CXCL1 Recruits NK Cells Into the Central Nervous System and Aggravates Brain Injury of Mice Caused by Infection.

Background: (), is a food-borne zoonotic parasite that can cause central nervous system (CNS) injury characterized by eosinophilic meningitis. However, the pathogenesis of angiostrongylosis remains elusive. Natural killer cells (NK cells) are unique innate lymphocytes important in early defense against pathogens.

Chitosan oligosaccharide decorated liposomes combined with TH302 for photodynamic therapy in triple negative breast cancer.

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive tumor with extremely high mortality that results from its lack of effective therapeutic targets. As an adhesion molecule related to tumorigenesis and tumor metastasis, cluster of differentiation-44 (also known as CD44) is overexpressed in TNBC. Moreover, CD44 can be effectively targeted by a specific hyaluronic acid analog, namely, chitosan oligosaccharide (CO).

Recent Advances of MicroRNAs, Long Non-coding RNAs, and Circular RNAs in Preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a clinical syndrome characterized by multiple-organ dysfunction, such as maternal hypertension and proteinuria, after 20 weeks of gestation. It is a common cause of fetal growth restriction, fetal malformation, and maternal death. At present, termination of pregnancy is the only way to prevent the development of the disease.

Building evidence on what works (and what does not): practical guidance from the World Health Organization on post-project evaluation of adolescent sexual and reproductive health projects.

Over the past 25 years, there has been significant progress in increasing the recognition of, resources for, and action on adolescent health, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in particular. As with numerous other health areas, however, many of the projects that aim to improve ASRH are implemented without well-thought-out plans for evaluation. As a result, the lessons that projects learn as they encounter and address policy and programmatic challenges are often not extracted and placed in the public arena.

Differences in energy metabolism and mitochondrial redox status account for the differences in propensity for developing obesity in rats fed on high-fat diet.

Obesity is a metabolic disease that is accompanied by oxidative stress. Mitochondrial dysfunction is closely associated with the occurrence and development of obesity. However, it is unclear if there are differences in mitochondrial redox homeostasis and energy metabolism between obesity-prone (OP) and obesity-resistant (OR) individuals and if these differences account for the different susceptibilities to developing obesity.

Pathways to Modern Family Planning: A Longitudinal Study on Social Influence among Men and Women in Benin.

Despite improvements in family planning (FP) knowledge and services in West Africa, unmet need for FP continues to grow. Many programs apply a demographically and biologically driven definition of unmet need, overlooking the complex social environment in which fertility and FP decisions are made. This longitudinal, qualitative cohort study captures the changing nature of FP need, attitudes and behaviors, taking into account life context to inform understanding of the complex behavior change process.

The performance of a fertility tracking device.

Objective: Fertility tracking devices offer women direct-to-user information about their fertility. The objective of this study is to understand how a fertility tracking device algorithm adjusts to changes of the individual menstrual cycle and under different conditions.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on a cohort of women who were using the device between January 2004 and November 2014.

miR-296-5p Inhibits the Secretion of Pulmonary Surfactants in Pulmonary Epithelial Cells via the Downregulation of Wnt7b/-Catenin Signaling.

Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) is a common disease that occurs in premature infants. However, the mechanisms underlying the disease remain unclear. microRNAs (miRNAs) have been indicated to play a crucial role in the development of NRDS.

LRP1-mediated pH-sensitive polymersomes facilitate combination therapy of glioblastoma in vitro and in vivo.

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most invasive primary intracranial tumor, and its effective treatment is one of the most daunting challenges in oncology. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is the main obstacle that prevents the delivery of potentially active therapeutic compounds. In this study, a new type of pH-sensitive polymersomes has been designed for glioblastoma therapy to achieve a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for U87-MG human glioblastoma xenografts in nude mice and significantly increased survival time.

Zr-Labeled Multifunctional Liposomes Conjugate Chitosan for PET-Trackable Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Stem Cell Targeted Therapy.

Purpose: Therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a global problem due to lack of specific targets for treatment selection. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for tumor formation and recurrence but also offer a promising target for TNBC-targeted therapy. Here, zirconium-89 (Zr)-labelled multifunctional liposomes (MLPs) surface-decorated with chitosan (CS) were fabricated to specifically target and trace cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44) TNBC CSCs specifically.

Enhancement of tumor lethality of ROS in photodynamic therapy.

In the process of photodynamic therapy (PDT) treatment of tumors, reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays a key role in destroying tumor tissues. However, traditional PDT often has limited ROS killing capacity due to hypoxia in the tumor microenvironment (TME) or obstruction by the ROS defense system, resulting in poor efficacy. Therefore, enhancing the killing effect of ROS on tumors is the core of enhancing the anti-tumor effect of PDT.

Detection of Vaginal Metabolite Changes in Premature Rupture of Membrane Patients in Third Trimester Pregnancy: a Prospective Cohort Study.

Premature rupture of membranes (PROM) is usually associated with pregnant and neonatal complications. Most of the PROM cases are caused by ascending asymptomatic genital infection. In China, PROM (15.

Bringing ethical thinking to social change initiatives: Why it matters.

Norms-shifting interventions (NSI) seek to improve people's well-being by facilitating the transformation of harmful social norms, the shared rules of acceptable actions in a group that prop up harmful health behaviours. Community-based NSI aim for incremental normative change and complement other social and behaviour change strategies, addressing gender, other inequalities, and the power structures that hold inequalities in place. Consequently, they demand that designers and implementers-many who are outsiders-grapple with power, history, and community agency operating in complicated social contexts.

Ophiopogonin D suppresses TGF-β1-mediated metastatic behavior of MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells via regulating ITGB1/FAK/Src/AKT/β-catenin/MMP-9 signaling axis.

Ophiopogonin D, a steroidal glycoside extracted from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Ophiopogon japonicus, shows anti-tumor property in several lines of cancers; however, its effect on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has not been investigated. In this study, the anti-metastatic effect of Ophiopogonin D in TNBC cells as well as the underlying mechanism in such process was explored. Ophiopogonin D dose-dependently decreased cell proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells.

Aneuploid embryo transfer: clinical policies and provider opinions at United States fertility clinics.

Objective: To describe institutional clinical policies and individual provider opinions regarding aneuploid embryo transfer (aET).

Design: A survey about clinical policies was electronically sent to Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) member laboratory directors, and a separate survey about personal opinions was electronically sent to all SART members.

Setting: Not applicable.

Men and COVID-19: Adding a gender lens.

In this commentary, the authors point out that there are important gender determinants to both men's and women's vulnerabilities to COVID-19, and call on the global health community to unpack and address these early in the COVID-19 pandemic response. They point to best practices and tools from two decades of engaging men in research and programming in the sexual and reproductive health field.

Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning.

Fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs) of family planning involve monitoring various signs and symptoms of fertility during the menstrual cycle to identify the "fertile window," or the days of the cycle when unprotected intercourse is most likely to result in pregnancy. Signs and symptoms include menstrual cycle length, basal body temperature, urinary hormone measurements, and/or cervical fluid and may be used alone or in combination. Fertility signs reflect both physiological changes during the menstrual cycle and the life cycle of the ovum and sperm.

Contested femininity: strategies of resistance and reproduction across adolescence in northern Uganda.

Adolescent girls and young women have recently gained a central position in gender equality and development. However, little research investigates female experiences of the complex dynamics of both change and resistance to change in gender norms and structures. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu, Connell and Schippers to analyse longitudinal in-depth interviews, this paper explores how girls in northern Uganda learn, challenge and (re)produce patriarchal structures throughout the life-course and across social fields.

On the CUSP: the politics and prospects of scaling social norms change programming.

In the past decades, donors and development actors have been increasingly mindful of the evidence to support long-term, dynamic social norms change. This paper draws lessons and implications on scaling social norms change initiatives for gender equality to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) and improve sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), from the Community for Understanding Scale Up (CUSP). CUSP is a group of nine organisations working across four regions with robust experience in developing evidence-based social norms change methodologies and supporting their scale-up across various regions and contexts.

Men on the move and the wives left behind: the impact of migration on family planning in Nepal.

Nepali migration is longstanding, and increased from 2.3% of the total population in 2001 to 7.2% in 2011.

Life expectancy and disparities in survival among HIV-infected people receiving antiretroviral therapy: an observational cohort study in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Introduction: The advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has dramatically slowed down the progression of HIV. This study assesses the disparities in survival, life expectancy and determinants of survival among HIV-infected people receiving ART.

Methods: Using data from one of Nepal's largest population-based retrospective cohort studies (in Kathmandu, Nepal), we followed a total of 3191 HIV-infected people aged 15 years and older who received ART over the period of 2004-2015.

Long acting reversible contraception use and associated factors among married women of reproductive age in Nepal.

Modern contraceptives are highly effective and proven means of preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing maternal mortality. Social and economic characteristics are some of the key determinants of health and utilization family planning. However, studies examining the factors associated with utilization of long acting reversible contraception (LARC) are limited in Nepal.