Modestly protective cytomegalovirus vaccination of young children effectively prevents congenital infection at the population level.

A vaccine to prevent congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV) is a public health priority. cCMV results from maternal primary or non-primary CMV infection (reinfection, or reactivation of chronic infection) during pregnancy. Young children are a major source of transmission to pregnant women because they shed CMV at high viral loads for prolonged periods.

Optimizing human coronavirus OC43 growth and titration.

Coronaviruses have been at the forefront of the news for the last 2 years. Unfortunately, SARS-CoV-2, the etiologic agent for the COVID-19 pandemic, must be manipulated in biosecurity level 3 settings, which significantly limits research. Meanwhile, several less pathogenic human coronaviruses (HCoV) exist and can be studied in much more common biosafety level 2 laboratories.

Neurodevelopmental consequences of early plasma sodium changes in very preterm infants.

Background: Sodium fluctuations in very preterm neonates and their neurodevelopmental consequences are not well described.

Methods: We assessed the changes in plasma sodium and glucose in the first days of life in very preterm neonates and studied the association of glucose-corrected plasma sodium fluctuations on neurodevelopmental outcomes. We included 147 consecutive neonates born before 29 weeks of gestation in our center and retrospectively obtained plasma sodium, glucose, and glucose-corrected sodium levels.

Is Better Understanding of Management Strategies for Adults With Type 1 Diabetes Associated With a Lower Risk of Developing Hypoglycemia During and After Physical Activity?

Background: We aim to determine how knowledge and type 1 diabetes (T1D) management strategies are associated with hypoglycemic risk for physical activity (PA)-induced hypoglycemia among people with T1D (PWT1D).

Methods: One hundred thirty-seven physically active adults with T1D completed diabetes management, PA habits and PA-associated hypoglycemia questionnaire.

Results: PA-associated hypoglycemia (during PA, within 1 hour of PA and overnight after PA) was reported by 49% to 61% of respondents, with 18% indicating that they felt inadequately equipped to perform regular PA safely.

A survey of stakeholders' perceived importance of health indicators and subgroup analyses to inform the Canadian clinical practice guideline for managing paediatric obesity.

Objective: To assess stakeholder ratings of health indicators and subgroup analyses in systematic reviews used to update the Canadian Clinical Practice Guideline for Managing Paediatric Obesity.

Methods: Stakeholders (caregivers of children with obesity and Clinical Practice Guideline Steering Committee members) completed an online survey between April 2020 and March 2021. Participants rated importance of health indicators and subgroup analyses for behavioural and psychological, pharmacotherapeutic, and surgical interventions for managing paediatric obesity from not important to critically important using Grading, Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation criteria.

Lessons learned from the CONCOR-1 trial.

Faced with an evolving pandemic and a lack of clarity of the role of convalescent plasma for patients with COVID-19, the CONCOR-1 trial was launched. In 14 months the trial was designed, launched, completed, and submitted for publication. In total, 72 sites in three countries served by four blood suppliers randomised 940 patients.

Autologous humanized mouse models of iPSC-derived tumors enable characterization and modulation of cancer-immune cell interactions.

Modeling the tumor-immune cell interactions in humanized mice is complex and limits drug development. Here, we generated easily accessible tumor models by transforming either primary skin fibroblasts or induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cell lines injected in immune-deficient mice reconstituted with human autologous immune cells. Our results showed that fibroblastic, hepatic, or neural tumors were all efficiently infiltrated and partially or totally rejected by autologous immune cells in humanized mice.

SUN2 Modulates the Propagation of HSV-1.

Herpesviruses assemble new viral particles in the nucleus. These nucleocapsids bud through the inner nuclear membrane to produce enveloped viral particles in the perinuclear space before fusing with the outer nuclear membrane to reach the cytoplasm. This unusual route is necessary since viral capsids are too large to pass through nuclear pores.

Monoallelic Deletion Reduces the Requirement for NOTCH1 Hyperactivation in T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Early T-cell development is precisely controlled by E proteins, that indistinguishably include HEB/TCF12 and E2A/TCF3 transcription factors, together with NOTCH1 and pre-T cell receptor (TCR) signalling. Importantly, perturbations of early T-cell regulatory networks are implicated in leukemogenesis. NOTCH1 gain of function mutations invariably lead to T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), whereas inhibition of E proteins accelerates leukemogenesis.

Neighborhood built environment typologies and adiposity in children and adolescents.

Background/objectives: Neighborhoods are complex, multidimensional systems. However, the interrelation between multiple neighborhood dimensions is seldom considered in relation to youth adiposity. We created a neighborhood typology using a range of built environment features and examined its association with adiposity in youth.

Intravenous Immunoglobulin Use In Critically Ill Children.

Purpose: The use of intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) has increased significantly in the last decade causing challenges for blood suppliers to respond to the demand. Indications for which IVIG infusion should be given to critically ill children remain unclear. The objective of this study is to characterize the epidemiology of IVIG use in this population.

Early Neonatal Meconium Does Not Have a Demonstrable Microbiota Determined through Use of Robust Negative Controls with 60-Based Microbiome Profiling.

Detection of bacterial DNA within meconium is often cited as evidence supporting colonization. However, many studies fail to adequately control for contamination. We aimed to define the microbial content of meconium under properly controlled conditions.

Positive and differential diagnosis of autism in verbal women of typical intelligence: A Delphi study.

The diagnostic criteria for autism are relatively vague and can lead to both under- and over-diagnosis if applied as a checklist. The highest level of agreement that a person is autistic occurs when experienced clinicians are able to make use of their clinical judgment. However, it is not always clear what this judgment consists of.

Early administration of L-arginine in neonatal mice delays the onset of muscular dystrophy in tibialis anterior (TA) muscle.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder that results in the absence of dystrophin, a cytoskeletal protein. Individuals with this disease experience progressive muscle destruction, which leads to muscle weakness. Studies have been conducted to find solutions for the relief of individuals with this disease, several of which have shown that utrophin, a protein closely related to dystrophin, when overexpressed in neonatal mice (the murine model of DMD), is able to prevent the progressive muscle destruction observed in the absence of dystrophin.

How Do Violinists Adapt to Dynamic Assistive Support? A Study Focusing on Kinematics, Muscle Activity, and Musical Performance.

Objective: Assessing violinists' motor and musical performance adaptations to dynamic assistive support (DAS) provided by a passive device, using a force-field adaptation paradigm.

Background: Up to 93% of instrumentalists are affected by musculoskeletal injuries and particularly violinists. The repetitive nature of their work may lead to muscle fatigue, an injury risk factor.

Time spent in different sedentary activity domains across adolescence: a follow-up study.

Objective: This longitudinal study aimed to verify possible changes in the time spent in sedentary activities occurring as screen-time, educational, cultural, social, and transportation domains in a sample of Brazilian adolescents between 2015 and 2017.

Methods: It is a longitudinal prospective study with 586 adolescents from 12 to 15 years old at the Baseline (2015) enrolled in 14 public schools from Curitiba, Brazil. The Adolescent Sedentary Activity Questionnaire assessed the time spent in sedentary activities in five domains (recreational screen-time, educational, cultural, social, and transportation).

Polygenic scores differentially predict developmental trajectories of subtypes of social withdrawal in childhood.

Background: Children who consistently withdraw from social situations face increased risk for later socioemotional difficulties. Twin studies indicate that genetic factors substantially account for the persistence of social withdrawal over time. However, the molecular genetic etiology of chronic courses of social wariness and preference for solitude, two dimensions of social withdrawal, remains undocumented.

Risk factors for post-transplant Epstein-Barr virus events in pediatric recipients of hematopoietic stem cell transplants.

Background: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can cause severe disease following hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), including post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). The objective was to analyze risk factors associated with post-transplant EBV outcomes among pediatric allogeneic HSCT recipients.

Methods: We used data from 156 pediatric allogeneic HSCT recipients enrolled in the Canadian multicenter TREASuRE study.

Convalescent plasma for adults with acute COVID-19 respiratory illness (CONCOR-1): study protocol for an international, multicentre, randomized, open-label trial.

Background: Convalescent plasma has been used for numerous viral diseases including influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome and Ebola virus; however, evidence to support its use is weak. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus responsible for the 2019 global pandemic of COVID-19 community acquired pneumonia. We have undertaken a randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Extracellular vesicles isolated from milk can improve gut barrier dysfunction induced by malnutrition.

Malnutrition impacts approximately 50 million children worldwide and is linked to 45% of global mortality in children below the age of five. Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is associated with intestinal barrier breakdown and epithelial atrophy. Extracellular vesicles including exosomes (EVs; 30-150 nm) can travel to distant target cells through biofluids including milk.

Integration of Motor Learning Principles Into Virtual Reality Interventions for Individuals With Cerebral Palsy: Systematic Review.

Background: Increasing evidence supports the use of virtual reality systems to improve upper limb motor functions in individuals with cerebral palsy. While virtual reality offers the possibility to include key components to promote motor learning, it remains unclear if and how motor learning principles are incorporated into the development of rehabilitation interventions using virtual reality.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which motor learning principles are integrated into virtual reality interventions targeting upper limb function in individuals with cerebral palsy.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings Are Associated with Long-Term Global Neurological Function or Death after Traumatic Brain Injury in Critically Ill Children.

The identification of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) who are at risk of death or poor global neurological functional outcome remains a challenge. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect several brain pathologies that are a result of TBI; however, the types and locations of pathology that are the most predictive remain to be determined. Forty-two critically ill children with TBI were recruited prospectively from pediatric intensive care units at five Canadian children's hospitals.