Notes

Trimethylaminuria.
Background Walking patterns can provide important indications of a person's health status and be beneficial in the early diagnosis of individuals with a potential walking disorder. For appropriate gait analysis, it is critical that natural functional walking characteristics are captured, rather than those experienced in artificial or observed settings. To better understand the extent to which setting influences gait patterns, and particularly whether observation plays a varying role on subjects of different ages, the current study investigates to what extent people walk differently in lab versus real-world environments and whether age dependencies exist. Methods The walking patterns of 20 young and 20 elderly healthy subjects were recorded with five wearable inertial measurement units (ZurichMOVE sensors) attached to both ankles, both wrists and the chest. An automated detection process based on dynamic time warping was developed to efficiently identify the relevant sequences. From the ZurichMOVE recordings, ld environments, which indicates the need to better understand natural walking patterns under ecologically valid conditions before clinically relevant conclusions can be drawn on a subject's functional status. Moreover, the greater inter-group differences in real-world environments seem promising regarding the sensitive identification of subjects with indications of a walking disorder. Copyright © 2020 Renggli, Graf, Tachatos, Singh, Meboldt, Taylor, Stieglitz and Schmid Daners.Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) is accompanied by progressive epicardial fibrosis, dissociation of electrical activity between the epicardial layer and the endocardial bundle network, and transmural conduction (breakthroughs). However, causal relationships between these phenomena have not been demonstrated yet. Our goal was to test the hypothesis that epicardial fibrosis suffices to increase endo-epicardial dissociation (EED) and breakthroughs (BT) during AF. Methods We simulated the effect of fibrosis in the epicardial layer on EED and BT in a detailed, high-resolution, three-dimensional model of the human atria with realistic electrophysiology. The model results were compared with simultaneous endo-epicardial mapping in human atria. The model geometry, specifically built for this study, was based on MR images and histo-anatomical studies. Clinical data were obtained in four patients with longstanding persistent AF (persAF) and three patients without a history of AF. Results The AF cycle length (AFCL), conduction velocity (CV), and EED were comparable in the mapping studies and the simulations. EED increased from 24.1 ± 3.4 to 56.58 ± 6.2% (p less then 0.05), and number of BTs per cycle from 0.89 ± 0.55 to 6.74 ± 2.11% (p less then 0.05), in different degrees of fibrosis in the epicardial layer. In both mapping data and simulations, EED correlated with prevalence of BTs. Picrotoxin Fibrosis also increased the number of fibrillation waves per cycle in the model. Conclusion A realistic 3D computer model of AF in which epicardial fibrosis was increased, in the absence of other pathological changes, showed increases in EED and epicardial BT comparable to those in longstanding persAF. Thus, epicardial fibrosis can explain both phenomena. Copyright © 2020 Gharaviri, Bidar, Potse, Zeemering, Verheule, Pezzuto, Krause, Maessen, Auricchio and Schotten.Rutin, a widely distributed phytochemical flavonoid, can be used to control insect pests. In this study, we studied the growth performance of the grasshopper Oedaleus asiaticus Bey-Bienko given xenobiotic rutin using feeding experiments and transcriptomic analysis. O. asiaticus had reduced body size, lower survival rate, and reduced growth performance when fed with xenobiotic rutin. Rutin-fed nymphs had large variation in gene expression profiles, with a total of 308 genes significantly upregulated and 287 genes downregulated. The upregulated genes were significantly enriched in stress resistance-, immune-, and detoxification-related biological processes and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. Downregulated genes mainly involved cuticle biosynthesis and nutrition metabolism-related pathways. The quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis of 15 candidate genes also produced results consistent with the transcriptome data. These results suggested that grasshoppers' capacity for biosynthesis and nutrition metabolism decreased, and stress resistance and metabolized capacity to toxic substances were significantly induced when O. asiaticus was fed on xenobiotic rutin. Rutin, as a phytotoxin, had detrimental effects and induced changes in gene expression profiles for O. asiaticus. This study can provide a molecular basis and offer future opportunities for the development of rutin-related insecticides and their application to grasshopper control. Copyright © 2020 Huang, Lv, Zhang and Chang.Mechanical ventilation strategies that reduce the heterogeneity of regional lung stress and strain may reduce the risk of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). In this study, we used registration of four-dimensional computed tomographic (4DCT) images to assess regional lung aeration and deformation in 10 pigs under baseline conditions and following acute lung injury induced with oleic acid. CT images were obtained via dynamic axial imaging (Siemens SOMATOM Force) during conventional pressure-controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV), as well as high-frequency and multi-frequency oscillatory ventilation modalities (HFOV and MFOV, respectively). Our results demonstrate that oscillatory modalities reduce intratidal strain throughout the lung in comparison to conventional ventilation, as well as the spatial gradients of dynamic strain along the dorsal-ventral axis. Harmonic distortion of parenchymal deformation was observed during HFOV with a single discrete sinusoid delivered at the airway opening, suggesting inherent mechanical nonlinearity of the lung tissues. MFOV may therefore provide improved lung-protective ventilation by reducing strain magnitudes and spatial gradients of strain compared to either CMV or HFOV. Copyright © 2020 Herrmann, Gerard, Shao, Hawley, Reinhardt, Christensen, Hoffman and Kaczka.
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