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Prioritizing screening for patients at greatest risk for HCC may reduce delays in diagnosis.

The prevalence of hypersensitivity reactions to radiological contrast media (RCM) is increasing due to the greater performance of diagnostic and therapeutic tests that require RCMs. Objective We carried out a year-long real-life observational study to prospectively evaluate the patients referred to the Allergy Service from Primary Care, Emergency Room, and other Services with suspected moderate to severe RCM hypersensitivity.

To study the costs of RCM hypersensitivity evaluation, we systematically recorded direct and indirect costs.

Sixty-nine patients with previous reactions to RCM were evaluated in the Allergy Service from June 1st, 2017, to May 31st, 2018. Total direct health care costs were € 10715.84, with a mean cost per patient of € 155.30 ± 77.08. Specifically, direct non-health costs reached € 1605.42 (mean € 23.27 ± 41.14), and indirect costs were € 6490.85 (mean € 94.07 ± 110.61). In summary, the total cost was € 18812.11, which means a mean cost of € 272.64 ± 164.77.

Our study reflects that the costs of an elective evaluation of hypersensitivity to RCM are low. This fact reaffirms that correct and safe management of these patients could be cost-effective, so our efforts should be directed to implement the necessary logistics.

Our study reflects that the costs of an elective evaluation of hypersensitivity to RCM are low. This fact reaffirms that correct and safe management of these patients could be cost-effective, so our efforts should be directed to implement the necessary logistics.The epithelial barrier has classically been considered as the only first line of defense against irritants, pathogens, and allergens. However, it is now known to play an essential role in the immune response to exogenous agents. In fact, recent reports postulate the epithelial barrier hypothesis as a possible explanation for the increasing incidence and severity of allergic diseases. The epithelial barrier preserves the isolation of internal tissues from potential external threats. Moreover, a coordinated interaction between epithelial and immune cells ensures the unique immune response taking place in mucosal tissues, which is reported to be dysregulated in allergic diseases. We and others have demonstrated that in severe allergic phenotypes, the epithelial barrier undergoes several histological modifications, with increased infiltration of immune cells, leading to dysfunction. This is common in atopic dermatitis, asthma, and food allergy. However, the precise role of the epithelial barrier in mucosal biology during progression of allergic diseases is not well understood. In this review, we aim to compile recent knowledge regarding the histological structure and immunological function of the epithelial barrier and to shed light on the role of this compartment in the onset and progression of allergic diseases.

To assess the consensus level among a multidisciplinary expert panel on the transition of adolescents with severe asthma from pediatric to adult care.

A 61-item survey was developed based on guidelines for other chronic pathologies, covering transition planning, preparation, effective transfer, and follow-up. A two-round Delphi process assessed the consensus level among 98 experts (49 pediatricians, 24 allergists and 25 pulmonologists). Consensus was established with ≥70% agreement.

Forty-two items (70%) reached consensus. No age range to initiate the transition was agreed upon by the panelists. The main goal to achieve during the transition identified by the experts is that adolescents gain autonomy to manage their severe asthma and prescribed treatments. The panelists agreed on the importance of developing an individualized plan, promoting patient's autonomy, and identifying home environment factors. They agreed that the adult healthcare team should have expertise in severe asthma, biologics and management of adolescent patients. Pediatric and adult healthcare teams should share clinical information, agree on the criteria to maintain the biological therapy, and have an on-site joint visit with the patient before the effective transfer. Adult healthcare professionals should closely follow the patient after the effective transfer to ensure correct inhaler technique, treatment adherence and attendance to healthcare appointments.

This consensus document provides the first roadmap for Spanish pediatric and adult teams to ensure that key aspects of the transition process in severe asthma are covered. The implementation of these recommendations will improve the quality of care offered to the patient.

This consensus document provides the first roadmap for Spanish pediatric and adult teams to ensure that key aspects of the transition process in severe asthma are covered. The implementation of these recommendations will improve the quality of care offered to the patient.Efficient uptake of nutrients in both animal and plant cells requires tissue-spanning diffusion barriers separating inner tissues from the outer lumen/soil. However, we poorly understand how such contiguous three-dimensional superstructures are formed in plants. Here, we show that correct establishment of the plant Casparian Strip (CS) network relies on local neighbor communication. We show that positioning of Casparian Strip membrane domains (CSDs) is tightly coordinated between neighbors in wild-type and that restriction of domain formation involves the putative extracellular protease LOTR1. Impaired domain restriction in lotr1 leads to fully functional CSDs at ectopic positions, forming 'half strips'. LOTR1 action in the endodermis requires its expression in the stele. LOTR1 endodermal expression cannot complement, while cortex expression causes a dominant-negative phenotype. Our findings establish LOTR1 as a crucial player in CSD positioning acting in a directional, non-cell-autonomous manner to restrict and coordinate CS positioning.Cells increase microtubule dynamics to make large rearrangements to their microtubule cytoskeleton during cell division. Changes in microtubule dynamics are essential for the formation and function of the mitotic spindle, and misregulation can lead to aneuploidy and cancer. see more Using in vitro reconstitution assays we show that the mitotic spindle protein Cytoskeleton-Associated Protein 2 (CKAP2) has a strong effect on nucleation of microtubules by lowering the critical tubulin concentration 100-fold. CKAP2 increases the apparent rate constant ka of microtubule growth by 50-fold and increases microtubule growth rates. In addition, CKAP2 strongly suppresses catastrophes. Our results identify CKAP2 as the most potent microtubule growth factor to date. These finding help explain CKAP2's role as an important spindle protein, proliferation marker, and oncogene.The ability to restore lost body parts following traumatic injury is a fascinating area of biology that challenges current understanding of the ontogeny of differentiation. The origin of new cells needed to regenerate lost tissue, and whether they are pluripotent or have de- or trans-differentiated, remains one of the most important open questions . Additionally, it is not known whether developmental gene regulatory networks are reused or whether regeneration specific networks are deployed. Echinoderms, including sea stars, have extensive ability for regeneration, however, the technologies for obtaining transgenic echinoderms are limited and tracking cells involved in regeneration, and thus identifying the cellular sources and potencies has proven challenging. In this study, we develop new transgenic tools to follow the fate of populations of cells in the regenerating larva of the sea star Patiria miniata. We show that the larval serotonergic nervous system can regenerate following decapitation. Using a BAC-transgenesis approach we show that expression of the pan ectodermal marker, sox2, is induced in previously sox2 minus cells , even when cell division is inhibited. sox2+ cells give rise to new sox4+ neural precursors that then proceed along an embryonic neurogenesis pathway to reform the anterior nervous systems. sox2+ cells contribute to only neural and ectoderm lineages, indicating that these progenitors maintain their normal, embryonic lineage restriction. This indicates that sea star larval regeneration uses a combination of existing lineage restricted stem cells, as well as respecification of cells into neural lineages, and at least partial reuse of developmental GRNs to regenerate their nervous system.

Measures to quantify changes in the pace of biological aging in response to intervention are needed to evaluate geroprotective interventions for humans. Previously, we showed that quantification of the pace of biological aging from a DNA-methylation blood test was possible (Belsky et al., 2020). Here, we report a next-generation DNA-methylation biomarker of Pace of Aging, DunedinPACE (for Pace of Aging Calculated from the Epigenome).

We used data from the Dunedin Study 1972-1973 birth cohort tracking within-individual decline in 19 indicators of organ-system integrity across four time points spanning two decades to model Pace of Aging. We distilled this two-decade Pace of Aging into a single-time-point DNA-methylation blood-test using elastic-net regression and a DNA-methylation dataset restricted to exclude probes with low test-retest reliability. We evaluated the resulting measure, named DunedinPACE, in five additional datasets.

DunedinPACE showed high test-retest reliability, was associated with morbidity, disability, and mortality, and indicated faster aging in young adults with childhood adversity. DunedinPACE effect-sizes were similar to GrimAge Clock effect-sizes. In analysis of incident morbidity, disability, and mortality, DunedinPACE and added incremental prediction beyond GrimAge.

DunedinPACE is a novel blood biomarker of the pace of aging for gerontology and geroscience.

This research was supported by US-National Institute on Aging grants AG032282, AG061378, AG066887, and UK Medical Research Council grant MR/P005918/1.

This research was supported by US-National Institute on Aging grants AG032282, AG061378, AG066887, and UK Medical Research Council grant MR/P005918/1.The Puerto Rican coquí frog Eleutherodactylus coqui is both a cultural icon and a species with an unusual natural history that has attracted attention from researchers in a number of different fields within biology. Unlike most frogs, the coquí frog skips the tadpole stage, which makes it of interest to developmental biologists. The frog is best known in Puerto Rico for its notoriously loud mating call, which has allowed researchers to study aspects of social behavior such as vocal communication and courtship, while the ability of coquí to colonize new habitats has been used to explore the biology of invasive species. This article reviews existing studies on the natural history of E. coqui and discusses opportunities for future research.

To examine racial/ethnic differences in maternal feeding practices and beliefs in a sample of low-income smoke-exposed women.

Cross-sectional analysis using data collected during a randomised control trial. Maternal feeding practices and beliefs were assessed using the Infant Feeding Questionnaire (IFQ), which was administered at 6 months postpartum. ANOVA was used to examine differences in IFQ items by race/ethnicity, while multivariable linear regression models were used to examine differences in IFQ factor scores by race/ethnicity adjusting for potential confounders.

Participants were recruited from prenatal clinics.

343 women (39 % non-Hispanic White, 28 % Hispanic/Latina, 13 % Black, and 20 % other).

Racial/ethnic minority mothers were more likely than non-Hispanic White mothers to put cereal in their infant's bottle so that the infant would stay full longer (P = 0·032), state their infant wanted more than just formula or breast milk prior to 4 months (P = 0·019), allow their infant to eat whenever he/she wanted (P = 0·023) and only allow their infant to eat at set times (P < 0·001).