3D spatial sampling to quantify morphologic heterogeneity in isocitrate dehydrogenase-wildtype glioblastoma.

Advances in digital pathology and machine learning have the potential to revolutionize diagnostic neuropathology. Current brain tumor models are typically trained and validated using morphologic features from a single hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained slide per patient. Yet, brain tumors such as diffuse glioma are known for their epigenetic, genetic, and transcriptional heterogeneity within an individual patient.

Acute Adrenal Crisis Following Etomidate Administration in a Patient With Preexisting Adrenal Insufficiency.

We present the case of a 79-year-old male with iatrogenic adrenal insufficiency on chronic hydrocortisone who presented with acute hypoxic respiratory failure due to severe bilateral pneumonia. He underwent rapid sequence intubation with IV etomidate and rocuronium. Within hours, he developed worsening hypotension, progressing to pulseless electrical activity cardiac arrest.

Spatial 3D genome organization reveals intratumor heterogeneity in primary glioblastoma samples.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most prevalent malignant brain tumor with poor prognosis. Although chromatin intratumoral heterogeneity is a characteristic feature of GBM, most current studies are conducted at a single tumor site. To investigate the GBM-specific 3D genome organization and its heterogeneity, we conducted Hi-C experiments in 21 GBM samples from nine patients, along with three normal brain samples.

Development of a Miniaturized Mechanoacoustic Sensor for Continuous, Objective Cough Detection, Characterization and Physiologic Monitoring in Children With Cystic Fibrosis.

Cough is an important symptom in children with acute and chronic respiratory disease. Daily cough is common in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and increased cough is a symptom of pulmonary exacerbation. To date, cough assessment is primarily subjective in clinical practice and research.

A skin-interfaced, miniaturized platform for triggered induction, capture and colorimetric multicomponent analysis of microliter volumes of sweat.

Eccrine sweat can serve as a source of biomarkers for assessing physiological health and nutritional balance, for tracking loss of essential species from the body and for evaluating exposure to hazardous substances. The growing interest in this relatively underexplored class of biofluid arises in part from its non-invasive ability for capture and analysis. The simplest devices, and the only ones that are commercially available, exploit soft microfluidic constructs and colorimetric assays with purely passive modes of operation.

Glioblastoma evolution and heterogeneity from a 3D whole-tumor perspective.

Treatment failure for the lethal brain tumor glioblastoma (GBM) is attributed to intratumoral heterogeneity and tumor evolution. We utilized 3D neuronavigation during surgical resection to acquire samples representing the whole tumor mapped by 3D spatial coordinates. Integrative tissue and single-cell analysis revealed sources of genomic, epigenomic, and microenvironmental intratumoral heterogeneity and their spatial patterning.

Whole tumor analysis reveals early origin of the TERT promoter mutation and intercellular heterogeneity in TERT expression.

Background: The TERT promoter mutation (TPM) is acquired in most IDH-wildtype glioblastomas (GBM) and IDH-mutant oligodendrogliomas (OD) enabling tumor cell immortality. Previous studies on TPM clonality show conflicting results. This study was performed to determine whether TPM is clonal on a tumor-wide scale.

Association Between Common Empiric Antibiotic Regimens and Clostridioides Difficile Infection in Pediatric Appendicitis.

Background: Clostridioides Difficile Infection (CDI) is a serious antibiotic related complication that has been reported among children undergoing treatment of appendicitis. CDI likelihood amongst different empiric antibiotic regimens for appendicitis remains unclear but likely has important implications for antibiotic stewardship.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of the Pediatric Health Information System was used to examine patients ages 1 through 18 who received operative management of acute appendicitis.

GABP couples oncogene signaling to telomere regulation in TERT promoter mutant cancer.

Telomerase activation counteracts senescence and telomere erosion caused by uncontrolled proliferation. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) amplification drives proliferation while telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter (TERTp) mutations underlie telomerase reactivation through recruitment of GA-binding protein (GABP). EGFR amplification and TERTp mutations typically co-occur in glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor.

Outcome of Children Admitted With SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Experiences From a Pediatric Public Hospital.

Objective: To study clinical characteristics and outcome of children with admitted to a paediatric hospital in Mumbai, India.

Methods: Review of medical records of 969 children admitted between 19 March and 7 August, 2020, to assess the clinico-demographic characteristics, disease severity and factors predicting outcome in COVID-19 children. Variables were compared between children who were previously healthy (Group I) and those with co-morbidity (Group II).

Cdc48 cofactor Shp1 regulates signal-induced SCF disassembly.

Organisms can adapt to a broad spectrum of sudden and dramatic changes in their environment. These abrupt changes are often perceived as stress and trigger responses that facilitate survival and eventual adaptation. The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is involved in most cellular processes.

MGMT promoter methylation level in newly diagnosed low-grade glioma is a predictor of hypermutation at recurrence.

Background: Emerging data suggest that a subset of patients with diffuse isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant low-grade glioma (LGG) who receive adjuvant temozolomide (TMZ) recur with hypermutation in association with malignant progression to higher-grade tumors. It is currently unclear why some TMZ-treated LGG patients recur with hypermutation while others do not. MGMT encodes O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase, a DNA repair protein that removes cytotoxic and potentially mutagenic lesions induced by TMZ.

ARID1A loss in cancer: Towards a mechanistic understanding.

Genes encoding subunits of SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes are collectively mutated in 20% of all human cancers. ARID1A is the SWI/SNF subunit gene that is most frequently mutated, at variable frequencies across molecular and histological subtypes of cancer. Mouse modeling has revealed that the role of ARID1A in tumor suppression is highly dependent upon context.

ARID1A loss impairs enhancer-mediated gene regulation and drives colon cancer in mice.

Genes encoding subunits of SWI/SNF (BAF) chromatin-remodeling complexes are collectively mutated in ∼20% of all human cancers. Although ARID1A is the most frequent target of mutations, the mechanism by which its inactivation promotes tumorigenesis is unclear. Here we demonstrate that Arid1a functions as a tumor suppressor in the mouse colon, but not the small intestine, and that invasive ARID1A-deficient adenocarcinomas resemble human colorectal cancer (CRC).

Skp1 Independent Function of Cdc53/Cul1 in F-box Protein Homeostasis.

Abundance of substrate receptor subunits of Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) is tightly controlled to maintain the full repertoire of CRLs. Unbalanced levels can lead to sequestration of CRL core components by a few overabundant substrate receptors. Numerous diseases, including cancer, have been associated with misregulation of substrate receptor components, particularly for the largest class of CRLs, the SCF ligases.

Elevated ergosterol protects Leishmania parasites against antimony-generated stress.

Parasite lipids can serve as signaling molecules, important membrane components, energy suppliers, and pathogenesis factors critical for survival. Functional roles of lipid changes in response to drug-generated stress in parasite survival remains unclear. To investigate this, Leishmania donovani parasites, the causative agents of kala-azar, were exposed to the antileishmanial agent potassium antimony tartrate (PAT) (half-maximal inhibitory concentration ∼ 284 µg/ml).

PCR-mediated epitope tagging of genes in yeast.

Epitope tagging of genes is a powerful technique facilitating assays for gene function, determination of subcellular distribution of proteins, affinity purification, study of protein interaction with other proteins, DNA or RNA, and any other antibody-based approach in the absence of protein-specific antibodies. Here, we describe a one-step PCR-based strategy for insertion of epitope tags at the chromosomal locus. This method takes advantage of efficient homologous recombination in yeast.

Signal-induced disassembly of the SCF ubiquitin ligase complex by Cdc48/p97.

A large group of E3 ubiquitin ligases is formed by the multisubunit SCF complex, whose core complex (Rbx1/Cul1-Cdc53/Skp1) binds one of many substrate recruiting F-box proteins to form an array of SCF ligases with diverse substrate specificities. It has long been thought that ubiquitylation by SCF ligases is regulated at the level of substrate binding. Here we describe an alternative mechanism of SCF regulation by active dissociation of the F-box subunit.