Exploring red blood cells as an antigen delivery system to modulate the immune response towards FVIII in hemophilia A.

Background: The main complication in hemophilia A treatment is the development of inhibitory antibodies against factor (F)VIII. Immune tolerance induction, the gold standard for eradicating anti-FVIII antibodies, is efficient in only 60% to 80% of cases. This underscores the need for more efficient induction of tolerance in patients with hemophilia A with FVIII inhibitors.

An AI-based imaging flow cytometry approach to study erythrophagocytosis.

Erythrophagocytosis is a process consisting of recognition, engulfment and digestion by phagocytes of antibody-coated or damaged erythrocytes. Understanding the dynamics that are behind erythrophagocytosis is fundamental to comprehend this cellular process under specific circumstances. Several techniques have been used to study phagocytosis.

Production and stability of cultured red blood cells depends on the concentration of cholesterol in culture medium.

The production of cultured red blood cells (cRBC) for transfusion purposes requires large scale cultures and downstream processes to purify enucleated cRBC. The membrane composition, and cholesterol content in particular, are important during proliferation of (pro)erythroblasts and for cRBC quality. Therefore, we tested the requirement for cholesterol in the culture medium during expansion and differentiation of erythroid cultures with respect to proliferation, enucleation and purification by filtration.

Real-Time Ultrasound Guidance for Umbilical Venous Cannulation in Neonates With Congenital Heart Disease.

Objectives: Umbilical venous cannulation is the favored approach to perinatal central access worldwide but has a failure rate of 25-50% and the insertion technique has not evolved in decades. Improving the success of this procedure would have broad implications, particularly where peripherally inserted central catheters are not easily obtained and in neonates with congenital heart disease, in whom umbilical access facilitates administration of inotropes and blood products while sparing vessels essential for later cardiac interventions. We sought to use real-time, point-of-care ultrasound to achieve central umbilical venous access in patients for whom conventional, blind placement techniques had failed.

Rapid, Sensitive, and Specific Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Detection: A Multicenter Comparison Between Standard Quantitative Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction and CRISPR-Based DETECTR.

Background: Recent advances in CRISPR-based diagnostics suggest that DETECTR, a combination of reverse-transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) and subsequent Cas12 bystander nuclease activation by amplicon-targeting ribonucleoprotein complexes, could be a faster and cheaper alternative to quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) without sacrificing sensitivity and/or specificity.

Methods: In this study, we compare DETECTR with qRT-PCR to diagnose coronavirus disease 2019 on 378 patient samples. Patient sample dilution assays suggest a higher analytical sensitivity of DETECTR compared with qRT-PCR; however, this was not confirmed in this large patient cohort, where we report 95% reproducibility between the 2 tests.

Thrombocytosis in an infant with a mutation: a case report.

Mutations in the calcium channel gene () cause autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia, with phenotypes ranging from mild to perinatal lethality. A recent report detailed enhanced proplatelet formation and increased murine platelet count in the context of activation. No prior reports have described platelet count abnormalities in human disease.

A Proinflammatory Gut Microbiota Increases Systemic Inflammation and Accelerates Atherosclerosis.

Rationale: Several studies have suggested a role for the gut microbiota in inflammation and atherogenesis. A causal relation relationship between gut microbiota, inflammation, and atherosclerosis has not been explored previously.

Objective: Here, we investigated whether a proinflammatory microbiota from Caspase1 ( Casp1) mice accelerates atherogenesis in Ldlr mice.

Do infants in the neonatal intensive care unit diagnosed with urinary tract infection need a routine voiding cystourethrogram?

Objective: To determine if infants diagnosed with urinary tract infection (UTI) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) require a routine voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG).

Study Design: Retrospective data analysis from three centers for infants admitted to the NICU born between 2000 and 2013 and diagnosed with UTI.

Results: One hundred twenty-six infants from three centers were diagnosed with UTI during their hospitalization.

Antigen-Independent Restriction of Pneumococcal Density by Mucosal Adjuvant Cholera Toxin Subunit B.

For many bacterial respiratory infections, development of (severe) disease is preceded by asymptomatic colonization of the upper airways. For Streptococcus pneumoniae, the transition to severe lower respiratory tract infection is associated with an increase in nasopharyngeal colonization density. Insight into how the mucosal immune system restricts colonization may provide new strategies to prevent clinical symptoms.

Oxidized LDL at the crossroads of immunity in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is viewed as the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome and is a condition hallmarked by lipid accumulation in the liver (steatosis) along with inflammation (hepatitis). Currently, the etiology and mechanisms leading to obesity-induced hepatic inflammation are not clear and, as a consequence, strategies to diagnose or treat NASH in an accurate manner do not exist. In the current review, we put forward the concept of oxidized lipids as a significant risk factor for NASH.

Population-based metagenomics analysis reveals markers for gut microbiome composition and diversity.

Deep sequencing of the gut microbiomes of 1135 participants from a Dutch population-based cohort shows relations between the microbiome and 126 exogenous and intrinsic host factors, including 31 intrinsic factors, 12 diseases, 19 drug groups, 4 smoking categories, and 60 dietary factors. These factors collectively explain 18.7% of the variation seen in the interindividual distance of microbial composition.

Sex impacts Th1 cells, Tregs, and DCs in both intestinal and systemic immunity in a mouse strain and location-dependent manner.

Background: Males and females have a different predisposition for the development of intestinal disorders, like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We hypothesized that sex specific differences in intestinal immune responses may underlie this bias. To test this hypothesis, we studied sex differences in immune cell populations in the Peyer's patches (PP).

The Gut Microbiome Contributes to a Substantial Proportion of the Variation in Blood Lipids.

Rationale: Evidence suggests that the gut microbiome is involved in the development of cardiovascular disease, with the host-microbe interaction regulating immune and metabolic pathways. However, there was no firm evidence for associations between microbiota and metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease from large-scale studies in humans. In particular, there was no strong evidence for association between cardiovascular disease and aberrant blood lipid levels.

The immunity-diet-microbiota axis in the development of metabolic syndrome.

Purpose Of Review: Recent evidence demonstrates that the gut-microbiota can be considered as one of the major factors causing metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.

Recent Findings: Pattern recognition receptors as well as antimicrobial peptides are a key factor in controlling the intestinal microbiota composition. Deficiencies in these genes lead to changes in the composition of the gut-microbiota, causing leakage of endotoxins into the circulation, and the development of low-grade chronic inflammation and insulin resistance.

Lipid sorting by ceramide structure from plasma membrane to ER for the cholera toxin receptor ganglioside GM1.

The glycosphingolipid GM1 binds cholera toxin (CT) on host cells and carries it retrograde from the plasma membrane (PM) through endosomes, the trans-Golgi (TGN), and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to induce toxicity. To elucidate how a membrane lipid can specify trafficking in these pathways, we synthesized GM1 isoforms with alternate ceramide domains and imaged their trafficking in live cells. Only GM1 with unsaturated acyl chains sorted efficiently from PM to TGN and ER.

Partial trisomy 19p13.3 and partial monosomy 1p36.3: Clinical report and a literature review.

We report on a 15-month-old girl with a deletion of the distal short arm of chromosome 1p36.3, partial trisomy of the short arm of chromosome 19p13.3, growth and developmental delay, and multiple anomalies including microcephaly, bifrontal prominence, obtuse frontonasal angle, short columella, hypertelorism, sacral dimples, and a bicuspid pulmonary valve.

Calcified meconium balls in a newborn: an unusual case with imperforate anus, rectourinary fistula, colpocephaly, and agenesis of corpus callosum.

Calcified intraluminal meconium is a rare finding in newborn infants. It is often associated with communication between the urinary and gastrointestinal tracts. Intra-abdominal calcifications are unusual radiographic findings in the newborn and can easily be misinterpreted as meconium peritonitis.

Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography: influence on scheduling of angiography and delayed surgery for ruptured intracranial aneurysms.

The role of transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) was studied retrospectively in relation to the management of 73 patients with a subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a ruptured intracranial aneurysms. TCD velocity measurements provided very valuable data to assist scheduling of angiography and delayed surgery. Angiography and surgery were planned significantly sooner in the TCD examined group of patients with TCD velocities indicative for the absence of vasospasm than in the group of patients who did not have TCD examinations.