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Background Breast cancer is the most common cancer, and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, among females world-wide. Recent research suggests that extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a major role in the development of breast cancer metastasis. Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is a procedure in patients with known lymph node metastases, and after surgery large amounts of serous fluid are produced from the axilla. The overall aim was to isolate and characterize EVs from axillary serous fluid, and more specifically to determine if potential breast cancer biomarkers could be identified. Methods Lymphatic drain fluid was collected from 7 patients with breast cancer the day after ALND. EVs were isolated using size exclusion chromatography, quantified and detected by nanoparticle tracking analysis, electron microscopy, nano flow cytometry and western blot. The expression of 37 EV surface proteins was evaluated by flow cytometry using the MACSPlex Exosome kit. Results Lymphatic drainage exudate retrieved after surgery from all 7 patients contained EVs. The isolated EVs were positive for the typical EV markers CD9, CD63, CD81 and Flotillin-1 while albumin was absent, indicating low contamination from blood proteins. In total, 24 different EV surface proteins were detected. Eleven of those proteins were detected in all patients, including the common EV markers CD9, CD63 and CD81, cancer-related markers CD24, CD29, CD44 and CD146, platelet markers CD41b, CD42a and CD62p as well as HLA-DR/DP/DQ. Furthermore, CD29 and CD146 were enriched in Her2+ patients compared to patients with Her2- tumors. Conclusions Lymphatic drainage exudate retrieved from breast cancer patients after surgery contains EVs that can be isolated using SEC isolation. The EVs have several cancer-related markers including CD24, CD29, CD44 and CD146, proteins of potential interest as biomarkers as well as to increase the understanding of the mechanisms of cancer biology.

Phloem sap quality can differ between and within plants, and affect the performance of aphids. In turn, aphid infestation may change the chemical composition and nutritional value of phloem sap. However, the effects of different aphid species on the overall phloem sap composition of distinct parts within plant individuals in relation to aphid performance remain unclear. To test the specificity of plant responses to aphids, we used two chemotypes of Tanacetum vulgare plants and placed the monophagous aphids Macrosiphoniella tanacetaria and Uroleucon tanaceti on different plant parts (stems close to the inflorescence, young and old leaves). Aphid population growth was determined and sugars, organic acids, amino acids and metabolic fingerprints of phloem exudates were analysed. Macrosiphoniella tanacetaria performed best on stems, whereas U. tanaceti performed best on old leaves, indicating differences in niche conformance. Aphid infestation led to distinct changes in the phloem exudate composition of distinct metabolite classes, differing particularly between plant parts but less between chemotypes. In summary, plant responses to aphids are highly specific for the chemotype, plant part, metabolite class and aphid species. These changes may indicate that aphids construct their own niche, optimizing the food quality on the plant parts they prefer.

Previous studies have proposed multiple diagnostic criteria based on cholesterol and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels to differentiate pleural exudates from transudates. However, these criteria have not been widely validated, and no study has compared their diagnostic accuracies within the same population. This study recruited patients from retrospective (BUFF) and prospective (SIMPLE) cohorts. Pleural biopsy, microbiological culture, and effusion cytology were used to verify the causes of exudates or transudates. The diagnostic accuracy of pleural cholesterol and LDH levels in identifying exudates was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Subsequently, the accuracies of seven previously reported cholesterol- and LDH-based classification criteria were compared with those of Light’s criteria. Pleural fluid cholesterol levels and LDH activity were significantly higher in exudates than in transudates. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for pleural fluid cholesterol and LDH levels was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.86–0.94) and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82–0.92) in combined cohort, respectively. We found that the diagnostic accuracy of the combination of pleural fluid cholesterol > 1.04 mmol/L (40 mg/dL) or pleural LDH > 0.6 upper limit of serum LDH reference interval was comparable to that of Light’s criteria, whereas the other criteria were less accurate. Combining pleural fluid cholesterol and LDH levels using the preceding thresholds has comparable accuracy to Light’s criteria for separating exudates from transudates.

Effective fluid handling by wound dressings is crucial in the management of exuding wounds through maintaining a clean, moist environment, facilitating healing by removing excess exudate and promoting tissue regeneration. In this context, the availability of reliable and clinically relevant standardised testing methods for wound dressings are critical for informed decision making by clinicians, healthcare administrators, regulatory/reimbursement bodies and product developers. The widely used standard EN 13726 specifies the use of Solution A, an aqueous protein‐free salt solution, for determining fluid‐handling capacity (FHC). However, a simulated wound fluid (SWF) with a more complex composition, resembling the protein, salt, and buffer concentrations found in real‐world clinical exudate, would provide a more clinically relevant dressing performance assessment. This study compared selected physicochemical parameters of Solution A, an alternative, novel simulated wound fluid (SWF A), and a benchmark reference serum‐containing solution (SCS) simulating chronic wound exudate. Additionally, FHC values for eight advanced bordered and non‐bordered foam dressings were determined for all three test fluids, following EN 13726. Our findings demonstrate a close resemblance between SWF A and SCS. This study highlights the critical importance of selecting a physiochemically appropriate test fluid for accurate FHC testing resulting in clinically meaningful evaluation of dressing performance.

Plant roots are able to exude vast amounts of metabolites into the rhizosphere in response to phosphorus (P) deficiency. Causing noteworthy costs in terms of energy and carbon (C) for the plants. Therefore, it is suggested that exudates reacquisition by roots could represent an energy saving strategy of plants. This study aimed at investigating the effect of P deficiency on the ability of hydroponically grown tomato plants to re-acquire specific compounds generally present in root exudates by using 13 C-labelled molecules. Results showed that P deficient tomato plants were able to take up citrate (+ 37%) and malate (+ 37%), particularly when compared to controls. While glycine (+ 42%) and fructose (+ 49%) uptake was enhanced in P shortage, glucose acquisition was not affected by the nutritional status. Unexpectedly, results also showed that P deficiency leads to a 13 C enrichment in both tomato roots and shoots over time (shoots—+ 2.66‰, roots—+ 2.64‰, compared to control plants), probably due to stomata closure triggered by P deficiency. These findings highlight that tomato plants are able to take up a wide range of metabolites belonging to root exudates, thus maximizing C trade off. This trait is particularly evident when plants grew in P deficiency.

During the last years, there has been an increasing research interest in the analysis of biological fluids requiring non-invasive sampling for biomedical and clinical applications. In this work, we have focused on the nasal exudate with the aim of investigating the potential use of this fluid to know the role of iron in stroke and also for diagnosis. Potential differences in the nasal exudate, collected in swabs, from diagnosed hemorrhagic stroke, ischemic stroke, and control groups were investigated with regard to total iron by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, iron fractionation studies by size exclusion chromatography together with post-column isotope dilution analysis, and four proteins containing iron (ferritin, transferrin, lactoferrin, and ferroportin) with ELISA kits. All these analyses represent an analytical challenge, considering the rather limited amount of sample (10–40 mg) available, being the nasal exudate extracted from the swab with 300 µL 10 mM Tris/HCl, pH = 7.4. Studies to obtain reliable analytical information, such as the blank contribution of the sampling step, evaluation of the extraction efficiency of the nasal exudate from the swab, and normalization strategies for data treatment, have been carried out. Results showed that despite the limited number of investigated samples, fractionation studies as well as the concentrations of ferritin and ferroportin obtained with ELISA kits showed a differential behavior between the different cohorts.

Calcium (Ca), inorganic phosphorus (Pi), and fluoride (F) concentrations are low in the whole plaque biofilm formed under exposure to sucrose. It was hypothesized that this would be reflected in the biofilm fluid, where these low values should greatly influence the de/remineralization process. Dental biofilms were formed in situ over enamel blocks mounted in palatal appliances and exposed 8 times/day to distilled water, glucose+fructose, or sucrose solutions for 14 days. While Ca, Pi, and F concentrations in the whole biofilms were significantly lower in the glucose+fructose and sucrose groups, no effect on biofilm fluid was observed, even after a cariogenic challenge. An increase in whole biofilm mineral ions was observed 24 hrs after the carbohydrate treatments were suspended, but this effect was also not observed in the fluid. These results suggest that there is a homeostatic mechanism that maintains biofilm fluid mineral ion concentration, regardless of its total concentration in the whole biofilm.

Venous leg ulcers (VLUs) are common and cause significant morbidity and poor quality of life. There is a poor understanding of the biology underlying non‐healing VLUs. VLU exudates may reflect the underlying wound microenvironment. This systematic review aims to identify potentially diagnostic and/or prognostic protein biomarkers within VLU fluid/exudates reported in the literature. A systematic review was reported according to PRISMA guidelines. MEDLINE and Embase databases were searched up to 31st March 2024. Full text, primary studies in English reporting on proteins identified in VLU fluid/exudate were included. Two independent reviewers performed the and full‐text screen. Additional publications were identified by searching the references of included studies. 46 studies were identified, with nine comparing healing and non‐healing VLUs. Cytokines (e.g., IL‐1a, IL‐1ra, IL‐6, eotaxin, GM‐CSF, PDGF, VEGF) and proteins involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis (e.g., MMP‐7, MMP‐10, MMP‐13, TIMP‐4) were significantly increased in non‐healing compared to healing VLUs. Collagen subunits (PICP and PIIINP) significantly increased as the VLU healed. Inflammatory proteins (e.g., complement type 6, S100A8, S100A9) and ECM proteins (e.g., fibronectin, lumican) were found to be increased in non‐healing VLUs compared to acute surgical wounds. Altered levels of specific proteins in wound exudates may be indicative of healing and non‐healing VLUs. Further work is essential to elucidate a comprehensive protein phenotype that may help early identification and prognostication of non‐healing VLUs.

Introduction Pleural effusions are very common clinical findings in clinical practice. Their proper diagnosis based on different parameters like pleural fluid protein, LDH, ADA, and cholesterol is very important. Light's criteria, though used as a standard method in differentiating pleural effusions as exudates and transudates, usually misidentifies 15%–20% of transudates as exudates. Hence, the role of other criteria like combined pleural fluid cholesterol and total protein in the differentiation of pleural fluid is studied in this study. The objectives of our study are to determine the role of combined pleural fluid cholesterol and total protein in the differentiation of exudates and transudates in cases presenting in Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Methods This is a single‐centered, analytical, cross‐sectional, observational study. This is carried out among patients who are diagnosed as a case of pleural effusions from the emergency ward and respiratory ward of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. Data collection was started after ethical approval was taken from IRB. The data were analyzed through SPSS version 22 for data analysis. Results Total of 90 patients with pleural effusion were enrolled in this study. Out of 90 patients, 49 patients were male, and 41 patients were female. The mean age of patients was 52.86 (±17.90) years. Tuberculosis was the most common disease associated with effusions, followed by pneumonia and malignancy. Based on Light's criteria, 65 (72.2%), pleural effusions were found to be exudates, and 25 were found to be transudates, with sensitivity and specificity of 98.4% and 85.7%, respectively. According to pleural fluid total protein, it classified 62.2% [n = 56] of cases as exudates and 37.8% [n = 34] of cases as transudates. Sensitivity and specificity were 88.7% and 96.4%, respectively. Based on pleural fluid cholesterol, 64.4% [n = 58] of cases were shown as exudates and 35.6% [n = 32] of cases as transudates, with sensitivity and specificity of 93.5% and 100%, respectively. Combined pleural total protein and cholesterol, however, classified 57.8% [n = 52] of cases as exudates and 42.2% [n = 38] of cases as transudates, with sensitivity and specificity of 83.9% and 100%, respectively. Conclusion Though Light's criteria remain the gold standard for distinguishing transudates from exudates, combined pleural fluid cholesterol and total protein examination improve diagnostic accuracy in circumstances where the diagnosis on discharge differs from the outcome from Light's criteria. Combined pleural fluid total protein and cholesterol demonstrated perfect specificity and positive predictive value (PPV), but Light's criteria showed high sensitivity (98.4%). Thus, combination offers superior diagnostic accuracy as compared to Light's criteria alone, with all test statistically significant (p < 0.0001).

Although stress-induced increases in inflammation have been implicated in several major disorders, including cardiovascular disease and depression, the neurocognitive pathways that underlie inflammatory responses to stress remain largely unknown. To examine these processes, we recruited 124 healthy young adult participants to complete a laboratory-based social stressor while markers of inflammatory activity were obtained from oral fluids. A subset of participants (n = 31) later completed an fMRI session in which their neural responses to social rejection were assessed. As predicted, exposure to the laboratory-based social stressor was associated with significant increases in two markers of inflammatory activity, namely a soluble receptor for tumor necrosis factor-α (sTNFαRII) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). In the neuroimaging subsample, greater increases in sTNFαRII (but not IL-6) were associated with greater activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula, brain regions that have previously been associated with processing rejection-related distress and negative affect. These data thus elucidate a neurocognitive pathway that may be involved in potentiated inflammatory responses to acute social stress. As such, they have implications for understanding how social stressors may promote susceptibility to diseases with an inflammatory component.