Notes

[In vivo gene editing for gene therapy].
rong risk factor but a poor predictor of subsequent preterm birth.
To determine the association between microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity (MIAC) and/or intra-amniotic inflammation (IAI) and the cervical prevalence of Gardnerella vaginalis DNA in pregnancies with preterm prelabor rupture of membrane (PPROM).

In total, 405 women with singleton pregnancies complicated with PPROM were included. Cervical fluid and amniotic fluid samples were collected at the time of admission. Bacterial and G. vaginalis DNA were assessed in the cervical fluid samples using quantitative PCR technique. Concentrations of interleukin-6 and MIAC were evaluated in the amniotic fluid samples. Loads of G. vaginalis DNA ≥ 1% of the total cervical bacterial DNA were used to define the cervical prevalence of G. vaginalis as abundant. Based on the MIAC and IAI, women were categorized into four groups with intra-amniotic infection (both MIAC and IAI), with sterile IAI (IAI without MIAC), with MIAC without IAI, and without either MIAC or IAI.

The presence of the abundant cervical G. vaginalis was related to MIAC (with 65% vs. without 44%; p = 0.0004) but not IAI (with 52% vs. without 48%; p = 0.70). Women with MIAC without IAI had the highest load of the cervical G. vaginalis DNA (median 2.0 × 104 copies DNA/mL) and the highest presence of abundant cervical G. vaginalis (73%).

In women with PPROM, the presence of cervical G. vaginalis was associated with MIAC, mainly without the concurrent presence of IAI.
In women with PPROM, the presence of cervical G. vaginalis was associated with MIAC, mainly without the concurrent presence of IAI.Humans extract and use information from the face in assessments of physical appearance. Previous research indicates high agreement about facial attractiveness within and between cultures. However, the use of a narrow age range for facial stimuli, limitations due to unidirectional cross-cultural comparisons, and technical challenges have prevented definitive conclusions about the universality of face perception. In the present study, we imaged the faces of women aged 20 to 69 years in five locations (China, France, India, Japan, and South Africa) and secured age, attractiveness, and health assessments on continuous scales (0-100) from female and male raters (20-66 years) within and across ethnicity. In total, 180 images (36 of each ethnicity) were assessed by 600 raters (120 of each ethnicity), recruited in study centres in the five locations. Linear mixed model analysis revealed main and interaction effects of assessor ethnicity, assessor gender, and photographed participant ("face") ethnicity on age, attractiveness, and health assessments. Thus, differences in judgments of female facial appearance depend on the ethnicity of the photographed person, the ethnicity of the assessor, and whether the assessor is female or male. Facial age assessments correlated negatively with attractiveness and health assessments. Collectively, these findings provide evidence of cross-cultural variation in assessments of age, and even more of attractiveness, and health, indicating plasticity in perception of female facial appearance across cultures, although the decline in attractiveness and health assessments with age is universally found.The novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 was first identified in Hubei Province, China in December, 2019. Within a matter of months the virus had spread and become a global pandemic. In addition to international air travel, local travel (e.g. by passenger car) contributes to the geographic spread of COVID-19. We modify the common susceptible-exposed-infectious-removed (SEIR) virus spread model and investigate the extent to which short-term travel associated with driving influences the spread of the virus. We consider the case study of the US state of Minnesota, and calibrated the proposed model with travel and viral spread data. click here Using our modified SEIR model that considers local short-term travel, we are able to better explain the virus spread than using the long-term travel SEIR model. Short-term travel associated with driving is predicted to be a significant contributor to the historical and future spread of COVID-19. The calibrated model also predicts the proportion of infections that were detected. We find that if driving trips remain at current levels, a substantial increase in COVID-19 cases may be observed in Minnesota, while decreasing intrastate travel could help contain the virus spread.Previous results from our group and others have shown that urinary pellet expression of miR155-5p and urinary CXCL-10 production could play a key role in the prognosis and diagnosis of acute rejection (AR) in kidney transplantation patients. Here, a logistic regression model was developed using NONMEM to quantify the relationships of miR155-5p urinary expression, CXCL-10 urinary concentration and tacrolimus and mycophenolic acid (MPA) exposure with the probability of AR in adult kidney transplant patients during the early post-transplant period. Owing to the contribution of therapeutic drug monitoring to achieving target exposure, neither tacrolimus nor MPA cumulative exposure was identified as a predictor of AR in the studied population. Even though CXCL-10 urinary concentration showed a trend, its effect on AR was not significant. In contrast, urinary miR155-5p expression was prognostic of clinical outcome. Monitoring miR155-5p urinary pellet expression together with immunosuppressive drug exposure could be very useful during routine clinical practice to identify patients with a potential high risk of rejection at the early stages of the post-transplant period. This early risk assessment would allow for the optimization of treatment and improved prevention of AR.[This corrects the article DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0241371.].
The IgE-mediated activation of mast cells and basophils results in the secretion of many substances, including the release of FceRI-alpha subunit. This released alpha subunit can bind IgE and it may act as a down-regulator of subsequent IgE-dependent reactions. However, previous studies do not observe loss of the mass of FceRI-alpha associated with the cells, at least not for human basophils. This study was designed to understand the basis for the discordant observations.

Purified human basophils were stimulated with multiple activating secretagogues and supernatants were examined for histamine and released FceRI-alpha. In addition, cell surface IgE densities (occupied and unoccupied) were measured by flow cytometry and total cellular content of mature and immature FceRI-alpha determined with Western blots.

Released FceRI-alpha, on average, represented 7% of the total surface FceRI before the reaction. The molecular weight of the soluble FceRI-alpha was approximately 54 kD, larger than immature subunit and somewhat smaller than surface subunit.
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