We report that Id knockout mouse embryos display multiple cardiac defects but mid-gestation lethality is rescued by injection of 15 wild type ES cells into mutant blastocysts. Myocardial markers altered in Id mutant cells are restored to normal throughout the chimeric myocardium. Intraperitoneal injection of ES cells into female mice prior to conception also partially rescues the cardiac phenotype with no incorporation of ES cells. IGF1, a long-range secreted factor, in combination with WNT5a, a locally secreted factor likely account for complete reversion of the cardiac phenotype. Thus, ES cells have the potential to reverse congenital defects through Id-dependent local and long-range effects in a mammalian embryo.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an incurable neuromuscular degenerative disease, caused by a mutation in the dystrophin gene. Mdx mice recapitulate DMD features. Here we show that injection of wild-type (WT) embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into mdx blastocysts produces mice with improved pathology and function. A small fraction of WT ESCs incorporates into the mdx mouse nonuniformly to upregulate protein levels of dystrophin in the skeletal muscle. The chimeric muscle shows reduced regeneration and restores dystrobrevin, a dystrophin-related protein, in areas with high and with low dystrophin content. WT ESC injection increases the amount of fat in the chimeras to reach WT levels. ESC injection without dystrophin does not prevent the appearance of phenotypes in the skeletal muscle or in the fat. Thus, dystrophin supplied by the ESCs reverses disease in mdx mice globally in a dose-dependent manner.

Postoperative hemodynamic instability after pericardial window portends a grave prognosis. Evidence of tamponade, larger effusion volumes, and positive cytologic findings may predict a higher risk of paradoxical hemodynamic instability and anticipate a need for invasive monitoring and intensive care postoperatively.

Gratitude plays an integral role in promoting helping behavior at work. Thus, cultivating employees' experiences of gratitude represents an important imperative in modern organizations that rely on teamwork and collaboration to achieve organizational goals. Yet, today's workplace presents a complex array of demands that make it difficult for employees to fully attend to and appreciate the various benefits they receive at work. As such, gratitude is difficult for employers to promote and for employees to experience. Despite these observations, the role of attention and awareness in facilitating employees' feelings of gratitude is largely overlooked in the extant literature. In this study, we examined whether one notable form of present moment attention, mindfulness, may promote helping behavior by stimulating the positive, otheroriented emotion of gratitude. Across two experimental studies, a semiweekly, multisource diary study, and a 10-day experience sampling investigation, we found converging evidence for a serial mediation model in which state mindfulness, via positive affect and perspective taking, prompts greater levels of gratitude, prosocial motivation, and, in turn, helping behavior at work. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our investigation, as well as avenues for the future research.