Regenerative potential of the product CardioCell derived from the Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells for treating hindlimb oschemia

In recent years, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising therapeutic modality in regenerative medicine. They hold great promise for treating civilization-wide diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, such as acute myocardial infarction and critical limb ischemia. MSCs isolated from Wharton’s jelly (WJ-MSCs) may be utilized in both cell-based therapy and vascular graft engineering to restore vascular function, thereby providing therapeutic benefits for patients. The efficacy of WJ-MSCs lies in their multipotent differentiation ability toward vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells and other cell types, as well as their capacity to secrete various trophic factors, which are potent in promoting angiogenesis, inhibiting apoptosis and modulating immunoreaction. Ischemic limb disease is caused by insufficient nutrient and oxygen supplies resulting from damaged peripheral arteries. The lack of nutrients and oxygen causes severe tissue damage in the limb, thereby resulting in severe morbidities and mortality. The therapeutic effects of the conventional treatments are still not sufficient. Cell transplantations in small animal model (mice) are vital for deciphering the mechanisms of MSCs’ action in muscle regeneration. The stimulation of angiogenesis is a promising strategy for the treatment of ischemic limbs, restoring blood supply for the ischemic region. In the present study, we focus on the therapeutic properties of the human WJ-MSCs derived product, Cardio. We investigated the role of CardioCell in promoting angiogenesis and relieving hindlimb ischemia. Our results confirm the healing effect of CardioCell and strongly support the use of the WJ-MSCs in regenerative medicine

AFM-based analysis of Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells

Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) are multipotent stem cells that can be used in regenerative medicine. However, to reach the high therapeutic efficacy of WJ-MSCs, it is necessary to obtain a large amount of MSCs, which requires their extensive in vitro culturing. Numerous studies have shown that in vitro expansion of MSCs can lead to changes in cell behavior; cells lose their ability to proliferate, differentiate and migrate. One of the important measures of cells’ migration potential is their elasticity, determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quantified by Young’s modulus. This work describes the elasticity of WJ-MSCs during in vitro cultivation. To identify the properties that enable transmigration, the deformability of WJ-MSCs that were able to migrate across the endothelial monolayer or Matrigel was analyzed by AFM. We showed that WJ-MSCs displayed differences in deformability during in vitro cultivation. This phenomenon seems to be strongly correlated with the organization of F-actin and reflects the changes characteristic for stem cell maturation. Furthermore, the results confirm the relationship between the deformability of WJ-MSCs and their migration potential and suggest the use of Young’s modulus as one of the measures of competency of MSCs with respect to their possible use in therapy

Late effects of mass acute phosphine poisoning – Case report

This paper reports the case of collective acute phosphide (PH 3 ) intoxication among the crew aboard a merchant ship. All the intoxicated individuals were hospitalized 3 months after the accident. The aim of examinations was to identify late health effects of the accident. Laboratory tests and consultations were performed during their stay in the hospital. There were 5 cases of toxic liver damage. other 5 patients were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder and adjustment disorders. The results of the study suggest that in cases of acute phosphide intoxication, the assessment of patients’ psychological functioning should be an indispensable part of diagnostic procedure. Med Pr 2018;69(3):337–34

Microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization of novel chitosan-based biomaterials for pelvic organ prolapse treatment

Pelvic organ disorders affect up to one in four women in the United States. The prevalence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is increasing with each year, particularly in the setting of prolonged life expectancy and an aging population. Current treatment approaches, including polypropylene monofilaments are associated with numerous painful and worrisome side-effects. Therefore, scientists are looking for new solutions. A promising alternative to the current treatment is tissue engineering, which can be utilized to re-create support to the vagina and pelvic organs. Tissue engineering requires the use of three-dimensional scaffolds, derived from biocompatible materials. Chitosan is a natural polymer, obtained from shellfish exoskeletons. It is known for its biodegradability, lack of cytotoxicity and non-pyrogenicity. Due to the presence of free hydroxyl and amino groups, it may undergo various modifications. In this paper, we describe a new type of chitosan-based biomaterials, which can be used as a new alternative scaffold that may provide support to prolapse organs. The chitosan scaffold was obtained under microwave radiation using multifunctional amino and organic acids. We discuss the scaffold's characteristics, with an emphasis on its chemical structure and morphology. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis confirmed cross-linking processes with preservation of free amino groups. Moreover, mechanical durability, the stability and swelling ability of the scaffolds in a simulated body fluid were investigated. All of the prepared scaffolds demonstrated very good antioxidant activity and biodegradability. Importantly, the biocompatibility of chitosan scaffolds was examined on human vaginal VK2/E6E7 cell line. No evidence of toxicity was documented, and the cells maintained their presence on the studied materials. These results allude to the lack of toxicity of the scaffolds, and indicate that chitosan-based scaffold should be further investigated in in vivo studies as they may be a promising alternative treatment to pelvic organ prolapse.Web of Science70349147

SNAIL promotes metastatic behavior of rhabdomyosarcoma by increasing EZRIN and AKT expression and regulating microRNA networks

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a predominant soft tissue tumor in children and adolescents. For high-grade RMS with metastatic involvement, the 3-year overall survival rate is only 25 to 30%. Thus, understanding the regulatory mechanisms involved in promoting the metastasis of RMS is important. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that the SNAIL transcription factor regulates the metastatic behavior of RMS both in vitro and in vivo. SNAIL upregulates the protein expression of EZRIN and AKT, known to promote metastatic behavior, by direct interaction with their promoters. Our data suggest that SNAIL promotes RMS cell motility, invasion and chemotaxis towards the prometastatic factors: HGF and SDF-1 by regulating RHO, AKT and GSK3β activity. In addition, miRNA transcriptome analysis revealed that SNAIL-miRNA axis regulates processes associated with actin cytoskeleton reorganization. Our data show a novel role of SNAIL in regulating RMS cell metastasis that may also be important in other mesenchymal tumor types and clearly suggests SNAIL as a promising new target for future RMS therapies

Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in ZZ-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at s=\sqrt{s}=13 TeV

Jet fragmentation functions are measured for the first time in proton-proton collisions for charged pions, kaons, and protons within jets recoiling against a $Z$ boson. The charged-hadron distributions are studied longitudinally and transversely to the jet direction for jets with transverse momentum 20 $< p_{\textrm{T}} < 100$ GeV and in the pseudorapidity range $2.5 < \eta < 4$. The data sample was collected with the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.64 fb$^{-1}$. Triple differential distributions as a function of the hadron longitudinal momentum fraction, hadron transverse momentum, and jet transverse momentum are also measured for the first time. This helps constrain transverse-momentum-dependent fragmentation functions. Differences in the shapes and magnitudes of the measured distributions for the different hadron species provide insights into the hadronization process for jets predominantly initiated by light quarks.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-013.html (LHCb public pages

Study of the B−→Λc+Λˉc−K−B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-} decay

The decay $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ is studied in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment. In the $\Lambda_{c}^+ K^{-}$ system, the $\Xi_{c}(2930)^{0}$ state observed at the BaBar and Belle experiments is resolved into two narrower states, $\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}$ and $\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}$, whose masses and widths are measured to be $$m(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = 2924.5 \pm 0.4 \pm 1.1 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ m(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = 2938.5 \pm 0.9 \pm 2.3 \,\mathrm{MeV}, \\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2923)^{0}) = \phantom{000}4.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 1.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},\\ \Gamma(\Xi_{c}(2939)^{0}) = \phantom{00}11.0 \pm 1.9 \pm 7.5 \,\mathrm{MeV},$$ where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The results are consistent with a previous LHCb measurement using a prompt $\Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ sample. Evidence of a new $\Xi_{c}(2880)^{0}$ state is found with a local significance of $3.8\,\sigma$, whose mass and width are measured to be $2881.8 \pm 3.1 \pm 8.5\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and $12.4 \pm 5.3 \pm 5.8 \,\mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. In addition, evidence of a new decay mode $\Xi_{c}(2790)^{0} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} K^{-}$ is found with a significance of $3.7\,\sigma$. The relative branching fraction of $B^{-} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{\Lambda}_{c}^{-} K^{-}$ with respect to the $B^{-} \to D^{+} D^{-} K^{-}$ decay is measured to be $2.36 \pm 0.11 \pm 0.22 \pm 0.25$, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third originates from the branching fractions of charm hadron decays.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-028.html (LHCb public pages

Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions R(D∗)\mathcal{R}(D^{*}) and R(D0)\mathcal{R}(D^{0})

The ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})\equiv\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})\equiv\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb${ }^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The tau lepton is identified in the decay mode $\tau^{-}\to\mu^{-}\nu_{\tau}\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$. The measured values are $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})=0.281\pm0.018\pm0.024$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})=0.441\pm0.060\pm0.066$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these measurements is $\rho=-0.43$. Results are consistent with the current average of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb public pages