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Although arthralgia is a known adverse effect of aromatase inhibitor (AI) treatment in postmenopausal breast cancer patients, few studies have carried out a comprehensive evaluation of the nature, onset, and incidence of musculoskeletal (MSK) pain in these patients. We therefore used a pilot study to identify conditions or markers predictive of pain. Methods For 24 weeks, we monitored 30 eligible postmenopausal women starting AI therapy. Pre-existing and incident MSK conditions and pain were assessed clinically and with ultrasonography of the hands and wrists. In addition, patient questionnaires were used to assess pain before and during ai therapy. Biochemical markers were measured at baseline and at regular intervals after anastrozole therapy began. Gene profiling studies were carried out before and 48 hours after the initial AI administration. Results Over the 24-week study period, 20 participants (67%) showed no pain symptoms; 5 (17%) experienced low or moderate pain at baseline, which did not increase with ai treatment; and during therapy, 5 (17%) showed exacerbation of pain attributable to osteoarthritis of the hand and to finger flexor tenosynovitis. Although all 30 participants had some degree of MSK conditions before anastrozole therapy started, the pre-existing conditions did not necessarily predispose the women to increased pain during anastrozole treatment. Higher levels of urinary N-telopeptides of type I collagen were associated with the groups presenting pain, suggesting a higher extent of pre-existing bone resorption, without significant evolution over the 24-week treatment period. Slightly higher levels of 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D3 were observed at baseline in patients with pain increase, but did not significantly change during treatment; however, average levels of 25(OH) vitamin D3 increased, likely because of supplementation. Although biochemical markers did not discriminate efficiently between pain groups, a signature of 166 genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was identified that could stratify patients into the various groups observed in this pilot study. The gene signature was enriched in components of inflammatory signalling and chemokine expression, of antitumoural immunity pathways, and of metabolic response to hormones and xenobiotics, although no clinically significant association could be made in the present study, considering the small number of patients. Nevertheless, the observed trend suggests the feasibility of developing surrogate predictive markers of MSK pain. Patient compliance was high in this study and was not affected by pain exacerbation. Conclusions Baseline MSK assessment showed pre-existing causes for pain in most of the study patients before initiation of the ai. Exacerbation of existing osteoarthritis pain and tenosynovial symptoms was the primary cause of pain increase. Musculoskeletal pain assessment at baseline and prompt treatment of pain symptoms may help to optimize adherence to AI therapy. The value of routinely assessing inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate was not supported by our pilot study. Gene expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells may be further explored in larger-scale studies as stratification markers to identify patients at risk of developing arthralgia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi) are not re-initiated for almost a quarter of patients who suffered acute kidney injury 6 months after discharge. This discontinuation might be partly explained by the nephrotoxicity of these medications, yet they remain of benefit, especially for patients with heart failure., Objective: To determine the factors deemed by clinicians to influence RASi re-initiation and set threshold values for important safety parameters., Design: Three-round modified online Delphi survey., Setting: The study was conducted in Quebec, Canada., Participants: Twenty clinicians from nephrology, intensive care medicine, and internal medicine., Measurements: The factors' importance was rated on 4-point Likert-type scale, ranging from "not important" to "very important" by the panelists., Methods: We conducted a brief literature review to uncover possible influencing factors followed by a 3-round modified Delphi survey to establish a consensus on the importance of these factors., Results: We recruited 20 clinicians (7 nephrologists, 3 internists, and 10 intensive care physicians). We created a list of 25 factors, 15 of which met consensus. Eleven of these factors, including serum creatinine, glomerular filtration rate, and acute kidney injury (AKI) stage, were deemed as important while 4, such as responsibility ambiguity and absence of feedback, were deemed as not important. The majority of the 10 factors which did not meet consensus were related to the clinical setting, such as a pharmacist follow-up and the required time to ensure optimal RASi re-initiation., Limitations: Quebec clinicians' agreement might not reflect the opinion of the rest of Canada. The survey measures clinicians' belief rather than their actual practice., Conclusion: Renin-angiotensin system inhibitors re-initiation is a rather complex concept which encompasses several factors. Our research uncovered some of these factors which may be used to develop guidelines on optimal RASi re-initiation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

Cell adhesion to biomaterials can be mediated in part by mechanisms aside from the traditionally recognized opsinization and integrin binding mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the role of scavenger receptor A (SR-A) in leukocyte binding to a series of well-controlled polyanionic and uncharged hydrogels based on a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) backbone. The hydrogels were injected in the peritoneal cavity of SR-A knockout (KO) and wild-type mice using a minimally invasive procedure and allowed to set in situ. After 24 h, the hydrogels were recovered and analyzed, the peritoneal cavity was lavaged, and cytokine concentrations were assessed by ELISA. The polyanionic hydrogels retrieved from the KO animals were found to be completely devoid of adherent leukocytes, which were present in other materials regardless of the mouse strain in which they were injected. Results from a subsequent in vitro cellular adhesion study with a RAW264.7 cell line failed to yield a similarly definitive role for SR-A in the cellular binding of a polyanionic hydrogel. Taken together, the results of this study show that SR-A mediates leukocyte adhesion to a polyanionic hydrogel in the peritoneal cavity, but other adhesion mechanisms contribute to cellular binding in vitro., (© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The potential of poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate) (POEGMA) hydrogels with varying thermosensitivities as soft materials for biomedical applications is demonstrated. Hydrogels are prepared from hydrazide and aldehyde functionalized POEGMA precursors, yielding POEGMA hydrogels with a volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) below (PO0), close to (PO10) and well above (PO100) physiological temperature. Hydrogels with VPTTs close to and above physiological temperature exhibit biological properties similar to those typically observed for poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels (i.e. low protein adsorption, low cell adhesion and minimal inflammatory responses in vivo) while hydrogels with VPTTs lower than physiological temperature exhibit biological properties more analogous to poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) above its phase transition temperature (temperature-switchable cell adhesion, higher protein adsorption and somewhat more acute inflammation in vivo). As such, the use of POEGMA precursors with varying chain lengths of ethylene oxide grafts offers a versatile platform for the design of hydrogels with tunable physiological properties via simple copolymerization., (Copyright © 2014 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Injectable PEG-analogue hydrogels based on poly(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate) have been developed based on complementary hydrazide and aldehyde reactive linear polymer precursors. These hydrogels display the desired biological properties of PEG, form covalent networks in situ following injection, and are easily modulated for improved control over their functionality and physiochemical properties.

Injectable, covalently in situ forming hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) have been designed on the basis of mixing hydrazide-functionalized nucleophilic precursor polymers with electrophilic precursor polymers functionalized with a combination of ketone (slow reacting) and aldehyde (fast reacting) functional groups. By tuning the ratio of aldehyde:ketone functional groups as well as the total number of ketone groups in the electrophilic precursor polymer, largely independent control over hydrogel properties including gelation time (from seconds to hours), degradation kinetics (from hours to months), optical transmission (from 1 to 85%), and mechanics (over nearly 1 order of magnitude) can be achieved. In addition, ketone-functionalized precursor polymers exhibit improved cytocompatibility at even extremely high concentrations relative to polymers functionalized with aldehyde groups, even at 4-fold higher functional group densities. Overall, increasing the ketone content of the precursor copolymers can result in in situ-gellable hydrogels with improved transparency and biocompatibility and equivalent mechanics and stimuli-responsiveness while only modestly sacrificing the speed of gel formation.

Hydrogels that can form spontaneously via covalent bond formation upon injection in vivo have recently attracted significant attention for their potential to address a variety of biomedical challenges. This review discusses the design rules for the effective engineering of such materials, and the major chemistries used to form injectable, in situ gelling hydrogels in the context of these design guidelines are outlined (with examples). Directions for future research in the area are addressed, noting the outstanding challenges associated with the use of this class of hydrogels in vivo., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Injectable, in situ-gelling magnetic composite materials have been fabricated by using aldehyde-functionalized dextran to cross-link superparamagnetic nanoparticles surface-functionalized with hydrazide-functionalized poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM). The resulting composites exhibit high water contents (82-88 wt.%) while also displaying significantly higher elasticities (G' >60 kPa) than other injectable hydrogels previously reported. The composites hydrolytically degrade via slow hydrolysis of the hydrazone cross-link at physiological temperature and pH into degradation products that show no significant cytotoxicity. Subcutaneous injections indicate only minor chronic inflammation associated with material degradation, with no fibrous capsule formation evident. Drug release experiments indicate the potential of these materials to facilitate pulsatile, "on-demand" changes in drug release upon the application of an external oscillating magnetic field. The injectable but high-strength and externally triggerable nature of these materials, coupled with their biological degradability and inertness, suggest potential biological applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery.

Degradable, covalently in situ gelling analogues of thermoresponsive poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogels have been designed by mixing aldehyde and hydrazide-functionalized PNIPAM oligomers with molecular weights below the renal cutoff. Co-extrusion of the reactive polymer solutions through a double-barreled syringe facilitates rapid gel formation within seconds. The resulting hydrazone cross-links hydrolytically degrade over several weeks into low molecular weight oligomers. The characteristic reversible thermoresponsive swelling-deswelling phase transition of PNIPAM hydrogels is demonstrated. Furthermore, both in vitro and in vivo toxicity assays indicated that the hydrogel as well as the precursor polymers/degradation products were nontoxic at biomedically relevant concentrations. This chemistry may thus represent a general approach for preparing covalently cross-linked, synthetic polymer hydrogels that are both injectable and degradable.

A series of synthetic oligomers (based on the thermosensitive polymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and carbohydrate polymers (including hyaluronic acid, carboxymethyl cellulose, dextran, and methylcellulose) were functionalized with hydrazide or aldehyde functional groups and mixed using a double-barreled syringe to create in situ gelling, hydrazone-cross-linked hydrogels. By mixing different numbers and ratios of different reactive oligomer or polymer precursors, covalently cross-linked hydrogel networks comprised of different polymeric components are produced by simple mixing of reactive components, without the need for any intermediate chemistries (e.g., grafting). In this way, hydrogels with defined swelling, degradation, phase transition, drug binding, and mechanical properties can be produced with properties intermediate to those of the mixture of reactive precursor polymers selected. When this modular mixing approach is used, one property can (in many cases) be selectively modified while keeping other properties constant, providing a highly adaptable method of engineering injectable, rapidly gelling hydrogels for potential in vivo applications.