Brucella suis and farm biosecurity: assessing risk in pigs raised outdoors in New York State.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Brucella suis exposure status of pigs raised with outdoor access on farms in New York State and assess biosecurity and management practices of those farms. ANIMALS: 250 pigs that were raised for commercial purposes, had access to the outdoors, and were > 4 months of age on 24 farms in New York State. PROCEDURES: Farms were randomly selected from a sampling frame generated for the study and contacted to recruit them to participate. Participating farms were provided a questionnaire to complete. Up to 30 pigs per farm were tested for serum anti-Brucella antibodies. RESULTS: Farm were classified as seasonal and year round. Seasonal farms raised pigs for slaughter, and year-round farms bred pigs, raised them for slaughter, and sold live pigs to others to raise. None of the 250 pigs had antibodies to Brucella spp. Nevertheless, the biosecurity assessment revealed a need for enhanced practices in procurement and management of swine in a wide range of areas. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: There was no evidence for ongoing B suis infection on these swine farms in New York State, but biosecurity and preventive practices at these facilities could be improved to prevent the introduction and spread of B suis and other pathogens.

A pH ratiometrically responsive surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering probe for tumor acidic margin delineation and image-guided surgery.

Surgery remains the mainstay for most solid tumor treatments. However, surgeons face challenges in intra-operatively identifying invasive tumor margins due to their infiltrative nature. Incomplete excision usually leads to early recurrence, while aggressive resection may injure adjacent functional tissues. Herein, we report a pH responsive ratiometric surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERRS) probe that determined physiological pHs with a high sensitivity and tissue penetration depth via an innovative mechanism named spatial orientation induced intramolecular energy transfer (SOIET). Due to the positive correlation between tumor acidity and malignancy, an acidic margin-guided surgery strategy was implemented in live animal models by intra-operatively assessing tissue pH/malignancy of the suspicious tissues in tumor cutting edges. This surgery remarkably extended the survival of animal models and minimized their post-surgical complications, showing promise in precisely identifying invasive tumor boundaries and achieving a balance between maximum tumor debulking and minimal functional impairment.

Repair of Adult Mammalian Heart After Damages by Oral Intake of Gu Ben Pei Yuan San.

Adult mammalian heart repair after myocardial damage is highly inefficient due to the post-mitotic nature of cardiomyocytes. Interestingly, in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), there are reported effective treatments of myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure in adult humans by oral intake of a TCM concoction named Gu Ben Pei Yuan San (GBPYS), which is composed of Panax ginseng, velvet antler, Gekko gecko Linnaeus tail, human placenta, Trogopterus dung, Panax notoginseng, and amber. We fed mice with GBPYS after myocardial damages through everyday self-feeding. We then examined the effect of everyday oral intake of GBPYS on improving cardiac function and myocardial repair in adult mice after apical resection or MI. We found that long-term oral intake of GBPYS significantly improved cardiac function after myocardial damages in adult mice. BrdU, phospho-histone 3, and AuroraB staining indicated increased cell proliferation at the border zone of MI after TCM feeding. GBPYS feeding reduced organ inflammation, induced angiogenesis, and is non-toxic to mice after long-term oral intake. Further, serum derived from TCM-fed MI rats promoted division of both neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes in vitro. Oral intake of GBPYS improved heart repair after myocardial damages in adult mice. Our results suggest that there are substances present in GBPYS that help improve adult mammalian heart repair after MI. Also, it could be a good choice of non-invasive alternative therapy for myocardial damages and heart failure after rigorous clinical study in the future.

Engineering human ventricular heart tissue based on macroporous iron oxide scaffolds.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a primary cardiovascular disease threatening human health and quality of life worldwide. The development of engineered heart tissues (EHTs) as a transplantable artificial myocardium provides a promising therapy for MI. Since most MIs occur at the ventricle, engineering ventricular-specific myocardium is therefore more desirable for future applications. Here, by combining a new macroporous 3D iron oxide scaffold (IOS) with a fixed ratio of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived ventricular-specific cardiomyocytes and human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells, we constructed a new type of engineered human ventricular-specific heart tissue (EhVHT). The EhVHT promoted expression of cardiac-specific genes, ion exchange, and exhibited a better Ca2+ handling behaviors and normal electrophysiological activity in vitro. Furthermore, when patched on the infarcted area, the EhVHT effectively promoted repair of heart tissues in vivo and facilitated the restoration of damaged heart function of rats with acute MI. Our results show that it is feasible to generate functional human ventricular heart tissue based on hPSC-derived ventricular myocytes for the treatment of ventricular-specific myocardium damage. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: We successfully generated highly purified homogenous human ventricular myocytes and developed a method to generate human ventricular-specific heart tissue (EhVHT) based on three-dimensional iron oxide scaffolds. The EhVHT promoted expression of cardiac-specific genes, ion exchange, and exhibited a better Ca2+ handling behaviors and normal electrophysiological activity in vitro. Patching the EhVHT on the infarct area significantly improved cardiac function in rat acute MI models. This EhVHT has a great potential to meet the specific requirements for ventricular damages in most MI cases and for screening drugs specifically targeting ventricular myocardium.