Effects of Extracellular Matrix on the Morphology and Behaviour of Rabbit Auricular Chondrocytes in Culture

Isolated chondrocytes dedifferentiate to a fibroblast-like shape on plastic substrata and proliferate extensively, but rarely form nodules. However, when dissociation is not complete and some cartilage remnants are included in the culture, proliferation decreases and cells grow in a reticular pattern with numerous nodules, which occasionally form small cartilage-like fragments. In an attempt to reproduce this stable chondrogenic state, we added a cartilage protein extract, a sugar extract, and hyaluronan to the medium of previously dedifferentiated chondrocytes. When protein extract was added, many cartilaginous nodules appeared. Hyaluronan produced changes in cell phenotype and behaviour, but not nodule formation. Protein extract has positive effects on the differentiation of previously proliferated chondrocytes and permits nodule formation and the extensive production of type-II collagen. A comparison with incompletely dissociated chondrocyte cultures suggests that the presence of some living cells anchored to their natural extracellular matrix provides some important additional factors for the phenotypical stability of chondrocytes on plastic surfaces. In order to elucidate if it is possible that the incidence of apoptosis is related to the results, we also characterized the molecular traits of apoptosis

Prospective Study of Pre-Gravid Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and the Risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

ObjectiveConsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) was related to an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance in several recent studies among middle- or older-aged populations. Studies on SSB consumption and glucose intolerance among pregnant women, however, are lacking. We therefore examined the association between regular SSB consumption before pregnancy and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Research design and methodsThis was a prospective study among 13,475 U.S. women who reported at least one singleton pregnancy between 1992 and 2001 in the Nurses' Health Study II. GDM was self-reported and validated by medical record review in a subsample. Cox proportional hazards models with multivariate adjustments were applied to examine the association of SSB consumption with GDM risk.ResultsDuring 10 years of follow-up, 860 incident GDM case subjects were identified. After adjustment for age, parity, race, physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake, prepregnancy BMI, and Western dietary pattern, intake of sugar-sweetened cola was positively associated with the risk of GDM, whereas no significant association was found for other SSBs and diet beverages. Compared with women who consumed <1 serving/month, those who consumed >or=5 servings/week of sugar-sweetened cola had a 22% greater GDM risk (relative risk 1.22 [95% CI 1.01-1.47]).ConclusionsFindings from this study suggest that prepregnancy higher consumption of sugar-sweetened cola (>or=5 servings/week) is associated with an elevated GDM risk, whereas no significant association with GDM risk was observed for other SSBs and diet beverages

Pollinators and Other Insect Visitations on Native and Ornamental Perennials in Two Landscapes

Many pollinator insects, especially honey bees [Apis mellifera Linnaeus (Apidae)] and wild bees, are experiencing population decline because of forage and habitat losses. Planting perennial flowering taxa is one method of increasing pollinator habitat. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the potential of 27 native species and ornamental perennial cultivars to determine their ability to attract insect pollinators in a rural and an urban landscape in North Dakota, assess the potential of these perennials to attract other beneficial insects and insect pests, and identify the bee species visiting these perennials. Five to eight native species and/or ornamental cultivars each from four genera, Monarda L. (bee balm), Hylotelephium H. Ohba (stonecrop), Baptisia Vent. (wild indigo), and Symphyotrichum Nees (aster), were tested. Weekly observations of individual plants during flowering and their pollinator visitations from 2018 to 2020 indicated that insect pollinators were present for the earliest flowering perennials in June and until the latest flowering perennials during the second week of October or the first freeze. A total of 16,194 insect pollinators were observed, and 87.8% of these pollinator visitations were Hymenoptera and Diptera. Significant landscapes × perennial flowering taxa interactions were detected for all insect groups, except for syrphid flies, for which both main effects were significantly different. Overall, honey bees and beetles preferred to visit Hylotelephium and Symphyotrichum. The wild bees, lepidopterans, and syrphids preferred Hylotelephium, Symphyotrichum, and Monarda. Tachinids preferred Symphyotrichum. Blow flies preferred Hylotelephium. More beneficial insect visitations (i.e., 96.0%) and fewer insect pest visitations (i.e., 30.4%) were counted on the rural landscape. A total of 3311 bee individuals were identified as species from the following families: Apidae, Andrenidae, Colletidae, Megachilidae, and Halictidae. Thirty-one and 21 bee species were unique to the rural and urban landscapes, respectively. The two most common wild bees were Ceratina calcarata Robertson on the cultivar S. oblongifolium (Nutt.) G.L. Nessom October Skies and Lasioglossum imitatum (Smith) on some Monarda and Hylotelephium. These findings suggest that pollinator visitations are influenced by the landscape and varied among the perennial flowering taxa in some cases. However, all evaluated perennial flower taxa would be suitable for attracting and supporting pollinators in rural or urban landscape settings in the northern Great Plains

Biases in study design, implementation, and data analysis that distort the appraisal of clinical benefit and ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) scoring

BACKGROUND: The European Society for Medical Oncology-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) is a validated, widely used tool developed to score the clinical benefit from cancer medicines reported in clinical trials. ESMO-MCBS scores assume valid research methodologies and quality trial implementation. Studies incorporating flawed design, implementation, or data analysis may generate outcomes that exaggerate true benefit and are not generalisable. Failure to either indicate or penalise studies with bias undermines the intention and diminishes the integrity of ESMO-MCBS scores. This review aimed to evaluate the adequacy of the ESMO-MCBS to address bias generated by flawed design, implementation, or data analysis and identify shortcomings in need of amendment. METHODS: As part of a refinement of the ESMO-MCBS, we reviewed trial design, implementation, and data analysis issues that could bias the results. For each issue of concern, we reviewed the ESMO-MCBS v1.1 approach against standards derived from Helsinki guidelines for ethical human research and guidelines from the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, the Food and Drugs Administration, the European Medicines Agency, and European Network for Health Technology Assessment. RESULTS: Six design, two implementation, and two data analysis and interpretation issues were evaluated and in three, the ESMO-MCBS provided adequate protections. Seven shortcomings in the ability of the ESMO-MCBS to identify and address bias were identified. These related to (i) evaluation of the control arm, (ii) crossover issues, (iii) criteria for non-inferiority, (iv) substandard post-progression treatment, (v) post hoc subgroup findings based on biomarkers, (vi) informative censoring, and (vii) publication bias against quality-of-life data. CONCLUSION: Interpretation of the ESMO-MCBS scores requires critical appraisal of trials to understand caveats in trial design, implementation, and data analysis that may have biased results and conclusions. These will be addressed in future iterations of the ESMO-MCBS.SCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Resultados de la Vigilancia de la Parálisis Flácida Aguda y Vigilancia de Enterovirus, España año 2016

[ES] Los resultados de la vigilancia de parálisis flácida aguda (PFA) y de la vigilancia de enterovirus (EV) muestran que en España en el año 2016 no hubo casos de polio ni circulación de poliovirus. En 2016, comparando con años previos, la parálisis flácida se notificó en niños más pequeños con cuadros clínicos más graves y con más disfunción residual. Se detectaron diferentes EV-no polio asociados a cuadros respiratorios y neurológicos, fundamentalmente en la edad pediátrica. EV-D68 se asoció con infecciones respiratorias y E-30 con meningitis; durante los meses de primavera y verano se identificó en zonas del noreste, región mediterránea y centro peninsular, un agrupamiento de cuadros neurológicos graves en niños asociado a una nueva variante recombinante altamente patógena del subgenogrupo C1 de EV-A71, que previamente no había circulado en nuestro país. Hay que mantener y reforzar los sistemas de vigilancia establecidos para monitorizar la circulación de enterovirus-polio y no polio en nuestro país. Hay que evaluar los sistemas conjuntamente y adaptarlos, si fuera necesario, para poder identificar señales tempranas que alerten sobre la circulación inesperada de un poliovirus o de un EV-no polio emergente. [EN] The Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) Surveillance and the Enterovirus (EV) Surveillance did not reveal polio cases no poliovirus circulation in our country, suggesting Spain was polio-free during the year 2016. In 2016, comparing to previous years, AFP cases were more frequently diagnosed in Young children presenting more serious clinical symptoms and more lasting residual paralysis. Along the year different non-polio enteroviruses were detected mainly associated with respiratory and neurological illness over all in children. EV-D68 was associated with respiratory illness while E-30 was associated with meningitis; a highly pathogenic new variant of subgenotype of EV-A71 was detected in an outbreak of severe neurological cases diagnosed in young children; the cases appeared in zones of the northeast, Mediterranean coast and central regions of Spain. The existing networks devoted to Surveillance of enteroviruses -polio and non-polio- should be maintained and enhanced. AFP, viral meningitis and enterovirus surveillance should be monitored as a comprehensive surveillance system. Collected clinical, epidemiological and virological information would be invaluable to understanding the epidemiology of enteroviruses and to prompt detection of any poliovirus or any unexpected circulation of other enteroviruses

Aerobic exercise in adolescents with obesity: preliminary evaluation of a modular training program and the modified shuttle test

BACKGROUND: Increasing activity levels in adolescents with obesity requires the development of exercise programs that are both attractive to adolescents and easily reproducible. The aim of this study was to develop a modular aerobic training program for adolescents with severe obesity, with a focus on variety, individual targets and acquiring physical skills. We report here the effects on aerobic fitness from a pilot study. Furthermore, we examined the feasibility of the modified shuttle test (MST) as an outcome parameter for aerobic fitness in adolescents with severe obesity. METHODS: Fifteen adolescents from an inpatient body weight management program participated in the aerobic training study (age 14.7 ± 2.1 yrs, body mass index 37.4 ± 3.5). The subjects trained three days per week for 12 weeks, with each session lasting 30–60 minutes. The modular training program consisted of indoor, outdoor and swimming activities. Feasibility of the MST was studied by assessing construct validity, test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change. RESULTS: Comparing pretraining and end of training period showed large clinically relevant and significant improvements for all aerobic indices: e.g. VO(2 peak )17.5%, effect size (ES) 2.4; W(max )8%, ES 0.8. In addition, a significant improvement was found for the efficiency of the cardiovascular system as assessed by the oxygen pulse (15.8%, ES 1.6). Construct validity, test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change of the MST were very good. MST was significantly correlated with VO(2 peak )(r = 0.79) and W(max )(r = 0.84) but not with anthropometric measures. The MST walking distance improved significantly by 32.5%, ES 2.5. The attendance rate at the exercise sessions was excellent. CONCLUSION: This modular, varied aerobic training program has clinically relevant effects on aerobic performance in adolescents with severe obesity. The added value of our aerobic training program for body weight management programs for adolescents with severe obesity should be studied with a randomized trial. This study further demonstrated that the MST is a reliable, sensitive and easy to administer outcome measure for aerobic fitness in adolescent body weight management trials

Post-translational regulation contributes to the loss of LKB1 expression through SIRT1 deacetylase in osteosarcomas

background: The most prevalent form of bone cancer is osteosarcoma (OS), which is associated with poor prognosis in case of metastases formation. Mice harbouring liver kinase B1 (LKB1+/−) develop osteoblastoma-like tumours. Therefore, we asked whether loss of LKB1 gene has a role in the pathogenesis of human OS. methods: Osteosarcomas (n=259) were screened for LKB1 and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) protein expression using immunohistochemistry and western blot. Those cases were also screened for LKB1 genetic alterations by next-generation sequencing, Sanger sequencing, restriction fragment length polymorphism and fluorescence in situ hybridisation approaches. We studied LKB1 protein degradation through SIRT1 expression. MicroRNA expression investigations were also conducted to identify the microRNAs involved in the SIRT1/LKB1 pathway. results: Forty-one per cent (106 out of 259) OS had lost LKB1 protein expression with no evident genetic anomalies. We obtained evidence that SIRT1 impairs LKB1 protein stability, and that SIRT1 depletion leads to accumulation of LKB1 in OS cell lines resulting in growth arrest. Further investigations revealed the role of miR-204 in the regulation of SIRT1 expression, which impairs LKB1 stability. conclusions: We demonstrated the involvement of sequential regulation of miR-204/SIRT1/LKB1 in OS cases and showed a mechanism for the loss of expression of LKB1 tumour suppressor in this malignancy