Cardiac immune cell infiltration associates with abnormal lipid metabolism

CD36 mediates the uptake of long-chain fatty acids (FAs), a major energy substrate for the myocardium. Under excessive FA supply, CD36 can cause cardiac lipid accumulation and inflammation while its deletion reduces heart FA uptake and lipid content and increases glucose utilization. As a result, CD36 was proposed as a therapeutic target for obesity-associated heart disease. However, more recent reports have shown that CD36 deficiency suppresses myocardial flexibility in fuel preference between glucose and FAs, impairing tissue energy balance, while CD36 absence in tissue macrophages reduces efferocytosis and myocardial repair after injury. In line with the latter homeostatic functions, we had previously reported that CD3

Diagnostic accuracy of somatosensory evoked potential monitoring during scoliosis fusion

The goal of this review was to ascertain the diagnostic accuracy of intraoperative somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) changes to predict perioperative neurological outcome in patients undergoing spinal deformity surgery to correct adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). The authors searched PubMed/MEDLINE and World Science databases to retrieve reports and/or experiments from January 1950 through January 2014 for studies on SSEP use during AIS surgery. All motor and sensory deficits were noted in the neurological examination administered after the procedure which was used to determine the effectiveness of SSEP as an intraoperative monitoring technique. Fifteen studies identified a total of 4763 procedures on idiopathic patients. The observed incidence of neurological deficits was 1.11% (53/4763) of the sample population. Of the patients with new postoperative neurological deficits 75.5% (40/53) showed significant SSEP changes, and 24.5% (13/53) did not show significant change. Pooled analysis using the bivariate model showed SSEP change with pooled sensitivity (average 84%, 95% confidence interval 59-95%) and specificity (average 98%, 95% confidence interval 97-99%). The diagnostic odds ratio of a patient who had a new neurological deficit with SSEP changes was a diagnostic odds ratio of 340 (95% confidence interval 125-926). Overall, detection of SSEP changes had excellent discriminant ability with an area under the curve of 0.99. Our meta-analysis covering 4763 operations on idiopathic patients showed that it is a highly sensitive and specific test and that iatrogenic spinal cord injury resulting in new neurological deficits was 340 times more likely to have changes in SSEP compared to those without any new deficits

Nutrition Access in Pittsburgh

Nutrition Access in Pittsburgh is a gigamap that nests the issue of food insecurity in Pittsburgh, which affects various communities’ health, economy, and environment within larger scalar levels to visualize and understand the interconnectivity of this wicked problem. We used the process of mess mapping, STEEP (Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, and Political analytical lenses), and Donella Meadows’ leverage points to uncover the deep levels of poverty, racism, globalization, and lobbying that are rooted in the issue of nutrition access. The use of mess mapping and STEEP helped us organize nodes of information, identify feedback loops within and across the various scalar levels, and categorize recurring patterns. We propose leverage points on every scale to intervene in education, food access programs, agricultural practices, government interventions, and the global food system to alleviate the issue and hypothesize preferable futures. Reading nutrition access Our map is divided into five levels: individual, city (Pittsburgh), state (Pennsylvania), national (United States), and global. As you read further down the grocery cart, the more complex the issue becomes, bound to a larger scale. Each point of intervention describes the problem, proposes a solution from a designer’s perspective, barriers, and an expected timeline. Additionally, we have provided statistical information to contextualize the issue

Do mental health patients learn what their cognitive-behaviour therapists think they do? A short report on qualitative interviews comparing perspectives

Purpose: The acquisition of skills is essential to the conceptualization of cognitive-behavioural therapy. Yet, what experiences are encountered and what skills actually learned during therapy, and whether patients and therapists have concurrent views hereof, remains poorly understood. Method: An explorative pilot study with semi-structured, corresponding interview guides was conducted. Pilot data from our outpatient unit were transcribed and content-analyzed following current guidelines. Results: The responses of 18 participants (patients and their psychotherapists) were assigned to six main categories. Educational and cognitive aspects were mentioned most frequently and consistently by both groups. Having learned Behavioural alternatives attained the second highest agreement between perspectives. Conclusions: Patients and therapists valued CBT as an opportunity to learn new skills, which is an important prerequisite also for the maintenance of therapeutic change. We discuss limitations to generalizability but also theoretical and therapy implications

Motile Living Biobots Self‐Construct from Adult Human Somatic Progenitor Seed Cells

Abstract Fundamental knowledge gaps exist about the plasticity of cells from adult soma and the potential diversity of body shape and behavior in living constructs derived from genetically wild‐type cells. Here anthrobots are introduced, a spheroid‐shaped multicellular biological robot (biobot) platform with diameters ranging from 30 to 500 microns and cilia‐powered locomotive abilities. Each Anthrobot begins as a single cell, derived from the adult human lung, and self‐constructs into a multicellular motile biobot after being cultured in extra cellular matrix for 2 weeks and transferred into a minimally viscous habitat. Anthrobots exhibit diverse behaviors with motility patterns ranging from tight loops to straight lines and speeds ranging from 5–50 microns s−1. The anatomical investigations reveal that this behavioral diversity is significantly correlated with their morphological diversity. Anthrobots can assume morphologies with fully polarized or wholly ciliated bodies and spherical or ellipsoidal shapes, each related to a distinct movement type. Anthrobots are found to be capable of traversing, and inducing rapid repair of scratches in, cultured human neural cell sheets in vitro. By controlling microenvironmental cues in bulk, novel structures, with new and unexpected behavior and biomedically‐relevant capabilities, can be discovered in morphogenetic processes without direct genetic editing or manual sculpting