Towards engineering heart tissues from bioprinted cardiac spheroids.

Currentin vivoandin vitromodels fail to accurately recapitulate the human heart microenvironment for biomedical applications. This study explores the use of cardiac spheroids (CSs) to biofabricate advancedin vitromodels of the human heart. CSs were created from human cardiac myocytes, fibroblasts and endothelial cells (ECs), mixed within optimal alginate/gelatin hydrogels and then bioprinted on a microelectrode plate for drug testing. Bioprinted CSs maintained their structure and viability for at least 30 d after printing. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promoted EC branching from CSs within hydrogels. Alginate/gelatin-based hydrogels enabled spheroids fusion, which was further facilitated by addition of VEGF. Bioprinted CSs contracted spontaneously and under stimulation, allowing to record contractile and electrical signals on the microelectrode plates for industrial applications. Taken together, our findings indicate that bioprinted CSs can be used to biofabricate human heart tissues for long termin vitrotesting. This has the potential to be used to study biochemical, physiological and pharmacological features of human heart tissue

Enabling posthumous medical data donation: a plea for the ethical utilisation of personal health data

This article argues that personal medical data should be made available for scientific research, by enabling and encouraging individuals to donate their medical records once deceased, in a way similar to how they can already donate organs or bodies. This research is part of a project on posthumous medical data donation developed by the Digital Ethics Lab at the Oxford Internet Institute. Ten arguments are provided to support the need to foster posthumous medical data donation. Two major risks are also identified—harm to others, and lack of control over the use of data—which could follow from unregulated donation of medical data. The argument that record-based medical research should proceed without the need to ask for informed consent is rejected, and it instead a voluntary and participatory approach to using personal medical data should be followed. The analysis concludes by stressing the need to develop an ethical code for data donation to minimise the risks providing five foundational principles for ethical medical data donation; and suggesting a draft for such a code

The Media-Crime Nexus Revisited: On the Re-Construction of Crime and Law-and-Order in Crime-Appeal Programming

By drawing on social theory, criminology, media and communications studies, and combining a variety of research methods, the present study aims to contribute to the long-standing academic debate surrounding the media-crime nexus through the in-depth examination of an area of media output that has largely been excluded from the debate thus far: crime-appeal programming. The last two decades have seen a profound expansion of this type of television output throughout the Western world. Crime-appeal programmes such as the German Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst and its international counterparts (America’s Most Wanted, Crimewatch UK etc.) are watched by millions of viewers, yet there has been, to date, no systematic attempt to examine these programmes’ origins, their content as well as their social and policy implications. Crime-appeal programmes are promoted on the strength of their public service merit, i.e., their contribution to the fight against crime; as well as on the strength of their reality credentials: they claim to present actual criminal cases involving real offenders and real victims. Moreover, by purporting to act in a close cooperative arrangement with the police, they seek to espouse a degree of authority and expertise in criminality matters. But just how ‘real’ is their ‘reality of crime’? Do these programmes offer a representative image of the (already limited) version of the ‘reality of crime’ presented in official crime statistics? Do they really stick to their public service obligations? This study argues that, on both accounts, they do not

Behavioural genetic analyses of prosocial behaviour in adolescents.

Prosocial behavior is an important aspect of normal social and psychological development. Adult and child twin studies typically estimate the heritability of prosocial behavior to be between 30 and 50%, although relatively little is known about genetic and environmental influences upon prosocial behavior in adolescence. We therefore examined reports of prosocial behavior in a large longitudinal family study of 1160 adolescent twin pairs (aged between 13 and 19 years). Prosocial behavior was assessed at two time points by self-report and at the second time point by additional parent-ratings using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997). Adolescent females were reported to be significantly more prosocial than males (p < .001). Univariate analyses primarily showed moderate heritability and large nonshared environmental influences. There was a moderate genetic correlation between self- and parent-reported prosocial behaviour, suggesting that both types of rater were tapping into genetically overlapping constructs. Longitudinal analyses revealed that continuity was largely explained by genes. Unique environmental influences were predominantly time-specific and were the major source of individual differences

Coop functions as a corepressor of Pangolin and antagonizes Wingless signaling

Wingless (Wg) signaling regulates expression of its target genes via Pangolin and Armadillo, and their interacting cofactors. In the absence of Wg, Pangolin mediates transcriptional repression. In the presence of Wg, Pangolin, Armadillo, and a cohort of coactivators mediate transcriptional activation. Here we uncover Coop (corepressor of Pan) as a Pangolin-interacting protein. Coop and Pangolin form a complex on DNA containing a Pangolin/TCF-binding motif. Overexpression of Coop specifically represses Wg target genes, while loss of Coop function causes derepression. Finally, we show that Coop antagonizes the binding of Armadillo to Pangolin, providing a mechanism for Coop-mediated repression of Wg target gene transcription

Implementation and evaluation of an algorithm for the management of scabies outbreaks

Abstract Background Infestations with scabies mites are a global burden affecting individuals of all ages, classes and ethnicities. As poor sanitation and overcrowding favor the transmission of this highly contagious disease, epidemic outbreaks are frequently observed among displaced persons and asylum seekers. Due to the growing influx of refugees during the last years, public health authorities in host countries are frequently confronted with the challenge to treat individuals with diagnosed or suspected scabies promptly and effectively to avoid further spreading of the infestation. This study aimed to establish a straightforward and efficient algorithm for rapid screening and treatment of large numbers of patients with confirmed or suspected scabies infestations. Methods Forty-eight individuals (58% males, mean age 22.4 yrs.) from Syria with suspected scabies infestation were allocated to 3 colour-coded groups: (1) no signs or symptoms of infestation, (2) itch only, and (3) itch and typical skin lesions. Patients were treated with a single (group 1) or two doses of oral ivermectin at an interval of 7 days (group 2), or with a combination of 2 doses of ivermectin plus 2 applications of permethrin ointment at an interval of 7 days (group 3). Follow-ups were performed 4 weeks after initial treatments. Results All individuals with signs and/or symptoms of infestation had improved skin lesion; in 10/11 (90.9%) lesion had completely resolved. All individuals with initial itch only (n = 32) reported improvement of its intensity or complete resolution. None of the patients of group 1 developed itch or skin lesions. The algorithm was reapplied in 4 individuals (8.3%) after 4 weeks and the outbreak was completely controlled after 8 weeks. Colour-coding ensured fast flow of information between health-care providers at the interfaces of the algorithm. Conclusions Our algorithm proved to be both highly efficient for treatment of large numbers of patients with suspected or diagnosed scabies infestation as well as for prevention of spreading of the disease. Hence, this algorithm is well suited for the management of scabies mass outbreaks

Evaluation of 24-h urine collection quality in the Swiss Kidney Stone Cohort-NCCR Kidney.CH

Background Kidney stone affect one in ten adults in Switzerland. Diet plays a key role in the development and management of kidney stones. We collected data on the dietary habits of stone formers and controls using two consecutive 24-h dietary recalls and 24-h urine collections as well as blood chemistry. We explored the quality and completeness of 24-hour urine collections of participants prior to using 24-h urinary electrolytes and urea excretions as biomarkers of dietary intakes. Methods The Swiss Kidney Stone Cohort (SKSC) is a multicentric cohort of stone formers. A control group, free of kidney stone on CT-scan, was recruited in the general adult population. The SKSC includes 803 kidney stones formers and 207 controls (table 1). We evaluated the quality of the 24-h urine collection at baseline using urinary creatinine excretion (μmol/kg/24h). We also used a multiple linear regression model, including age, sex, BMI and linguistic region as covariates, to explore whether urinary volume and creatinine excretion differed between cases and controls. Results Of the 1882 urinary collections available, 631(33,5%) were outside the 10th-90th percentiles of the expected urinary creatinine excretion values. Mean 24-h urinary volume (day 1) was 1809±786ml (SKSC) and 2078±827ml (controls). After adjusting for age, sex, BMI and linguistic region, controls have a higher urinary volume than cases (+263±66ml, p &lt;0.001). Swiss Germans have higher urinary volumes (+153±52ml, p &lt;0.01). Adjusted mean 24-h urinary creatinine excretion (day 1) was similar in cases (164±52μmol/kg/24h) and controls (166±43μmol/kg/24h, p = 0.6). Conclusions The percentage of inadequate collections falls within a range previously described in the literature. Patients have lower 24-h urinary volume, but similar creatinine excretion than controls. Swiss Germans have higher urinary volumes. Further analysis will be conducted using 24-h urinary electrolytes (sodium, potassium) and urea excretions to assess the dietary intake of the participants. (Table Presented)