Available methods for differentiating human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent cells (iPSCs) into neurons are often cumbersome, slow, and variable. Alternatively, human fibroblasts can be directly converted into induced neuronal (iN) cells. However, with present techniques conversion is inefficient, synapse formation is limited, and only small amounts of neurons can be generated.

Lung imaging in mouse disease models is crucial for the assessment of the severity of airway disease but remains challenging due to the small size and the high porosity of the organ. Synchrotron inline free-propagation phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) with its intrinsic high soft-tissue contrast provides the necessary sensitivity and spatial resolution to analyse the mouse lung structure in

Propagation-based X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography (PBI) has already proven its potential in a great variety of soft-tissue-related applications including lung imaging. However, the strong edge enhancement, caused by the phase effects, often hampers image segmentation and therefore the quantitative analysis of data sets. Here, the benefits of applying single-distance phase retrieval prior

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae infections pose a great burden worldwide, causing high morbidity and mortality, which are worsened by the increase in multidrug-resistant strains. New therapeutic/prophylactic strategies are urgently needed to overcome antibiotic resistance and reduce the health and economic impacts of diseases caused by this pathogen. Fimbriae are important virulence factors invo

This study investigated the impact of a national palliative care policy introduced in 2013. The hypothesis was that end‑of‑life and palliative care policy shape healthcare services, which in turn influence service utilisation and ultimately place of death for people dying from cancer. The aim was to identify longitudinal trends in place of death for people with cancer in Sweden. A population‑level

Accurate models for the human diploe have to take into account any structural differences in the four main areas of the calvaria bones. In this study the technique of Xray computed microtomography (μ-CT) along with image analysis was used in order to visualize and quantitatively analyze differences in the micro-architecture of the human calvarium diploe. A bone specimen from each area of the skull

Aims: The high mortality in untreated acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) stresses the need for prompt diagnosis and immediate surgical treatment. Our aim was to evaluate the frequency and clinical impact of misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of ATAAD. Methods and results: This was a single-centre, retrospective, observational study including all ATAAD patients with available admission charts b

Syftet med artikeln är att bidra med ny kunskap om hur en lektionsdesign, som tar utgångspunkt i litterära aspekter, kan möjliggöra utveckling av elevers läsförståelse i åk 4. En learning study med utgångspunkt i de litterära aspekterna: karaktärsbeskrivning, miljöbeskrivning, handling och tema genomfördes i tre klasser i årskurs 4 med 60 elever och tre lärare. Det empiriska materialet består av tThe article aims to provide new knowledge regarding how a teaching design, based on literary concepts, makes possible a deeper development of pupils’ reading comprehension in grade 4. A Learning study focusing on the literary concepts: character, setting, plot and themes was conducted in three classes in year 4 with 60 participating pupils and three participating teachers. The empi-rical material

The significance of the great ape heritage to the evolution of human rhythmic competence — as manifested in speech, music and dance — has been greatly underestimated in both past and contemporary research. In this chapter we deconstruct received misconceptions about the rhythmic competence of the apes and defend the position that, contrary to the received view, the great apes likely constitute the

The small size of the adult and developing mouse heart poses a great challenge for imaging in preclinical research. The aim of the study was to establish a phosphotungstic acid (PTA) ex-vivo staining approach that efficiently enhances the x-ray attenuation of soft-tissue to allow high resolution 3D visualization of mouse hearts by synchrotron radiation based μCT (SRμCT) and classical μCT. We demon

In mice, along with the assessment of eosinophils, lung function measurements, most commonly carried out by plethysmography, are essential to monitor the course of allergic airway inflammation, to examine therapy efficacy and to correlate animal with patient data. To date, plethysmography techniques either use intubation and/or restraining of the mice and are thus invasive, or are limited in their

Background/Objectives: There is still no consensus as to whether patients with upfront resectable synchronous colorectal liver metastases (sCRLM) should receive neoadjuvant treatment prior to liver surgery. Two randomized controlled trials have assessed the role of peri-operative chemotherapy in sCRLM; neither have shown a survival benefit in the neoadjuvant group. The aim of this population-based

We recently showed that defined sets of transcription factors are sufficient to convert mouse and human fibroblasts directly into cells resembling functional neurons, referred to as "induced neuronal"(iN) cells. For some applications however, it would be desirable to convert fibroblasts into proliferative neural precursor cells (NPCs) instead of neurons. We hypothesized that NPC-like cells may be

The non-coding genome, constituting 98% of human DNA, remains largely unexplored, yet holds potential for identifying new biomarkers and therapeutic targets in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In this study, we conducted a systematic analysis of recurrent somatic non-coding single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in pediatric B-cell precursor (BCP) ALL. We leveraged whole genome sequencing (WGS) data

α-Synuclein is a synaptic protein that accumulates primarily in synucleinopathies and secondarily in certain lysosomal storage disorders. However, its physiological roles in health and disease are not fully understood. In part, this has been hampered by the inability to visualize α-synuclein and its cellular localization, due to the lack of specific antibodies and faithful reporters. Here, we used

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a type-3 intermediate filament protein mainly expressed in astrocytes in the central nervous system. Mutations in GFAP cause Alexander disease (AxD), a rare and fatal neurological disorder. How exactly mutant GFAP eventually leads to white and gray matter deterioration in AxD remains unknown. GFAP is known to be expressed also in neural precursor cells in

One of the key purposes of bone tissue engineering is the development of new biomaterials that can stimulate the body's own regenerative mechanism for patient's anatomical and functional recovery. Bioactive glasses, due to their versatile properties, are excellent candidates to fabricate porous 3-D architectures for bone replacement. In this work, morphological and structural investigations are ca