Microfluidic platforms for cell cultures and investigations

This review covers several aspects of microfluidic devices used for culturing and monitoring of both adherent and non-adherent cells, including a multitude of applications. A comparison of available platforms with high throughput analysis, automation capability, interface to sensors and integration, is reported. Aspects, such as operational versatility of the devices, are scrutinized in terms of their analytical efficacy. It is found that due to multi-functionality capability of modern microfluidics, there is big amount of experimental data obtainable from a single device, allowing complex experimental control and efficient data correlation, particularly important when biomedical studies are considered. Hence several examples on cell culture and monitoring are given in this review, including details on design of microfluidic devices with their distinctive technological peculiarities

Predicting WNV circulation in Italy using earth observation data and extreme gradient boosting model

West Nile Disease (WND) is one of the most spread zoonosis in Italy and Europe caused by a vector-borne virus. Its transmission cycle is well understood, with birds acting as the primary hosts and mosquito vectors transmitting the virus to other birds, while humans and horses are occasional dead-end hosts. Identifying suitable environmental conditions across large areas containing multiple species of potential hosts and vectors can be difficult. The recent and massive availability of Earth Observation data and the continuous development of innovative Machine Learning methods can contribute to automatically identify patterns in big datasets and to make highly accurate identification of areas at risk. In this paper, we investigated the West Nile Virus (WNV) circulation in relation to Land Surface Temperature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Surface Soil Moisture collected during the 160 days before the infection took place, with the aim of evaluating the predictive capacity of lagged remotely sensed variables in the identification of areas at risk for WNV circulation. WNV detection in mosquitoes, birds and horses in 2017, 2018 and 2019, has been collected from the National Information System for Animal Disease Notification. An Extreme Gradient Boosting model was trained with data from 2017 and 2018 and tested for the 2019 epidemic, predicting the spatio-temporal WNV circulation two weeks in advance with an overall accuracy of 0.84. This work lays the basis for a future early warning system that could alert public authorities when climatic and environmental conditions become favourable to the onset and spread of WNV

Anticoagulant therapy for splanchnic vein thrombosis: an individual patient data meta-analysis

Robust evidence on the optimal management of splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT) is lacking. We conducted an individual-patient meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of anticoagulation for SVT. Medline, Embase, and clincaltrials.gov were searched up to June 2021 for prospective cohorts or randomized clinical trials including patients with SVT. Data from individual datasets were merged, and any discrepancy with published data was resolved by contacting study authors. Three studies of a total of 1635 patients were included. Eighty-five percent of patients received anticoagulation for a median duration of 316 days (range, 1-730 days). Overall, incidence rates for recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), major bleeding, and mortality were 5.3 per 100 patient-years (p-y; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.1-5.5), 4.4 per 100 p-y (95% CI, 4.2-4.6), and 13.0 per 100 p-y (95% CI, 12.4-13.6), respectively. The incidence rates of all outcomes were lower during anticoagulation and higher after treatment discontinuation or when anticoagulation was not administered. In multivariable analysis, anticoagulant treatment appeared to be associated with a lower risk of recurrent VTE (hazard ratio [HR], 0.42; 95% CI, 0.27-0.64), major bleeding (HR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.30-0.74), and mortality (HR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.17-0.31). Results were consistent in patients with cirrhosis, solid cancers, myeloproliferative neoplasms, unprovoked SVT, and SVT associated with transient or persistent nonmalignant risk factors. In patients with SVT, the risk of recurrent VTE and major bleeding is substantial. Anticoagulant treatment is associated with reduced risk of both outcomes. © 2022 by The American Society of Hematology

Superhydrophobic lab-on-chip measures secretome protonation state and provides a personalized risk assessment of sporadic tumour

Secretome of primary cultures is an accessible source of biological markers compared to more complex and less decipherable mixtures such as serum or plasma. The protonation state (PS) of secretome reflects the metabolism of cells and can be used for cancer early detection. Here, we demonstrate a superhydrophobic organic electrochemical device that measures PS in a drop of secretome derived from liquid biopsies. Using data from the sensor and principal component analysis (PCA), we developed algorithms able to efficiently discriminate tumour patients from non-tumour patients. We then validated the results using mass spectrometry and biochemical analysis of samples. For the 36 patients across three independent cohorts, the method identified tumour patients with high sensitivity and identification as high as 100% (no false positives) with declared subjects at-risk, for sporadic cancer onset, by intermediate values of PS. This assay could impact on cancer risk management, individual’s diagnosis and/or help clarify risk in healthy populations

Breaking the diffusion limit with super-hydrophobic delivery of molecules to plasmonic nanofocusing SERS structures

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ISSN exercise & sport nutrition review: research & recommendations

Sports nutrition is a constantly evolving field with hundreds of research papers published annually. For this reason, keeping up to date with the literature is often difficult. This paper is a five year update of the sports nutrition review article published as the lead paper to launch the JISSN in 2004 and presents a well-referenced overview of the current state of the science related to how to optimize training and athletic performance through nutrition. More specifically, this paper provides an overview of: 1.) The definitional category of ergogenic aids and dietary supplements; 2.) How dietary supplements are legally regulated; 3.) How to evaluate the scientific merit of nutritional supplements; 4.) General nutritional strategies to optimize performance and enhance recovery; and, 5.) An overview of our current understanding of the ergogenic value of nutrition and dietary supplementation in regards to weight gain, weight loss, and performance enhancement. Our hope is that ISSN members and individuals interested in sports nutrition find this review useful in their daily practice and consultation with their clients

Within-subject variability in body composition using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

The reproducibility of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements for total body composition and for segmental body composition was investigated in 22 healthy male subjects who underwent six consecutive measurements in 90 min. Body weight (mean +/- SD) and body height were 72.3 +/- 8.8 kg and 1.75 +/- 0.04 m respectively, and body mass index was 23.5 +/- 2.5 kg m(-2). Bone mineral content (BMC) was 3.30 +/- 0.36 kg, lean mass and fat mass as measured by DXA were 57.1 +/- 6.1 kg and 11.8 +/- 6.5 kg respectively. For BMC, the reproducibility, expressed as the coefficient of variation, was 12%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 4.1% and 3.1% for total body, legs, arms, trunk and abdominal respectively. For lean tissue and for fat tissue, these values were 1.5% and 50%; 1.8% and 2.1%, 8.3% and 11.7%, 26% and 10.0%, 3.9% and 10.7% respectively. It is concluded that the reproducibility for BMC is excellent, but that for lean tissue and for fat tissue the variability is relatively high, especially in body segments

Within-subject variability in body composition using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

The reproducibility of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements for total body composition and for segmental body composition was investigated in 22 healthy male subjects who underwent six consecutive measurements in 90 min. Body weight (mean +/- SD) and body height were 72.3 +/- 8.8 kg and 1.75 +/- 0.04 m respectively, and body mass index was 23.5 +/- 2.5 kg m(-2). Bone mineral content (BMC) was 3.30 +/- 0.36 kg, lean mass and fat mass as measured by DXA were 57.1 +/- 6.1 kg and 11.8 +/- 6.5 kg respectively. For BMC, the reproducibility, expressed as the coefficient of variation, was 12%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 4.1% and 3.1% for total body, legs, arms, trunk and abdominal respectively. For lean tissue and for fat tissue, these values were 1.5% and 50%; 1.8% and 2.1%, 8.3% and 11.7%, 26% and 10.0%, 3.9% and 10.7% respectively. It is concluded that the reproducibility for BMC is excellent, but that for lean tissue and for fat tissue the variability is relatively high, especially in body segments