TACO

INTRODUCTION: Low-energy fragility fractures of the pelvis (FFP) are an underestimated entity, yet increasing in incidence. The bleeding risk for pelvic fractures in high-energy trauma is well known, resulting in adequate treatment guidelines and clear protocols. This is not the case for FFPs but this risk is presumably low. This study aims to investigate the clinically relevant bleeding risk, in patients older than 50 years with a fragility fracture of the pelvis admitted to the emergency department (ED)...

BACKGROUND: The noninflammatory immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) is linked to tolerance and is unique to humans. Although poorly understood, prolonged antigenic stimulation and IL-4-signaling along the T helper 2-axis may be instrumental in IgG4 class switching. Recently, repeated SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination has been linked to IgG4 skewing. Although widely used immunosuppressive drugs have been shown to only moderately affect humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination, the effect on IgG4 switching has not been investigated...

In alcohol use disorder, the alcohol memories persist during abstinence, and exposure to stimuli associated with alcohol use can lead to relapse. This highlights the importance of investigating the neural substrates underlying not only relapse but also encoding and expression of alcohol memories. GABAergic neurons in the lateral hypothalamus (LH-GABA) have been shown to be critical for food-cue memories and motivation; however, the extent to which this role extends to alcohol-cue memories and motivations remains unexplored...

Structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is a powerful super-resolution imaging technique that uses patterned illumination to down-modulate high spatial-frequency information of samples. However, the presence of spatially-dependent aberrations can severely disrupt the illumination pattern, limiting the quality of SIM imaging. Conventional adaptive optics (AO) techniques that employ wavefront correctors at the pupil plane are not capable of effectively correcting these spatially-dependent aberrations. We introduce the Tandem Aberration Correction Optics (TACO) approach that combines both pupil AO and conjugate AO for aberration correction in SIM...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive overview of (preoperative and geriatric) diagnostic testing, abnormal diagnostic tests and their subsequent interventions, and clinical relevance in frail older adults with a hip fracture. METHODS: Data on clinical consultations, radiological, laboratory, and microbiological diagnostics were extracted from the medical files of all patients included in the FRAIL-HIP study (inclusion criteria: hip fracture, > 70 years, living in a nursing home with malnourishment/cachexia and/or impaired mobility and/or severe co-morbidity)...

SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells recognize conserved viral peptides and in the absence of cross-reactive antibodies form an important line of protection against emerging viral variants as they ameliorate disease severity. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines induce robust spike-specific antibody and T cell responses in healthy individuals, but their effectiveness in patients with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disorders (IMIDs) is less well defined. These patients are often treated with systemic immunosuppressants, which may negatively affect vaccine-induced immunity...

BACKGROUND: Dysregulation of skin metabolism is associated with a plethora of diseases such as psoriasis and dermatitis. Until now, reconstructed human skin (RhS) models lack the metabolic potential of native human skin, thereby limiting their relevance to study human healthy and diseased skin. We aimed to determine whether incorporation of an adipocyte-containing hypodermis into RhS improves its metabolic potential and to identify major metabolic pathways up-regulated in adipose-RhS...

BACKGROUND: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare but serious hyperinflammatory complication following infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The mechanisms underpinning the pathophysiology of MIS-C are poorly understood. Moreover, clinically distinguishing MIS-C from other childhood infectious and inflammatory conditions, such as Kawasaki disease or severe bacterial and viral infections, is challenging due to overlapping clinical and laboratory features...

The malaria causing parasite, P. falciparum , replicates through a tightly orchestrated process termed schizogony, where approximately 32 daughter parasites are formed in a single infected red blood cell and thousands of daughter cells in mosquito- or liver-stages. One-per-cell organelles, such as the mitochondrion and apicoplast, need to be properly divided and segregated to ensure a complete set of organelles per daughter parasites. Although this is highly essential, details about the processes and mechanisms involved remain unknown...

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), for which effective treatments are limited, results in excessive and disorganized deposition of aberrant extracellular matrix (ECM). An altered ECM microenvironment is postulated to contribute to disease progression through inducing profibrotic behavior of lung fibroblasts, the main producers and regulators of ECM. Here, we examined this hypothesis in a 3D in vitro model system by growing primary human lung fibroblasts in ECM-derived hydrogels from non-fibrotic (control) or IPF lung tissue...

The degradation of (micro)gels and fractal aggregates based on self-assembled amphiphilic triblock copolymers has been investigated in water by confocal microscopy and light scattering respectively. The triblock copolymer consisted of a central hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) (pAA) block and two hydrophobic end blocks that contained an equal amount of randomly distributed n -butyl acrylate ( n BA) and AA units. These latter units helped at tempering the hydrophobic end blocks resulting in the control and the fine tuning of the dynamics of the self-assembled triblock through the pH...

Magnesium nanoparticles offer an alternative plasmonic platform capable of resonances across the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared. Crystalline magnesium nanoparticles display twinning on the (101̄1), (101̄2), (101̄3), and (112̄1) planes leading to concave folded shapes named tents, chairs, tacos, and kites, respectively. We use the Wulff-based Crystal Creator tool to expand the range of Mg crystal shapes with twinning over the known Mg twin planes, i.e. , (101̄ x ), x = 1, 2, 3 and (112̄ y ), y = 1, 2, 3, 4, and study the effects of relative facet expression on the resulting shapes...

PURPOSE: This review aims to provide an overview of the multiple functions of neutrophils, with the recognition of the inflammatory (N1) and regenerative (N2) phenotypes, in relation to fracture healing. METHODS: A literature search was performed using the PubMed database. The quality of the articles was evaluated using critical appraisal checklists. RESULTS: Thirty one studies were included in this review. These studies consistently support that neutrophils exert both beneficial and detrimental effects on bone regeneration, influenced by Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α), Interleukin 8 (IL-8), mast cells, and macrophages...

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 2 (HPS2) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, caused by mutations in the AP3B1 gene, encoding the β3A subunit of the adapter protein complex 3. This results in mis-sorting of proteins within the cell. A clinical feature of HPS2 is severe neutropenia. Current HPS2 animal models do not recapitulate the human disease. Hence, we used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) of an HPS2 patient to study granulopoiesis. Development into CD15POS cells was reduced, but HPS2-derived CD15POS cells differentiated into segmented CD11b+ CD16hi neutrophils...

IMPORTANCE: Hip fractures in older adults are serious injuries that result in disability, higher rates of illness and death, and a substantial strain on health care resources. High-quality evidence to improve hip fracture care regarding the surgical approach of hemiarthroplasty is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To compare 6-month outcomes of the posterolateral approach (PLA) and direct lateral approach (DLA) for hemiarthroplasty in patients with acute femoral neck fracture...

Objective: To describe clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of pediatric epiretinal membranes (ERMs) without specific etiologies. Methods: Medical data of a cohort of pediatric patients (≤14 years) who had ERMs without specific etiologies, underwent surgical removal from January 2019 to September 2021, and were followed up for at least 12 months were retrospectively reviewed. Age at presentation, chief complaints, color fundus photographs, optical coherence tomographic images, preoperative and postoperative visual acuities, anatomical changes, and postoperative complications were assessed...

We explore the interference of two bichromatic vector beams in Young's interference experiment. Our analysis focuses on determining the conditions under which the superposition of such beams, emerging from the pinholes, can give rise to Lissajous-type polarization singularities on the observation screen. Two independent sufficiency conditions are derived. This analysis aids in comprehending the inherent characteristics of Lissajous singularities. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the singular behavior of polarization in a two-frequency field in Young's interference experiment...

Nanocomposite hydrogels were elaborated that consisted of a physical network formed by an amphiphilic polymer in which C60 fullerene nanoplatelets were embedded. Characterization showed that the nanoplatelets within the polymer network were aggregated. The presence of these nanoplatelets led to an increase of the shear modulus of the hydrogels, that cannot be explained by a filler effect alone. The nanocomposite gels displayed similar rheological behavior, both in linear and non-linear domains, as neat hydrogels at higher polymer concentrations...

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of a novel approach involving permissive weight bearing (PWB) in surgically treated trauma patients with peri- and intra-articular fractures of the lower extremities. METHODS: Prospective comparative multicenter cohort study in one level 1 trauma center and five level 2 trauma centers. Surgically treated trauma patients with peri- and intra-articular fractures of the lower extremities were included...

One reason for a lack of response to rituximab as well as infusion-related anaphylactic adverse events is the development of antidrug Abs to rituximab. Besides rituximab, a number of other therapeutic Abs targeting CD20 are nowadays available as alternatives. In this study, we investigated the potential cross-reactivity of (human) anti-rituximab Abs to three other anti-CD20 mAbs: ofatumumab, obinutuzumab, and ocrelizumab. In 25 cases of anti-rituximab Abs, cross-reactivity was examined using both direct binding assays and inhibition immunoassays...