Prospective adverse event risk evaluation in clinical trials

Health Care Management Science - Proactive and objective regulatory risk management of ongoing clinical trials is limited, especially when it involves the safety of the trial. We seek to...     

Building a Methodological Foundation for Impactful Urban Planetary Health Science

Anthropogenic environmental change will heavily impact cities, yet associated health risks will depend significantly on decisions made by urban leaders across a wide range of non-health sectors, including transport, energy, housing, basic urban services, and others. A subset of planetary health researchers focus on understanding the urban health impacts of global environmental change, and how these vary globally and within cities. Such researchers increasingly adopt collaborative transdisciplinary approaches to engage policy-makers, private citizens, and other actors in identifying and evaluating potential policy solutions that will reduce environmental impacts in ways that simultaneously promote health, equity, and/or local economies—in other words, maximising ‘co-benefits’. This report presents observations from a participatory workshop focused on challenges and opportunities for urban planetary health research. The workshop, held at the 16th International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) in Xiamen, China, in November 2019, brought together 49 participants and covered topics related to collaboration, data, and research impact. It featured research projects funded by the Wellcome Trust’s Our Planet Our Health (OPOH) programme. This report aims to concisely summarise and disseminate participants’ collective contributions to current methodological practice in urban planetary health research.     

Laparoscopic pyeloplasty as an alternative to nephrectomy in adults with poorly functioning kidneys due to ureteropelvic junction obstruction

International Urology and Nephrology - To evaluate outcomes of laparoscopic pyeloplasty (LP) in adults with poorly functioning kidney due to ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO). A...     

Lycium barbarum polysaccharide fraction associated with photobiomodulation protects from epithelium thickness and collagen fragmentation in a model of cutaneous photodamage

Lasers in Medical Science - Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is the major etiologic agent of cutaneous photoaging, and different strategies are used to prevent and treat this condition. The...     

The influence of photobiomodulation on the temperature of the brachial biceps during muscle fatigue protocol

Lasers in Medical Science - Physical activity raises body temperature. However, the literature does not contain studies about whether the employment of hotobiomodulation (PMB) could significantly...     

A review of burn symptoms and potential novel neural targets for non-invasive brain stimulation for treatment of burn sequelae

Burn survivors experience myriad associated symptoms such as pain, pruritus, fatigue, impaired motor strength, post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance. Many of these symptoms are common and remain chronic, despite current standard of care. One potential novel intervention to target these post burn symptoms is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). tDCS is a non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) technique that modulates neural excitability of a specific target or neural network. The aim of this work is to review the neural circuits of the aforementioned clinical sequelae associated with burn injuries and to provide a scientific rationale for specific NIBS targets that can potentially treat these conditions. We ran a systematic review, following the PRISMA statement, of tDCS effects on burn symptoms. Only three studies matched our criteria. One was a feasibility study assessing cortical plasticity in chronic neuropathic pain following burn injury, one looked at the effects of tDCS to reduce pain anxiety during burn wound care, and one assessed the effects of tDCS to manage pain and pruritus in burn survivors. Current literature on NIBS in burn remains limited, only a few trials have been conducted. Based on our review and results in other populations suffering from similar symptoms as patients with burn injuries, three main areas were selected: the prefrontal region, the parietal area and the motor cortex. Based on the importance of the prefrontal cortex in the emotional component of pain and its implication in various psychosocial symptoms, targeting this region may represent the most promising target. Our review of the neural circuitry involved in post burn symptoms and suggested targeted areas for stimulation provide a spring board for future study initiatives.     

Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Delayed Fracture Healing in Mmp10 (Stromelysin 2) Knockout Mice

The remodeling of the extracellular matrix is a central function in endochondral ossification and bone homeostasis. During secondary fracture healing, vascular invasion and bone growth requires the removal of the cartilage intermediate and the coordinate action of the collagenase matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-13, produced by hypertrophic chondrocytes, and the gelatinase MMP-9, produced by cells of hematopoietic lineage. Interfering with these MMP activities results in impaired fracture healing characterized by cartilage accumulation and delayed vascularization. MMP-10, Stromelysin 2, a matrix metalloproteinase with high homology to MMP-3 (Stromelysin 1), presents a wide range of putative substrates identified in vitro, but its targets and functions in vivo and especially during fracture healing and bone homeostasis are not well defined. Here, we investigated the role of MMP-10 through bone regeneration in C57BL/6 mice. During secondary fracture healing, MMP-10 is expressed by hematopoietic cells and its maximum expression peak is associated with cartilage resorption at 14 days post fracture (dpf). In accordance with this expression pattern, when Mmp10 is globally silenced, we observed an impaired fracture-healing phenotype at 14 dpf, characterized by delayed cartilage resorption and TRAP-positive cell accumulation. This phenotype can be rescued by a non-competitive transplant of wild-type bone marrow, indicating that MMP-10 functions are required only in cells of hematopoietic linage. In addition, we found that this phenotype is a consequence of reduced gelatinase activity and the lack of proMMP-9 processing in macrophages. Our data provide evidence of the in vivo function of MMP-10 during endochondral ossification and defines the macrophages as the lead cell population in cartilage removal and vascular invasion. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).