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We performed a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis comparing initiation of full solid diet (FSD) versus stepwise diet to better define the management of patients with mild acute pancreatitis (AP).Electronic databases were searched through August 2, 2021 for trials comparing initial FSD versus stepwise advancement in patients with mild AP on length of hospital stay (LOHS). We stratified by whether diet was initiated early (within 24 h or immediately upon presence of bowel sounds).We identified seven RCTs that compared LOHS in AP patients who received initial oral intake with solid diet versus stepwise diet. Across the studies a total of 305 patients were randomized to immediate FSD and 308 patients to sequential advancement. Patients who were initiated on a FSD had a significant reduction in total LOHS (Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) -0.52 [95% CI -0.69, -0.36]). There was no difference in post refeeding abdominal pain, tolerance of diet, or necessity to cease diet between the two groups. Sub-analysis of three studies that initiated FSD early reduced total LOHS (OR -0.95 [95% CI -1.26, -0.65]) compared to those who received graded diet advancement as well as higher likelihood of tolerating the assigned diet (OR 6.8 [95% CI 1.2, 39.2]).Our meta-analysis shows that initiation of FSD reduces total LOHS in patients with mild AP and does not increase post refeeding abdominal pain. Though additional high-quality studies are needed, these findings support initial solid diet for AP and consideration of feeding within the first 24 h.

BACKGROUND Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) also have symptoms of depression. Both IBD and depression are associated with high healthcare utilization. In this cross-sectional study of population-based data, we sought to better characterize the impact of comorbid depression on hospitalizations of IBD patients. METHODS We used the 2016-2018 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to identify hospitalizations with IBD and depression using ICD-10 codes. ICD-10 codes also identified confirmed complications of IBD, such as rectal bleed, fistula, abscess, or intestinal obstruction. Hospitalizations for suicidal intent were excluded from our analysis. Health outcomes including length of stay (LOS), total cost, and complications of IBD were compared between IBD patients with and without depression. Patients with confirmed discharges were captured and survival curves were compared for time to discharge. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA, including two-sample t-testing and logistic regression (significance, p RESULTS Over three years, 129,011 hospitalizations for IBD were isolated. Of these, 2,124 hospitalizations (1.65%) were recognized to have both IBD and depression. Lengths of hospitalization for IBD patients with depression were longer than those without (mean LOS [95% CI]: 7.52 [7.06-7.98] vs. 5.28 [5.24-5.32], p CONCLUSIONS While IBD patients with depression demonstrated lengthier hospitalizations compared to IBD patients without depression, the higher inpatient cost and complications from the latter group may reflect diagnostic, procedural, or surgical management of active disease. While major limitations of this administrative database include identification of hospitalizations instead of individual patients, as well as possibly underreporting or lower recognition of depression during hospitalization, our findings suggest that management of comorbid depression may reduce the length of stay in hospitalized patients with IBD.

Time and the choice of measurement time scales is fundamental to how we choose to represent information and data in finance. This choice implies both the units and the aggregation scales for the resulting statistical measurables used to describe a financial system. It also defines how we measure the relationship between different traded instruments. As we move from high-frequency time scales, when individual trade and quote events occur, to the mesoscales when correlations emerge in ways that can conform to various latent models; it remains unclear what choice of time and sampling rates are appropriate to faithfully capture system dynamics and asset correlations for decision making. The Epps effect is the key phenomenology that couples the emergence of correlations to the choice of sampling time scales. Here we consider and compare the Epps effect under different sampling schemes in order to contrast three choices of time: calendar time, volume time and trade time. Using a toy model based on a Hawkes process, we are able to achieve simulation results that conform well with empirical dynamics. Concretely, we find that the Epps effect is present under all three definitions of time and that correlations emerge faster under trade time compared to calendar time, whereas correlations emerge linearly under volume time., Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. Link to our supporting Julia code: https://github.com/CHNPAT005/PCRBTG-VT. Accepted: Physica A

International audience; Stem cells are essential for animal development and adult tissue homeostasis, and the quest for an ancestral gene fingerprint of sternness is a major challenge for evolutionary developmental biology. Recent studies have indicated that a series of genes, including the transposon silencer Piwi and the translational activator Vasa, specifically involved in germline determination and maintenance in classical bilaterian models (e.g., vertebrates, fly, nematode), are more generally expressed in adult multipotent stem cells in other animals like flatworms and hydras. Since the progeny of these multipotent stem cells includes both somatic and germinal derivatives, it remains unclear whether Vasa, Piwi, and associated genes like Bruno and PL10 were ancestrally linked to sternness, or to germinal potential. We have investigated the expression of Vasa, two Piwi paralogues, Bruno and PL10 in Pleurobrachia pileus, a member of the early-diverging phylum Ctenophora, the probable sister group of cnidarians. These genes were all expressed in the male and female germlines, and with the exception of one of the Piwi paralogues, they showed similar expression patterns within somatic territories (tentacle root, comb rows, aboral sensory complex). Cytological observations and EdU DNA-labelling and long-term retention experiments revealed concentrations of stem cells closely matching these gene expression areas. These stem cell pools are spatially restricted, and each specialised in the production of particular types of somatic cells. These data unveil important aspects of cell renewal within the ctenophore body and suggest that Piwi, Vasa, Bruno, and PL10 belong to a gene network ancestrally acting in two distinct contexts: (i) the germline and (ii) stem cells, whatever the nature of their progeny.

Cardiovascular malformations are commonly reported with congenital rubella (CR). We report the first case of a miniature aortic ring in an adult CR patient. 52-year-old woman with history for CR with blindness, deafness, and obesity was referred for progressive dyspnea. Physical exam was notable

The activity of myogenic regulatory factor (MRF) genes is essential for vertebrate muscle development, whereas invertebrate muscle development is largely independent of MRF function. This difference indicates that myogenesis is controlled by distinct regulatory mechanisms in these two groups of animals. Here we used overexpression and gene knockdown to investigate the role in embryonic myogenesis of the single MRF gene of the invertebrate chordate Ciona intestinalis (Ci-MRF). Injection of Ci-MRF mRNA into eggs resulted in increased embryonic muscle-specific gene activity and revealed the myogenic activity of Ci-MRF by inducing the expression of four muscle marker genes, Acetylcholinesterase, Actin, Troponin I, and Myosin Light Chain in non-muscle lineages. Conversely, inhibiting Ci-MRF activity with antisense morpholinos down-regulated the expression of these genes. Consistent with the effects of morpholinos on muscle gene activity, larvae resulting from morpholino injection were paralyzed and their “muscle” cells lacked myofibrils. We conclude that Ci-MRF is required for larval tail muscle development and thus that an MRF-dependent myogenic regulatory network probably existed in the ancestor of tunicates and vertebrates. This possibility raises the question of whether the earliest myogenic regulatory networks were MRF-dependent or MRF-independent.

Although prior studies have established a number of reasons why computer professionals leave their organizations, they have rarely suggested that lack of social support may be one reason. This study attempted to explain why social support is salient to computer professionals' leaving intention. It developed a model that posits that (i) social support is positivey related to job satisfaction, (ii) social support is negatively related to leaving intention, and (iii) social affiliation needs moderate the relationship between social support and leaving intention. The model was tested using data from a questionnaire. The restults indicated that social support from supervisor and colleagues were negatively related to leaving intention for computer professionals with high social affiliation needs, and that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between social support and leaving intention. Social support from family and friends was not related to leaving intention, but it was positively related to job satisfaction.

This research tests a model of turnover intentions for information technology professionals. The model assumes that information technology professionals work in a dynamic environment that requires continuous updating of skills. Given this environment, it is likely that an individual's growth need strength — defined as the need for challenge and achievements — plays a significant role in influencing turnover intentions. The model, therefore, predicts that growth need strength interacts with job satisfaction to determine turnover intentions. In addition, the model also predicts that the motivating potential score of a job, role ambiguity, and role conflict affect turnover intentions through job satisfaction. The model was tested using data collected from a questionnaire survey. The results support all the hypotheses except the relationship between role conflict and job satisfaction. One important implication of these results is that employers should be cognizant of the joint effects of growth need strength and job satisfaction in designing retention strategies.

Pelvic digit is a rare congenital anomaly that may be misinterpreted as neoplasm or a post-traumatic condition. Failure to recognize this phenomenon may lead to unnecessary investigation and potential invasive intervention. The case of an 18-year-old male with pelvic digit is presented, followed by consideration of pertinent imaging features.

This paper describes the morphological characterization, by freeze-fracture electron microscopy, and the thermotropic phase behavior, by differential scanning calorimetry, of aqueous dispersions of various fluorocarbon/fluorocarbon or mixed fluorocarbon/hydrocarbon double-chain 2,3- or 1,3-diamidopropano-, diamidoserino- or amidoethyl-phosphocholines (PC). These fluorinated PCs form lamellar phases and liposomes, as their ester or ether glycerol-based analogs. The effects on the thermodynamic parameters associated with these lamellar phases of several structural elements — chemical junction (secondary CONHR or tertiary CONRR), connecting unit (diaminopropanol, serine or ethanolamine), number and length of the perfluoroalkylated chains, length of the fluorinated tail and hydrocarbon — are discussed. These data are compared with those reported for fluorocarbon or hydrocarbon glycerophosphocholines and hydrocarbon diamidophosphocholines, and for sphingomyelins. Most of the liposomes formed from the fluorinated amido-connected PCs display a remarkable long-term shelf stability: they can be thermally sterilized and stored at room temperature for several months without any significant modification of their size and size distribution.

We present a detailed characterization of the organization of hyaluronan and bottlebrush proteoglycans in the pericellular matrix (PCM) of rat chondrocyte cells (RCJ-P) and PC3 prostrate cancer cells, and then use that insight to understand how the PCM impacts the transport of nanoparticles and charged molecules to the cell surface, and the cell's adhesion to substrates. Our studies reveal that the PCM strongly impacts the flux of nanoparticles to the cell surface in a size-dependent fashion. Further, the concentration of bottlebrushes (e.g. aggrecan, versican) in the PCM determines a maximal particle size that can reach the cell surface, ∼400nm for both cell lines but only ∼200nm when the PCM is saturated with proteoglycans. These observations have direct implications for studies of drug delivery vehicles and exosomes, whose particle sizes fall in this range. Our studies also provide evidence that negatively-charged chondroitin sulfates in the bottlebrush proteoglycans are available for binding to positively-charged molecules (e.g. growth factors), sequestering and concentrating molecules near the cell surface, as well as protecting them from enzymatic degradation. Super-resolution imaging of PCM at the cell-substrate interface reveals patches of PCM in co-existence with vinculin-rich adhesions. In order to address whether the PCM acts as a repulsive cushion, we quantify the cell adhesion strength versus enzymatic degradation of the PCM using a spinning disk apparatus. The studies show that the adhesion strength increases by ∼24% for RCJP cells enzymatically-treated with hyaluronidase and by a factor of ∼39% for PC3 cells. A similar increase in adhesion occurs with chondroitinase-ABC treatment. Together, these quantitative measurements of the pericellular matrix indicate that this common but neglected in vitro and in vivo structure deserves further attention to understand how it regulates cells’ interactions with their surroundings. Funding: NSF CAREER-DMR-0848797.

We used gene over expression and gene knockdown to study the functional properties of CiMDF, the single myogenic regulatory factor gene (MRF) of Ciona intestinalis. Overexpression was achieved by injecting eggs with synthetic CiMDF mRNA. RNA-injected eggs did not develop typical tadpole morphology, but instead formed flattened balls of cells. Expression of the four muscle-specific genes assayed was strongly upregulated in muscle cells of injected embryos. Notably, these muscle-specific genes were also expressed in non-muscle lineage cells of injected embryos. This was especially apparent for troponin I, which was typically detected in all vegetal hemisphere cells of mRNA-injected embryos. Animal hemisphere cells of mRNA-injected embryos did not express muscle genes. We knocked down CiMDF expression by injecting eggs with antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MO). MO-injected eggs often developed into quite normal tadpoles with clearly recognizable heads and tails; nevertheless, muscle-specific gene expression was reduced in these embryos compared to controls. Moreover, MO-treated larvae were almost always paralyzed and never showed the frenzied tail movements of normal larvae. Electron microscopy revealed that ‘‘muscle’’ cells of MO-treated larvae lacked the myofibrils seen in normal larval muscle. We conclude that CiMDF is a bona fide MRF because it elicits ectopic myogenesis, and that it is essential for tail muscle development. Awards from the NIH (1 R15 HD047357-01) and Rhode Island College to THM, and the Association Francaise contre les Myopathies (AFM) to HY supported this work.

Eggs and sperm of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus of the Mediterranean are used for an in vitro study of fertilization kinetics. The results are analyzed in terms of two models. One of these models assumes that all sperm-egg encounters lead to permanent attachment; the other (less realistically) assumes that sperm continue their random search after an unsuccessful encounter. More than 100 spermatozoa per egg are needed to achieve a fertilization ratio of more than 95%. There are two explanations for this: only 1% of the egg surface is subject to fertilization, or only 1% of spermatozoa are intrinsically able to fertilize. In the same context, chemotactic attraction and the role of the jelly are discussed. Comparison with earlier work of Rothschild and Swann and of Hultin and Hagstrom clarifies some discrepancies between and within these papers.

We have examined the subequatorial accumulation of pigment granules (the so-called ‘pigment band’) in the egg of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus , which constitutes an unambiguous marker of animal-vegetal polarity. Most of the reddish pigment granules are situated at the periphery of the egg. They exhibit occasional saltatory movements and can aggregate into large patches. Pigment granules are retained as a band in the isolated cortex when the egg surface complex is isolated by shearing eggs attached to polylysine-coated surfaces with calcium-free isotonic solutions. Pigment granules remain as the main vesicular component of fertilized egg cortices or of unfertilized egg cortices perfused with calcium to provoke cortical granule exocytosis. They may be anchored to the isolated cortex through associations with the plasma membrane and with an extensive subsurface network of rough endoplasmic reticulum (rough ER). Pigment granules contain antimonate-precipitable calcium and, in this respect and many others, resemble acidic vesicles recently identified in the cortex of unpigmented sea urchin eggs. We discuss the similarities observed between granules and acidic vesicles in various urchin egg species and their possible functions.