A prospective study on myocardial injury after BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 fourth dose vaccination in healthy persons.

Aims: To prospectively evaluate the incidence of myocardial injury after the administration of the fourth dose BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) against COVID-19.

Methods And Results: Health care workers who received the BNT162b2 vaccine during the fourth dose campaign had blood samples collected for high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) during vaccine administration and 2-4 days afterward. Vaccine-related myocardial injury was defined as hs-cTn elevation above the 99th percentile upper reference limit and >50% increase from baseline measurement.

Effect of Acetazolamide on Obesity-Induced Glomerular Hyperfiltration: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Aims: Obesity is an important risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease. One of the major factors involved in the pathogenesis of obesity-associated kidney disease is glomerular hyperfiltration. Increasing salt-delivery to the macula densa is expected to decrease glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by activating tubuloglomerular feedback.

Hyper-activated motility in sperm capacitation is mediated by phospholipase D-dependent actin polymerization.

In order to fertilize the oocyte, sperm must undergo a series of biochemical changes in the female reproductive tract, known as capacitation. Once capacitated, spermatozoon can bind to the zona pellucida of the egg and undergo the acrosome reaction (AR), a process that enables its penetration and fertilization of the oocyte. Important processes that characterize sperm capacitation are actin polymerization and the development of hyper-activated motility (HAM).

Meig1 deficiency causes a severe defect in mouse spermatogenesis.

Meig1 is a mouse gene, abundantly expressed in the testis. It encodes two alternative transcripts that are expressed differentially in the somatic and germinal compartments of the testis. These transcripts share the same coding region but differ in their 5' un-translated regions, due to alternative promoters.

Effect of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist gene deletion on male mouse fertility.

Members of the IL-1 family are pleiotropic cytokines that are involved in inflammation, immunoregulation, and other homeostatic functions in the body. IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, and the IL-1 antagonistic molecule [IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1 Ra)] are present in the testis under normal homeostasis, and they further increase upon infection/inflammation. In the present study, we examined the effect of IL-1 Ra gene deletion on male mouse fertility.