Publications by authors named "Kessler N"

The immune response against Legionella longbeachae, a causative agent of the often-fatal Legionnaires' pneumonia, is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the specific roles of tissue-resident alveolar macrophages (AMs) and infiltrating phagocytes during infection with this pathogen. AMs were the predominant cell type that internalized bacteria 1 day after infection.

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  • Metastable epialleles (MEs) are DNA regions where methylation levels vary among individuals but remain consistent across different tissues in the same person, potentially influenced by environmental factors.
  • This review covers the definition of MEs, techniques for identifying them in humans, and their genetic characteristics.
  • It also examines research connecting DNA methylation at these MEs to early environmental influences and later health outcomes.
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CC and CXC chemokines are distinct chemokine subfamilies. CC chemokines usually do not bind CXC-chemokine receptors and vice versa. CCR5 and CXCR4 receptors are activated by CCL5 and CXCL12 chemokines, respectively, and are also used as HIV-1 coreceptors.

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  • DNA methylation at CpG sites is typically viewed as a stable epigenetic marker, but new research shows its inheritance is more complex than previously thought.
  • High-throughput bisulfite sequencing revealed that while methylation is generally stable at low and high levels, intermediate methylation does not maintain this stability consistently across the genome.
  • The study suggests that changes in intermediate methylation are likely influenced by the enzyme DNMT1 and challenges the conventional understanding of DNA methylation as a reliable marker for epigenetic inheritance, raising questions about its functional significance.
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  • Human height is primarily determined by genetics, but this study explores how modifiable epigenetic factors, specifically blood DNA methylation, influence child height in low and middle-income countries (LMIC).
  • The research identifies a significant link between DNA methylation in the SOCS3 gene and child height, with findings replicating in a high-income country cohort, showing that this effect is independent of genetic factors.
  • Analysis reveals that SOCS3 methylation explains up to 9.5% of height variance in mid-childhood and is influenced by prenatal maternal folate and socio-economic status, highlighting the potential role of epigenetic modifications in child growth in LMIC.
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  • Human neonates experience a significant decrease in serum iron levels right after birth, which seems to offer protection against bacterial infections.
  • In a study of 278 Gambian newborns, blood samples were taken to analyze various iron and inflammation markers over the first week, revealing that both serum iron and transferrin saturation rose steadily from their low levels by day 7.
  • The results highlighted that this early iron deficiency is consistent yet temporary, with hepcidin levels initially rising and then showing variations, suggesting some level of resistance to its effects as iron levels start to recover.
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Purpose: The objective of this study was to gain insights into the patients' perspectives on the impact of cancer cachexia on physical activity and their willingness to wear digital health technology (DHT) devices in clinical trials.

Patients And Methods: We administered a quantitative 20-minute online survey on aspects of physical activity (on a 0-100 scale) to 50 patients with cancer cachexia recruited through Rare Patient Voice, LLC. A subset of 10 patients took part in qualitative 45-minute web-based interviews with a demonstration of DHT devices.

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HLA-C*07:985:01:02Q differs from HLA-C*07:985:01 by one nucleotide substitution at the Intron 1 splicing acceptor site.

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Background & Aims: Patients with chronic liver disease (CLD), including cirrhosis, are at increased risk of intractable viral infections and are hyporesponsive to vaccination. Hallmarks of CLD and cirrhosis include microbial translocation and elevated levels of type I interferon (IFN-I). We aimed to investigate the relevance of microbiota-induced IFN-I in the impaired adaptive immune responses observed in CLD.

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Ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry (UHR-MS) coupled with direct infusion (DI) electrospray ionization offers a fast solution for accurate untargeted profiling. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometers have been shown to produce a wealth of insights into complex chemical systems because they enable unambiguous molecular formula assignment even if the vast majority of signals is of unknown identity. Interlaboratory comparisons are required to apply this type of instrumentation in quality control (for food industry or pharmaceuticals), large-scale environmental studies, or clinical diagnostics.

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Small bowel cancer is a rare cause of small bowel obstruction (SBO) that is often discovered too late, leading to a poor prognosis at diagnosis. This case describes an African American patient with a previous history of abdominal surgery who presented to the emergency department with a partial small bowel obstruction (PSBO) that failed to resolve with conservative measures, therefore requiring surgical intervention. An exploratory laparoscopy revealed a firm apple core mass obstructing the lumen of the proximal jejunum 20 cm from the ligament of Treitz.

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Autoimmune vasculitis is a group of life-threatening diseases, whose underlying pathogenic mechanisms are incompletely understood, hampering development of targeted therapies. Here, we demonstrate that patients suffering from anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) showed increased levels of cGAMP and enhanced IFN-I signature. To identify disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets, we developed a mouse model for pulmonary AAV that mimics severe disease in patients.

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  • The study examined DNA methylation across 30 datasets with 3474 individuals from various tissues and ethnicities, identifying 4143 highly variable methylation sites (hvCpGs).
  • These hvCpGs were influenced by genetic factors but were not solely determined by them, nor were they significantly affected by factors like age, sex, or cell differences.
  • The hvCpGs showed patterns linking to retrovirus elements and were associated with early environmental factors, making them important for studying how early DNA methylation may affect long-term health.
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Traditional beamforming of medical ultrasound images relies on sampling rates significantly higher than the actual Nyquist rate of the received signals. This results in large amounts of data to store and process, imposing hardware and software challenges on the development of ultrasound machinery and algorithms, and impacting the resulting performance. In light of the capabilities demonstrated by deep learning methods over the past years across a variety of fields, including medical imaging, it is natural to consider their ability to recover high-quality ultrasound images from partial data.

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  • DNA methylation patterns from parents are mostly erased after fertilization, which influences the embryo's development and marks for gene expression.* -
  • A study in rural Gambia analyzed data from children conceived in different seasons, finding 259 specific DNA regions (CpGs) linked to the season of conception (SoC), especially evident in early infancy.* -
  • These findings suggest that the environment around conception plays a significant role in shaping long-lasting epigenetic changes that may impact health throughout life.*
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, a globally important, N-fixing, and colony-forming cyanobacterium, employs multiple pathways for acquiring nutrients from air-borne dust, including active dust collection. Once concentrated within the colony core, dust can supply with nutrients. Recently, we reported a selectivity in particle collection enabling to center iron-rich minerals and optimize its nutrient utilization.

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  • - The third edition of the Flow Cytometry Guidelines offers essential information for conducting flow cytometry experiments, covering immune cell phenotypes and functional assays in both humans and mice.
  • - It includes tables that highlight the differences between human and murine cell phenotypes, along with examples of flow cytometry applications related to autoimmune diseases, cancers, and infectious diseases.
  • - The guidelines also provide practical tips and common pitfalls to avoid, and are authored by renowned experts in the field, making it a crucial resource for researchers in both basic and clinical settings.
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PAX8 is a key thyroid transcription factor implicated in thyroid gland differentiation and function, and gene methylation is reported to be sensitive to the periconceptional environment. Using a novel recall-by-epigenotype study in Gambian children, we found that hypomethylation at age 2 years is associated with a 21% increase in thyroid volume and an increase in free thyroxine (T4) at 5 to 8 years, the latter equivalent to 8.4% of the normal range.

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Background: While there is evidence that cognitive impairment of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) may persist into adolescence, little is known about the spectrum of neurocognitive functioning of young adults with this disorder. The aim of this study was to assess neurocognitive functioning in a population of young adults with different types of CHD.

Methods: Cross-sectional cohort study in young adults with CHD and a group-matched healthy control group.

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Plant genebanks constitute a key resource for breeding to ensure crop yield under changing environmental conditions. Because of their roles in a range of stress responses, phenylpropanoids are promising targets. Phenylpropanoids comprise a wide array of metabolites; however, studies regarding their diversity and the underlying genes are still limited for cereals.

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By evolving strains of that hyper-resist sedimentation, we discovered an uncharacterized mechanism that bacteria can use to remain in suspension indefinitely without expending energy. This unusual phenotype was traced to the anchoring of long colanic acid polymers (CAP) that project from the cell surface. Although each characterized mutant activated this same mechanism, the genes responsible and the strengths of the phenotypes varied.

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  • Transposable elements (TEs), especially intracisternal A particle (IAP) TEs in mice, have varying levels of cytosine methylation, influencing their activity and genomic function.
  • The study reveals two classes of IAPs: tissue-specific variable methylation (tsVM-IAPs) and those with consistent methylation across tissues (cVM-IAPs), both capable of regulating nearby genes.
  • Findings suggest that genetic sequences, CTCF binding, and DNA methylation interplay to create individual differences in gene expression, potentially leading to variations in traits and phenotypes.
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Many proteins interact with their ligand proteins by recognition of short linear motifs that are often intrinsically disordered. These interactions are usually weak and are characterized by fast exchange. NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool to study weak interactions.

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A major bottleneck in metabolomics is the annotation of a molecular formula as a first step to a tentative structure assignment of known and unknown metabolites. The direct observation of an isotopic fine structure (IFS) provides the ability to confidently assign an unknown's molecular formula out of a complex mass spectrum. However, the majority of mass spectrometers deployed for metabolomic studies do not have sufficient resolving power and high-fidelity isotope ratios in the mass range of interest to determine molecular formulas from IFS data.

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