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Unilateral proptosis secondary to ectopic lacrimal gland tissue is rare. The most common site of ectopic lacrimal gland tissue is at the bulbar conjunctiva and limbal area. Although uncommon, intraorbital ectopic lacrimal gland tissue may mimic other ominous symptoms of intraorbital neoplasm in childhood. We present a rare case of intraconal ectopic lacrimal gland tissue in a 14-year-old girl with intermittent proptosis since childhood associated with subconjunctival hemorrhage and excruciating pain. She underwent lateral orbitotomy with orbital mass excision that resulted in good outcomes and no recurrence was seen at 6 months after the surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundDiabetes is a leading cause of years of life lost and accounts for approximately one-fourth of health care dollars spent in the United States. Many of these costs are related to poor medication adherence and lack of self-care behaviors and are thus preventable. Depression, which is more prevalent among people with diabetes than in the general population, predicts poorer management of one’s diabetes, whereas positive affect predicts engaging in more positive health behaviors. Consequently, interventions that improve depression and positive affect may also improve diabetes-related outcomes among people with diabetes. Although preliminary research on the impact of such interventions among people with diabetes is promising, these studies focused primarily on in-person interventions, have had small samples, and lack long-term follow-up. ObjectiveThis study aims to examine the short- and long-term effects of a digital therapeutic platform focused on mental health among adults with poorly managed type 2 diabetes and elevated levels of depression. MethodsThis is a randomized controlled trial in which adults with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, elevated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels (≧7), and moderate to severe depressive symptoms will be randomly assigned to a positive emotion regulation skills intervention group or a sham digital intervention with only psychoeducational content. The study will take place over 14 months, including the 8-week intervention (or control) delivered via a digital therapeutic platform (Happify Health) and follow-up assessments at 3, 6, and 12 months postintervention. Throughout the intervention and for 1 week at each postintervention follow-up, participants will complete daily assessments of diabetes-related distress, diabetes regimen adherence, and mood. Our primary outcome, HbA1c, will be self-reported every 3 months throughout the study. Secondary and exploratory outcomes will be assessed at baseline; at 8 weeks; and at 3, 6, and 12 months postintervention. ResultsRecruitment is expected to begin in June 2020. Participants will begin the study as they are recruited and will finish in waves. The final wave of data collection from the 8-week intervention is expected for winter 2020, with the completion of the 12-month follow-up in winter 2021. ConclusionsAlthough previous research suggests that in-person psychological interventions have promising effects on both psychological and physical outcomes among adults with diabetes, digital interventions can be advantageous because they are easily scalable and reduce many barriers that prevent people from seeking treatment. This trial will provide important information about the effects of a digital mental health intervention among adults with type 2 diabetes, assessing both short- and long-term effects of this intervention on HbA1c, depressive symptoms, and other diabetes-specific outcomes. If successful, this may introduce a scalable intervention that would help reduce some of the preventable costs associated with diabetes. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04068805; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04068805. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/18578

Background:. Acute respiratory failure occurs frequently in hospitalized patients and often begins outside the ICU, associated with increased length of stay, cost, and mortality. Delays in decompensation recognition are associated with worse outcomes. Objectives:. The objective of this study is to predict acute respiratory failure requiring any advanced respiratory support (including noninvasive ventilation). With the advent of the coronavirus disease pandemic, concern regarding acute respiratory failure has increased. Derivation Cohort:. All admission encounters from January 2014 to June 2017 from three hospitals in the Emory Healthcare network (82,699). Validation Cohort:. External validation cohort: all admission encounters from January 2014 to June 2017 from a fourth hospital in the Emory Healthcare network (40,143). Temporal validation cohort: all admission encounters from February to April 2020 from four hospitals in the Emory Healthcare network coronavirus disease tested (2,564) and coronavirus disease positive (389). Prediction Model:. All admission encounters had vital signs, laboratory, and demographic data extracted. Exclusion criteria included invasive mechanical ventilation started within the operating room or advanced respiratory support within the first 8 hours of admission. Encounters were discretized into hour intervals from 8 hours after admission to discharge or advanced respiratory support initiation and binary labeled for advanced respiratory support. Prediction of Acute Respiratory Failure requiring advanced respiratory support in Advance of Interventions and Treatment, our eXtreme Gradient Boosting-based algorithm, was compared against Modified Early Warning Score. Results:. Prediction of Acute Respiratory Failure requiring advanced respiratory support in Advance of Interventions and Treatment had significantly better discrimination than Modified Early Warning Score (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.85 vs 0.57 [test], 0.84 vs 0.61 [external validation]). Prediction of Acute Respiratory Failure requiring advanced respiratory support in Advance of Interventions and Treatment maintained a positive predictive value (0.31–0.21) similar to that of Modified Early Warning Score greater than 4 (0.29–0.25) while identifying 6.62 (validation) to 9.58 (test) times more true positives. Furthermore, Prediction of Acute Respiratory Failure requiring advanced respiratory support in Advance of Interventions and Treatment performed more effectively in temporal validation (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.86 [coronavirus disease tested], 0.93 [coronavirus disease positive]), while achieving identifying 4.25–4.51× more true positives. Conclusions:. Prediction of Acute Respiratory Failure requiring advanced respiratory support in Advance of Interventions and Treatment is more effective than Modified Early Warning Score in predicting respiratory failure requiring advanced respiratory support at external validation and in coronavirus disease 2019 patients. Silent prospective validation necessary before local deployment.

Background: eHealth interventions have proven to be valuable resources for users with diverse mental and behavioral health concerns. As these technologies continue to proliferate, both academic researchers and commercial app creators are leveraging the use of features that foster a sense of social connection on these digital platforms. Yet, the literature often insufficiently represents the functionality of these key social features, resulting in a lack of understanding of how they are being implemented., Objective: This study aimed to conduct a methodical review of commercially available eHealth apps to establish the SoCAP (social communication, affiliation, and presence) taxonomy of social features in eHealth apps. Our goal was to examine what types of social features are being used in eHealth apps and how they are implemented., Methods: A scoping review of commercially available eHealth apps was conducted to develop a taxonomy of social features. First, a shortlist of the 20 highest-rated eHealth apps was derived from One Mind PsyberGuide, a nonprofit organization with trained researchers who rate apps based on their (1) credibility, (2) user experience, and (3) transparency. Next, both mobile- and web-based versions of each app were double-coded by 2 trained raters to derive a list of social features. Subsequently, the social features were organized by category and tested on other apps to ensure their completeness., Results: Four main categories of social features emerged: (1) communication features (videoconferencing, discussion boards, etc), (2) social presence features (chatbots, reminders, etc), (3) affiliation and identity features (avatars, profiles, etc), and (4) other social integrations (social network and other app integrations). Our review shows that eHealth apps frequently use resource-intensive interactions (eg, videoconferencing with a clinician and phone calls from a facilitator), which may be helpful for participants with high support needs. Furthermore, among commercially available eHealth apps, there is a strong reliance on automated features (eg, avatars, personalized multimedia, and tailored content) that enhance a sense of social presence without requiring a high level of input from a clinician or staff member., Conclusions: The SoCAP taxonomy includes a comprehensive list of social features and brief descriptions of how these features work. This classification system will provide academic and commercial eHealth app creators with an understanding of the various social features that are commonly implemented, which will allow them to apply these features to enhance their own apps. Future research may include comparing the synergistic effects of various combinations of these social features., (©Ian Kwok, Melanie Freedman, Lisa Kamsickas, Emily G Lattie, Dershung Yang, Judith Tedlie Moskowitz. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 03.09.2024.)

Advances in spatial omics technologies now allow multiple types of data to be acquired from the same tissue slice. To realize the full potential of such data, we need spatially informed methods for data integration. Here, we introduce SpatialGlue, a graph neural network model with a dual-attention mechanism that deciphers spatial domains by intra-omics integration of spatial location and omics measurement followed by cross-omics integration. We demonstrated SpatialGlue on data acquired from different tissue types using different technologies, including spatial epigenome-transcriptome and transcriptome-proteome modalities. Compared to other methods, SpatialGlue captured more anatomical details and more accurately resolved spatial domains such as the cortex layers of the brain. Our method also identified cell types like spleen macrophage subsets located at three different zones that were not available in the original data annotations. SpatialGlue scales well with data size and can be used to integrate three modalities. Our spatial multi-omics analysis tool combines the information from complementary omics modalities to obtain a holistic view of cellular and tissue properties., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are a heterogeneous population of cells whose phenotypes and functions are shaped by factors that are incompletely understood. Herein, we asked when and where TAMs arise from blood monocytes and how they evolve during tumor development. We initiated pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in inducible monocyte fate-mapping mice and combined single-cell transcriptomics and high-dimensional flow cytometry to profile the monocyte-to-TAM transition. We revealed that monocytes differentiate first into a transient intermediate population of TAMs that generates two longer-lived lineages of terminally differentiated TAMs with distinct gene expression profiles, phenotypes, and intratumoral localization. Transcriptome datasets and tumor samples from patients with PDAC evidenced parallel TAM populations in humans and their prognostic associations. These insights will support the design of new therapeutic strategies targeting TAMs in PDAC.

Background: Alzheimer disease is a degenerative neurological condition that requires long-term care. The cost of these responsibilities is often borne by informal caregivers, who experience an elevated risk of negative physical and psychological outcomes. Previously, we designed a positive emotion regulation intervention that was shown to improve well-being among dementia caregivers when delivered through one-on-one videoconferencing lessons with a trained facilitator. However, the format required significant resources in terms of logistics and facilitator time. To broaden the reach of the intervention, we aimed to develop the Social Augmentation of Self-Guided Electronic Delivery of the Life Enhancing Activities for Family Caregivers (SAGE LEAF) program, an iteration of the intervention in a self-guided, web-based format with enhanced opportunities for social connection., Objective: The aim of this study was to gather feedback to inform the design of social features for the SAGE LEAF intervention. In the absence of a facilitator, our goal with the self-guided SAGE LEAF intervention was to integrate various social features (eg, discussion board, automated support, and profiles) to maximize engagement among participants., Methods: Qualitative data were collected from 26 individuals through (1) interviews with participants who completed a previous version of the intervention via videoconferencing with a facilitator, (2) focus groups with dementia caregivers who had not previously experienced the intervention, and (3) focus groups with Alzheimer disease clinical care providers. We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis to identify which social features would be the most helpful and how they could be implemented in a way that would be best received by caregivers., Results: Interview and focus group feedback indicated that participants generally liked the potential features suggested, including the discussion boards, multimedia content, and informational support. They had valuable suggestions for optimal implementation. For example, participants liked the idea of a buddy system where they would be matched up with another caregiver for the duration of the study. However, they expressed concern about differing expectations among caregivers and the possibility of matched caregivers not getting along. Participants also expressed interest in giving caregivers access to a podcast on the skills, which would allow them to review additional content when they wished., Conclusions: Taken together, the discussions with caregivers and providers offered unique insights into the types of social features that may be integrated into the SAGE LEAF intervention, as well as implementation suggestions to improve the acceptability of the features among caregivers. These insights will allow us to design social features for the intervention that are optimally engaging and helpful for caregivers., (©Ian Kwok, Emily Gardiner Lattie, Dershung Yang, Amanda Summers, Paul Cotten, Caroline Alina Leong, Judith Tedlie Moskowitz. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 25.04.2024.)

Eosinophils are a group of granulocytes well known for their capacity to protect the host from parasites and regulate immune function. Diverse biological roles for eosinophils have been increasingly identified, but the developmental pattern and regulation of the eosinophil lineage remain largely unknown. Herein, we utilize the zebrafish model to analyze eosinophilic cell differentiation, distribution, and regulation. By identifying eslec as an eosinophil lineage-specific marker, we establish a Tg(eslec:eGFP) reporter line, which specifically labeled cells of the eosinophil lineage from early life through adulthood. Spatial-temporal analysis of eslec + cells demonstrates their organ distribution from larval stage to adulthood. By single-cell RNA-Seq analysis, we decipher the eosinophil lineage cells from lineage-committed progenitors to mature eosinophils. Through further genetic analysis, we demonstrate the role of Cebp1 in balancing neutrophil and eosinophil lineages, and a Cebp1-Cebpβ transcriptional axis that regulates the commitment and differentiation of the eosinophil lineage. Cross-species functional comparisons reveals that zebrafish Cebp1 is the functional orthologue of human C/EBPε P27 in suppressing eosinophilopoiesis. Our study characterizes eosinophil development in multiple dimensions including spatial-temporal patterns, expression profiles, and genetic regulators, providing for a better understanding of eosinophilopoiesis., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Neutrophils are increasingly recognized as key players in the tumor immune response and are associated with poor clinical outcomes. Despite recent advances characterizing the diversity of neutrophil states in cancer, common trajectories and mechanisms governing the ontogeny and relationship between these neutrophil states remain undefined. Here, we demonstrate that immature and mature neutrophils that enter tumors undergo irreversible epigenetic, transcriptional, and proteomic modifications to converge into a distinct, terminally differentiated dcTRAIL-R1 + state. Reprogrammed dcTRAIL-R1 + neutrophils predominantly localize to a glycolytic and hypoxic niche at the tumor core and exert pro-angiogenic function that favors tumor growth. We found similar trajectories in neutrophils across multiple tumor types and in humans, suggesting that targeting this program may provide a means of enhancing certain cancer immunotherapies.

Background: The responsibilities of being a primary caregiver for a loved one with dementia can produce significant stress for the caregiver, leading to deleterious outcomes for the caregiver's physical and psychological health. Hence, researchers are developing eHealth interventions to provide support for caregivers. Members of our research team previously developed and tested a positive emotion regulation intervention that we delivered through videoconferencing, in which caregiver participants would meet one-on-one with a trained facilitator. Although proven effective, such delivery methods have limited scalability because they require significant resources in terms of cost and direct contact hours., Objective: This study aimed to conduct a pilot test of a socially enhanced, self-guided version of the positive emotion regulation intervention, Social Augmentation of Self-Guided Electronic Delivery of the Life Enhancing Activities for Family Caregivers (SAGE LEAF). Studies have shown that social presence or the perception of others in a virtual space is associated with enhanced learning and user satisfaction. Hence, the intervention leverages various social features (eg, discussion boards, podcasts, videos, user profiles, and social notifications) to foster a sense of social presence among participants and study team members., Methods: Usability, usefulness, feasibility, and acceptability data were collected from a pilot test in which participants (N=15) were given full access to the SAGE LEAF intervention over 6 weeks and completed preintervention and postintervention assessments (10/15, 67%). Preliminary outcome measures were also collected, with an understanding that no conclusions about efficacy could be made, because our pilot study did not have a control group and was not sufficiently powered., Results: The results suggest that SAGE LEAF is feasible, with participants viewing an average of 72% (SD 42%) of the total available intervention web pages. In addition, acceptability was found to be good, as demonstrated by participants' willingness to recommend the SAGE LEAF program to a friend or other caregiver. Applying Pearson correlational analyses, we found moderate, positive correlation between social presence scores and participants' willingness to recommend the program to others (r 9 =0.672; P=.03). We also found positive correlation between social presence scores and participants' perceptions about the overall usefulness of the intervention (r 9 =0.773; P=.009). This suggests that participants' sense of social presence may be important for the feasibility and acceptability of the program., Conclusions: In this pilot study, the SAGE LEAF intervention demonstrates potential for broad dissemination for dementia caregivers. We aim to incorporate participant feedback about how the social features may be improved in future iterations to enhance usability and to further bolster a sense of social connection among participants and study staff members. Next steps include partnering with dementia clinics and other caregiver-serving organizations across the United States to conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention., (©Ian Kwok, Emily Gardiner Lattie, Dershung Yang, Amanda Summers, Veronika Grote, Paul Cotten, Judith Tedlie Moskowitz. Originally published in JMIR Aging (https://aging.jmir.org), 06.09.2023.)

Conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells that control the adaptive immune response. Their subsets and developmental origins have been intensively investigated but are still not fully understood as their phenotypes, especially in the DC2 lineage and the recently described human DC3s, overlap with monocytes. Here, using LEGENDScreen to profile DC vs. monocyte lineages, we found sustained expression of FLT3 and CD45RB through the whole DC lineage, allowing DCs and their precursors to be distinguished from monocytes. Using fate mapping models, single-cell RNA sequencing and adoptive transfer, we identified a lineage of murine CD16/32 + CD172a + DC3, distinct from DC2, arising from Ly6C + monocyte-DC progenitors (MDPs) through Lyz2 + Ly6C + CD11c - pro-DC3s, whereas DC2s develop from common DC progenitors (CDPs) through CD7 + Ly6C + CD11c + pre-DC2s. Corresponding DC subsets, developmental stages, and lineages exist in humans. These findings reveal DC3 as a DC lineage phenotypically related to but developmentally different from monocytes and DC2s., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Myeloid cells are a significant proportion of leukocytes within tissues, comprising granulocytes, monocytes, dendritic cells, and macrophages. With the identification of various myeloid cells that perform separate but complementary functions during homeostasis and disease, our understanding of tissue myeloid cells has evolved significantly. Exciting findings from transcriptomics profiling and fate-mapping mouse models have facilitated the identification of their developmental origins, maturation, and tissue-specific specializations. This review highlights the current understanding of tissue myeloid cells and the contributing factors of functional heterogeneity to better comprehend the complex and dynamic immune interactions within the healthy or inflamed tissue. Specifically, we discuss the new understanding of the contributions of granulocyte-monocyte progenitor-derived phagocytes to tissue myeloid cell heterogeneity as well as the impact of niche-specific factors on monocyte and neutrophil phenotype and function. Lastly, we explore the developing paradigm of myeloid cell heterogeneity during inflammation and disease.

Traditionally viewed as poorly plastic, neutrophils are now recognized as functionally diverse; however, the extent and determinants of neutrophil heterogeneity in humans remain unclear. We performed a comprehensive immunophenotypic and transcriptome analysis, at a bulk and single-cell level, of neutrophils from healthy donors and patients undergoing stress myelopoiesis upon exposure to growth factors, transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC-T), development of pancreatic cancer and viral infection. We uncover an extreme diversity of human neutrophils in vivo, reflecting the rates of cell mobilization, differentiation and exposure to environmental signals. Integrated control of developmental and inducible transcriptional programs linked flexible granulopoietic outputs with elicitation of stimulus-specific functional responses. In this context, we detected an acute interferon (IFN) response in the blood of patients receiving HSC-T that was mirrored by marked upregulation of IFN-stimulated genes in neutrophils but not in monocytes. Systematic characterization of human neutrophil plasticity may uncover clinically relevant biomarkers and support the development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools., (© 2022. Springer Nature America, Inc.)

In healthcare institutions across the country, the role of poetry continues to emerge within the liminal spaces between the medical humanities and clinical care. While the field of narrative medicine is well-developed generally, formal review of the state of poetry as a healing modality is limited. Poetry in the medical humanities literature has often been described by its indefinability as much as by its impact on healing. The power of poetry in healthcare is thought to be multi-faceted and deserves to be explored further. Poetry can be medicine for both patient and clinician. "Poetic Medicine" is a modality that has been utilized for the healing of grief, loss, wounds of the psyche and spirit, and as a process for expanding resiliency in healthcare-applications that are particularly relevant to the practice of hospice and palliative medicine-for patient and clinician alike. While numerous approaches share common themes, current programs bringing poetry into healthcare have been operating largely in isolation from each other-with a lack of national consensus on definitions or structures of interventions. Such isolation is a major restriction to the study and growth of Poetic Medicine. While it is not known with certitude, the number of Poetic Medicine programs in healthcare in the United States appears to be growing. In this paper, we propose an initial framework to define the role and impact of poetry in healthcare and then describe two different, well-established Poetic Medicine programs in the United States., (Copyright © 2022 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Microbial enzymes catalyze various reactions inside and outside living cells. Among the widely studied enzymes, fungal enzymes have been used for some of the most diverse purposes, especially in bioremediation, biosynthesis, and many nature-inspired commercial applications. To improve their stability and catalytic ability, fungal enzymes are often immobilized on assorted materials, conventional as well as nanoscale. Recent advances in fungal enzyme immobilization provide effective and sustainable approaches to achieve improved environmental and commercial outcomes. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of commonly studied fungal enzymes and immobilization technologies. It also summarizes recent advances involving immobilized fungal enzymes for the degradation or assembly of compounds used in the manufacture of products, such as detergents, food additives, and fossil fuel alternatives. Furthermore, challenges and future directions are highlighted to offer new perspectives on improving existing technologies and addressing unexplored fields of applications., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Neutrophils play significant roles in immune homeostasis and as neutralizers of microbial infections. Recent evidence further suggests heterogeneity of neutrophil developmental and activation states that exert specialized effector functions during inflammatory disease conditions. Neutrophils can play multiple roles during viral infections, secreting inflammatory mediators and cytokines that contribute significantly to host defense and pathogenicity. However, their roles in viral immunity are not well understood. In this review, we present an overview of neutrophil heterogeneity and its impact on the course and severity of viral respiratory infectious diseases. We focus on the evidence demonstrating the crucial roles neutrophils play in the immune response toward respiratory infections, using influenza as a model. We further extend the understanding of neutrophil function with the studies pertaining to COVID-19 disease and its neutrophil-associated pathologies. Finally, we discuss the relevance of these results for future therapeutic options through targeting and regulating neutrophil-specific responses., (©2022 Society for Leukocyte Biology.)

Telomere attrition is an established ageing biomarker and shorter peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length has been associated with increased risks of respiratory diseases. However, whether telomere length in disease-relevant sputum immune cells of chronic respiratory disease patients is shortened and which pathways are dysfunctional are not clear. Here we measured telomere length from sputum samples of bronchiectasis and asthmatic subjects and determined that telomere length in sputum of bronchiectasis subjects was significantly shorter (Beta =  - 1.167, P Adj  = 2.75 × 10 -4 ). We further performed global gene expression analysis and identified genes involved in processes such as NLRP3 inflammasome activation and regulation of adaptive immune cells when bronchiectasis sputum telomere length was shortened. Our study provides insights on dysfunctions related to shortened telomere length in sputum immune cells of bronchiectasis patients., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Circulating Ly6C hi monocytes often undergo cellular death upon exhaustion of their antibacterial effector functions, which limits their capacity for subsequent macrophage differentiation. This shrouds the understanding on how the host replaces the tissue-resident macrophage niche effectively during bacterial invasion to avert infection morbidity. Here, we show that proliferating transitional premonocytes (TpMos), an immediate precursor of mature Ly6C hi monocytes (MatMos), were mobilized into the periphery in response to acute bacterial infection and sepsis. TpMos were less susceptible to apoptosis and served as the main source of macrophage replenishment when MatMos were vulnerable toward bacteria-induced cellular death. Furthermore, TpMo and its derived macrophages contributed to host defense by balancing the proinflammatory cytokine response of MatMos. Consequently, adoptive transfer of TpMos improved the survival outcome of lethal sepsis. Our findings hence highlight a protective role for TpMos during bacterial infections and their contribution toward monocyte-derived macrophage heterogeneity in distinct disease outcomes.

The third edition of Flow Cytometry Guidelines provides the key aspects to consider when performing flow cytometry experiments and includes comprehensive sections describing phenotypes and functional assays of all major human and murine immune cell subsets. Notably, the Guidelines contain helpful tables highlighting phenotypes and key differences between human and murine cells. Another useful feature of this edition is the flow cytometry analysis of clinical samples with examples of flow cytometry applications in the context of autoimmune diseases, cancers as well as acute and chronic infectious diseases. Furthermore, there are sections detailing tips, tricks and pitfalls to avoid. All sections are written and peer-reviewed by leading flow cytometry experts and immunologists, making this edition an essential and state-of-the-art handbook for basic and clinical researchers., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Adherence to self-guided interventions tends to be very low, especially in people with depression. Prior studies have demonstrated that enhancements may increase adherence, but little is known about the efficacy of various enhancements in comparison to, or in combination with, one another., Objective: The aim of our study is to test whether 3 enhancements-facilitator contact (FC), an online discussion board, and virtual badges (VB)-alone, or in combination, improve adherence to a self-guided, web-based intervention for depression. We also examined whether age, gender, race, ethnicity, comfort with technology, or baseline depression predicted adherence or moderated the effects that each enhancement had on adherence., Methods: Participants were recruited through web-based sources and, after completing at least 4 out of 7 daily emotion reports, were sequentially assigned to 1 of 9 conditions-the intervention alone; the intervention plus 1, 2, or all 3 enhancements; or an emotion reporting control condition. The intervention was a positive psychological program consisting of 8 skills that specifically targeted positive emotions, and it was delivered over 5 weeks in a self-guided, web-based format. We operationalized adherence as the number of skills accessed., Results: A total of 602 participants were enrolled in this study. Participants accessed, on average, 5.61 (SD 2.76) of 8 skills. The total number of enhancements participants received (0-3) did not predict the number of skills accessed. Participants who were assigned to the VB+FC condition accessed significantly more skills than those in the intervention only conditions. Furthermore, participants in arms that received the combination of both the VB and FC enhancements (VB+FC and VB+FC+online discussion board) accessed a greater number of skills relative to the number of skills accessed by participants who received either VB or FC without the other. Moderation analyses revealed that the receipt of VB (vs no VB) predicted higher adherence among participants with moderately severe depression at baseline., Conclusions: The results suggested that the VB+FC combination significantly increased the number of skills accessed in a self-guided, web-based intervention for elevated depression. We have provided suggestions for refinements to these enhancements, which may further improve adherence., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02861755; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02861755., (©Judith Tedlie Moskowitz, Elizabeth L Addington, Eva Shiu, Sarah M Bassett, Stephanie Schuette, Ian Kwok, Melanie E Freedman, Yan Leykin, Laura R Saslow, Michael A Cohn, Elaine O Cheung. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 22.09.2021.)

The Microrchidia (MORC) family of ATPases are required for transposable element (TE) silencing and heterochromatin condensation in plants and animals, and C. elegans MORC-1 has been shown to topologically entrap and condense DNA. In Arabidopsis thaliana, mutation of MORCs has been shown to reactivate silent methylated genes and transposons and to decondense heterochromatic chromocenters, despite only minor changes in the maintenance of DNA methylation. Here we provide the first evidence localizing Arabidopsis MORC proteins to specific regions of chromatin and find that MORC4 and MORC7 are closely co-localized with sites of RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM). We further show that MORC7, when tethered to DNA by an artificial zinc finger, can facilitate the establishment of RdDM. Finally, we show that MORCs are required for the efficient RdDM mediated establishment of DNA methylation and silencing of a newly integrated FWA transgene, even though morc mutations have no effect on the maintenance of preexisting methylation at the endogenous FWA gene. We propose that MORCs function as a molecular tether in RdDM complexes to reinforce RdDM activity for methylation establishment. These findings have implications for MORC protein function in a variety of other eukaryotic organisms., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: Mental health tends to worsen over the course of medical school, with steep declines in well-being in students' clerkship year (M3). Positive emotion promotes adaptive coping to stress and may help preserve medical student well-being., Objective: This study describes the development of LAVENDER (Leveraging Affect and Valuing Empathy for Nurturing Doctors' Emotional Resilience), a program aimed at increasing positive emotion to preserve well-being in medical students., Methods: We conducted a single-arm pilot of LAVENDER, a positive psychology intervention developed for medical students delivered in an interactive classroom format to a cohort of 157 third-year medical students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Our primary outcome was the acceptability of LAVENDER. We also examined preliminary efficacy using measures of emotion, stress and burnout collected at each intervention session., Results: LAVENDER showed good acceptability: 76% of participants agreed that the LAVENDER skills were useful and 72% agreed that they would recommend the LAVENDER program to others. Qualitative feedback suggested that medical students enjoyed the program and found the skills to be useful for coping with stress, but also reported the following barriers to engagement: lack of time to practice the skills, resistance to the mandatory nature of the wellness sessions, and difficulty integrating the skills in daily life. We did not find support for the preliminary efficacy of LAVENDER for improving medical student well-being in students' clerkship year. Participants showed decreases in positive emotion and increases in symptoms of burnout over the intervention period ( p s < .01)., Conclusion: The current paper describes the development and a single-arm pilot test of LAVENDER, a positive psychology program tailored for medical students. Although we found preliminary evidence for the acceptability of LAVENDER, we did not find support for the preliminary efficacy. Lessons learned and next steps for the program are discussed., 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) 2021.)

Hematopoiesis is a central process and is essential for the replenishment of short-lived leukocytes such as neutrophils. However, the molecular events underlining the developmental transition of quiescent hematopoietic stem cells into downstream progenitors and mature blood cells are not completely understood. Here, we describe the intrafemoral delivery of hematopoietic progenitors as a method to trace their development and differentiation lineage patterns within the bone marrow (BM) niche. Unlike other approaches, the direct adoptive transfer of progenitors into the BM cavity does not require prior irradiation preconditioning of recipient mice, and enables the delivery of lower cell numbers into the marrow space in a minimally perturbed environment. As a demonstrative example, we provide a protocol for the isolation of granulocyte-monocyte progenitors (GMP) by cell sorting, the delivery of these cells into recipient animals by intrafemoral transfer, and finally, the analysis of GMP-derived progenies by flow cytometry.

Classically considered short-lived and purely defensive leukocytes, neutrophils are unique in their fast and moldable response to stimulation. This plastic behavior may underlie variable and even antagonistic functions during inflammation or cancer, yet the full spectrum of neutrophil properties as they enter healthy tissues remains unexplored. Using a new model to track neutrophil fates, we found short but variable lifetimes across multiple tissues. Through analysis of the receptor, transcriptional, and chromatin accessibility landscapes, we identify varying neutrophil states and assign non-canonical functions, including vascular repair and hematopoietic homeostasis. Accordingly, depletion of neutrophils compromised angiogenesis during early age, genotoxic injury, and viral infection, and impaired hematopoietic recovery after irradiation. Neutrophils acquired these properties in target tissues, a process that, in the lungs, occurred in CXCL12-rich areas and relied on CXCR4. Our results reveal that tissues co-opt neutrophils en route for elimination to induce programs that support their physiological demands., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)