Low Cost, Adhesion Strength Based Cell Sorter

In many in vitro experiments, primary cells are harvested from an animal species to undergo experimental manipulation and subsequent analysis. Cell sorters are a luxury to have after cell harvesting to ensure pure populations of cells. Recently, it was discovered that different cell types adhere to cell culture dishes at different strengths. This observation was utilized in the invention of a cell sorting system that sorts cells based on this adhesion strength difference. The resulting system is marketable at under $2000, compared to$50000 plus for current commercially available systems, and is the first commercially-oriented cell adhesion strength based cell sorter. The system allows for use of tissue culture flasks, a tool that any researcher using cells will be very familiar with, that have been customized with a removable bottom. After cells are adhered, the bottom is removed and placed into the cell sorting system and sealed with a removable sealing putty. Flow is imparted to the cells, generating a shear force over the surface of the cells, lifting the cells and depositing them into a centrifuge tube. Prior experiments have shown this system to have a cell purity and cell viability greater than currently available solutions without the use of expensive antibodies and using equipment available at a fraction of the cost.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1145/thumbnail.jp

Relationship between blood pressure values, depressive symptoms and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with cardiometabolic disease

We studied joint effect of blood pressure-BP and depression on risk of major adverse cardiovascular outcome in patients with existing cardiometabolic disease. A cohort of 35537 patients with coronary heart disease, diabetes or stroke underwent depression screening and BP was recorded concurrently. We used Cox’s proportional hazards to calculate risk of major adverse cardiovascular event-MACE (myocardial infarction/heart failure/stroke or cardiovascular death) over 4 years associated with baseline BP and depression. 11% (3939) had experienced MACE within 4 years. Patients with very high systolic BP-SBP (160-240) hazard ratio-HR 1.28 and with depression (HR 1.22) at baseline had significantly higher adjusted risk. Depression had significant interaction with SBP in risk prediction (p=0.03). Patients with combination of SBP and depression at baseline had 83% higher adjusted risk of MACE, as compared to patients with reference SBP and without depression. Patients with cardiometabolic disease and comorbid depression may benefit from closer monitoring of SBP

Relationship of depression screening in cardiometabolic disease with vascular events and mortality: findings from a large primary care cohort with 4 years follow-up

Aims: Benefits of routine depression screening for cardiometabolic disease patients remain unclear. We examined the association between depression screening and all-cause mortality and vascular events in cardiometabolic disease patients. Methods and results: 125 143 patients with cardiometabolic diseases (coronary heart disease, diabetes or previous stroke) in the UK participated in primary care chronic disease management in 2008/09, which included depression screening using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score. 10 670 receiving depression treatment exempted, 35 537 screened, while 78 936 not screened. We studied all-cause mortality and vascular events at 4 years, by electronic data linkage of 124 414 patients (99.4%) on primary care registers to hospital discharge and mortality records and used Cox proportional hazards on matched data using propensity score. Mean age for the screened and not screened population was 69 years (standard deviation—SD 11.9) and 67 years (SD 14.3), respectively; 58% (20 658) of the screened population were men and 65.3% (22 726) were socioeconomically deprived, compared with 54.2% (42 727) and 67.4% (51 686), respectively, in the not screened population. The screened population had lower all-cause mortality (Hazard Ratio—HR 0.89) and vascular events (HR 0.85) in the matched data of N = 21 893 patients each in the screened and the unscreened groups. Conclusion: Depression screening was associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality and vascular events in patients with cardiometabolic diseases. The uptake of screening was poor for unknown reasons. Reverse causality and confounding by disease severity and quality of care are important possible limitations. Further research to determine reproducibility and explore underlying mechanisms is merited

Risk assessment and predicting outcomes in patients with depressive symptoms: a review of potential role of peripheral blood based biomarkers

Depression is one of the major global health challenges and a leading contributor of health related disability and costs. Depression is a heterogeneous disorder and current methods for assessing its severity in clinical practice rely on symptom count, however this approach is unreliable and inconsistent. The clinical evaluation of depressive symptoms is particularly challenging in primary care, where the majority of patients with depression are managed, due to the presence of co-morbidities. Current methods for risk assessment of depression do not accurately predict treatment response or clinical outcomes. Several biological pathways have been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression; however, accurate and predictive biomarkers remain elusive. We conducted a systematic review of the published evidence supporting the use of peripheral biomarkers to predict outcomes in depression, using Medline and Embase. Peripheral biomarkers in depression were found to be statistically significant predictors of mental health outcomes such as treatment response, poor outcome and symptom remission; and physical health outcomes such as increased incidence of cardiovascular events and deaths, and all-cause mortality. However, the available evidence has multiple methodological limitations which must be overcome to make any real clinical progress. Despite extensive research on the relationship of depression with peripheral biomarkers, its translational application in practice remains uncertain. In future, peripheral biomarkers identified with novel techniques and combining multiple biomarkers may have a potential role in depression risk assessment but further research is needed in this area

Personalised electronic messages to improve sun protection in young adults

The incidence of all skin cancers, including melanoma, continues to rise. It is well known that ultraviolet (UV) radiation is the main environmental risk factor for skin cancer, and excessive exposure at a young age increases the risk of developing skin cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the acceptability and feasibility of delivering sun protection messages via electronic media such as short message services (SMS) to people 18-40 years, and explore factors associated with their acceptability. Overall, 80% of participants agreed that they would like to receive some form of sun protection advice; of these, 20% prefer to receive it via SMS and 42% via email. Willingness to receive electronic messages about the UV index was associated with being unsure about whether a suntanned person would look healthy and greater use of sun protection in the past. Careful attention to message framing and timing of message delivery and focus on short-term effects of sun exposure such as sunburn and skin ageing should increase the acceptability of such messages to young people. We conclude that sun protection messages delivered to young adults via electronic media appear feasible and acceptable

Mechanism of high-mobility group protein B enhancement of progesterone receptor sequence-specific DNA binding

The DNA-binding domain (DBD) of progesterone receptor (PR) is bipartite containing a zinc module core that interacts with progesterone response elements (PRE), and a short flexible carboxyl terminal extension (CTE) that interacts with the minor groove flanking the PRE. The chromosomal high-mobility group B proteins (HMGB), defined as DNA architectural proteins capable of bending DNA, also function as auxiliary factors that increase the DNA-binding affinity of PR and other steroid receptors by mechanisms that are not well defined. Here we show that the CTE of PR contains a specific binding site for HMGB that is required for stimulation of PR-PRE binding, whereas the DNA architectural properties of HMGB are dispensable. Specific PRE DNA inhibited HMGB binding to the CTE, indicating that DNA and HMGB–CTE interactions are mutually exclusive. Exogenous CTE peptide increased PR-binding affinity for PRE as did deletion of the CTE. In a PR-binding site selection assay, A/T sequences flanking the PRE were enriched by HMGB, indicating that PR DNA-binding specificity is also altered by HMGB. We conclude that a transient HMGB–CTE interaction alters a repressive conformation of the flexible CTE enabling it to bind to preferred sequences flanking the PRE

Holistic mHealth interventions for the promotion of healthy ageing: protocol for a systematic review

Introduction Maintaining physical and mental health is essential for healthy ageing. It can be supported by modifying lifestyle factors such as physical activity and diet. Poor mental health, in turn, contributes to the opposing effect. The promotion of healthy ageing may therefore benefit from holistic interventions integrating physical activity, diet and mental health. These interventions can be scaled up to the population level by using mobile technologies. However, systematic evidence regarding the characteristics and effectiveness of such holistic mHealth interventions remains limited. This paper presents a protocol for a systematic review that aims to provide an overview of the current state of the evidence for holistic mHealth interventions, including their characteristics and effects on behavioural and health outcomes in general adult populations . Methods and analysis We will conduct a comprehensive search for randomised controlled trials and non-randomised studies of interventions published between January 2011 and April 2022 in MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, Scopus, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Google Scholar (first 200 records). Eligible studies will be mHealth interventions targeting general adult populations with content on physical activity, diet and mental health. We will extract information on all relevant behavioural and health outcomes, as well as those related to intervention feasibility. Screening and data extraction processes will be carried out independently by two reviewers. Cochrane risk-of-bias tools will be used to assess risk of bias. We will provide a narrative overview of the findings from eligible studies. With sufficient data, a meta-analysis will be conducted. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required because this study is a systematic review based on published data. We intend to publish our findings in a peer-reviewed journal and present the study at international conferences.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42022315166