COVID-19 mRNA vaccines drive differential Fc-functional profiles in pregnant, lactating, and non-pregnant women.

Significant immunological changes occur throughout pregnancy to tolerize the mother and allow growth of the fetal graft. However, additional local and systemic immunological adaptations also occur, allowing the maternal immune system to continue to protect the dyad against foreign invaders both during pregnancy and after birth through lactation. This fine balance of tolerance and immunity, along with physiological and hormonal changes, contribute to increased susceptibility to particular infections in pregnancy, including more severe COVID-19 disease.

Correlates of depression and anxiety among homeless adults with latent tuberculosis infection.

Homeless persons have disproportionate rates of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). LTBI treatment can prevent and reduce active tuberculosis spread. We examined associations between mental health, social support, and perceptions of general health in 50 LTBI-positive, homeless adults enrolled in LTBI treatment.

Do Steviol Glycosides Provide Ecological Fitness to Stevia rebaudiana through Impact on Dietary Preference of Plant Pests and Herbivores?

The impact of Stevia rebaudiana leaf on feeding preferences of an insect, a mite, and a mammal was investigated. The grasshopper, Valanga irregularis of the Acrididae family, avoided feeding on S. rebaudiana leaf, as evidenced by a decrease in animal weight.

Do Steviol Glycosides Act Either as a Carbon Storage Pool or in Osmoregulation within Leaves of Stevia rebaudiana?

Steviol glycosides (SG) (with stevioside and rebaudioside A predominating) are present in wild-type Stevia rebaudiana, at approximately 10% of dry weight (dw), prompting a consideration of the autoecological role played by these compounds in terms of energy (C) storage and/or osmoregulation. The leaf starch pool was observed to change diurnally with respect to the light cycle (from 3.29% to 0.

Dose Responses of Ibuprofen In Vitro on Platelet Aggregation and Coagulation in Human and Pig Blood Samples.

Introduction: Ibuprofen is commonly used by warfighters in the deployed environment. This study investigated its dose effects on in vitro coagulation in human and pig blood.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from 6 normal volunteers and 6 healthy pigs and processed to make platelet-adjusted samples (100 × 10(3)/μL, common transfusion trigger in trauma).

Effect of Ibuprofen dose on platelet aggregation and coagulation in blood samples from pigs.

Introduction: Ibuprofen is commonly used by Soldiers in the deployed environment. This study investigated its dose-effects on in vitro coagulation.

Methods: Blood samples were collected from 4 normal healthy pigs and were processed to make platelet-adjusted (100×10(3)/μL) blood samples.

Diagnostic accuracy of physician and self-referred patients for thoracic outlet syndrome is excellent.

Background: The purpose of this study was to categorize patients referred to a specialized thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) practice to determine the diagnostic accuracy of those who are physician and self-referred.

Methods: Demographic and clinical data on all patients who were referred for TOS between 2006 and 2010 were retrospectively reviewed from a prospectively maintained institutional review board-approved database and patient records.

Results: Between 2006 and 2010, 621 patients were referred for TOS (433 women and 188 men; mean age 39 years [range 10-87]).

Methylation of the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene promoter in women with a bulimia-spectrum disorder: associations with borderline personality disorder and exposure to childhood abuse.

Objective: Previous findings indicate that women with Bulimia Nervosa (BN), when compared to women with no eating disorder (NED), tend to display elevated methylation in the promoter region of the DRD2 gene. The preceding would be compatible with evidence of generally reduced dopamine activity in people with BN. However, altered DNA methylation has also been associated with adverse environmental exposures (such as to childhood abuse) and with psychiatric disturbances (such as Borderline Personality Disorder: BPD).

Differential association between the norepinephrine transporter gene and ADHD: role of sex and subtype.

Background: Pharmacologic and animal studies have strongly implicated the norepinephrine transporter (NET) in the pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We conducted a family-based study, with stratification based on sex and subtype, to test the association between 30 tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the gene encoding NET (SLC6A2) and ADHD.

Methods: Family-based association tests were conducted with the categorical diagnosis of ADHD, as well as quantitative phenotypes of clinical relevance (Conners Global Index for Teachers and Parents, and Child Behavior Checklist measures).

Crash injury prediction and vehicle damage reporting by paramedics.

Objective: The accuracy of pre-hospital crash scene details and crash victim assessment has important implications for initial trauma care assessment and management. Similarly, it is known to influence physician perception of crash victim injury severity. The goal of this feasibility study was to examine paramedic accuracy in predicting crash victim injury profile, disability outcome at hospital discharge, and reporting vehicle damage with other crash variables.

Bilateral submandibular gland aplasia with clinico-radiological mass due to prolapsing sublingual salivary tissue through mylohyoid boutonniere: a case report and review.

Aplasia of major salivary glands is very rare. Compensatory hypertrophy of the rest of the glands can result in clinico-radiological masses. We present a report of a rare case of non-syndromic bilateral submandibular gland aplasia with hypertrophied sublingual salivary tissue, the latter herniating through mylohyoid boutonnière to present as a palpable mass on the left side with corresponding CT findings.

Effects of synthetic versus natural colloid resuscitation on inducing dilutional coagulopathy and increasing hemorrhage in rabbits.

Background: : On the basis of logistic benefits of colloids over crystalloids, the U.S. military selected Hextend for resuscitation of combat casualties in the field.

No association between the DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism and schizophrenia.

Objective: To investigate the association between a Ser9Gly polymorphism of the dopamine D3 receptor gene (DRD3) and schizophrenia.

Methods: 408 schizophrenic patients and 172 control subjects were compared with regard to their DRD3 Ser9Gly genotypic and allelic frequencies. In addition, we carried out a family-based association study including 183 pedigrees (472 subjects) using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT).

In vivo bleeding time and in vitro thrombelastography measurements are better indicators of dilutional hypothermic coagulopathy than prothrombin time.

Background: The coagulopathy of trauma is generally confirmed by prothrombin time (PT) > or =16 seconds or an international normalized ratio > or =1.5. However, the utility of these values as a screening test is unknown.

The potential utility of fibrin sealant dressing in repair of vascular injury in swine.

Background: A previous study in which fibrin sealant dressing (FSD) secured hemostasis in major arterial hemorrhage for 96 hours suggested the applicability of this dressing in damage control operations after severe trauma. The objective of this study was to determine the effective duration of FSD hemostatic function in vivo and to examine its potential utility for definitive repair of a major arterial injury in swine.

Methods: High pressure bleeding in an infrarenal aortotomy was controlled by placing FSD on the wound with 4-minute compression (n = 15).

Comparison of hemorrhage control agents applied to lethal extremity arterial hemorrhages in swine.

Background: QuikClot powder (QC), chitosan dressing (CD), and fibrin sealant dressing (FSD) are new hemostatic products touted to be more effective in controlling severe extremity bleeding than the current standard gauze dressing. All have been utilized in the global war on terrorism. Our objective was to evaluate the hemostatic efficacy of these three products in a model of severe extremity arterial hemorrhage that could not be stopped by standard gauze treatment.

Kyphoplasty versus vertebroplasty to increase vertebral body height: a cadaveric study.

Purpose: To prospectively compare the vertebral height restoration achieved with kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty in fresh cadavers by using multi-detector row computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval was not required because the donors had registered in and consented to an anatomic gift program prior to their death. Thirty-seven vertebrae were harvested from four donated cadavers of elderly female individuals (mean age, 82 years; age range at death, 73-87 years).

Effect of recombinant FVIIa in hypothermic, coagulopathic pigs with liver injuries.

Background: Previous experiments with diverse pig models to evaluate the ability of rFVIIa to reduce hemorrhage have provided divergent results. The current study was conducted to address concerns related to previous work by using larger sample sizes, and an extended observational period of 4 hours post-injury. The objectives were to evaluate further the hemostatic efficacy and safety of rFVIIa administration after traumatic, uncontrolled hemorrhage.

Hemostatic efficacy of two advanced dressings in an aortic hemorrhage model in Swine.

Background: An effective hemostatic agent capable of stopping severe arterial bleeding and sustaining hemostasis over a prolonged time is required. The U.S.

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val108/158 Met polymorphism does not modulate executive function in children with ADHD.

Background: An association has been observed between the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, the predominant means of catecholamine catabolism within the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and neuropsychological task performance in healthy and schizophrenic adults. Since several of the cognitive functions typically deficient in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are mediated by prefrontal dopamine (DA) mechanisms, we investigated the relationship between a functional polymorphism of the COMT gene and neuropsychological task performance in these children.

Methods: The Val108/158 Met polymorphism of the COMT gene was genotyped in 118 children with ADHD (DSM-IV).

High-throughput preparative process utilizing three complementary chromatographic purification technologies.

A high-throughput process was developed in which wells in plates generated from parallel synthesis are automatically channeled to an appropriate purification technique using analytical data as a guide. Samples are directed to either of three fundamentally different preparative techniques: HPLC with UV-triggered fraction collection, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with UV-triggered fraction collection, or HPLC with MS-triggered fraction collection. Automated analysis of the analytical data identifies the product compound mass and creates work lists based on chromatographic properties exhibited in the data so that each preparative instrument cherry picks the appropriate list of samples to purify when a preparative-scale plate is loaded.

Dmc1 fluorescent foci in prophase I nuclei of diploid, triploid and hybrid lilies.

We examined the distribution of meiotic epitopes for the Dmc1 protein of lilies in a normal diploid, a triploid, and in a diploid species-hybrid. The triploid has an extra chromosome set; all three sets align, but only two of the three axes intimately pair at a given location. Our findings with the triploid support the idea that retention of the foci until the pachytene stage requires a successful homology check and synaptonemal complex (SC) initiation; the number of foci in the triploid diminishes by approximately 30% from early zygotene to pachytene, and the triploid pachytene values are similar to the pachytene values of the diploid.

Antisense inhibition of a tomato meiotic proteinase suggests functional redundancy of proteinases during microsporogenesis.

Anther development in angiosperms culminates in the programmed cell death of specific tissues to facilitate the release of pollen. Despite a wealth of morphological descriptions of this process, there have been few reports on the regulation of dehiscence or the coordination of events between tissues. We have cloned an anther-specific tomato gene encoding a serine proteinase that is expressed during meiosis and late microsporogenesis.

A survey of proteinases active during meiotic development.

Microsporogenesis in Lilium longiflorum Thunb. is a naturally synchronous process and affords a system in which to study stage-specific events of meiosis and anther development. Zymogram gel analyses were conducted with extracts from a variety of stages of anther development to identify proteinases which likely play roles in anther metabolism.