Nonarthritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) commonly causes sudden optic nerve (ON)-related vision loss. The rodent NAION model (rAION) closely resembles NAION in presentation and physiological responses. Researchers hypothesized that blocking pro-inflammatory prostaglandin (PGE2) production by inhibiting monoacylglycerol lipase or cyclooxygenase activity and co-administering PGJ2 would potentiate RGC survival following ischemic neuropathy. This study identified early rAION-associated optic nerve head (ONH) inflammatory gene expression responses and the anti-inflammatory prostaglandin PGJ2’s effects on those responses. Deep sequencing was performed on vehicle- and PGJ2-treated ONHs 3d post-rAION induction. Results were compared against responses from a retinal ischemia model. Animals were treated with PGJ2 and MAGL inhibitor KML29, or PGJ2 + COX inhibitor meloxicam. RGC survival was quantified by stereology.

The rodent model of nonarthritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (rNAION) is similar in many of its pathophysiological responses to clinical NAION. Like human NAION, there is significant variability in the severity of the lesion produced, and little is known of the parameters associated with rNAION induction severity or if pre- or early post-induction biomarkers can be identified that enable prediction of lesion severity and ultimate loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Adult male Sprague-Dawley outbred rats were evaluated for various parameters including physiological characteristics (heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, hematocrit [Hct]), optic nerve head (ONH) appearance, pre- and post-induction mean diameter, and intravenous fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographic patterns of vascular leakage at 5 hours post-induction, performed using a spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) instrument.

Researchers present an optimized protocol for single nuclei RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) that is fast, low, cost, and time effective due to the elimination of cell sorting and ultra-centrifugation. Both human and mouse tissue biopsies were assessed. Human kidney graft biopsies were collected from five kidney transplant recipients. Mouse needle biopsies were collected from heart, liver, kidney, spleen, lung, duodenum, large intestine, bone marrow and brain.

Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) is responsible for approximately 93 million cases of gastroenteritis annually. Little research has been directed towards a development of vaccines against Salmonella serogroups O:6,7 or O:8. Researchers constructed a live attenuated serogroup O:8 vaccine, CVS 1979, by deleting guaBA, htrA, and aroA from the genome of S. Newport. Over the course of 6 weeks, 6 to 8-week-old female BALB/c mice were immunized with live attenuated S. Newport vaccine CVD 1979 or sterile phosphate buffered saline (PBS) three times. Four weeks after the last immunization, mice were challenged intraperitoneally (i.p.) with wild-type Salmonella strains to assess the homologous and heterologous protection elicited by the live attenuated S. Newport vaccine CVD 1979.

Four clinical centers participated in this 11 year, prospective observational study of knee osteoarthritis. The goal of the research was to identify biochemical, genetic, and imaging biomarkers associated with the development and progression of osteoarthritis. Evaluation of the cumulative data in comparison with structural and/or clinical outcomes is expected to provide insights into the prevention and treatment of the disease. Over the course of the study, data were collected from 4,796 subjects from over 431,000 clinical and imaging visits resulting in close to 26,626,000 images in the archive. Multiple datasets from this research include: Participant Information (demographic & cohort, measures inventory, outcomes); AllClinical Dataset (multiple datasets with subject risk factors, joint symptom/function, medical history, physical exam, nutrition, & biomarkers (summary of phlebotomy and urine specimen collection times)); Medication Inventory; Knee MR Image Assessments (quantitative cartilage morphometry, semi-quantitative scoring); Knee MRI Metaanalysis; Knee X-Ray Image Assessments; Knee X-Ray Metaanalysis; FNIH Project (post-processed OAI image data as well as serum and urine evaluations from a subset of one of the cohorts); Ancillary Studies (accelerometry measurements, Bone Quality MRI and DEXA measurements, Pivotal OAI MRI Analyses (POMA), and Skin Auto-Fluorescence (Sage) measurements).