Scientific reports
-
Few epidemiological studies have evaluated the effects of air pollution on the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). We investigated the associations of ambient air pollutants (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm (PM2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2),nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and carbon monoxide (CO)) in relation to the risk of pulmonary TB in a cohort of Chinese TB patient in Jinan city from 2011 to 2015. A total of 9344 newly diagnosed pulmonary TB cases were included. ⋯ The dominant statistically significant associations were detected at 3-month exposure window of air pollution before the diagnosis of TB. Our results detected positive associations between ambient PM2.5, CO exposures and the risk of newly diagnosed pulmonary TB in China. The suggestive evidence that the 3 month air pollution exposure window was associated with increased TB risk warrants further investigation.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
A comparison of the Macintosh laryngoscope, McGrath video laryngoscope, and Pentax Airway Scope in paediatric nasotracheal intubation.
We evaluated the performance of the McGrath video laryngoscope and Pentax Airway Scope in comparison with the Macintosh laryngoscope for nasotracheal intubation in paediatric patients. For this, 108 patients were enrolled in an open-label, randomized controlled trial. Patients were randomly allocated to one of three groups based on use of the Macintosh laryngoscope, McGrath video laryngoscope, or Pentax Airway Scope. ⋯ The difficulty of nasotracheal intubation was similar among all groups. When navigating and aligning the tube from the oropharynx into the glottic inlet, the cuff inflation method was required in significantly fewer patients for the Macintosh group (11.1%) than for the McGrath (48.6%) and Pentax (51.4%) groups. Thus, compared to the McGrath video laryngoscope and Pentax Airway Scope, the Macintosh laryngoscope allowed shorter nasotracheal intubation times and better facilitated tracheal navigation, requiring less use of the cuff inflation method to navigate the tracheal tube into the glottic inlet.
-
A study was conducted to analyze fungal diversity in the roots of acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia) collected from Oman, a semi-arid country located in the South Eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. MiSeq analysis showed the Ascomycota and Sordariomycetes were the most abundant phylum and class in acid lime roots, respectively. Glomeromycota, Basidiomycota and Microsporidia were the other fungal phyla, while Glomeromycetes and some other classes belonging to Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were detected at lower frequencies. ⋯ Principle component analysis of fungal communities significantly separated samples according to their locations. This is the first study to evaluate fungal diversity in acid lime roots using high throughput sequencing analysis. The study reveals the presence of various fungal taxa in the roots, dominated by Fusarium species and including some mycorrhizae and nematophagous fungi.
-
The development of new treatments for castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) must address such challenges as intrinsic tumor heterogeneity and phenotypic plasticity. Combined PTEN/TP53 alterations represent a major genotype of CRPC (25-30%) and are associated with poor outcomes. Using tumor-derived, castration-resistant Pten/Tp53 null luminal prostate cells for comprehensive, high-throughput, mechanism-based screening, we identified several vulnerabilities among >1900 compounds, including inhibitors of: PI3K/AKT/mTOR, the proteasome, the cell cycle, heat shock proteins, DNA repair, NFκB, MAPK, and epigenetic modifiers. ⋯ Ganetespib inhibits multiple targets, including AR and PI3K pathways, which regulate mutually compensatory growth and survival signals in some forms of CRPC. Combined with castration, ganetespib displayed deeper PDX tumor regressions and delayed castration resistance relative to either monotherapy. In all, comprehensive data from near-patient models presents novel contexts for HSP90 inhibition in multiple CRPC genotypes and phenotypes, expands upon HSP90 inhibitors as simultaneous inhibitors of oncogenic signaling and resistance mechanisms, and suggests utility for combined HSP90/AR inhibition in CRPC.
-
Despite the addition of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulators to the cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment regimen, patients with CF continue to suffer from chronic bacterial infections that lead to progressive respiratory morbidity. Host immunity, and macrophage dysfunction specifically, has an integral role in the inability of patients with CF to clear bacterial infections. We sought to characterize macrophage responses to CFTR modulator treatment as we hypothesized that there would be differential effects based on patient genotype. ⋯ Macrophage inflammatory cytokine production decreased in response to ivacaftor alone. In summary, ivacaftor and lumacaftor/ivacaftor have differential impacts on macrophage function with minimal changes observed in CF patients treated with lumacaftor/ivacaftor. Overall improvements in macrophage function in ivacaftor-treated CF patients result in modestly improved macrophage-mediated bacterial killing.