Publications by authors named "P N Mungai"
Dengue virus (DENV) is the most common arbovirus globally, with its incidence growing dramatically in recent decades. Although the effects of DENV infection during pregnancy are unclear, reported associations with adverse health outcomes include miscarriage, prematurity, and low birth weight. In this study, we used an IgG ELISA to identify mothers exposed to DENV during pregnancy by testing samples obtained from a previous study that followed a cohort of pregnant women in Kenya to investigate parasitic infections during pregnancy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNewborn mammalian cardiomyocytes quickly transition from a fetal to an adult phenotype that utilizes mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation but loses mitotic capacity. We tested whether forced reversal of adult cardiomyocytes back to a fetal glycolytic phenotype would restore proliferative capacity. We deleted Uqcrfs1 (mitochondrial Rieske iron-sulfur protein, RISP) in hearts of adult mice.
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- Urogenital schistosomiasis can lead to both acute and chronic issues in the urinary tract, with chronic damage often overlooked in assessments of disease burden.
- A study tracking 93 women over 14 years found that while active infections decreased significantly, urinary tract issues actually increased, particularly related to bladder thickening.
- The findings suggest that chronic changes induced by schistosomiasis can persist even after active infections are treated, highlighting the need for improved disease management strategies to reduce long-term impacts.
Infections during pregnancy can expose the fetus to microbial Ags, leading to inflammation that affects B cell development. Prenatal fetal immune priming may have an important role in infant acquisition of pathogen-specific immunity. We examined plasma proinflammatory biomarkers, the proportions of various B cell subsets, and fetal priming to tetanus vaccination in cord blood from human United States and Kenyan neonates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Antenatal exposure to parasites can affect infants' subsequent responses to vaccination. The present study investigated how maternal prenatal infections and newborns' antiparasite cytokine profiles relate to immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses to standard vaccination during infancy.
Methods: A total of 450 Kenyan women were tested for parasitic infections during pregnancy.