German federal-state-wide seroprevalence study of 1 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic wave shows importance of long-term antibody test performance.

Background: Reliable data on the adult SARS-CoV-2 infection fatality rate in Germany are still scarce. We performed a federal state-wide cross-sectional seroprevalence study named SaarCoPS, that is representative for the adult population including elderly individuals and nursing home residents in the Saarland.

Methods: Serum was collected from 2940 adults via stationary or mobile teams during the 1 pandemic wave steady state period.

Sensitive Multiplexed Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization Using Enhanced Tyramide Signal Amplification and Its Combination with Immunofluorescent Protein Visualization in Zebrafish.

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) provides sensitive detection and visualization of RNA transcripts in tissues and cells with high resolution. We present here a multiplex RNA FISH method using enhanced tyramide signal amplification (TSA) for colocalization analysis of three different transcripts in intact zebrafish brains. To achieve enhancement of fluorescent signals, essential steps of the FISH procedure are optimized including embryo permeability, hybridization efficacy, and fluorogenic TSA-reaction conditions.

Early Components of the Complement Classical Activation Pathway in Human Systemic Autoimmune Diseases.

The complement system consists of effector proteins, regulators, and receptors that participate in host defense against pathogens. Activation of the complement system, via the classical pathway (CP), has long been recognized in immune complex-mediated tissue injury, most notably systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Paradoxically, a complete deficiency of an early component of the CP, as evidenced by homozygous genetic deficiencies reported in human, are strongly associated with the risk of developing SLE or a lupus-like disease.

Multi-target Chromogenic Whole-mount In Situ Hybridization for Comparing Gene Expression Domains in Drosophila Embryos.

To analyze gene regulatory networks active during embryonic development and organogenesis it is essential to precisely define how the different genes are expressed in spatial relation to each other in situ. Multi-target chromogenic whole-mount in situ hybridization (MC-WISH) greatly facilitates the instant comparison of gene expression patterns, as it allows distinctive visualization of different mRNA species in contrasting colors in the same sample specimen. This provides the possibility to relate gene expression domains topographically to each other with high accuracy and to define unique and overlapping expression sites.