Comparison of AlloDerm and AlloMax tissue incorporation in rats.

BackgroundHuman acellular dermal matrices (HADMs) are used in a variety of settings. AlloMax is a new HADM currently being used for breast reconstruction and hernia repair. We compared the in vivo tissue integration of AlloMax to AlloDerm, a well-studied HADM, in rats.MethodsWe implanted AlloDerm and AlloMax patches into subcutaneous pockets on the backs of 32 male Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were killed after either 4 or 8 weeks, and the patches were recovered and stained for histopathologic analyses. Microscopic end points included patch thickness, vascularization, tissue in-growth, fibroblast proliferation, and inflammation.ResultsAll animals completed the study without complications or infection. There were no significant differences in graft thicknesses at 4 and 8 weeks. Microscopically, at 4 weeks, AlloDerm sections had significantly more microvessels than AlloMax (P = 0.02). This disparity increased by 8 weeks (P < 0.01). Similarly, we found greater tissue in-growth and fibroblast proliferation in AlloDerm than AlloMax sections at 4 (P < 0.01) and at 8 (P < 0.01) weeks. Inflammatory infiltrates consisted of lymphocytes, histiocytes, eosinophils, and plasma cells. Deep graft infiltration by predominately lymphocytic inflammatory cells was significantly higher in AlloDerm than AlloMax grafts at 4 (P = 0.01) and 8 (P = 0.02) weeks. Graft necrosis was uncommon, but marginal fibrosis was similar in both.ConclusionsAlloDerm grafts had greater neovascularization, tissue infiltration, fibroblast proliferation, and inflammatory reaction than AlloMax grafts when placed subcutaneously in rats. AlloDerm may be better incorporated than AlloMax when placed in vivo

Isotopic evidence for long-distance connections of the AD thirteenth century Promontory caves occupants

Las cuevas Promontory (Utah) y la Cueva Franktown (Colorado) contienen registros de alta fidelidad en cuanto a las ocupaciones de corto término de grupos humanos con cultura material conectada al Subártico/Planicies del Norte. Esta investigación utiliza excremento, pelo, piel de cuero y colágeno del hueso de bisonte provenientes de los sitios Promontory y Franktown para establecer una base de datos isotópicos locales y variabilidad isotópica de carbono e identifica la piel de cuero de procedencia lejana. La envoltura de tobillo de un mocasín recuperado de la Cueva 1 de Promontory tuvo un valor δ13C que indica un componente C4 considerable en la dieta del animal, lo que es un resultado distinto a las dietas C3 que se identificaron a partir del análisis de 171 muestras de bisonte provenientes de Promontory y el norte de Utah. Aplicamos una combinación única de análisis isotópico de tejidos múltiples, mapas isotópicos (“isoscapes”) de carbono, ADN antiguo (identificación de sexo y especie), tasa de remodelación de tejidos, contextos arqueológicos y la ecología del bisonte para demonstrar que el valor alto δ13C probablemente no es un resultado debido al consumo de plantas locales, movilidad del bisonte o comercio. En cambio, la piel de cuero del bisonte fue probablemente adquirida a través de viajes de larga distancia hacia zonas con pastos C4 abundantes muy al sur o al este. El conocimiento extenso sobre el paisaje obtenido a través de asociaciones de larga distancia debió permitir a los habitantes de las cuevas Promontory tomar decisiones bien informadas sobre las direcciones y rutas de movimiento para realizar un cambio territorial, el cual parece haber ocurrido a finales del sigo XIII.The Promontory caves (Utah) and Franktown Cave (Colorado) contain high-fidelity records of short-term occupations by groups with material culture connections to the Subarctic/Northern Plains. This research uses Promontory and Franktown bison dung, hair, hide, and bone collagen to establish local baseline carbon isotopic variability and identify leather from a distant source. The ankle wrap of one Promontory Cave 1 moccasin had a δ13C value that indicates a substantial C4 component to the animal's diet, unlike the C3 diets inferred from 171 other Promontory and northern Utah bison samples. We draw on a unique combination of multitissue isotopic analysis, carbon isoscapes, ancient DNA (species and sex identification), tissue turnover rates, archaeological contexts, and bison ecology to show that the high δ13C value was not likely a result of local plant consumption, bison mobility, or trade. Instead, the bison hide was likely acquired via long-distance travel to/from an area of abundant C4 grasses far to the south or east. Expansive landscape knowledge gained through long-distance associations would have allowed Promontory caves inhabitants to make well-informed decisions about directions and routes of movement for a territorial shift, which seems to have occurred in the late thirteenth century

Correlates of women's cancer screening and contraceptive knowledge among female emergency department patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lack of knowledge regarding preventive health services for women might impede campaigns to expand these services in the emergency department setting. For 18–55-year-old English-speaking women visiting an urban emergency department, we aimed to: (1) Ascertain their knowledge regarding the applicability, purpose, and recommended intervals of three women's cancer screening and three contraceptive methods; and (2) Determine if patient age, race/ethnicity, medical insurance status, and current or recent usage of these methods are associated with greater or lesser knowledge about them.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Emergency department-based survey on recent or current usage and knowledge about Pap smears, breast self-examinations, mammograms, condoms, birth control, and emergency contraception. Analyses included calculation of summary statistics and creation of multivariable logistic regression models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 1,100 patients eligible for the study, 69.9% agreed to participate. Most of the participants were < age 35, white, single (never married and no partner), Catholic, and had private medical insurance. Participant's recent or current usage of a particular cancer screening or contraceptive method varied by type of method: Pap smear within the past year (69.1%), breast self-exam within the past month (45.5%), mammogram within the past year (65.7% for women age 45–55), condom usage during every episode of sexual intercourse (15.4%), current usage of birth control pills (17.8%), and ever use of emergency contraception (9.3%). The participants correctly answered 87.9% of all survey questions about condoms, 82.5% about birth control pills, 78.5% about breast self-exams, 52.9% about Pap smears, 35.4% about mammograms, and 25.0% about emergency contraception. In multivariable logistic regression models, survey participants who had private medical insurance and those who recently or currently used a given screening or contraceptive method had a greater odds of correctly answering all questions about each cancer screening or contraceptive method.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although these female ED patients demonstrated strong knowledge on some women's cancer screening and contraceptive methods, there were several areas of knowledge deficit. Women without private medical insurance and those who have not used a particular cancer screening or contraceptive method demonstrated less knowledge. Reduced knowledge about women's cancer screening and contraceptive methods should be considered during clinical encounters and when instituting or evaluating emergency department-based initiatives that assess the need for these methods.</p

Generation of a reference transcriptome for evaluating rainbow trout responses to various stressors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fish under intensive culture conditions are exposed to a variety of acute and chronic stressors, including high rearing densities, sub-optimal water quality, and severe thermal fluctuations. Such stressors are inherent in aquaculture production and can induce physiological responses with adverse effects on traits important to producers and consumers, including those associated with growth, nutrition, reproduction, immune response, and fillet quality. Understanding and monitoring the biological mechanisms underlying stress responses will facilitate alleviating their negative effects through selective breeding and changes in management practices, resulting in improved animal welfare and production efficiency.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Physiological responses to five treatments associated with stress were characterized by measuring plasma lysozyme activity, glucose, lactate, chloride, and cortisol concentrations, in addition to stress-associated transcripts by quantitative PCR. Results indicate that the fish had significant stressor-specific changes in their physiological conditions. Sequencing of a pooled normalized transcriptome library created from gill, brain, liver, spleen, kidney and muscle RNA of control and stressed fish produced 3,160,306 expressed sequence tags which were assembled and annotated. SNP discovery resulted in identification of ~58,000 putative single nucleotide polymorphisms including 24,479 which were predicted to fall within exons. Of these, 4907 were predicted to occupy the first position of a codon and 4110 the second, increasing the probability to impact amino acid sequence variation and potentially gene function.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have generated and characterized a reference transcriptome for rainbow trout that represents multiple tissues responding to multiple stressors common to aquaculture production environments. This resource compliments existing public transcriptome data and will facilitate approaches aiming to evaluate gene expression associated with stress in this species.</p

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

Comparison of AlloDerm and AlloMax tissue incorporation in rats.

BackgroundHuman acellular dermal matrices (HADMs) are used in a variety of settings. AlloMax is a new HADM currently being used for breast reconstruction and hernia repair. We compared the in vivo tissue integration of AlloMax to AlloDerm, a well-studied HADM, in rats.MethodsWe implanted AlloDerm and AlloMax patches into subcutaneous pockets on the backs of 32 male Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were killed after either 4 or 8 weeks, and the patches were recovered and stained for histopathologic analyses. Microscopic end points included patch thickness, vascularization, tissue in-growth, fibroblast proliferation, and inflammation.ResultsAll animals completed the study without complications or infection. There were no significant differences in graft thicknesses at 4 and 8 weeks. Microscopically, at 4 weeks, AlloDerm sections had significantly more microvessels than AlloMax (P = 0.02). This disparity increased by 8 weeks (P &lt; 0.01). Similarly, we found greater tissue in-growth and fibroblast proliferation in AlloDerm than AlloMax sections at 4 (P &lt; 0.01) and at 8 (P &lt; 0.01) weeks. Inflammatory infiltrates consisted of lymphocytes, histiocytes, eosinophils, and plasma cells. Deep graft infiltration by predominately lymphocytic inflammatory cells was significantly higher in AlloDerm than AlloMax grafts at 4 (P = 0.01) and 8 (P = 0.02) weeks. Graft necrosis was uncommon, but marginal fibrosis was similar in both.ConclusionsAlloDerm grafts had greater neovascularization, tissue infiltration, fibroblast proliferation, and inflammatory reaction than AlloMax grafts when placed subcutaneously in rats. AlloDerm may be better incorporated than AlloMax when placed in vivo

Molecular drivers of lobular carcinoma in situ

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is considered to be a risk factor for the development of invasive breast carcinoma, but it may also be a non-obligate precursor to invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). Many LCIS lesions do not progress to ILC, and the molecular changes that are necessary for progression from LCIS to ILC are poorly understood. Disruption in the E-cadherin complex is the hallmark of lobular lesions, but other signaling molecules, such as PIK3CA and c-src, are consistently altered in LCIS. This review focuses on the molecular drivers of lobular carcinoma, a more complete understanding of which may give perspective on which LCIS lesions progress, and which will not, thus having immense clinical implications