Sensitive LC-MS/MS method for the temporal profiling of bile acids, fatty acids and branched-chain alpha-keto acids in maternal plasma during pregnancy and cord blood plasma at delivery.

Background And Aims: There are significant changes to the maternal inflammatory profile across pregnancy. Recent studies suggest that perturbations in maternal gut microbial and dietary-derived plasma metabolites over the course of pregnancy mediate inflammation through a complex interplay of immunomodulatory effects. Despite this body of evidence, there is currently no analytical method that is suitable for the simultaneous profiling of these metabolites within human plasma.

Evaluation of Stool Short Chain Fatty Acids Profiles in the First Year of Life With Childhood Atopy-Related Outcomes.

Introduction: Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are the main intestinal intermediate and end products of metabolism of dietary fibers/polyphenols by the gut microbiota. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological implication of stool SCFA profiles determined in the first year of life on the clinical presentation of allergic outcomes in childhood.

Methods: From the Growing Up in Singapore Toward healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort, a sub-cohort of 75 participants was recruited.

Low-level laser acupuncture reduces postoperative pain and morphine consumption in older patients with total knee arthroplasty: A randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Patients commonly develop postoperative pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Acupuncture-related techniques and low-level laser therapy could be beneficial for pain management for older individuals.

Objective: To examine the effect of low-level laser acupuncture (LA) in reducing postoperative pain, pain-related interference in daily life, morphine consumption, and morphine-related side effects in older patients with knee osteoarthritis who underwent TKA.

An Evaluation of the Mechanisms of Galacto-Oligosaccharide (GOS)-Induced IgE Cross-Linking on Basophils in GOS Allergy.

The prebiotics, galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS), are small carbohydrate molecules with 1-7 galactose units linked to glucose and have been shown to trigger IgE-mediated anaphylaxis in some cases following ingestion. It is still an unresolved question of how GOS cross-links IgE on basophils. In this study, we examined whether human galectins, a class of lectins that bind specifically to β-galactoside carbohydrates, are involved in GOS-induced basophil activation.

A randomised controlled trial of laser acupuncture improves early outcomes of osteoarthritis patients' physical functional ability after total knee replacement.

Background And Purpose: Total knee replacement is the most effective intervention for late-stage osteoarthritis; however, a major concern is postoperative recovery of physical function. This randomised controlled trial evaluated the effects of acupuncture with low-level laser therapy (ALLLT) on early outcomes of physical function after total knee replacement.

Materials And Methods: Eighty-two osteoarthritis patients were recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental group receiving ALLLT or the control group receiving sham ALLLT without laser beam output.

A compromised developmental trajectory of the infant gut microbiome and metabolome in atopic eczema.

Evidence is accumulating that the establishment of the gut microbiome in early life influences the development of atopic eczema. In this longitudinal study, we used integrated multi-omics analyses to infer functional mechanisms by which the microbiome modulates atopic eczema risk. We measured the functionality of the gut microbiome and metabolome of 63 infants between ages 3 weeks and 12 months with well-defined eczema cases and controls in a sub-cohort from the Growing Up in Singapore Toward healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) mother-offspring cohort.

A Novel X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Deficient Variant Showing Attenuated Epstein-Barr Virus Response.

We report on 2 Asian siblings with X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis deficiency that arose from a novel deletion that presented with Epstein-Barr virus disease and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. This disease is ascribed to dysfunction in the nucleotide binding and oligomerization domain receptor pathway, tested using a modified muramyl dipeptide-mediated assay.

Juvenile-Onset Immunodeficiency Secondary to Anti-Interferon-Gamma Autoantibodies.

Immunodeficiency secondary to anti-interferon-gamma (anti-IFN-γ) autoantibodies was first described in 2004 as an acquired defect in the IFN-γ pathway leading to susceptibility to multiple opportunistic infections, including dimorphic fungi, parasites, and bacteria, especially tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) species. It has so far only been described in adult patients. We present 2 cases of disseminated NTM infections in otherwise immunocompetent children.

Modular synthesis and immunological evaluation of suspected allergenic galactooligosaccharides.

Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) are widely used in the food industry as prebiotics and in very rare cases, can lead to an allergic reaction. Due to the microheterogeneity of GOS it is very difficult to extract pure and well defined oligosaccharides to establish which component is responsible for the observed allergenicity. Herein, we report the chemical synthesis of a suspected allergen 4PX and three closely related oligosaccharides based on a modular approach.

Establishment of the nasal microbiota in the first 18 months of life: Correlation with early-onset rhinitis and wheezing.

Background: Dynamic establishment of the nasal microbiota in early life influences local mucosal immune responses and susceptibility to childhood respiratory disorders.

Objective: The aim of this case-control study was to monitor, evaluate, and compare development of the nasal microbiota of infants with rhinitis and wheeze in the first 18 months of life with those of healthy control subjects.

Methods: Anterior nasal swabs of 122 subjects belonging to the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) birth cohort were collected longitudinally over 7 time points in the first 18 months of life.

Immune-modulatory genomic properties differentiate gut microbiota of infants with and without eczema.

Gut microbiota play an important role in human immunological processes, potentially affecting allergic diseases such as eczema. The diversity and structure of gut microbiota in infants with eczema have been previously documented. This study aims to evaluate by comparative metagenomics differences in genetic content in gut microbiota of infants with eczema and their matched controls.

Corrigendum: Natural Killer Cells from Patients with Recombinase-Activating Gene and Non-Homologous End Joining Gene Defects Comprise a Higher Frequency of CD56 NKG2A Cells, and Yet Display Increased Degranulation and Higher Perforin Content.

[This corrects the article on p. 798 in vol. 8, PMID: 28769923.

Natural Killer Cells from Patients with Recombinase-Activating Gene and Non-Homologous End Joining Gene Defects Comprise a Higher Frequency of CD56 NKG2A Cells, and Yet Display Increased Degranulation and Higher Perforin Content.

Mutations of the recombinase-activating genes 1 and 2 ( and ) in humans are associated with a broad range of phenotypes. For patients with severe clinical presentation, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) represents the only curative treatment; however, high rates of graft failure and incomplete immune reconstitution have been observed, especially after unconditioned haploidentical transplantation. Studies in mice have shown that natural killer (NK) cells have a mature phenotype, reduced fitness, and increased cytotoxicity.

Effectiveness of Different Pain Control Methods in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis after Knee Arthroplasty.

The number of patients with knee osteoarthritis has increased in tandem with population aging. Consequently, the number of knee arthroplasties has also risen. The postoperative pain is the biggest challenge faced by patients soon after knee arthroplasty; therefore, this study is among different methods for post-knee arthroplasty pain control.

Blomia tropicalis-Specific TCR Transgenic Th2 Cells Induce Inducible BALT and Severe Asthma in Mice by an IL-4/IL-13-Dependent Mechanism.

Previous studies have highlighted the importance of lung-draining lymph nodes in the respiratory allergic immune response, whereas the lung parenchymal immune system has been largely neglected. We describe a new in vivo model of respiratory sensitization to Blomia tropicalis, the principal asthma allergen in the tropics, in which the immune response is focused on the lung parenchyma by transfer of Th2 cells from a novel TCR transgenic mouse, specific for the major B. tropicalis allergen Blo t 5, that targets the lung rather than the draining lymph nodes.