SARS-CoV-2 trends in Italy, Germany and Portugal and school opening during the period of Omicron variant dominance: A quasi experimental study in the EuCARE project.

Objectives: We investigated the impact of school reopening on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Italy, Germany, and Portugal in autumn 2022 when the Omicron variant was prevalent.

Methods: A prospective international study was conducted using the case reproduction number (R) calculated with the time parametrization of Omicron. For Germany and Italy, staggered difference-in-differences analysis was employed to explore the causal relationship between school reopening and R changes, accounting for varying reopening dates.

Swelling-induced upregulation of miR-141-3p inhibits hepatocyte proliferation.

Background & Aims: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as a regulatory mechanism on a post-transcriptional level by repressing gene transcription/translation and play a central role in the cellular stress response. Osmotic changes occur in a variety of diseases including liver cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy. Changes in cell hydration and alterations of the cellular volume are major regulators of cell function and gene expression.

Tauroursodeoxycholate protects from glycochenodeoxycholate-induced gene expression changes in perfused rat liver.

Tauroursodeoxycholate (TUDC) is well known to protect against glycochenodeoxycholate (GCDC)-induced apoptosis in rat hepatocytes. In the present study, we analyzed whether TUDC also exerts protective effects by modulating GCDC-induced gene expression changes. For this, gene array-based transcriptome analysis and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were performed on RNA isolated from rat livers perfused with GCDC, TUDC or a combination of both (each 20 μm for 2 h).