Current perspectives on vaccines and therapeutics for Lassa Fever.

Lassa virus, the cause of deadly Lassa fever, is endemic in West Africa, where thousands of cases occur on an annual basis. Nigeria continues to report increasingly severe outbreaks of Lassa Fever each year and there are currently no approved vaccines or therapeutics for the prevention or treatment of Lassa Fever. Given the high burden of disease coupled with the potential for further escalation due to climate change the WHO has listed Lassa virus as a priority pathogen with the potential to cause widespread outbreaks.

The Immunoregulatory Architecture of the Adult Oral Cavity.

The oral cavity is a critical barrier with immunosurveillance capabilities. A detailed understanding of its cellular, molecular, and spatial architecture is essential for advancing precision medicine across aerodigestive tissues. Here, we present the first integrated atlas of human adult oral and craniofacial tissues, derived from single-cell RNA sequencing of ~250,000 cells from 70 samples across 13 niches, including salivary glands and oral mucosae.

Key stakeholder's attitudes towards the professional accountabilities and responsibilities of newly qualified Pharmacist Independent Prescribers (IPs) in England and enablers to implementation at scale?

Background: Independent prescribing is set to expand amongst community pharmacists in England in the next few years. This study aims to explore the different accountabilities and responsibilities associated with independent prescribing compared to more traditional pharmacist roles.

Objective: To inform commissioning frameworks that will allow independent prescribing by community pharmacists to be commissioned safely and appropriately at scale.

SARS-CoV-2 infection of salivary glands compromises the production of a secreted antifungal peptide with potential implications for development of oral candidiasis.

Saliva contains antimicrobial peptides considered integral components of host innate immunity, and crucial for protection against colonizing microbial species. Most notable is histatin-5 which is exclusively produced in salivary glands with uniquely potent antifungal activity against the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans. Recently, SARS-CoV-2 was shown to replicate in salivary gland acinar cells eliciting local immune cell activation.

Prenatal social disadvantage is associated with alterations in functional networks at birth.

Childhood exposure to social disadvantage is a major risk factor for psychiatric disorders and poor developmental, educational, and occupational outcomes, presumably because adverse exposures alter the neurodevelopmental processes that contribute to risk trajectories. Yet, given the limited social mobility in the United States and other countries, childhood social disadvantage is frequently preceded by maternal social disadvantage during pregnancy, potentially altering fetal brain development during a period of high neuroplasticity through hormonal, microbiome, epigenetic, and immune factors that cross the placenta and fetal blood-brain barrier. The current study examines prenatal social disadvantage to determine whether these exposures in utero are associated with alterations in functional brain networks as early as birth.