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Engineering Concanavalin B to Release Bioactive Peptides versus Metabolic Symptoms.
1 for IgG antibodies, hence near to the manufacturer's cutoff values of 10 AU/mL for both isotypes. The ROC performance curves showed area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.918 and 0.980 for anti-SARS CoV-2 antibodies IgM and IgG, respectively. CONCLUSIONS iFlash1800 CLIA analyzer has shown highly accurate results for the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies profile and can be considered an excellent tool for COVID-19 diagnostics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.In the last 15 years, it became clear that the symbiotic microbiota has an important impact on the development and regulation of the immune system. Consequently, it is incorrect to interpret a phenotype solely as a direct result of the genotype, without considering the impact of the microbiota. In fact, ignorance of the effects exerted by the microbiota may account for a large part of the "replication issues" found in many studies. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Beller et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2020. 50 XXXX-XXXX] provide data suggesting that eosinophils are not required to maintain IgA-producing plasma cells in the intestine, contrary to earlier reports. This paper shows that mice lacking eosinophils develop an altered intestinal microbiota, which poorly induces IgA. Normal levels of IgA were obtained in mice lacking eosinophils when these were colonized by microbiota from the wild-type mice. Therefore, the use of littermate controls carrying the same microbiota, in experiments comparing wild-type and mutant mice, is necessary to control the potential role of the microbiota. Nevertheless, caution should always be exercised in the interpretation of the results changes in the microbiota may result from mutations in the host, and thereby, indirectly convey the effect of genotypes on phenotypes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.A 21-year-old woman (primipara) at 33w+6 d gestation was admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University on February 3, 2020. None of her prenatal screening results were abnormal. She complained of cold symptoms on January 29, 2020. Upon onset a fever of 39°C on January 31, she went to a local clinic, where her blood pressure was 170/110 mmHg. Her white blood cell count was 10.92×109 /L, total lymphocyte count was 0.85×10 9 /L, hemoglobin was 9.8 g/dl, and platelet count was 56×1010 /L and acetaminophen was given. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.With the developing COVID-19 pandemic (caused by the novel zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus), the UK population are urged to follow Government advice on managing symptoms and reducing viral transmission (1). Unusually, patients with sickle cell anaemia (HbSS genotype) have been explicitly mentioned in this as a group at increased risk due to their non-functioning spleen (2). Unfortunately, there is no specific advice for patients with sickle cell disease of other genotypes, thalassaemia and other inherited anaemias. Many of these are at increased risk of fulminant bacterial infection, and therefore may erroneously self-isolate if their fever is mistakenly attributed to a viral cause, delaying potentially life-saving antibiotic therapy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND Clinical presentation and outcomes of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy remain limited and fragmented. OBJECTIVES To summarize the existing literature on COVID-19 infection during pregnancy and childbirth, particularly concerning clinical presentation and outcomes. SEARCH STRATEGY A systematic search of LitCovid, EBSCO MEDLINE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus electronic databases. The references of relevant studies were also searched. SELECTION CRITERIA Identified titles and abstracts were screened to select original reports and cross-checked for overlap of cases. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS A descriptive summary organized by aspects of clinical presentations (symptoms, imaging, and laboratory) and outcomes (maternal and perinatal). MAIN RESULTS We identified 33 studies reporting 385 pregnant women with COVID-19 infection 368 (95.6%) mild; 14 (3.6%) severe; and 3 (0.8%) critical. Selleck Protoporphyrin IX Seventeen women were admitted to intensive care, including six who were mechanically ventilated and one maternal mortality. A total of 252 women gave birth, comprising 175 (69.4%) cesarean and 77 (30.6%) vaginal births. Outcomes for 256 newborns included four RT-PCR positive neonates, two stillbirths, and one neonatal death. CONCLUSION COVID-19 infection during pregnancy probably has a clinical presentation and severity resembling that in non-pregnant adults. It is probably not associated with poor maternal or perinatal outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.The discovery of broadly neutralizing antibodies that can neutralize multiple strains or subtypes of a pathogen has renewed interest in the development of broadly protective vaccines. To that end, there has been an interest in designing immunofocusing strategies to direct the immune response to specific, conserved regions on antigenic proteins. Modulation of glycosylation is one such immunofocusing strategy; extensive glycosylation is often exploited by pathogens for immune evasion. Masking epitopes on protein immunogens with "self" glycans can also shield the underlying protein surface from humoral immune surveillance. We review recent advances in applying glycosylation as an immunofocusing tool. We also highlight recent interesting work in the HIV-1 field involving the identification and elicitation of broadly neutralizing antibodies that incorporate glycans into their binding epitopes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Given the importance of continuum in providing services and exigence of protecting health care professionals during this period, the Swiss Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (SSVIR) is releasing guidance for interventional radiologists as preparedness to manage COVID-19 patients, the workflow of non-COVID-19 patients and optimize interactions with other healthcare professionals.The cellular prion protein (PrPC), a cell surface glycoprotein originally identified for its central role in prion diseases (also called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies), has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, by acting as a toxicity-transducing receptor for different misfolded protein isoforms, or in some case by exerting neuroprotective effects. Interestingly, PrPC has also been reported to play unexpected functions outside the nervous system, for example by contributing to myelin homeostasis, regulating specific processes of the immune system and participating in various aspects of cancer progression. Collectively, these observations point to a much broader role for PrPC in physiological and disease processes than originally assumed. In this manuscript, we provide an overview of what is known about the role of PrPC beyond prion disorders and discuss the potential implications of targeting this protein in different diseases.BACKGROUND Large vestibular schwannomas (VSs) with brainstem compression are generally reserved for surgical resection. Surgical aggressiveness must be balanced with morbidity from cranial nerve injury. The purpose of the present investigation is to evaluate the clinical presentation, management modality, and patient outcomes following near total resection (NTR) vs gross total resection (GTR) of large VSs. OBJECTIVE To assess facial nerve outcome differences between GTR and NTR patient cohorts. METHODS Between January 2010 and March 2018, a retrospective chart review was completed to capture patients continuously who had VSs with Hannover grades T4a and T4b. NTR was decided upon intraoperatively. Primary data points were collected, including preoperative symptoms, tumor size, extent of resection, and postoperative neurological outcome. RESULTS A total of 37 patients underwent surgery for treatment of large and giant (grade 4a and 4b) VSs. Facial nerve integrity was preserved in 36 patients (97%) at the completion of surgery. A total of 27 patients underwent complete resection, and 10 had near total (>95%) resection. Among patients with GTR, 78% (21/27) had House-Brackmann (HB) grade I-II facial nerve function at follow-up, whereas 100% (10/10) of the group with NTR had HB grade I-II facial nerve function. Risk of meningitis, cerebrospinal fluid leak, and sinus thromboses were not statistically different between the 2 groups. There was no stroke, brainstem injury, or death. The mean follow-up was 36 mo. CONCLUSION NTR seems to offer a benefit in terms of facial nerve functional outcome compared to GTR in surgical management of large VSs without significant risk of recurrence. Copyright © 2020 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.OBJECTIVE For most patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP), the cause is "nonspecific," meaning there is no clear association between pain and identifiable pathology of the spine or associated tissues. Laypersons and providers alike are less inclined to help, feel less sympathy, dislike patients more, suspect deception, and attribute lower pain severity to patients whose pain does not have an objective basis in tissue pathology. Because of these stigmatizing responses from others, patients with cLBP may feel that their pain is particularly unjust and unfair. These pain-related injustice perceptions may subsequently contribute to greater cLBP severity. The purpose of this study was to examine whether perceived injustice helps explain the relationship between chronic pain stigma and movement-evoked pain severity among individuals with cLBP. METHODS Participants included 105 patients with cLBP who completed questionnaires assessing chronic pain stigma and pain-related injustice perception, as well as a short physical performance battery for the assessment of movement-evoked pain and physical function. RESULTS Findings revealed that perceived injustice significantly mediated the association between chronic pain stigma and cLBP severity (indirect effect = 6.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.041 to 14.913) and physical function (indirect effect = -0.401, 95% CI = -1.029 to -0.052). Greater chronic pain stigma was associated with greater perceived injustice (P = 0.001), which in turn was associated with greater movement-evoked pain severity (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that perceived injustice may be a means through which chronic pain stigma impacts nonspecific cLBP severity and physical function. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail [email protected] is a zoonotic infection of humans and, more commonly, ruminants. It is caused by 2 liver fluke species, Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica, which differ in size. The traditional morphological methods used to distinguish the 2 species can be unreliable, particularly in the presence of hybrids between the 2 species. The development of advanced molecular methods has allowed for more definitive identification of Fasciola species, including their hybrids. Hybrids are of concern, as it is thought that they could acquire advantageous traits such as increased pathogenicity and host range. In 2013, we collected flukes from Fasciola-positive cattle, sheep, and goats slaughtered in 4 Chadian abattoirs. DNA from 27 flukes was extracted, amplified, and analyzed to identify species using the ITS1+2 locus. Twenty-six of the 27 flukes were identified as F. gigantica, while the remaining fluke showed heterozygosity at all variable sites that distinguish F. hepatica and F. gigantica. Cloning and sequencing of both alleles confirmed the presence of 1 F.
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