Anatomy of a liquidity crisis: Corporate bonds in the COVID-19 crisis.

We examine the microstructure of liquidity provision in the COVID-19 corporate bond liquidity crisis. During the two weeks leading up to Federal Reserve System interventions, volume shifted to liquid securities, transaction costs soared, trade-size pricing inverted, and dealers, particularly non-primary dealers, shifted from buying to selling, causing dealers' inventories to plummet. Liquidity provisions in electronic customer-to-customer trading increased, though at prohibitively high costs.

Assessment of the FilmArray® multiplex PCR system and associated meningitis/encephalitis panel in the diagnostic service of a tertiary hospital.

Rapid and accurate diagnosis of meningitis/encephalitis (M/E) is essential for successful patient outcomes. The FilmArray® meningitis/encephalitis Panel (MEP) is a multiplexed PCR test for simultaneous, rapid detection of pathogens directly from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. 94 prospectively collected CSF specimens from patients with clinical suspicion of infective M/E underwent testing for 14 pathogens simultaneously, including , , , and .

From High Touch to High Tech: A Conversation With Maureen O'Hara, BSN, RN, OCN.

An oncology nurse talks about her 42-year career at Stanford Medical Center. The technological and pharmacological advances she has seen in that time have changed the face of oncology nursing practice and transformed many previously fatal cancers into curable diseases or chronic illnesses compatible with well-being. The increasing complexity of care requires multidisciplinary collaboration and brings with it new ethical dilemmas.

Mutational analysis of the herpes simplex virus type 1 UL25 DNA packaging protein reveals regions that are important after the viral DNA has been packaged.

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) UL25 gene encodes a minor capsid protein, pUL25, that is essential for packaging the full-length viral genome. Six regions which contain disordered residues have been identified in the high-resolution structure of pUL25. To investigate the significance of these flexible regions, a panel of plasmids was generated encoding mutant proteins, with each member lacking the disordered residues in one of the six regions.

Modulation of human arterial tone during pregnancy: the effect of the bioactive metabolite sphingosine-1-phosphate.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a potent bioactive lipid that has been implicated in cardiovascular disease. The objective of the present study was to determine the vasoactive effects and underlying mechanisms of S1P on adult human maternal arteries. The isometric tensions of the omental and myometrial arteries isolated from normal pregnant women at term were assessed in response to incremental doses of S1P in the presence or absence of the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME).

Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors and omental and placental small artery function in normal pregnancy and pre-eclampsia.

Objectives: In pre-eclampsia (PE), endothelium-dependent function of myometrial small arteries is markedly attenuated. The residual PE response is wholly NO mediated. We have previously demonstrated that PDE5 inhibition can improve endothelial function in myometrial small arteries from women with PE.

The involvement of Rho-associated kinases in agonist-dependent contractions of human maternal and placental arteries at term gestation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the involvement of rho kinase (ROK) in agonist-dependent contraction of omental, myometrial, and placental arteries of pregnant women at term.

Study Design: Wire myography was used to assess if contractions of intact or alpha-toxin-permeabilized arteries obtained from women at elective cesarean section were influenced by the ROK inhibitor Y-27632.

Results: Western blotting indicated the presence of ROKalpha in each of the 3 tissue types.

Sildenafil citrate (Viagra) enhances vasodilatation in fetal growth restriction.

Background: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) affects up to 8% of all pregnancies and has massive short-term (increased fetal morbidity and mortality) and long-term (increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in adulthood) health implications. Doppler waveform analysis of pregnancies complicated by FGR suggests compromised uteroplacental circulation and placental hypoperfusion. Our aim was to determine whether myometrial small artery function was aberrant in FGR and to assess whether sildenafil citrate could improve vasodilatation in FGR pregnancies.

Effects of a phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitor on endothelium-dependent relaxation of myometrial small arteries.

Objective: In preeclampsia, endothelium-dependent function is markedly aberrant. Myometrial resistance arteries from women with preeclampsia show a minimal, wholly nitric oxide-mediated, bradykinin-induced relaxation. Our aim was to test that phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibition could improve endothelium-dependent function in preeclampsia.

The chemokine receptor D6 constitutively traffics to and from the cell surface to internalize and degrade chemokines.

The D6 heptahelical membrane protein, expressed by lymphatic endothelial cells, is able to bind with high affinity to multiple proinflammatory CC chemokines. However, this binding does not allow D6 to couple to the signaling pathways activated by typical chemokine receptors such as CC-chemokine receptor-5 (CCR5). Here, we show that D6, like CCR5, can rapidly internalize chemokines.

Purification and biochemical characterization of the D6 chemokine receptor.

There is much interest in chemokine receptors as therapeutic targets in diseases such as AIDS, autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, and cancer. Hampering such studies is the lack of accurate three-dimensional structural models of these molecules. The CC-chemokine receptor D6 is expressed at exceptionally high levels in heterologous transfectants.

Vasoactive effects of neurokinin B on human blood vessels.

Objectives: Preeclampsia (PE) is a multisystem disease unique to human pregnancy. Abnormal placentation results in placental hypoperfusion leading to the secretion of a factor(s) by the placenta. Our aim was to investigate whether neurokinin B (NKB) is the circulating factor associated with PE.