Human alveolar progenitors generate dual lineage bronchioalveolar organoids

Mechanisms of epithelial renewal in the alveolar compartment remain incompletely understood. To this end, we aimed to characterize alveolar progenitors. Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis of the HTII-280(+)/EpCAM(+) population from adult human lung revealed subclusters enriched for adult stem cell signature (ASCS) genes. We found that alveolar progenitors in organoid culture in vitro show phenotypic lineage plasticity as they can yield alveolar or bronchial cell-type progeny. The direction of the differentiation is dependent on the presence of the GSK-3β inhibitor, CHIR99021. By RNA-seq profiling of GSK-3β knockdown organoids we identified additional candidate target genes of the inhibitor, among others FOXM1 and EGF. This gives evidence of Wnt pathway independent regulatory mechanisms of alveolar specification. Following influenza A virus (IAV) infection organoids showed a similar response as lung tissue explants which confirms their suitability for studies of sequelae of pathogen-host interaction

Pharmacologic regimens for knee osteoarthritis prevention: can they be cost-effective?

We sought to determine the target populations and drug efficacy, toxicity, cost, and initiation age thresholds under which a pharmacologic regimen for knee osteoarthritis (OA) prevention could be cost-effective

Self-compassion mindsets can predict statistics course performance via intelligence mindsets and statistics anxiety

One consistent impediment to college students\u27 performance in statistics courses is statistics anxiety. However, people who endorse intelligence growth mindsets report lower statistics anxiety and achieve higher grades. We examined whether adopting a self-compassion growth mindset was an antecedent to an intelligence growth mindset, reduced statistics anxiety, and ultimately, lead to better grades. Ninety undergraduate students who took an Introductory Research Methods and Statistics course at a mid-south university reported their implicit theories of self-compassion and intelligence, statistics anxiety, and demographic information twice during the semester. Final grade percentages were obtained directly from the course instructor after the semester concluded. The results demonstrated a serial indirect effect of self-compassion growth mindset affecting the final grade received, first through intelligence growth mindset and then through statistics anxiety. Alternative serial indirect effect models were conducted, but none were significant. Implications of these results for the broader implicit theories, statistics anxiety literature, and education were discussed