penetrating gunshot wounds (GSW). Careful patient selection is key. Although challenging, in experienced hands laparoscopic exploration of the retroperitoneal space can be carried out. Read More

J Environ Manage 2021 Apr 13;290:112575. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

College of Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, PR China. Electronic address:

A vegetated drainage ditch (VDD) system is an effective management practice for removing excess phosphorus (P) from agricultural runoff. However, the maximization of P removing efficiency by VDD remains a challenge. In this study, new VDDs with akadama clay barriers (particle size of clay: 1-6 mm; height of barrier: 5-15 cm and length of barrier: 10-90 cm) were designed in lab scale, and the mechanism of phosphate removal by akadama clay was investigated. Read More

Biomater Sci 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Texas Heart Institute, 6770 Bertner Avenue, MC 1-135, Houston, TX 77030, USA. and RegenMedix Consulting LLC, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

New robust and reproducible differentiation approaches are needed to generate induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes of specific subtypes in predictable quantities for tissue-specific disease modeling, tissue engineering, and eventual clinical translation. Here, we assessed whether powdered decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) particles contained chamber-specific cues that could direct the cardiac differentiation of human iPSCs toward an atrial phenotype. Human hearts were dissected and the left ventricle (LV) and left atria (LA) were isolated, minced, and decellularized using an adapted submersion decellularization technique to generate chamber-specific powdered dECM. Read More

PLoS One 2021 16;16(4):e0243417. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

National Center for Electron Beam Research-an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Collaborating Centre for Electron Beam Technology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States of America.

This study investigates the microbiological and immunological basis underlying the efficacy of electron beam-inactivated immune modulators. The underlying hypothesis is that exposure to eBeam-based ionization reactions inactivate microorganisms without modifying their antigenic properties and thereby creating immune modulators. The immunological correlates of protection induced by such eBeam based Salmonella Typhimurium (EBST) immune modulators in dendritic cell (DC) (in vitro) and mice (in vivo) models were assessed. Read More

Drug Test Anal 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Laboratoire des Courses Hippiques (LCH), 15 rue de Paradis, 91370, Verrières-le-Buisson, France.

Short half-life doping substances are, quickly eliminated and therefore difficult to control with traditional analytical chemistry methods. Indirect methods targeting biomarkers constitute an alternative to extend detection time frames in doping control analyses. Gene expression analysis (i. Read More

Appl Biochem Biotechnol 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Department of Chemical Engineering, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada.

Cytochrome P450 enzymes have attracted much interest over the years given their ability to insert oxygen into saturated carbon-hydrogen bonds, a difficult feat to accomplish by traditional chemistry. Much of the activity in this field has centered on the bacterial enzyme CYP102A1, or BM3, from Bacillus megaterium, as it has shown itself capable of hydroxylating/acting upon a wide range of substrates, thereby producing industrially relevant pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and hormones. In addition, unlike most cytochromes, BM3 is both soluble and fused to its natural redox partner, thus facilitating its use. Read More

Clin Neuropathol 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Aim: Polymorphous low-grade neuroepithelial tumor of the young (PLNTY) is a rare entity with a diffuse, infiltrative pattern, awaiting to be included in the WHO CNS tumor classification; it occurs in pediatric and young patients with seizures and harbors mutually exclusive BRAFV600E or FGFR mutations. Nonetheless, the presence of these mutations may not be obligatory for diagnosis. The conventional histology of these tumors resembles that of oligodendrogliomas. Read More

Asia Pac J Clin Oncol 2021 Apr;17 Suppl 3:12-26

Department of Surgery, Princess Margaret Hospital, New Territories, Hong Kong.

Background: To update the Hong Kong Urological Association-Hong Kong Society of Uro-Oncology consensus statements on the management of advanced prostate cancer, the same panelists as in the previous consensus panel held a series of meetings to discuss updated clinical evidence and experiences.

Methods: The previous consensus statements were retained, deleted, or revised, and new statements were added. At the final meeting, all statements were reviewed and amended as appropriate, followed by panel voting. Read More

AAPS PharmSciTech 2021 Apr 15;22(4):136. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutics, Virginia Commonwealth University, 410 North 12th Street, P.O. Box 980533, Richmond, Virginia, 23298-0533, USA.

This study aimed to develop and characterize a spray-dried powder aerosol formulation of a commercially available surfactant formulation, Survanta® intratracheal suspension, using the excipient enhanced growth (EEG) approach. Survanta EEG powders were prepared by spray drying of the feed dispersions containing Survanta® (beractant) intratracheal suspension, hygroscopic excipients (mannitol and sodium chloride), and a dispersion enhancer (l-leucine or trileucine) in 5 or 20% v/v ethanol in water using the Buchi Nano Spray Dryer B-90 HP. Powders were characterized for primary particle size, morphology, phospholipid content, moisture content, thermal properties, moisture sorption, and surface activity. Read More

Case Rep Ophthalmol Med 2021 30;2021:6645952. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Guru Nanak Eye Centre, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.

The authors present a retrospective, observational case study of seven patients, who presented with retained Intra-Orbital Foreign Bodies (IOrbFBs) following penetrating orbital injury at a tertiary eye hospital over a period of one year. Cases were reviewed for epidemiological features, mechanism of injury, nature of foreign body, clinical features, imaging modality, associated complications, management outcomes, and the final prognosis. The mean age of presentation was 27. Read More

ACS Med Chem Lett 2021 Apr 19;12(4):625-630. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402, United States.

The verticillins, a class of epipolythiodioxopiperazine alkaloids (ETPs) first described 50 years ago with the discovery of verticillin A (), have gained attention due to their potent activity against cancer cells, noted both in vitro and in vivo. In this study, the complex scaffold afforded through optimized fermentation was used as a feedstock for semisynthetic efforts designed to explore the reactivity of the C11 and C11' hydroxy substituents. Functionality introduced at these positions would be expected to impact not only the potency but also the pharmacokinetic properties of the resulting compound. Read More

Oxid Med Cell Longev 2021 16;2021:5564884. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Medical Biotechnology of Hebei Province, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050017, China.

Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) apoptosis is a major defining feature of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and mainly caused by inflammatory cell infiltration. Smooth muscle (SM) 22 prevents AAA formation through suppressing NF-B activation. However, the role of SM22 in VSMC apoptosis is controversial. Read More

Theranostics 2021 14;11(11):5539-5552. Epub 2021 Mar 14.

International Cooperation Laboratory on Signal Transduction, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.

We developed a cocktail of soluble molecules mimicking the milieu supporting liver regeneration that could convert mature hepatocytes to expandable liver progenitor-like cells . This study aimed to induce endogenous liver progenitor cells by the administration of the soluble molecules to provide an alternative approach for the resolution of liver fibrosis. cultured hepatocyte-derived liver progenitor-like cells (HepLPCs) were transplanted into CCL4-treated mice to investigate the therapeutic effect against liver fibrosis. Read More

Front Pharmacol 2021 30;12:628722. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Marsico Lung Institute and Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.

In cystic fibrosis (CF), defective biogenesis and activity of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) leads to airway dehydration and impaired mucociliary clearance, resulting in chronic airway infection and inflammation. The most common CFTR mutation, F508del, results in a processing defect in which the protein is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum and does not reach the apical surface. CFTR corrector compounds address this processing defect to promote mutant CFTR transfer to the apical membrane. Read More

Nat Biomed Eng 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland.

The optimization of therapeutic antibodies is time-intensive and resource-demanding, largely because of the low-throughput screening of full-length antibodies (approximately 1 × 10 variants) expressed in mammalian cells, which typically results in few optimized leads. Here we show that optimized antibody variants can be identified by predicting antigen specificity via deep learning from a massively diverse space of antibody sequences. To produce data for training deep neural networks, we deep-sequenced libraries of the therapeutic antibody trastuzumab (about 1 × 10 variants), expressed in a mammalian cell line through site-directed mutagenesis via CRISPR-Cas9-mediated homology-directed repair, and screened the libraries for specificity to human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Read More

Mod Pathol 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Despite extraordinary advances in the molecular characterization of soft tissue tumors as a result of the widespread application of next generation sequencing in clinical practice, a subset of lesions remain difficult to diagnose. In this study we describe 3 unclassified spindle cell sarcomas with a monomorphic cytomorphology and distinctive storiform growth, characterized by novel fusions between EWSR1 or FUS1, and NACC1 genes. The tumors occurred in 3 young adult females (age range: 29-31) involving deep soft tissues, two located in the lower extremity and one in the abdominal wall. Read More

Int J Gynecol Cancer 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Department of Gynaecological Oncology, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia

Background: In 2016 universal screening with mismatch repair protein immunohistochemistry in all newly diagnosed endometrial carcinomas was introduced in Western Australia.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of Lynch syndrome associated endometrial carcinomas between 2016 and 2019 with a historical control (2015). Additionally, to compare the number of cases appropriately referred for genetic assessment. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2021 Apr 15;14(4). Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Opthalmology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India

Wooden foreign bodies are notorious to be fragile and get retained as bits and bobs in the orbit. A 50-year-old woman presented to casualty with complaints of loss of vision and pain in the right eye associated with discharge from a wound in right eye upper lid. On imaging, a wooden foreign body was seen as continuous track of air. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2021 Apr 15;14(4). Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Vitreoretina Services, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.

Siderotic glaucoma is a rare and challenging clinical scenario caused by a retained iron intraocular foreign body (IOFB), which results in irreversible vision loss. Presented here is a case of secondary open-angle glaucoma in a 36-year-old man that was refractory to maximal medical therapy. A meticulous history and careful clinical examination revealed that he had a penetrating trauma 15 years ago, a self-sealed corneal entry wound, open angles, a retained encapsulated metallic IOFB and siderosis bulbi. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2021 Apr 15;14(4). Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Radiology Department, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, Poole, UK.

A 50-year-old man presented to the emergency department with abdominal pain, vomiting and fever. He had been admitted 6 months ago with acute cholecystitis when he underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) to remove ductal gallstones. Elective cholecystectomy was performed 3 days prior to the current admission. Read More

Plant Dis 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

National Institute of Forest Science, Division of Forest Diseases & Insect Pests, 57, Hoegi-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea (the Republic of), 02455;

In 2020, severely infected fruit of pecan, , showing distinct anthracnose symptoms were observed from pecan orchards in Uiseong (36°21'31.5"N 128°27'15.9"E) and Miryang (35°22'54. Read More

J Hazard Mater 2021 Jun 5;411:124932. Epub 2021 Mar 5.

Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland. Electronic address:

Titanium dioxide (TiO) (nano)particles are produced in large quantities and their potential impacts on ecosystems warrants investigations into their fate after disposal. TiO particles released into wastewater are retained by wastewater treatment plants and accumulate in digested sludge, which is increasingly incinerated in industrialized countries. Therefore, we investigated the changes of the Ti-speciation during incineration of as-received sludge and of sludge spiked with anatase (d=20-50 nm) or rutile (d=200-400 nm) using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Read More

Curr Opin Immunol 2021 Apr 12;70:67-74. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. Electronic address:

Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) molecules play a critical role in both innate and adaptive immune responses. The heterodimeric complex of a polymorphic MHC-I heavy chain and a conserved light chain binds to a diverse set of peptides which are presented at the cell surface. Peptide-free (empty) versions of MHC-I molecules are typically retained intracellularly due to their low stability and bound by endoplasmic reticulum chaperones and assembly factors. Read More

Stem Cell Res 2021 Apr 7;53:102330. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Department of Ophthalmology, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

Bietti crystalline corneoretinal dystrophy (BCD) is an autosomal recessively inherited progressive retinal disease. Here, we describe the generation and characterization of a human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) line of BCD patient with CYP4V2 mutations. The reprogramming of this iPSC line was performed from skin fibroblast by using the Sendai-virus based approach. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Apr 8;279:130472. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 15780, Greece.

Aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of a nanocomposite material (R-nFe), consisting of nano zero valent iron (nZVI) and a cation exchange resin, for Cr(VI) reduction and heavy metals removal from contaminated water streams. The effect of pH and the background solution composition was investigated by conducting three columns tests. In Column I, the experiments were carried out using NaCl as background electrolyte while in Column II and III the background solution consisted of 50% tertiary effluents of a waste water treatment plant and 50% deionized water. Read More

Int J Infect Dis 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

JMI Laboratories, North Liberty, Iowa, USA.

Objectives: The antimicrobial activity of tedizolid and comparators was evaluated against a large worldwide collection of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates recovered from patients with pneumonia.

Methods: Clinical isolates were collected from patients in 96 medical centers in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and United States during 2017-2019 and tested for susceptibility by reference broth microdilution.

Results: The most active agents against S. Read More

J Biol Chem 2021 Apr 12:100657. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. Electronic address:

The integrin αvβ6 is an antigen expressed at low levels in healthy tissue but upregulated during tumorigenesis, making it a promising target for cancer imaging and therapy. A20FMDV2 is a 20-mer peptide derived from the foot-and-mouth disease virus that exhibits nanomolar and selective affinity for αvβ6 over other integrins. Despite this selectivity, A20FMDV2 has had limited success in imaging and treating αvβ6 tumors in vivo due to its poor serum stability. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021 Apr 15;15(4):e0009339. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia, Unites States of America.

Background: Scrub typhus is a neglected tropical disease that threatens more than one billion people. If antibiotic therapy is delayed, often due to mis- or late diagnosis, the case fatality rate can increase considerably. Scrub typhus is caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium, Orientia tsutsugamushi, which invades phagocytes and endothelial cells in vivo and diverse tissue culture cell types in vitro. Read More