Investigating the Role of Race and Stressful Life Events on the Smoking Patterns of Pregnant and Postpartum Women in the United States: A Multistate Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System Phase 8 (2016-2018) Analysis.

Objective: To examine the smoking patterns of women who experienced stressful life events and the impact of racial disparities on the relationship between stressful life events, and prenatal/ postpartum smoking.

Methods: The study analyzed data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System Phase 8 (2016-2018) survey across five states (CT, LA, MA, MO, WI). Four stressful life event categories were created using thirteen affiliated questions: financial, trauma, partner, and emotional.

Shared Decision-Making and Emergency Department Use Among People With High Blood Pressure.

Introduction: Forty-seven percent of all adults in the US have a diagnosis of high blood pressure. Among all US emergency department (ED) users, an estimated 45% have high blood pressure. The success of high blood pressure interventions in reducing ED visits is partially predicated on patients' adherence to treatment plans.

Weight estimation in two groups of Ghanaian children with chronic diseases using Broselow, Mercy, PAWPER XL and PAWPER XL-MAC tapes.

Introduction: The performance of various weight estimation methods in children with sickle cell disease (SCD) and heart disease (HD) has not been studied. We aimed to determine and compare the accuracies of the Broselow, Mercy, PAWPER XL and PAWPER XL-MAC tapes in Ghanaian children with no known chronic diseases (controls), SCD and HD.

Methods: We prospectively recruited 631 children (199 with HD, 209 SCD and 223 controls) from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

Influence of Social Determinants of Health on Heart Failure Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Background Prior research suggests an association between clinical outcomes in heart failure (HF) and social determinants of health (SDoH). Because providers should identify and address SDoH in care delivery, we evaluated how SDoH have been defined, measured, and evaluated in studies that examine HF outcomes. Methods and Results Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, databases were searched for observational or interventional studies published between 2009 and 2021 that assessed the influence of SDoH on outcomes.

Detection of sensu lato cysts and seroprevalence of cystic echinococcosis in cattle and camels in Maiduguri Abattoir.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a zoonotic disease of great importance worldwide. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antigenic profile of cysts (CE cysts) in camels and cattle. The lungs, livers, hearts, and kidneys of 560 animals, comprising 304 camels and 256 cattle slaughtered in the Maiduguri abattoir, were examined for CE.

Community Health Worker Impact on Knowledge, Antenatal Care, And Birth Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: Community health worker (CHW) interventions have been shown to be effective in areas of maternal and child health (MCH), mostly in relation to infant and neonatal mortality. The specific aims of this review were to expand outcomes to include improving knowledge related to pregnancy and infant health and the receipt of antenatal care (ANC), along with birth outcomes. We also summarized the role, characteristics and activities of CHWs in interventions conducted in settings with demonstrated improvements in key MCH outcomes.

Using Collective Impact to Develop a Community-Led Initiative for Improving Black Infant Mortality.

The United States has one of the highest infant mortality rates among developed countries. When stratified by race, disparities are more evident: Black infant mortality rates are 2.5 times higher than non-Hispanic white infants.

Toxoplasma gondii Matrix Antigen 1 Is a Secreted Immunomodulatory Effector.

Our studies on novel cyst wall proteins serendipitously led us to the discovery that cyst wall and vacuolar matrix protein MAG1, first identified a quarter of a century ago, functions as a secreted immunomodulatory effector. MAG1 is a dense granular protein that is found in the parasitophorous vacuolar matrix in tachyzoite vacuoles and the cyst wall and matrix in bradyzoite vacuoles. In the current study, we demonstrated that MAG1 is secreted beyond the parasitophorous vacuole into the host cytosol in both tachyzoites and bradyzoites.

Decrease in Admissions and Change in the Diagnostic Landscape in a Newborn Care Unit in Northern Ghana During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread worldwide with an increasing number of patients, including pregnant women and neonates. This study aims to evaluate morbidity and mortality in the COVID-19 era compared to the preceding year in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana. This is a cross-sectional study carried out on neonates admitted to NICU between March 1st to August 31st, 2019 (pre-COVID-19 era) and March 1st to August 31st, 2020 (COVID-19 era).

MAG2, a Toxoplasma gondii Bradyzoite Stage-Specific Cyst Matrix Protein.

causes a chronic infection that affects a significant portion of the world's population, and this latent infection is the source of reactivation of toxoplasmosis. An attribute of the slowly growing bradyzoite stage of the parasite is the formation of a cyst within infected cells, allowing the parasite to escape the host's immune response. In this study, a new bradyzoite cyst atrix ntien (MAG) was identified through a hybridoma library screen.

The Toxoplasma gondii Cyst Wall Interactome.

A characteristic of the latent cyst stage of is a thick cyst wall that forms underneath the membrane of the bradyzoite vacuole. Previously, our laboratory group published a proteomic analysis of purified cyst wall fragments that identified an inventory of cyst wall components. To further refine our understanding of the composition of the cyst wall, several cyst wall proteins were tagged with a promiscuous biotin ligase (BirA*), and their interacting partners were screened by streptavidin affinity purification.

The Methods Employed in Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Posttranslational Modifications (PTMs) and Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs).

Mass Spectrometry (MS) has revolutionized the way we study biomolecules, especially proteins, their interactions and posttranslational modifications (PTM). As such MS has established itself as the leading tool for the analysis of PTMs mainly because this approach is highly sensitive, amenable to high throughput and is capable of assigning PTMs to specific sites in the amino acid sequence of proteins and peptides. Along with the advances in MS methodology there have been improvements in biochemical, genetic and cell biological approaches to mapping the interactome which are discussed with consideration for both the practical and technical considerations of these techniques.

Post-translational modifications as key regulators of apicomplexan biology: insights from proteome-wide studies.

Parasites of the Apicomplexa phylum, such as Plasmodium spp. and Toxoplasma gondii, undergo complex life cycles involving multiple stages with distinct biology and morphologies. Post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as phosphorylation, acetylation and glycosylation, regulate numerous cellular processes, playing a role in every aspect of cell biology.

The role of microsporidian polar tube protein 4 (PTP4) in host cell infection.

Microsporidia have been identified as pathogens that have important effects on our health, food security and economy. A key to the success of these obligate intracellular pathogens is their unique invasion organelle, the polar tube, which delivers the nucleus containing sporoplasm into host cells during invasion. Due to the size of the polar tube, the rapidity of polar tube discharge and sporoplasm passage, and the absence of genetic techniques for the manipulation of microsporidia, study of this organelle has been difficult and there is relatively little known regarding polar tube formation and the function of the proteins making up this structure.

Comparative Monomethylarginine Proteomics Suggests that Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) is a Significant Contributor to Arginine Monomethylation in .

Arginine methylation is a common posttranslational modification found on nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins that has roles in transcriptional regulation, RNA metabolism and DNA repair. The protozoan parasite has a complex life cycle requiring transcriptional plasticity and has unique transcriptional regulatory pathways. Arginine methylation may play an important part in transcriptional regulation and splicing biology in this organism.

Making Home Sweet and Sturdy: Toxoplasma gondii ppGalNAc-Ts Glycosylate in Hierarchical Order and Confer Cyst Wall Rigidity.

Unlabelled: The protozoan intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii forms latent cysts in the central nervous system (CNS) and persists for the lifetime of the host. This cyst is cloaked with a glycosylated structure called the cyst wall. Previously, we demonstrated that a mucin-like glycoprotein, CST1, localizes to the cyst wall and confers structural rigidity on brain cysts in a mucin-like domain-dependent manner.

Toxoplasma gondii Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase Subunit 3 Is Involved in the Switch from Tachyzoite to Bradyzoite Development.

Unlabelled: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite that infects warm-blooded vertebrates, including humans. Asexual reproduction in T. gondii allows it to switch between the rapidly replicating tachyzoite and quiescent bradyzoite life cycle stages.

The Ubiquitin Proteome of Toxoplasma gondii Reveals Roles for Protein Ubiquitination in Cell-Cycle Transitions.

Protein ubiquitination plays key roles in protein turnover, cellular signaling, and intracellular transport. The genome of Toxoplasma gondii encodes ubiquitination machinery, but the roles of this posttranslational modification (PTM) are unknown. To examine the prevalence and function of ubiquitination in T.

Effects of aqueous extracts of Acacia albida stem bark on Wistar albino rats infected with Trypanosoma evansi.

The effect of aqueous extract of Acacia albida stem bark was investigated in Wistar albino rats infected with Trypanosoma evansi. The extract showed highest reduction in parasitemia at the dose of 600 mg/kg body weight (bw). A dose of 300 mg/kg bw improved packed cell volume the most by 14.

Role of bilayer characteristics on the structural fate of aβ(1-40) and aβ(25-40).

The β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide is derived from the transmembrane (TM) helix of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and has been shown to interact with membrane surfaces. To understand better the role of peptide-membrane interactions in cell death and ultimately in Alzheimer's disease, a better understanding of how membrane characteristics affect the binding, solvation, and secondary structure of Aβ is needed. Employing a combination of circular dichroism and deep-UV resonance Raman spectroscopies, Aβ(25-40) was found to fold spontaneously upon association with anionic lipid bilayers.

Bilayer surface association of the pHLIP peptide promotes extensive backbone desolvation and helically-constrained structures.

Despite their presence in many aspects of biology, the study of membrane proteins lags behind that of their soluble counterparts. Improving structural analysis of membrane proteins is essential. Deep-UV resonance Raman (DUVRR) spectroscopy is an emerging technique in this area and has demonstrated sensitivity to subtle structural transitions and changes in protein environment.

Design of a 24-hour controlled porosity osmotic pump system containing PVP: formulation variables.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to design a 24-hour controlled porosity osmotic pump system that utilizes polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as an osmotic-suspending/release retarding agent of drugs.

Methods: Osmotic tablet cores containing various ratios of ketoprofen and PVP were prepared by wet granulation and initially spray coated with similar solution of cellulose acetate. A formulation containing ketoprofen and PVP at a ratio of 1:7 was selected for further studies.