Extinction of ants' feeding and social foraging on myrmecochorous seeds

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Fibrocaps is a dry powder fibrin sealant containing human plasma-derived fibrinogen and thrombin. The safety, efficacy, and application methods for Fibrocaps were evaluated in an exploratory, first-in-human, noncomparative, clinical study. METHODS: Patients with minor bleeding/oozing after elective partial hepatic resection had Fibrocaps applied to the bleeding site either directly from the vial or from a spray device, with manual pressure applied using a cellulose, collagen, or gelatin sponge, if needed. Safety was evaluated at screening and postoperative days 1, 2, and 5, and weeks 4 and 12. The formation of anti-thrombin antibodies was assessed at baseline, and after 4 and 12 weeks. Time to hemostasis (TTH) within 10 min was determined. RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients were treated with Fibrocaps; 6 experienced serious adverse events that were not related to the course of treatment. Adverse events occurring in >10% of patients were nausea, constipation, hypotension, obstipation, hypokalemia, and postoperative pain. Most adverse events were mild or moderate in severity. No patient developed anti-thrombin antibodies. The percentage of patients who achieved hemostasis was 93%; the median TTH was 3.8 min (range 0.3-10.3). Manual pressure was applied with Fibrocaps in 19 patients and considered beneficial in most. CONCLUSION: Fibrocaps was well tolerated in patients undergoing elective hepatic resection and resulted in rapid hemostasis. These safety and efficacy results support further clinical testing of this ready-to-use fibrin sealant as an adjunct to surgical hemostasis. (c) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel

A variant of the castor zinc finger 1 (CASZ1) gene is differentially associated with the clinical classification of chronic venous disease

Recent reports have suggested a reproducible association between the rs11121615 SNP, located within an intron of the castor zinc finger 1 (CASZ1) gene, and varicose veins. This study aimed to determine if this variant is also differentially associated with the various clinical classifications of chronic venous disease (CVD). The rs11121615 SNP was genotyped in two independent cohorts from New Zealand (n = 1876 controls /1606 CVD cases) and the Netherlands (n = 1626/2966). Participants were clinically assessed using well-established CVD criteria. The association between the rs11121615 C-allele and varicose veins was validated in both cohorts. This was strongest in those with higher clinical severity classes and was not significant in those with non-varicose vein CVD. Functional analysis of the rs11121615 variant demonstrated that the risk allele was associated with increased enhancer activity. This study demonstrates that the CASZ1 gene associated C-allele of rs11121615 has a significant, reproducible, association with CVD (CEAP C ≥ 2 meta-odds ratio 1.31, 95% CI 1.27-1.34, P = 1 × 10-98, PHet = 0.25), but not with non-varicose vein (CEAP C1, telangiectasia or reticular veins) forms of venous disease. The effect size of this association therefore appears to be susceptible to influence by phenotypic heterogeneity, particularly if a cohort includes a large number of cases with lower severity CVD

Triage of patients with venous and lymphatic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic – The Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale (VELTAS):: A consensus document of the International Union of Phlebology (UIP), Australasian College of Phlebology (ACP), American Vein and Lymphatic Society (AVLS), American Venous Forum (AVF), European College of Phlebology (ECoP), European Venous Forum (EVF), Interventional Radiology Society of Australasia (IRSA), Latin American Venous Forum, Pan-American Society of Phlebology and Lymphology and the Venous Association of India (VAI)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in diversion of healthcare resources to the management of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus. Elective interventions and surgical procedures in most countries have been postponed and operating room resources have been diverted to manage the pandemic. The Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale was developed to provide an international standard to rationalise and harmonise the management of patients with venous and lymphatic disorders or vascular anomalies. Triage urgency was determined based on clinical assessment of urgency with which a patient would require medical treatment or surgical intervention. Clinical conditions were classified into six categories of: (1) venous thromboembolism (VTE), (2) chronic venous disease, (3) vascular anomalies, (4) venous trauma, (5) venous compression and (6) lymphatic disease. Triage urgency was categorised into four groups and individual conditions were allocated to each class of triage. These included (1) medical emergencies (requiring immediate attendance), example massive pulmonary embolism; (2) urgent (to be seen as soon as possible), example deep vein thrombosis; (3) semiurgent (to be attended to within 30-90 days), example highly symptomatic chronic venous disease, and (4) discretionary/nonurgent- (to be seen within 6-12 months), example chronic lymphoedema. Venous and Lymphatic Triage and Acuity Scale aims to standardise the triage of patients with venous and lymphatic disease or vascular anomalies by providing an international consensus-based classification of clinical categories and triage urgency. The scale may be used during pandemics such as the current COVID-19 crisis but may also be used as a general framework to classify urgency of the listed conditions

SARS-CoV-2 infects the human kidney and drives fibrosis in kidney organoids

Kidney failure is frequently observed during and after COVID-19, but it remains elusive whether this is a direct effect of the virus. Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 directly infects kidney cells and is associated with increased tubule-interstitial kidney fibrosis in patient autopsy samples. To study direct effects of the virus on the kidney independent of systemic effects of COVID-19, we infected human-induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived kidney organoids with SARS-CoV-2. Single-cell RNA sequencing indicated injury and dedifferentiation of infected cells with activation of profibrotic signaling pathways. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 infection also led to increased collagen 1 protein expression in organoids. A SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor was able to ameliorate the infection of kidney cells by SARS-CoV-2. Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect kidney cells and induce cell injury with subsequent fibrosis. These data could explain both acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients and the development of chronic kidney disease in long COVID

Detection and significance of minimal residual disease in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common causes of cancer death in the developed world. Although the primary treatment for CRC is surgical, disease relapse due to minimal residual disease (MRD) following apparently curative surgery occurs in up to fifty percent of patients. Most patients who develop overt metastases beyond the regional lymph nodes eventually die of the disease. At present adjuvant chemotherapy is used to improve survival in patients with metastases to regional lymph nodes demonstrated by routine histopathology with no other evidence of spread. The ability to identify metastatic disease at an earlier stage could be of considerable benefit in directing adjuvant therapy to patients at high risk of relapse who are not identified by current methods. Several techniques have been developed for the detection of MRD, including immunohistochemical and molecular methods, however their role in clinical practise is not yet established. The purpose of this paper is to review these techniques and their potential clinical use in the management of CRC