A 56-year-old woman, who underwent cardiac surgery 3 months previously, presented to the emergency room with pulmonary artery rupture due to the cytotoxic effects of BioGlue (CryoLife Inc., Kennesaw, GA, USA). She was successfully treated with surgical management. Although surgical glue can be effectively used for hemostasis, it can induce delayed vascular complications. Therefore, surgical glue should be used cautiously.
Adhesives ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Artery* ; Rupture* ; Thoracic Surgery*

During experimental Eimeria infections in chickens, facilities are often contaminated by fecal oocysts known to be highly resistant to both chemical and enzymatic treatments. Thus, studies using experimental Eimeria infections have been limited due to the difficulty of complete elimination of residual oocysts from both cages and facilities. To overcome this limitation, simple, inexpensive, and disposable cages were constructed from cardboard boxes and tested during experimental Eimeria maxima infections. The cages were used in animal rooms with only a 1.7% evidence of coccidia contamination between adjacent cages. No significant differences in fecal oocyst output and body weight gain were noted between animals housed in disposable cages and animals housed in wire control cages. This cage design is a useful means for preventing oocyst contamination during experimental conditions, suggesting that this disposable cage design could be used for other avian infectious disease studies.
Animals ; Chickens ; Coccidiosis/transmission/*veterinary ; Disposable Equipment/*utilization ; Eimeria/*isolation & purification ; *Environmental Microbiology

Avian coccidiosis has a major economic impact on the poultry industry, it is caused by 7 species of Eimeria, and has been primarily controlled using chemotherapeutic agents. Due to the emergence of drug-resistant strains, alternative control strategies are needed. We assessed anticoccidial effects of berberine-based diets in broiler chickens following oral infection with 5 Eimeria species (E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. tenella, E. mitis, and E. praecox). When 0.2% berberine, a concentration that does not affect weight gain, was added to the diet, the 4 groups infected with E. acervulina, E. tenella, E. mitis, or E. praecox showed significant reductions in fecal oocyst shedding (P<0.05) compared to their respective infected and untreated controls. In chickens treated 0.5% berberine instead of 0.2% and infected with E. maxima, fecal oocyst production was significantly reduced, but body weight deceased, indicating that berberine treatment was not useful for E. maxima infection. Taken together, these results illustrate the applicability of berberine for prophylactic use to control most Eimeria infections except E. maxima. Further studies on the mechanisms underlying the differences in anticoccidial susceptibility to berberine, particularly E. maxima, are remained.

Avian coccidiosis has a major economic impact on the poultry industry, it is caused by 7 species of Eimeria, and has been primarily controlled using chemotherapeutic agents. Due to the emergence of drug-resistant strains, alternative control strategies are needed. We assessed anticoccidial effects of berberine-based diets in broiler chickens following oral infection with 5 Eimeria species (E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. tenella, E. mitis, and E. praecox). When 0.2% berberine, a concentration that does not affect weight gain, was added to the diet, the 4 groups infected with E. acervulina, E. tenella, E. mitis, or E. praecox showed significant reductions in fecal oocyst shedding (P<0.05) compared to their respective infected and untreated controls. In chickens treated 0.5% berberine instead of 0.2% and infected with E. maxima, fecal oocyst production was significantly reduced, but body weight deceased, indicating that berberine treatment was not useful for E. maxima infection. Taken together, these results illustrate the applicability of berberine for prophylactic use to control most Eimeria infections except E. maxima. Further studies on the mechanisms underlying the differences in anticoccidial susceptibility to berberine, particularly E. maxima, are remained.

Coccidiosis in chickens is an intestinal parasitic disease caused by protozoan parasites named Eimeria spp. In some Eimeria infections, intestinal lymphocytes are known to highly express chicken NK-lysin (cNK-lysin), an antimicrobial peptide with anticoccidial activity. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the expression of cNK-lysin in E. necatrix-infected chickens and its role in E. necatrix infection. The expression of cNK-lysin transcript was significantly increased in E. necatrix sporozoites-treated lymphocytes. In E. necatrix infection, cNK-lysin transcript was induced in intestinal lymphocytes but not in the spleen. The recombinant cNK-lysin exhibited anticoccidial activity against E. necatrix sporozoites as well as immunomodulatory activity on macrophages by inducing proinflammatory cytokines. These results indicated that E. necatrix infection induces high local expression of cNK-lysin and the secreted cNK-lysin helps protect coccidiosis.

For cancer gene therapy, cancer-specific over-expression of a therapeutic gene is required to reduce side effects derived from expression of the gene in normal cells. To develop such an expression vector, we searched for genes over-expressed and/or specifically expressed in cancer cells using bioinformatics and have selected genes coding for protein regulator of cytokinesis 1 (PRC1) and ribonuclease reductase 2 (RRM2) as candidates. Their cancer-specific expressions were confirmed in both breast cancer cell lines and patient tissues. We compared each promoter's cancer-specific activity in the breast normal and cancer cell lines using the luciferase gene as a reporter and confirmed cancer-specific expression of both PRC1 and RRM2 promoters. To test activities of these promoters in viral vectors, the promoters were also cloned into an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector containing green fluorescence protein (GFP) as the reporter. The GFP expression levels by these promoters were various depending on cell lines tested and, in MDA-MB-231 cells, GFP activities derived from the PRC1 and RRM2 promoters were as strong as that from the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. Our result showed that a vector containing the PRC1 or RRM2 promoter could be used for breast cancer specific overexpression in gene therapy.
Breast Neoplasms/*genetics/therapy ; Cell Cycle Proteins/*genetics/metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cloning, Molecular ; Cytomegalovirus ; Dependovirus ; Female ; *Gene Targeting ; Gene Therapy ; Genetic Vectors ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; Humans ; Promoter Regions, Genetic/*genetics ; Ribonucleoside Diphosphate Reductase/*genetics/metabolism ; *Transcriptional Activation

Mutations in the Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2 ) gene are the most prevalent cause of familial Parkinson’s disease (PD). The increase in LRRK2 kinase activity observed in the pathogenic G2019S mutation is important for PD development. Several studies have reported that increased LRRK2 kinase activity and treatment with LRRK2 kinase inhibitors decreased and increased ciliogenesis, respectively, in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. In contrast, treatment of SH-SY5Y dopaminergic neuronal cells with PD-causing chemicals increased ciliogenesis. Because these reports were somewhat contradictory, we tested the effect of LRRK2 kinase activity on ciliogenesis in neurons. In SH-SY5Y cells, LRRK2 inhibitor treatment slightly increased ciliogenesis, but serum starvation showed no increase. In rat primary neurons, LRRK2 inhibitor treatment repeatedly showed no significant change. Little difference was observed between primary cortical neurons prepared from wild-type (WT) and G2019S +/- mice. However, a significant increase in ciliogenesis was observed in G2019S +/- compared to WT human fibroblasts, and this pattern was maintained in neural stem cells (NSCs) differentiated from the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) prepared from the same WT/G2019S fibroblast pair. NSCs differentiated from G2019S and its gene-corrected WT counterpart iPSCs were also used to test ciliogenesis in an isogenic background. The results showed no significant difference between WT and G2019S regardless of kinase inhibitor treatment and B27-deprivation-mimicking serum starvation. These results suggest that LRRK2 kinase activity may be not a direct regulator of ciliogenesis and ciliogenesis varies depending upon the cell type or genetic background.

Mutations in the Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2 ) gene are the most prevalent cause of familial Parkinson’s disease (PD). The increase in LRRK2 kinase activity observed in the pathogenic G2019S mutation is important for PD development. Several studies have reported that increased LRRK2 kinase activity and treatment with LRRK2 kinase inhibitors decreased and increased ciliogenesis, respectively, in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. In contrast, treatment of SH-SY5Y dopaminergic neuronal cells with PD-causing chemicals increased ciliogenesis. Because these reports were somewhat contradictory, we tested the effect of LRRK2 kinase activity on ciliogenesis in neurons. In SH-SY5Y cells, LRRK2 inhibitor treatment slightly increased ciliogenesis, but serum starvation showed no increase. In rat primary neurons, LRRK2 inhibitor treatment repeatedly showed no significant change. Little difference was observed between primary cortical neurons prepared from wild-type (WT) and G2019S +/- mice. However, a significant increase in ciliogenesis was observed in G2019S +/- compared to WT human fibroblasts, and this pattern was maintained in neural stem cells (NSCs) differentiated from the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) prepared from the same WT/G2019S fibroblast pair. NSCs differentiated from G2019S and its gene-corrected WT counterpart iPSCs were also used to test ciliogenesis in an isogenic background. The results showed no significant difference between WT and G2019S regardless of kinase inhibitor treatment and B27-deprivation-mimicking serum starvation. These results suggest that LRRK2 kinase activity may be not a direct regulator of ciliogenesis and ciliogenesis varies depending upon the cell type or genetic background.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalized patients recovering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may experience disability and suffer from significant physical and mental impairment requiring physical rehabilitation following their discharge. However, to date, no attempt has been made to collate and synthesize literature in this area. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review examines the outcomes of different physical rehabilitation interventions tested in COVID-19 patients who were discharged from hospital. SEARCH STRATEGY: A systematic search of MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and medRxiv was conducted to identify articles published up to March 2022. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This systematic review included studies of outpatient rehabilitation programs for people recovering from COVID-19 who received physical activity, exercise, or breathing training to enhance or restore functional capacity, pulmonary function, quality of life, and mental health or function. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: Selection of included articles, data extraction, and methodological quality assessments were conducted by two review authors respectively, and consensus was reached through discussion and consultation with a third reviewer. Finally, we review the outcomes of studies based on four categories including: (1) functional capacity, (2) pulmonary function, (3) quality of life, and (4) mental health status. RESULTS: A total of 7534 titles and abstracts were screened; 10 cohort studies, 4 randomized controlled trials and 13 other prospective studies involving 1583 patients were included in our review. Early physical rehabilitation interventions applied in COVID-19 patients who were discharged from the hospital improved multiple parameters related to functional capacity, pulmonary function, quality of life and mental health status. CONCLUSION Physical rehabilitation interventions may be safe, feasible and effective in COVID-19 patients discharged from the hospital, and can improve a variety of clinically relevant outcomes. Further studies are warranted to determine the underlying mechanisms. Please cite this article as: Rahmati M, Molanouri Shamsi M, Woo W, Koyanagi A, Won Lee SW, Keon Yon DK, Shin JI, Smith L. Effects of physical rehabilitation interventions in COVID-19 patients following discharge from hospital: A systematic review. J Integr Med. 2022; 21(2): 149-158.
Humans ; Patient Discharge ; Quality of Life ; COVID-19 ; Prospective Studies ; Hospitals ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic