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Disaster Medicine and Public Health... Jun 2020
Topics: COVID-19; Coronavirus Infections; Humans; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Quarantine; Ships
PubMed: 32241332
DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2020.67 -
PLoS Pathogens Jul 2022Mycobacteriophages-bacteriophages infecting Mycobacterium hosts-contribute substantially to our understanding of viral diversity and evolution, provide resources for... (Review)
Review
Mycobacteriophages-bacteriophages infecting Mycobacterium hosts-contribute substantially to our understanding of viral diversity and evolution, provide resources for advancing Mycobacterium genetics, are the basis of high-impact science education programs, and show considerable therapeutic potential. Over 10,000 individual mycobacteriophages have been isolated by high school and undergraduate students using the model organism Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155 and 2,100 have been completely sequenced, giving a high-resolution view of the phages that infect a single common host strain. The phage genomes are revealed to be highly diverse and architecturally mosaic and are replete with genes of unknown function. Mycobacteriophages have provided many widely used tools for Mycobacterium genetics including integration-proficient vectors and recombineering systems, as well as systems for efficient delivery of reporter genes, transposons, and allelic exchange substrates. The genomic insights and engineering tools have facilitated exploration of phages for treatment of Mycobacterium infections, although their full therapeutic potential has yet to be realized.
Topics: Bacteriophages; Genome, Viral; Humans; Mycobacteriophages; Mycobacterium; Mycobacterium Infections; Mycobacterium smegmatis
PubMed: 35797343
DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010602 -
American Journal of Physiology. Renal... Jun 2022Kidney organoids derived from human pluripotent stem cells constitute a novel model of disease, development, and regenerative therapy. Organoids are human,... (Review)
Review
Kidney organoids derived from human pluripotent stem cells constitute a novel model of disease, development, and regenerative therapy. Organoids are human, experimentally accessible, high throughput, and enable reconstitution of tissue-scale biology in a petri dish. Although gene expression patterns in organoid cells have been analyzed extensively, less is known about the functionality of these structures. Here, we review assays of physiological function in human kidney organoids, including best practices for quality control, and future applications. Tubular structures in organoids accumulate specific molecules through active transport, including dextran and organic anions, and swell with fluid in response to cAMP stimulation. When engrafted into animal models in vivo, organoids form vascularized glomerulus-like structures capable of size-selective filtration. Organoids exhibit metabolic, endocrine, injury, and infection phenotypes, although their specificity is not yet fully clear. To properly interpret organoid physiology assays, it is important to incorporate appropriate negative and positive controls, statistical methods, data presentation, molecular mechanisms, and clinical data sets. Improvements in organoid perfusion, patterning, and maturation are needed to enable branching morphogenesis, urine production, and renal replacement. Reconstituting renal physiology with kidney organoids is a new field with potential to provide fresh insights into classical phenomena.
Topics: Animals; Cell Differentiation; Humans; Kidney; Kidney Glomerulus; Morphogenesis; Organoids; Pluripotent Stem Cells
PubMed: 35379001
DOI: 10.1152/ajprenal.00400.2021 -
Materials (Basel, Switzerland) Dec 2019The classic cell culture involves the use of support in two dimensions, such as a well plate or a Petri dish, that allows the culture of different types of cells.... (Review)
Review
The classic cell culture involves the use of support in two dimensions, such as a well plate or a Petri dish, that allows the culture of different types of cells. However, this technique does not mimic the natural microenvironment where the cells are exposed to. To solve that, three-dimensional bioprinting techniques were implemented, which involves the use of biopolymers and/or synthetic materials and cells. Because of a lack of information between data sources, the objective of this review paper is, to sum up, all the available information on the topic of bioprinting and to help researchers with the problematics with 3D bioprinters, such as the 3D-Bioplotter™. The 3D-Bioplotter™ has been used in the pre-clinical field since 2000 and could allow the printing of more than one material at the same time, and therefore to increase the complexity of the 3D structure manufactured. It is also very precise with maximum flexibility and a user-friendly and stable software that allows the optimization of the bioprinting process on the technological point of view. Different applications have resulted from the research on this field, mainly focused on regenerative medicine, but the lack of information and/or the possible misunderstandings between papers makes the reproducibility of the tests difficult. Nowadays, the 3D Bioprinting is evolving into another technology called 4D Bioprinting, which promises to be the next step in the bioprinting field and might promote great applications in the future.
PubMed: 31810326
DOI: 10.3390/ma12234005 -
Journal of Visualized Experiments : JoVE Feb 2021To select food with nutritional value while avoiding the consumption of harmful agents, animals need a sophisticated and robust taste system to evaluate their food...
To select food with nutritional value while avoiding the consumption of harmful agents, animals need a sophisticated and robust taste system to evaluate their food environment. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a genetically tractable model organism that is widely used to decipher the molecular, cellular, and neural underpinnings of food preference. To analyze fly food preference, a robust feeding method is needed. Described here is a two-choice feeding assay, which is rigorous, cost-saving, and fast. The assay is Petri-dish-based and involves the addition of two different foods supplemented with blue or red dye to the two halves of the dish. Then, ~70 prestarved, 2-4-day-old flies are placed in the dish and allowed to choose between blue and red foods in the dark for about 90 min. Examination of the abdomen of each fly is followed by the calculation of the preference index. In contrast to multiwell plates, each Petri dish takes only ~20 s to fill and saves time and effort. This feeding assay can be employed to quickly determine whether flies like or dislike a particular food.
Topics: Animals; Biological Assay; Coloring Agents; Drosophila melanogaster; Feeding Behavior; Food Preferences; Indicators and Reagents; Starvation
PubMed: 33645577
DOI: 10.3791/62051 -
Journal of Health Care For the Poor and... 2020This commentary amplifies the insidious nature of the novel coronavirus (resulting in COVID19) and its ubiquitous spread, which disproportionately and adversely affect...
This commentary amplifies the insidious nature of the novel coronavirus (resulting in COVID19) and its ubiquitous spread, which disproportionately and adversely affect the health and well-being of people of color. The consequence is poor health outcomes and premature death. Ample previous literature documents health inequities in the morbidity and mortality statistics for Black and Brown people in the United States. Their excess deaths are due to disproportionately high rates of serious health conditions (diabetes; hypertension; asthma; and lung, kidney, and heart disease), as well as structural factors having to do with income, employment, and the built environment in which they live. The health conditions are exacerbated with ongoing societal problems and stress emerging from the country's history of dehumanizing racial inequities. Current discrimination comes most virulently in the form of systematic and institutionalized racist policies that keep racial and ethnic minorities marginalized and disempowered. Furthermore, people of color encounter the immediate external pressures of working away from home and using public transportation during the country's extraordinary ongoing lockdown, heightening the risk of exposure to the virus. Moreover, the same population is overrepresented in jails and prisons where social distancing is impossible. Any virulent virus without a vaccine is bound to become a human petri dish in which people of color in the U.S. today are caught. The war against the coronavirus for people of color is part and parcel of the war to eliminate historic inequities and to level the socioeconomic playing field. This article covers the racial/ethnic inequities in morbidity and mortality from COVID19 and the slow and untimely response by the federal government to address mediation of the spread of the virus. For people of color to transcend the coronavirus pandemic crisis there must be comprehensive access to COVID-19 testing and early, sustained, and affordable access to health care, including hospitalization. Such access will require national leadership, which seems to be in short supply.
Topics: Black or African American; COVID-19; Health Status Disparities; Humans; United States
PubMed: 33410785
DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2020.0037 -
JAMA Apr 2023
PubMed: 37000446
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.3664 -
Advanced Biology Aug 2023Regeneration and functional recovery of the damaged nerve are challenging due to the need for effective therapeutic drugs, biomaterials, and approaches. The poor outcome... (Review)
Review
Regeneration and functional recovery of the damaged nerve are challenging due to the need for effective therapeutic drugs, biomaterials, and approaches. The poor outcome of the treatment of nerve injury stems from the incomplete understanding of axonal biology and interactions between neurons and the surrounding environment, such as glial cells and extracellular matrix. Microfluidic devices, in combination with various injury techniques, have been applied to test biological hypotheses in nerve injury and nerve regeneration. The microfluidic devices provide multiple advantages over the in vitro cell culture on a petri dish and in vivo animal models because a specific part of the neuronal environment can be manipulated using physical and chemical interventions. In addition, single-cell behavior and interactions between neurons and glial cells can be visualized and quantified on microfluidic platforms. In this article, current in vitro nerve injury models on a chip that mimics in vivo axonal injuries and the regeneration process of axons are summarized. The microfluidic-based nerve injury models could enhance the understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms of nerve tissues and simultaneously serve as powerful drug and biomaterial screening platforms.
Topics: Animals; Axons; Neurons; Microfluidics; Cell Culture Techniques; Trauma, Nervous System; Lab-On-A-Chip Devices
PubMed: 36709421
DOI: 10.1002/adbi.202200227 -
Small Methods Nov 2021Few microfluidic devices are used in biomedical labs, despite the obvious potential; reasons given include the devices are rarely made with cell-friendly materials, and... (Review)
Review
Few microfluidic devices are used in biomedical labs, despite the obvious potential; reasons given include the devices are rarely made with cell-friendly materials, and liquids are inaccessibly buried behind solid confining walls. An open microfluidic approach is reviewed in which aqueous circuits with almost any imaginable 2D shape are fabricated in minutes on standard polystyrene Petri dishes by reshaping two liquids (cell-culture media plus an immiscible and bioinert fluorocarbon, FC40). Then, the aqueous phase becomes confined by fluid FC40 walls firmly pinned to the dish by interfacial forces. Such walls can be pierced at any point with pipets and liquids added or removed through them, while flows can be driven actively using external pumps or passively by exploiting local differences in Laplace pressure. As walls are robust, permeable to O plus CO , and transparent, cells are grown in incubators and monitored microscopically as usual. It is hoped that this simple, accessible, and affordable fluid-shaping technology provides bioscientists with an easy entrée into microfluidics.
Topics: Animals; Cell Culture Techniques; Fluorocarbons; Humans; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques
PubMed: 34927960
DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202100724