The Zika virus NS5 protein binds HSP90 to suppress EGF-induced Akt signaling and trophoblast cell migration.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can cause congenital Zika virus syndrome (CZV), including fetal growth restriction and death. In the developing placenta, trophoblast cells respond to epidermal growth factor (EGF) to migrate into the decidua to facilitate implantation and fetal development. EGF activates the Akt protein kinase, a master regulator of trophoblast cell migration.

Prevalence of Intersex/Differences in Sex Development and Primary Gonadal Insufficiency in a Pediatric Transgender Population.

Purpose: This study aims to assess the prevalence of intersex variations/differences in sex development (I/DSDs), associated adrenal conditions, and primary gonadal insufficiency in children with gender dysphoria.

Methods: We performed a comprehensive review of the medical records for individuals who carried the diagnostic codes for gender dysphoria in addition to intersex and/or other conditions associated with sex steroid variations among patients evaluated by pediatric endocrinologists from 2013 to 2022.

Results: We found that 9 of 612 (1.

Strategic improvement of Shewanella oneidensis for biocatalysis: Approach to media refinement and scalable application in a microbial electrochemical system.

Microbial electrochemical systems offer a sustainable method for the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy or hydrogen and the production of valuable compounds, contributing to the development of a bio-based economy. This study aimed to enhance the performance of anodic bioelectrochemical systems by improving the current density of Shewanella oneidensis as a biocatalyst through strain modification and medium refinement. The genetic modification, combining the prophage deletion and overexpression of the speC gene, resulted in a 4.

Bacteriological safety and quality of composted products from animal, urban or sewage sludge wastes.

This study investigated the presence of culturable bacterial pathogens, and antibiotic resistance and associated genes (quantitative PCR) in commercially available composted products from animal excrements or manure (n = 7), urban wastes (n = 1) or (sewage sludge) (n = 1). Metals quantification and 16S rRNA-based bacterial community composition analyses supported the results to infer potential risks to downstream environments (e.g.

The impact of coronavirus pandemic shutdowns on immunization completion in Hadeetha, Anbar, Iraq: A case-study of vaccine completion in a recovering healthcare system.

The SARS-COV2 pandemic caused significant disruptions in immunization delivery. Baseline deficit gaps in immunization completion exacerbated ongoing disparities in immunization coverage in low- and middle-income. Emerging reports focused on global strategies for return to routine immunization schedules.

Early, robust mucosal secretory IgA but not IgG response to SARS-CoV-2 spike in oral fluid is associated with faster viral clearance and COVID-19 symptom resolution.

Background: High priority efforts are underway to support the development of novel mucosal COVID-19 vaccines, such as the US Government's Project NextGen and the Center for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations' goal to respond to the next pandemic with a new vaccine in 100 days. However, there is limited consensus about the complementary role of mucosal immunity in disease progression and how to evaluate immunogenicity of mucosal vaccines. This study investigated the role of oral mucosal antibody responses in viral clearance and COVID-19 symptom duration.

Strain and model development for auto- and heterotrophic 2,3-butanediol production using Cupriavidus necator H16.

The production of platform chemicals from renewable energy sources is a crucial step towards a post-fossil economy. This study reports on the production of acetoin and 2,3-butanediol heterotrophically with fructose as substrate and autotrophically from CO as carbon source, H as electron donor and O as electron acceptor with Cupriavidus necator. In a previous study, the strain was developed for the production of acetoin with high carbon efficiency.

Peer education as a strategy to promote vaccine acceptance: A randomized controlled trial within New York community healthcare practices.

Background: Effective strategies are needed to improve vaccine acceptance. This study sought to determine if a peer-led vaccine education intervention embedded within community medical practices increases parental acceptance of pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccination.

Methods: From March 2022-July 2023, we conducted a randomized trial at three pediatric health practices in predominantly Hasidic Jewish neighborhoods in New York, where vaccine deferral is common.

Host obesity impacts genetic variation in influenza A viral populations.

Obesity is well established as a risk factor for many noncommunicable diseases; however, its consequences for infectious disease are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of host obesity on influenza A virus (IAV) genetic variation using a diet-induced obesity ferret model and the A/Hong Kong/1073/1999 (H9N2) strain. Using a co-caging study design, we investigated the maintenance, generation, and transmission of intrahost IAV genetic variation by sequencing viral genomic RNA obtained from nasal wash samples over multiple days of infection.

Emergency critical care: closing the gap between onset of critical illness and intensive care unit admission.

Critical illness is an exquisitely time-sensitive condition and follows a disease continuum, which always starts before admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), in the majority of cases even before hospital admission. Reflecting the common practice in many healthcare systems that critical care is mainly provided in the confined areas of an ICU, any delay in ICU admission of critically ill patients is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. However, if appropriate critical care interventions are provided before ICU admission, this association is not observed.

Pinpointing pigs: performance and challenges of an ultra-wideband real-time location system for tracking growing-finishing pigs under practical conditions.

Real-Time Location Systems (RTLSs) are promising precision livestock farming tools and have been employed in behavioural studies across various farm animal species. However, their application in research with fattening pigs is so far unexplored. The implementation of these systems has great potential to gain insight into pigs' spatial behaviour such as the use of functional areas and pigs' proximity to each other as indicators for social relationships.

Landscape review of active vaccine safety surveillance activities for COVID-19 vaccines globally.

Background: Evidence of COVID-19 vaccine safety relied upon the global vaccine monitoring infrastructure due to shortened clinical development timelines and emergency use licensure. Differences in AVSS capacity between high-income countries (HICs) versus low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were known prior to the pandemic.

Objective: To assess the global landscape of COVID-19 vaccine AVSS activities to identify gaps in safety evidence generation across vaccine products and populations with a focus on LMICs.

Sow serenity: automatic long-term measurement of lying behavior in crates and free-farrowing pens using 3D accelerometers.

Accelerometers are useful in analyzing lying behavior in farm animals. The effect of the farrowing system on sow lying behavior has been studied around parturition, but not long-term. In a natural environment, sows increase activity 14 d post parturition, which we expected to be also evident in housed sows when they can move freely.

Evaluation of the point sampling method and inter-comparison of remote emission sensing systems for screening real-world car emissions.

Emissions from internal combustion vehicles are currently not properly monitored throughout their life cycle. Remote emission sensing (RES) is a technology that can measure emissions under real driving conditions without contact. Current light extinction based RES systems are capable of providing emission factors for various gases, but lack accuracy for particulate matter (PM).

Clinical Workflow of Cone Beam Computer Tomography-Based Daily Online Adaptive Radiotherapy with Offline Magnetic Resonance Guidance: The Modular Adaptive Radiotherapy System (MARS).

Purpose: The Ethos (Varian Medical Systems) radiotherapy device combines semi-automated anatomy detection and plan generation for cone beam computer tomography (CBCT)-based daily online adaptive radiotherapy (oART). However, CBCT offers less soft tissue contrast than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This work aims to present the clinical workflow of CBCT-based oART with shuttle-based offline MR guidance.

Outpatient COVID-19 convalescent plasma recipient antibody thresholds correlated to reduced hospitalizations within a randomized trial.

BACKGROUNDCOVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) virus-specific antibody levels that translate into recipient posttransfusion antibody levels sufficient to prevent disease progression are not defined.METHODSThis secondary analysis correlated donor and recipient antibody levels to hospitalization risk among unvaccinated, seronegative CCP recipients within the outpatient, double-blind, randomized clinical trial that compared CCP to control plasma. The majority of COVID-19 CCP arm hospitalizations (15/17, 88%) occurred in this unvaccinated, seronegative subgroup.

Factors predicting mortality in hospitalised HIV-negative children with lower-chest-wall indrawing pneumonia and implications for management.

Introduction: In 2012, the World Health Organization revised treatment guidelines for childhood pneumonia with lower chest wall indrawing (LCWI) but no 'danger signs', to recommend home-based treatment. We analysed data from children hospitalized with LCWI pneumonia in the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) study to identify sub-groups with high odds of mortality, who might continue to benefit from hospital management but may not be admitted by staff implementing the 2012 guidelines. We compare the proportion of deaths identified using the criteria in the 2012 guidelines, and the proportion of deaths identified using an alternative set of criteria from our model.

Daily AI-Based Treatment Adaptation under Weekly Offline MR Guidance in Chemoradiotherapy for Cervical Cancer 1: The AIM-C1 Trial.

(1) External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and concurrent chemotherapy, followed by brachytherapy (BT), offer a standard of care for patients with locally advanced cervical carcinoma. Conventionally, large safety margins are required to compensate for organ movement, potentially increasing toxicity. Lately, daily high-quality cone beam CT (CBCT)-guided adaptive radiotherapy, aided by artificial intelligence (AI), became clinically available.

Multimodal and spatially resolved profiling identifies distinct patterns of T cell infiltration in nodal B cell lymphoma entities.

The redirection of T cells has emerged as an attractive therapeutic principle in B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). However, a detailed characterization of lymphoma-infiltrating T cells across B-NHL entities is missing. Here we present an in-depth T cell reference map of nodal B-NHL, based on cellular indexing of transcriptomes and epitopes, T cell receptor sequencing, flow cytometry and multiplexed immunofluorescence applied to 101 lymph nodes from patients with diffuse large B cell, mantle cell, follicular or marginal zone lymphoma, and from healthy controls.

Heterodyne dynamic light scattering for the characterization of particle dispersions.

Particle self-diffusivities in unimodal and bimodal aqueous dispersions are characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS) applying a heterodyne detection scheme. For unimodal dispersions close to infinite dilution, it could be evidenced that pure homodyne conditions cannot be realized, leading to an increasing underestimation of diffusivity with a decreasing concentration. Even for bimodal dispersions and neglecting any local oscillator field, the coherent superposition of scattered light from different particle species hinders a clear assignment of the measured signals and their evaluation for diffusivity.

A moderated mediation analysis on the influence of social support and cognitive flexibility in predicting mental wellbeing in elite sport.

The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanism by which social support influences mental wellbeing. Using the thriving through relationships model to provide a theoretical underpinning, cognitive flexibility was hypothesised as a mediator. Additionally, the research examined the consistency of this pathway between elite athletes, retired athletes, and non-athletes.

Experimental capabilities for liquid jet samples at sub-MHz rates at the FXE Instrument at European XFEL.

The Femtosecond X-ray Experiments (FXE) instrument at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL) provides an optimized platform for investigations of ultrafast physical, chemical and biological processes. It operates in the energy range 4.7-20 keV accommodating flexible and versatile environments for a wide range of samples using diverse ultrafast X-ray spectroscopic, scattering and diffraction techniques.