Intercellular viral spread and intracellular transposition of Drosophila gypsy.

It has become increasingly clear that retrotransposons (RTEs) are more widely expressed in somatic tissues than previously appreciated. RTE expression has been implicated in a myriad of biological processes ranging from normal development and aging, to age related diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Long Terminal Repeat (LTR)-RTEs are evolutionary ancestors to, and share many features with, exogenous retroviruses.

Prevalence of IgM and IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in health care workers at a tertiary care New York hospital during the Spring COVID-19 surge.

Background: Health care workers (HCW) such as anesthesiologists, surgeons, and intensivists face high rates of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 through direct contact with COVID-19 patients. While there are initial reports of the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies among the general population, there are few reports comparing the seroprevalence of IgM/IgG COVID-19 antibodies in HCW of different exposure levels as well as different HCW professions.

Methods: A convenience sample of health care workers provided blood for COVID-19 antibody testing and a review of medical history and work exposure for correlative analyses.

Impact of serological and PCR testing requirements on the selection of COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors.

Background: Convalescent plasma is undergoing randomized trials as a potential therapeutic option for COVID-19 infection. Little empirical evidence exists regarding the determination of donor eligibility and experiences with donor selection.

Study Design And Methods: This prospective study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in New York to select plasma donors for a randomized, double-blind, controlled convalescent plasma trial.

Repeated mild traumatic brain injury causes focal response in lateral septum and hippocampus.

Aim: To advance our understanding of regional and temporal cellular responses to repeated mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI), we used a mouse model of rmTBI that incorporated acceleration, deceleration and rotational forces.

Materials & Methods: A modified weight-drop method was used to compare two inter-injury intervals, rmTBI-short (five hits delivered over 3 days) and rmTBI-long (five hits delivered over 15 days). Regional investigations of forebrain and midbrain histological alterations were performed at three post-injury time points (immediate, 2 weeks and 6 weeks).

Human Dendritic Cells Mitigate NK-Cell Dysfunction Mediated by Nonselective JAK1/2 Blockade.

Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors have achieved positive responses in myeloproliferative neoplasms, but at the expense of decreased natural killer (NK) cell numbers and compromised function. Selective JAK2 inhibition may also have a role in preventing and treating graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Although JAK inhibitors can impair monocyte-derived dendritic cell (moDC) activation and function and suppress effector T-cell responses, the effects on NK cells and the relevant mechanisms remain undefined.