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Major cardiovascular events (MACEs) are a cause of major mortality worldwide. The narrowing and blockage of coronary arteries with atherosclerotic plaques are diagnosed and treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). During this procedure, coronary angiography (CAG) remains the most widely used guidance modality for the evaluation of the affected blood vessel. The measurement of the blood vessel diameter is an important factor to consider in order to decide if stent colocation is suitable for the intervention. In this regard, a small blood vessel (<2.75 mm) is majorly left without stent colocation; however, small vessel coronary artery disease (SvCAD) is a significant risk factor for the recurrence of MACEs, maybe due to the lack of a standardized treatment related to the diameter of the affected blood vessel; therefore, a more precise measurement is needed. The use of CAG for the measurement of the blood vessel diameter has some important limitations that can be improved with the use of newer techniques such as intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), although at higher costs, which might explain its underuse. To address differences in blood vessel diameter measurements and identify specific cases where IVUS might be of additional benefit for the patient, we conducted a retrospective study in patients who underwent PCI for MACEs with affection for at least one small blood vessel. We compared the measurements of the affected small blood vessels' diameter obtained by CAG and IVUS to identify cases of reclassification of the affected blood vessel; additionally, we underwent a multivariate analysis to identify risk factors associated with blood vessel reclassification. We included information from 48 patients with a mean ± SD age of 69.1 ± 11.9 years; 70.8% were men and 29.2% were women. The mean diameter with CAG and IVUS was 2.1 mm (95% CI 1.9–2.2), and 2.8 (2.8–3.0), respectively. The estimated difference was of 0.8 mm (95% CI 0.7–0.9). We found a significant positive low correlation in diameter measurements of small blood vessels obtained with CAG and IVUS (r = 0.1242 p = 0.014). In total, 37 (77%) patients had a reclassification of the affected blood vessel with IVUS. In 21 cases, the affected blood vessel changed from a small to a medium size (2.75–3.00 mm), and in 15 cases, the affected vessel changed from a small to a large size (<3.00 mm). The Bland–Altman plot was used to evaluate agreement in measurements with CAG and IVUS. The change in blood vessel classification with IVUs was important for the decision of intervention and stent collocation. The only variable associated with reclassification of blood vessels after adjustment in a multivariate analysis was T2D (type 2 diabetes) (p = 0 0.035). Our findings corroborate that blood vessels might appear smaller with CAG, especially in patients with T2D; therefore, at least in these cases, the use of IVUS is recommended over CAG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive reflection, or the ability to inhibit intuitive and incorrect responses in favour of correct responses, predicts performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. The present study examined interventions to improve cognitive reflection. In two experiments, college students (N = 491) were assigned to one of three conditions, completed two versions of a cognitive reflection test (CRT), and then completed transfer tasks. Between the two CRTs, some participants were provided with elaborative feedback, others were instructed to consider additional responses for their initial responses and the final group was a control. In both experiments, CRT performance increased between the first and second CRT in the feedback and instruction groups, but not in the control group. There was little evidence, however, for transfer to other tasks. These results suggest that cognitive reflection performance can be improved with brief interventions but that this improvement may not transfer to related tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite years of extensive investigation, the cellular origin of heterotopic ossification (HO) has not been fully elucidated. We have previously shown that circulating bone marrow-derived osteoblast progenitor cells, characterized by the immunophenotype CD45 −/CD44 +/CXCR4 +, contributed to the formation of heterotopic bone induced by bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2. In contrast, other reports have demonstrated the contribution of CD45 + hematopoietic derived cells to HO. Therefore, in this study, we developed a novel triple transgenic mouse strain that allows us to visualize CD45 + cells with red fluorescence and mature osteoblasts with green fluorescence. These mice were generated by crossing CD45-Cre mice with Z/RED mice that express DsRed, a variant of red fluorescent protein, after Cre-mediated recombination, and then crossing with Col2.3GFP mice that express green fluorescent protein (GFP) in mature osteoblasts. Utilizing this model, we were able to investigate if hematopoietic derived cells have the potential to give rise to mature osteoblasts. Analyses of this triple transgenic mouse model demonstrated that DsRed and GFP did not co-localize in either normal skeletogenesis, bone regeneration after fracture, or HO. This indicates that in these conditions hematopoietic derived cells do not differentiate into mature osteoblasts. Interestingly, we observed the presence of previously unidentified DsRed positive bone lining cells (red BLCs) which are derived from hematopoietic cells but lack CD45 expression. These red BLCs fail to produce GFP even under in vitro osteogenic conditions. These findings indicate that, even though both osteoblasts and hematopoietic cells are developmentally derived from mesoderm, hematopoietic derived cells do not contribute to osteogenesis in fracture healing or HO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renal collecting duct consists of intercalated cells (ICs) and principal cells (PCs). We have previously demonstrated that collecting ducts have a role in the innate immune defense of the kidney. Transcriptomics is an important tool used to enhance systems-level understanding of cell biology. However, transcriptomics performed on whole kidneys provides limited insight of collecting duct cell gene expression, because these cells comprise a small fraction of total kidney cells. Recently we generated reporter mouse models to enrich collecting duct specific PC and ICs and reported targeted gene expression of anti-microbial peptide genes. Here we report transcriptomics on enriched ICs and PCs and performed a pilot study sequencing four single ICs. We identified 3,645 genes with increased relative expression in ICs compared to non-ICs. In comparison to non-PCs, 2,088 genes had higher relative expression in PCs. IC associated genes included the innate interleukin 1 receptor, type 1 and the antimicrobial peptide(AMP) adrenomedullin. The top predicted canonical pathway for enriched ICs was lipopolysaccharide/Interleukin 1 mediated inhibition of Retinoid X Receptor alpha function and decreased Retinoid X Receptor expression was confirmed to occur 1-hour post experimental murine UTI in ICs but not in non-ICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]