Volume 84 No. 4 October 2018

Early career investigator

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Congratulations to Brian Stansfield, the Early Career Investigator for October. Educated at the Medical College of Georgia, Dr. Stansfield briefly practiced pediatric emergency medicine, only to answer the call to neonatology at the University of Indiana, where he was encouraged to join the Pediatric Scientist Development Program. A good choice, as he became hooked on basic research, demonstrating that it is never too late! In this issue, his laboratory reports the impact of a maternal nutrient-restricted diet on the cell biology of the guinea pig heart. See pages XXX and XXX

iPSCs in multicellular models of human disease

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In this review article, Durbin et al. examine the power of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) taken from patients to form models of their disease. iPSCs can be programmed to differentiate and form organoids. Various techniques are described, as are recent established disease models. See page XXX

Association between intestinal permeability and nutrition in Nepalese children

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Sean White/Getty

Morseth et al. followed 218 Nepalese children 9–24 months of age, using dietary histories, gut-permeability measurement, and fecal inflammatory markers. Negative associations were found between nutrient intake and markers of intestinal inflammation. Significant associations were found for several nutrients and myeloperoxidase. See page XXX

A briefer consent form does not affect parental understanding of a clinical trial

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BRAND X

In this preliminary study, Murray et al. tested a shortened and simplified informed-consent form against a conventional form in two parental advocacy groups. There was no significant difference between the two forms in the participants’ understanding of the key study components. See page XXX

Vitamin D polymorphism may be associated with UTIs

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Dorling Kindersley/Getty

Mahyar et al. studied 60 children with urinary tract infections (UTIs) and 60 healthy children from Iran. They found two genetic polymorphisms in the gene for the vitamin D receptor that were significantly different between the two groups. See page XXX

Targeting viral vectors to bone in Morquio disease

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Alméciga-Díaz et al. added eight aspartic acid residues after the N-terminal region of the VP2 capsid protein. They found that the modified vector increased gene delivery to bone and increased its enzyme activity there 4.7-fold. In an Insights piece in this issue, a patient and members of his family describe efforts to ameliorate the symptoms of Morquio disease. See pages XXX and XXX

Alterations in pulmonary blood flow following betamethasone

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Smolich and Mynard studied factors contributing to increased pulmonary blood flow in fetuses following maternal betamethasone therapy. They found that increased right ventricle power and ductal impedance were factors in this increase. See page XXX