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Synchronous photo of pelvic geometry along with muscle tissue morphometry: an airplane pilot review involving pelvic retroversion using up-right MRI.
2 Flow cytometry assessment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in tumor-bearing humanized mouse models.Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a growing burden on patients and health care systems that often require multiple treatments of both conventional and advanced modalities to achieve complete wound closure. A novel autologous homologous skin construct (AHSC) has been developed to treat cutaneous defects with a single topical application, by leveraging the endogenous repair capabilities of the patient's healthy skin. The AHSC's ability to close DFUs with a single treatment was evaluated in an open-label, single-arm feasibility study. Eleven patients with DFUs extending up to tendon, bone, or capsule received a single topical application of AHSC. Closure was documented weekly with high-resolution digital photography and wound planimetry. All 11 DFUs demonstrated successful graft take. Ten DFUs closed within 8 weeks. The median time-to-complete closure was 25 days. The mean percent area reduction for all 11 wounds at 4 weeks was 83%. There were no adverse events related to the AHSC treatment site. This pilot study demonstrated AHSC may be a viable single application topical intervention for DFUs and warrants investigation in larger, controlled studies.Aims Around 15% of patients at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) experience symptomatic remission and functional recovery at follow-up, yet the definition of a good outcome (GO) in this population requires further development. Outcomes are typically designed and rated by clinicians rather than patients, to measure adverse as opposed to GOs. Here we investigate how CHR-P subjects define a GO, with the aim of developing a checklist that could be used to measure GO in this clinical group. Methods A set of GO-focused questions were designed in collaboration with a service-user. CHR-P patients (n = 48) were asked to rate the importance of items that could indicate short-term (1 year) and long-term (5 years) GO. These items were then ranked using the relative importance index (RII). Results Patients rated improvement in subjective wellbeing (RII = 0.829) and non-specific presenting symptoms (RII = 0.817) amongst the factors most important for indicating GO in the short-term, and improved resilience (RII = 0.879) and negative symptoms (RII = 0.858) as key items for indicating long-term GO. Patients regarded building resilience (RII = 0.842) and having support from mental health services (RII = 0.833) as being protective for their mental health. These measures were included in a preliminary 12-item GO checklist (GO-12) for assessing GO in CHR-P subjects. Conclusions Patient-defined measures of GO included items that are not incorporated into conventional measures of outcomes in CHR-P subjects, such as subjective wellbeing and resilience. Integrating patient-defined metrics of GO may improve the assessment of outcomes in the CHR-P population.Aim Based on the main concept of reasoned action theory, this study aimed to examine which of the attitude and subjective norms affect the intention of smoking cessation by using four types of antismoking messages (1) positively and( 2) negatively stimulating one's attitude toward smoking cessation; and (3) positively and (4) negatively reflected subjective norms for second-hand smoking. Methods We conducted a randomized field study in smoking areas in universities located in D city of South Korea. Two hundred and eighty-seven male students who smoke daily were recruited in the field and randomly divided into four experimental groups and one control group. The participants in each experimental group were asked to read attitude/positive, attitude/negative, norm/positive, and norm/negative message. The data of attitude, subjective norm, and intention to stop smoking were collected. Selleckchem STI571 Results There were significant differences in the intention to quit smoking in attitude/negative messages (F = 4.311, p = .015) and norm/positive messages (F = 4.353, p = .014). The effects of subjective norm were greater than those of attitude (p less then .001). Conclusion Emphasizing the positive subjective norm for smoking cessation among young smokers might be effective in persuading them to quit smoking.A multicellular organism's development is coupled with cellular self-organization, which is regulated by cell-cell interactions and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) crosstalk. Testicular cells from different species such as mouse, rat, and porcine can self-organize into seminiferous tubules both in vitro and in vivo, but the understanding of the functional role of the ECM during this process is limited. link2 Here, it is shown that mouse testicular cells encapsulated with the biomaterial Matrigel can self-organize into seminiferous tubules with blood-testis barrier (BTB) formation and Leydig cell differentiation. By varying the encapsulation method, a combination of sodium alginate and collagen is used to promote reorganization of seminiferous tubules, which resemble those in vivo. In addition, the self-organization ability of testicular cells declines with advanced cell age, and those germ cells play a pivotal role in this process. These findings will be helpful to understand the self-organization process of testicular cells and provide insights for the reconstruction of testes.Objective We aimed to evaluate the associations between response to algorithm-directed treat-to-target conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy and potentially modifiable lifestyle factors, including dietary fish oil supplementation, body mass index (BMI), and smoking history in a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) inception cohort. Methods Patients with RA with a duration of less than 12 months were reviewed every 3 to 6 weeks to adjust therapy according to disease response. All patients received advice to take fish oil supplements, and omega-3 status was measured as plasma levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Lifestyle factors and other variables potentially prognostic for 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) remission and DAS28 low disease activity (LDA) at the 12-month visit were included in multivariable logistic regression models. Results Of 300 participants, 57.7% reached DAS28 LDA, and 43.7% were in DAS28 remission at 1 year. Increase in plasma EPA was associated with an increase in the odds of being in LDA (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.27; P less then 0.0001) and remission (adjusted OR = 1.21; P less then 0.001). There was some evidence that the effect of BMI on LDA might be modified by smoking history. An increase in BMI was associated with a decrease in the odds of being in LDA in current and former smokers but had no impact on LDA in patients who had never smoked. There were no meaningful associations between BMI or smoking history and remission. Conclusion Omega-3 status, BMI, and smoking history are potential predictors of outcome in early RA. The possibility of an effect modification by smoking on the predictive value of BMI merits further investigation.Background Adolescent and young adult (AYA) males newly diagnosed with cancer are often faced with making quick decisions about whether to cryopreserve ("bank") sperm prior to treatment initiation. Given that parental influence is crucial among young patients, the present study examines the prevalence of and factors associated with parent recommendation to bank sperm. Procedure Parents of 13- to 21-year-old males newly diagnosed with cancer and at risk for infertility secondary to impending gonadotoxic treatment completed questionnaires typically within one week of treatment initiation. Medical and sociodemographic data, communication factors, and psychological factors were considered in a logistic regression model of parent report of parental recommendation to bank sperm (yes/no). Results Surveys from 138 parents (70.3% female) of 117 AYA males (mean age = 16.1 years, SD = 2.0) were analyzed. Over half of parents recommended banking to their sons (N = 82; 59.4%). Parents who received a provider recommendation to bank sperm (odds ratio [OR] = 18.44, 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.20-81.01, P less then 0.001) or who believed in the benefits of banking (OR = 1.22, 95% CI, 1.02-1.47, P = 0.03) were significantly more likely to recommend sperm banking. link3 Conclusions Given parents' role in influencing sperm banking outcomes, provider recommendation and promotion of banking benefits may influence parents and empower initiation of these sensitive discussions with their sons. Utilization of this approach should yield beneficial outcomes regardless of the banking decision.Variants of unknown significance (VUS) and susceptibility loci (SL) are a challenge in prenatal genetic counseling. The aim of this study was to explore how such uncertain genetic results are communicated, negotiated, and made meaningful by genetics healthcare providers and couples in the actual clinical setting where results are delivered. The study was based on an anthropological approach and the material consisted of observations and audio-recordings from 16 purposively sampled genetic counseling sessions where prenatal testing had identified an inherited or de novo VUS or SL result. Field notes and transcripts from audio-recordings were analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis identified a number of specific interpretations and strategies that clinical geneticists and couples collectively used for dealing with the ambiguity of the result. Thus, the analysis resulted in a total of three themes, each with 3-4 subthemes. The theme 'Setting the scene' describes the three-stage structure of the consultatty and responsibility.Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small, membranous particles that have recently emerged as one the most important mediators of intercellular communication. They can contain a variety of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids and thus are responsible for modulation of multiple biological processes, including immune response and regulation of immune cells. Immunomodulatory activity of different EVs can be reliably assessed using EVs isolated from cell culture conditioned medium and added to in vitro or ex vivo cultures of immune cells. This article describes protocols for isolation of EVs from cell culture supernatants by differential ultracentrifugation and density gradient centrifugation. It also provides tools and protocols that enable characterization and validation of isolated particles, as well as analysis of interactions between EVs of interest and different subpopulations of human immune cells. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1 Isolation of extracellular vesicles by differential ultracentrifugation Basic Protocol 2 Isolation of extracellular vesicles by density gradient centrifugation Support Protocol 1 Imaging of extracellular vesicles using transmission electron microscopy Support Protocol 2 Detection of extracellular vesicle protein markers by Western blotting Support Protocol 3 Measurement and counting of extracellular vesicles by nanoparticle tracking analysis Basic Protocol 3 Analysis of extracellular vesicle uptake or association by different subpopulations of lymphocytes in vitro.Skeletal stem/progenitor cells (SSPC) are critical regulators of bone homeostasis by providing a continuous supply of osteoblasts throughout life. In response to inductive signals, SSPC proliferate prior to osteoblast differentiation. Proliferation requires the duplication of all cellular components prior to cell division. This imposes a unique biosynthetic requirement for amino acids that can be used for biomass production. Thus, the ability to sense and respond to amino acid availability is likely a major determinant for proliferation. Using a cellular and genetic approach, we demonstrate the amino acid sensor GCN2 is required to support the robust proliferative capacity of SSPC during bone homeostasis. GCN2 ablation results in decreased postnatal bone mass due primarily to reduced osteoblast numbers. Decreased osteoblast numbers is likely attributed to reduced SSPC proliferation as loss of GCN2 specifically affected proliferation in cultured bone marrow stromal cells without impacting osteoblast differentiation in vitro.
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