The fungal sexual revolution continues: discovery of sexual development in members of the genus Aspergillus and its consequences.

Asexuality was considered to be a common feature of a large part of fungi, including those of the genus Aspergillus. However, recent advances and the available genomic and genetic engineering technologies allowed to gather more and more indications of a hidden sexuality in fungi previously considered asexual. In parallel, the acquired knowledge of the most suitable conditions for crossings was shown to be crucial to effectively promote sexual reproduction in the laboratory.

Pregnancy duration with use of 17-α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate in a retrospective cohort at high risk of recurrent preterm birth.

Background: The use of 17-α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate for the prevention of recurrent spontaneous preterm birth has become widespread, yet there are conflicting data regarding its efficacy.

Objective: We sought to determine whether administration of 17-α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate was associated with pregnancy prolongation in women at a high risk of recurrent spontaneous preterm birth.

Study Design: This is a retrospective cohort study of women with singleton pregnancies and a history of spontaneous preterm birth at <37 weeks' gestation who received care at our academic tertiary care center between 2009 and 2019.

Politicizing public health: the powder keg of rushing COVID-19 vaccines.

Vaccine hesitancy is on the rise, as more individuals are delaying or refusing vaccines. This rise in hesitancy has been primarily driven by vaccine safety concerns, even though the vaccine development process is regulated by a robust and rigorous scientific system. Recent data suggest that many individuals would be unwilling to take a COVID-19 vaccine, once one is available.

Nanoscale imaging of bacterial infections by sphingolipid expansion microscopy.

Expansion microscopy (ExM) enables super-resolution imaging of proteins and nucleic acids on conventional microscopes. However, imaging of details of the organization of lipid bilayers by light microscopy remains challenging. We introduce an unnatural short-chain azide- and amino-modified sphingolipid ceramide, which upon incorporation into membranes can be labeled by click chemistry and linked into hydrogels, followed by 4× to 10× expansion.

Effects of Austenitization Temperature and Pre-Deformation on CCT Diagrams of 23MnNiCrMo5-3 Steel.

The combined effect of deformation temperature and strain value on the continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagram of low-alloy steel with 0.23% C, 1.17% Mn, 0.

A role for TASK2 channels in the human immunological synapse.

The immunological synapse is a transient junction that occurs when the plasma membrane of a T cell comes in close contact with an APC after recognizing a peptide from the antigen-MHC. The interaction starts when CRAC channels embedded in the T cell membrane open, flowing calcium ions into the cell. To counterbalance the ion influx and subsequent depolarization, K 1.

Product review of the rotavirus vaccines ROTASIIL, ROTAVAC, and Rotavin-M1.

Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe dehydrating gastroenteritis and death due to diarrhea among children under 5, causing over 180,000 under-5 deaths annually. Safe, effective rotavirus vaccines have been available for over a decade and are used in over 98 countries. In addition to the globally available, WHO-prequalified ROTARIX (GSK) and RotaTeq (Merck), several new rotavirus vaccines have attained national licensure - ROTAVAC (Bharat Biotech) and ROTASIIL (Serum Institute of India), licensed and manufactured in India and now WHO-prequalified, and Rotavin-M1 (PolyVac), licensed and manufactured in Vietnam.

Understanding How Microorganisms Respond to Acid pH Is Central to Their Control and Successful Exploitation.

Microbes from the three domains of life, , , and , share the need to sense and respond to changes in the external and internal concentrations of protons. When the proton concentration is high, acidic conditions prevail and cells must respond appropriately to ensure that macromolecules and metabolic processes are sufficiently protected to sustain life. While, we have learned much in recent decades about the mechanisms that microbes use to cope with acid, including the unique challenges presented by organic acids, there is still much to be gained from developing a deeper understanding of the effects and responses to acid in microbes.

Superagonistic CD28 stimulation induces IFN-γ release from mouse T helper 1 cells in vitro and in vivo.

Like human Th1 cells, mouse Th1 cells also secrete IFN-γ upon stimulation with a superagonistic anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody (CD28-SA). Crosslinking of the CD28-SA via FcR and CD40-CD40L interactions greatly increased IFN-γ release. Our data stress the utility of the mouse as a model organism for immune responses in humans.

Slow Growth and Increased Spontaneous Mutation Frequency in Respiratory Deficient Yeast Suppressed by a Dominant Mutation in .

A yeast deletion mutation in the nuclear-encoded gene, , which codes for a mitochondrial ribosomal protein, led to slow growth on glucose, the inability to grow on glycerol or ethanol, and loss of mitochondrial DNA and respiration. We noticed that yeast readily obtains secondary mutations that suppress aspects of this phenotype, including its growth defect. We characterized and identified a dominant missense suppressor mutation in the gene.

Confocal Fluorescence-Lifetime Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy.

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy is an important technique that adds another dimension to intensity and color acquired by conventional microscopy. In particular, it allows for multiplexing fluorescent labels that have otherwise similar spectral properties. Currently, the only super-resolution technique that is capable of recording super-resolved images with lifetime information is stimulated emission depletion microscopy.

Reconstituting NK Cells After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation Show Impaired Response to the Fungal Pathogen .

Delayed natural killer (NK) cell reconstitution after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) is associated with a higher risk of developing invasive aspergillosis. The interaction of NK cells with the human pathogen is mediated by the fungal recognition receptor CD56, which is relocated to the fungal interface after contact. Blocking of CD56 signaling inhibits the fungal mediated chemokine secretion of MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and RANTES and reduces cell activation, indicating a functional role of CD56 in fungal recognition.

Identification of the citrate exporter Cex1 of Yarrowia lipolytica.

Yarrowia lipolytica is a yeast with many talents, one of them being the production of citric acid. Although the citrate biosynthesis is well studied, little is known about the transport mechanism by which citrate is exported. To gain better insight into this mechanism, we set out to identify a transporter involved in citrate export of Y.

EPSIN1 and MTV1 define functionally overlapping but molecularly distinct -Golgi network subdomains in .

The plant -Golgi network (TGN) is a central trafficking hub where secretory, vacuolar, recycling, and endocytic pathways merge. Among currently known molecular players involved in TGN transport, three different adaptor protein (AP) complexes promote vesicle generation at the TGN with different cargo specificity and destination. Yet, it remains unresolved how sorting into diverging vesicular routes is spatially organized.

Epidemiology of coronavirus disease 2019 in pregnancy: risk factors and associations with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 may be associated with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes in pregnancy, but there are few controlled data to quantify the magnitude of these risks or to characterize the epidemiology and risk factors.

Objective: This study aimed to quantify the associations of coronavirus disease 2019 with adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes in pregnancy and to characterize the epidemiology and risk factors.

Study Design: We performed a matched case-control study of pregnant patients with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 cases who delivered between 16 and 41 weeks' gestation from March 11 to June 11, 2020.

Microscale Perfusion-Based Cultivation for Pichia pastoris Clone Screening Enables Accelerated and Optimized Recombinant Protein Production Processes.

Pichia pastoris has emerged in the past years as a promising host for recombinant protein and biopharmaceutical production. In the establishment of high cell density fed-batch biomanufacturing, screening phase and early bioprocess development (based on microplates and shake flasks) still represent a bottleneck due to high-cost and time-consuming procedures as well as low experiment complexity. In the present work, a screening protocol developed for P.

Vaccine decision-making among parents of children on Medicaid with and without autism spectrum disorder.

Background: The belief that there is a link between the MMR vaccine and autism has led to a decline in childhood-immunization uptake and a resurgence of preventable infectious diseases. This study aimed to understand how the vaccine decision-making process differed between parents with a child diagnosed with autism and parents with a child that did not have autism.

Methods: Interviews were conducted in September-December 2018 with 24 racially and demographically diverse parents of children on Medicaid at two Baltimore clinics serving Medicaid patients, one of which only serves families of children with autism.

Use of Cell and Genome Modification Technologies to Generate Improved "Off-the-Shelf" CAR T and CAR NK Cells.

The broad success of adoptive immunotherapy to treat human cancer has resulted in a paradigm shift in modern medicine. Modification of autologous and allogenic immune cells with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) designed to target specific antigens on tumor cells has led to production of CAR T and CAR NK cell therapies, which are ever more commonly introduced into cancer patient treatment protocols. While allogenic T cells may offer advantages such as improved anti-tumor activity, they also carry the risk of adverse reactions like graft-versus-host disease.

Characterizing mothers and children at risk of being under-immunized in India: A latent class analysis approach.

Objectives: While India has made substantial progress in introducing new vaccines and scaling up immunization coverage, inequities persist sub-nationally. This study was performed to investigate the risk of under-immunization based on class membership and to identify heterogeneous classes based on sociodemographic characteristics in pediatric and maternal populations in India through latent class analysis.

Methods: Data from the most recent National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015-2016 were used.