Non-coding RNA as lung disease biomarkers.

Biomarkers are quantifiable indicators of disease. These surrogates should be specific, sensitive, predictive, robust and easily accessible. A major class of RNA described as non-coding RNA fulfils many of these criteria, and recent studies have demonstrated that the two major subclasses of non-coding RNA, long non-coding RNA and, in particular, microRNA are promising potential biomarkers. The ability to detect non-coding RNAs in biofluids has highlighted their usefulness as non-invasive markers of lung disease. Because expression of specific non-coding RNAs is altered in many lung diseases and their levels in the circulation often reflect the changes in expression of their lung-specific counterparts, exploiting these biomolecules as diagnostic tools seems an obvious goal. New technology is driving developments in this area and there has been significant recent progress with respect to lung cancer diagnostics. The non-coding RNA biomarker field represents a clear example of modern-day bench-to-bedside research

Scenario planning for the Edinburgh city region

This paper examines the application of scenario planning techniques to the detailed and daunting challenge of city re-positioning when policy makers are faced with a heavy history and a complex future context. It reviews a process of scenario planning undertaken in the Edinburgh city region, exploring the scenario process and its contribution to strategies and policies for city repositioning. Strongly rooted in the recent literature on urban and regional economic development, the text outlines how key individuals and organisations involved in the process participated in far-reaching analyses of the possible future worlds in which the Edinburgh city region might find itself

Histological examination of the gills as a method of detecting asymptomatic carriers of A. Salmonicida in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

Copyright © 1986 J.F. McArdle et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Peer-reviewed

Performance of steer progeny of sires differing in genetic potential for fatness and meat yield following post-weaning growth at different rates.: 1. Growth and live-animal composition

The present experiment, 'Regional Combinations', examined growth, and carcass- and meat-quality traits in the progeny of sires genetically diverse for fatness and meat yield when grown at different rates from weaning to feedlot entry. The present paper is the first of several papers describing results from the New South Wales site, one of four in the project. It reports the effects on growth and body composition of steers during backgrounding and feedlot finishing phases. A total of 43 sires within three carcass-class categories, defined as high potential for meat yield, for marbling or for both traits, was used, based on estimated breeding values for retail beef yield and intramuscular fat. Sires were drawn from Angus, Charolais, Limousin, Black Wagyu and Red Wagyu breeds, providing a range of carcass sire types across the three carcass classes. Matings were by artificial insemination to Hereford dams from a single herd. Steer progeny were grown at conventional (slow: ~0.5 kg/day) or accelerated (fast: ~0.7 kg/day) rates from weaning to feedlot entry weight, targeting group means of 400 kg. Accelerated and conventionally grown groups from successive calvings entered the feedlot at similar entry liveweights at the same time, then having identical management during the 100-day finishing phase before slaughter. Within finishing cohorts, fast backgrounding growth resulted in increased subcutaneous fatness at feedlot entry in steers of all carcass types. Slow growth during backgrounding resulted in faster (compensatory) growth in the feedlot in all classes and sire types. This increased the deposition of fat in slow-backgrounded steers compared with that in fast-backgrounded steers during feedlotting, and thus reduced the difference between the groups in P8 and rib fat at feedlot exit. However, there did appear to be an advantage in the level of compensation in the feedlot in favour of those sire types with a genetic propensity for faster growth. Backgrounding growth rate affected body composition and the rate of weight gain during finishing. Faster growth produced more subcutaneous fat during both backgrounding and finishing. Steer progeny groups clearly showed the expected responses in growth and body composition, on the basis of the genetic potential of their sires

Electrostatically modulated magnetophoretic transport of functionalised iron-oxide nanoparticles through hydrated networks

Factors that determine magnetophoretic transport of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) through hydrated polymer networks under the influence of an external magnetic field gradient were studied. Functionalised iron oxide cores (8.9 nm core diameter) were tracked in real-time as they moved through agarose gels under the influence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Terminal magnetophoretic velocities were observed in all cases, these were quantified and found to be highly reproducible and sensitive to the con- ditions. Increasing agarose content reduced magnetophoretic velocity, we attribute this to increasingly tortuous paths through the porous hydrated polymer network and propose a new factor to quantify the tortuosity. The impact of MNP surface functionalisation, charge, network fixed charge content, and ionic strength of the aqueous phase on velocity were studied to separate these effects. For MNPs functionalised with polyethylene glycol (PEG) increasing chain length reduced velocity but the tortuosity extracted, which is a function of the network, was unchanged; validating the approach. For charged citrate- and arginine-functionalised MNPs, magnetophoretic velocities were found to increase for particles with posi- tive and decrease for particles with negative zeta potential. In both cases these effects could be moder- ated by reducing the number of agarose anionic residues and/or increasing the ionic strength of the aqueous phase; conditions under which tortuosity again becomes the critical factor. A model for MNP transport identifying the contributions from the tortuous pore network and from electrostatic effects associated with the pore constrictions is proposed

The emotional effects on professional interpreters of interpreting palliative care conversations for adult patients : a rapid review

Background: Professional interpreters working in palliative contexts improve patient care. Whilst literature identifies psychological distress in other healthcare professionals, research into emotional effects on professional interpreters in this highly emotive setting is limited. Isolating emotional responses may enable targeted interventions to enhance interpreter use and improve wellbeing. Timely evidence is needed to urgently familiarise the profession with issues faced by these valuable colleagues, to affect practice. Aim: Describe the emotional effects on professional interpreters of interpreting adult palliative care conversations. Collate recommendations to mitigate negative emotional effects. Design: We performed a rapid review of studies identifying emotional effects on professional interpreters of interpreting adult palliative conversations. Rapid review chosen to present timely evidence to relevant stakeholders in a resource-efficient way. Thematic analysis managed using NVivo. Quality appraisal evaluated predominantly using CASP checklists. Reported using PRISMA guidelines. PROSPERO registration CRD42022301753. Data sources: Articles available in English on PubMed [1966–2021], MEDLINE [1946–2021], EMBASE [1974–2021], CINAHL [1981–2021] and PsycINFO [1806–2021] in December 2021. Results: Eleven articles from the USA (5), Australia (3), Canada (2) and UK (1). Eight interview-based, two online surveys and one quality improvement project. Themes included (1) Identifying diversity of emotional effects: emotions including stress, discomfort, loneliness. (2) Identifying factors affecting interpreters’ emotional responses: impact of morals, culture and role expectations; working with patients and families; interpreter experience and age. (3) Recommendations to mitigate negative emotional effects: pre-briefing, debriefing and interpreter/provider training. Conclusion: Professional interpreters experience myriad emotional responses to palliative conversations. Role clarity, collaborative working and formal training may alleviate negative effects

Phase I/II Trial of Liver-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Pediatric Liver-based Metabolic Disorders: A Prospective, Open Label, Multicenter, Partially Randomized, Safety Study of One Cycle of Heterologous Human Adult Liver-derived Progenitor Cells (HepaStem) in Urea Cycle Disorders and Crigler-Najjar Syndrome Patients

Background. Regenerative medicine using stem cell technology is an emerging field that is currently tested for inborn and acquired liver diseases. Objective. This phase I/II prospective, open label, multicenter, randomized trial aimed primarily at evaluating the safety of Heterologous Human Adult Liver–derived Progenitor Cells (HepaStem) in pediatric patients with urea cycle disorders (UCDs) or Crigler-Najjar (CN) syndrome 6 months posttransplantation. The secondary objective included the assessment of safety up to 12 months postinfusion and of preliminary efficacy. Methods. Fourteen patients with UCDs and 6 with CN syndrome were divided into 3 cohorts by body weight and intraportally infused with 3 doses of HepaStem. Clinical status, portal vein hemodynamics, morphology of the liver, de novo detection of circulating anti–human leukocyte antigen antibodies, and clinically significant adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events to infusion were evaluated by using an intent-to-treat analysis. Results. The overall safety of HepaStem was confirmed. For the entire study period, patient-month incidence rate was 1.76 for the AEs and 0.21 for the serious adverse events, of which 38% occurred within 1 month postinfusion. There was a trend of higher events in UCD as compared with CN patients. Segmental left portal vein thrombosis occurred in 1 patient and intraluminal local transient thrombus in a second patient. The other AEs were in line with expectations for catheter placement, cell infusion, concomitant medications, age, and underlying diseases. Conclusions. This study led to European clinical trial authorization for a phase II study in a homogeneous patient cohort, with repeated infusions and intermediate doses

Evidence of cerebral hemodynamic dysregulation in middle-aged APOE ε4 carriers: The PREVENT-Dementia study.

Accumulating evidence suggests vascular dysregulation in preclinical Alzheimer's disease. In this study, cerebral hemodynamics and their coupling with cognition in middle-aged apolipoprotein ε4 carriers (APOEε4+) were investigated. Longitudinal 3 T T1-weighted and arterial spin labelling MRI data from 158 participants (40-59 years old) in the PREVENT-Dementia study were analysed (125 two-year follow-up). Cognition was evaluated using the COGNITO battery. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebrovascular resistance index (CVRi) were quantified for the flow territories of the anterior, middle and posterior cerebral arteries. CBF was corrected for underlying atrophy and individual hematocrit. Hemodynamic measures were the dependent variables in linear regression models, with age, sex, years of education and APOEε4 carriership as predictors. Further analyses were conducted with cognitive outcomes as dependent variables, using the same model as before with additional APOEε4 × hemodynamics interactions. At baseline, APOEε4+ showed increased CBF and decreased CVRi compared to non-carriers in the anterior and middle cerebral arteries, suggestive of potential vasodilation. Hemodynamic changes were similar between groups. Interaction analysis revealed positive associations between CBF changes and performance changes in delayed recall (for APOEε4 non-carriers) and verbal fluency (for APOEε4 carriers) cognitive tests. These observations are consistent with neurovascular dysregulation in middle-aged APOEε4+