A randomized controlled trial of a team science intervention to enhance collaboration readiness and behavior among early career scholars in the Clinical and Translational Science Award network.

Introduction: Despite the central importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration in the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) network and the implementation of various programs designed to enhance collaboration, rigorous evidence for the efficacy of these approaches is lacking. We conducted a novel randomized controlled trial (RCT; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05395286) of a promising approach to enhance collaboration readiness and behavior among 95 early career scholars from throughout the CTSA network.

Should Uterus Transplantation for Transwomen and Transmen Be Subsidized?

Success in uterus transplantation (UTx) among ciswomen suggests that transwomen and some transmen will also likely have interest in this intervention. It does not seem likely, however, that all parties interested in UTx will have the same standing when it comes to federal subsidies or insurance coverage benefits. This analysis describes the comparative moral strength of claims for financial support for UTx that different parties might make.

Rhinovirus increases adhesion to the respiratory epithelium.

Rhinovirus causes many types of respiratory illnesses, ranging from minor colds to exacerbations of asthma. is an opportunistic pathogen that is increased in abundance during rhinovirus illnesses and asthma exacerbations and is associated with increased severity of illness through mechanisms that are ill-defined. We used a co-infection model of human airway epithelium differentiated at the air-liquid interface to test the hypothesis that rhinovirus infection promotes adhesion and survival on the respiratory epithelium.

A community-university run conference as a catalyst for addressing health disparities in an urban community.

The African American population of Buffalo, New York experiences striking race-based health disparities due to adverse social determinants of health. A team of community leaders and university faculty determined that a community dialogue was needed to focus research and advocacy on the root causes of these disparities. In response, we organized the annual conference series that has become the premier conference on health disparities in the region.

Gestation as mothering.

Some commentators maintain that gestational surrogates are not 'mothers' in a way capable of grounding a claim to motherhood. These commentators find that the practices that constitute motherhood do not extend to gestational surrogates. We argue that gestational surrogates should be construed as mothers of the children they bear, even if they fully intend to surrender those children at birth to the care of others.

Synchrony in serum antibody response to conserved proteins of in young children.

Conserved () proteins, oligopeptide permease (Opp)A, hemagglutinin (Hag), outer membrane protein (OMP) CD, Pilin A clade 2 (PilA2), and Moraxella surface protein (Msp) 22 have been studied as vaccine candidates. Children who experience frequent acute otitis media (AOM) confirmed with pathogen identification by tympanocentesis are referred to as stringently-defined otitis prone (sOP). Synchrony of serum antibody responses against 5 proteins, OppA, Hag, OMP CD, PilA2, and Msp22 resulting from nasopharyngeal colonization and AOM was studied for 85 non-otitis prone (NOP) children and 34 sOP children.

Impact of Isolation on Mortality and Outcomes in an Outpatient Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Cohort.

Background: Tracheobronchial colonization by () has been shown to negatively impact outcomes in cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. There is uncertainty whether the same association is prevalent in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), especially in the outpatient setting. Our objective was to determine (1) whether isolation is associated with mortality and (2) changes in exacerbation and hospitalization rates within a longitudinal cohort of COPD outpatients.

ReVac: a reverse vaccinology computational pipeline for prioritization of prokaryotic protein vaccine candidates.

Background: Reverse vaccinology accelerates the discovery of potential vaccine candidates (PVCs) prior to experimental validation. Current programs typically use one bacterial proteome to identify PVCs through a filtering architecture using feature prediction programs or a machine learning approach. Filtering approaches may eliminate potential antigens based on limitations in the accuracy of prediction tools used.

Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae isolates from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease contain new phase-variable modA methyltransferase alleles controlling phasevarions.

Phasevarions (phase-variable regulons) are emerging as an important area of bacterial gene regulation. Many bacterial pathogens contain phasevarions, with gene expression controlled by the phase-variable expression of DNA methyltransferases via epigenetic mechanisms. Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) contains the phase-variable methyltransferase modA, of which multiple allelic variants exist (modA1-21).

Biogenetic ties and parent-child relationships: The misplaced critique.

According to an almost axiomatic standard in bioethics, moral commitment should ground parents' relationship with their children, rather than biogenetic relatedness. This standard has been used lately to express skepticism about extending existing assisted reproductive treatments (ARTs) to same-sex couples and to research into novel fertility interventions for those couples, but this skepticism is misplaced on several grounds. As a matter of access and equity, same-sex couples seem presumptively entitled to genetic relatedness to their children as far as possible both in regard to existing ARTs and to novel ARTs under investigation.

Transcriptome Sequencing Data Sets for Determining Gene Expression Changes Mediated by Phase-Variable DNA Methyltransferases in Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae Strains Isolated from Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Nontypeable (NTHi) is a major bacterial cause of exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Here, we report high-depth coverage transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) data from two NTHi strains, each encoding a different phase-variable methyltransferase. phase variation results in gene expression differences.

The Laminin Interactome: A Multifactorial Laminin-Binding Strategy by Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae for Effective Adherence and Colonization.

Laminin is a well-defined component of the airway basement membrane (BM). Efficient binding of laminin via multiple interactions is important for nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) colonization in the airway mucosa. In this study, we identified elongation factor thermo-unstable (EF-Tu), l-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), protein D (PD), and peptidoglycan-associated lipoprotein P6 as novel laminin-binding proteins (Lbps) of NTHi.

Small-Molecule Inhibitors of IgA1 Protease.

Newly identified, nontypable () strains represent a serious threat to global health. Due to the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance, virulence factors have emerged as potential therapeutic targets that would be less likely to promote resistance. IgA1 proteases are secreted virulence factors of many Gram-negative human pathogens.

Adolescents and Body Modification for Gender Identity Expression.

As a matter of ethics and law, adults enjoy wide berth in securing hormonal and surgical interventions to align their bodies with their desired gender appearance. In contrast, the exercise of choice by minors is more constrained, because they can be less well situated to grasp the nature and consequences of interventions having life-long effects. Even so, some minors hope for body modifications prior to adulthood.

Closed Complete Genome Sequences of Two Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae Strains Containing Novel Alleles from the Sputum of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is an important bacterial pathogen that causes otitis media and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Here, we report the complete genome sequences of NTHi strains 10P129H1 and 84P36H1, isolated from COPD patients, which contain the phase-variable epigenetic regulators ModA15 and ModA18, respectively.

Persistence of Moraxella catarrhalis in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Regulation of the Hag/MID Adhesin.

Background: Persistence of bacterial pathogens in the airways has profound consequences on the course and pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Patients with COPD continuously acquire and clear strains of Moraxella catarrhalis, a major pathogen in COPD. Some strains are cleared quickly and some persist for months to years.

Differential distribution of IgA-protease genotypes in mucosal and invasive isolates of Haemophilus influenzae in Sweden.

Background: Several different IgA-proteases exist in Haemophilus influenzae. The variants have been suggested to play differential roles in pathogenesis, but there is limited information on their distribution in clinical isolates. The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution of IgA-protease genotypes in H.