Expression of CD49f defines subsets of human regulatory T cells with divergent transcriptional landscape and function that correlate with ulcerative colitis disease activity.

Objective: Adoptive regulatory T cell (Treg) therapy is being trialled for the treatment of different autoimmune disorders, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In-depth understanding of the biological variability of Treg in the human blood may be required to improve IBD immune monitoring and treatment strategies.

Methods: Through a combination of quantitative proteomic, multiparametric flow cytometry, RNA-sequencing data analysis and functional assays on Treg enriched from the blood of ulcerative colitis (UC) patients and healthy controls, we investigated the association between CD49f expression, Treg phenotype and function, and UC disease activity.

Pregnancy outcomes in women with hyponatraemia and preeclampsia: Case series and literature review.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence, clinical course, complications and management of preeclampsia complicated by hyponatraemia.

Study Design: A ten year retrospective audit of women delivering at a tertiary referral hospital with preeclampsia complicated by hyponatraemia (defined as serum sodium < 130 mmol/L).

Main Outcome Measures: The prevalence, time to delivery, complications, treatment and time to recovery of hyponatraemia in women with preeclampsia associated with hyponatraemia.

Hippocampal neurogenesis mediates sex-specific effects of social isolation and exercise on fear extinction in adolescence.

Impaired extinction of conditioned fear is associated with anxiety disorders. Common lifestyle factors, like isolation stress and exercise, may alter the ability to extinguish fear. However, the effect of and interplay between these factors on adolescent fear extinction, and the relevant underlying neural mechanisms are unknown.

Remoteness of residence predicts tumor stage, receipt of treatment, and mortality in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background And Aim: Surveillance and early detection and curative treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are the mainstay of improving survival for patients, but there are several barriers to achieving this goal. We reported the impact of remoteness of residence on receipt of treatment, tumor stage, and survival in patients with HCC in Queensland.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1651 HCC patients (147 migrants) from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2016.

A decline in planned, but not spontaneous, preterm birth rates in a large Australian tertiary maternity centre during COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Background: Reports from around the world suggest that rates of preterm birth decreased during COVID-19 lockdown measures.

Aims: To compare the prevalence of preterm birth and stillbirth rates during COVID-19 restriction measures with infants born at the same maternity centre during the same weeks in 2013-2019.

Materials And Methods: Deidentified data were extracted from the Mater Mothers' healthcare records database.

A reasoned approach towards administering COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant women.

There are over 50 SARS-CoV-2 candidate vaccines undergoing Phase II and III clinical trials. Several vaccines have been approved by regulatory authorities and rolled out for use in different countries. Due to concerns of potential teratogenicity or adverse effect on maternal physiology, pregnancy has been a specific exclusion criterion for most vaccine trials with only two trials not excluding pregnant women.

Screening for primary aldosteronism in pregnancy.

Primary aldosteronism, the most common secondary cause of hypertension is likely to be significantly underdiagnosed in pregnancy and is associated with high rates of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Normal pregnancy is associated with a rise in aldosterone and renin levels early in pregnancy making the aldosterone:renin ratio which is normally used to screen for primary aldosteronism, difficult to interpret. Additionally, many laboratories have moved from performing plasma renin activity to measurements of direct renin.

CRISPR-Cas9 Editing of Human Histone Deubiquitinase Gene in Human Monocytic Leukemia Cell Line THP-1.

USP16 is a histone deubiquitinase which facilitates G2/M transition during the cell cycle, regulates DNA damage repair and contributes to inducible gene expression. We mutated the gene in a high differentiation clone of the acute monocytic leukemia cell line THP-1 using the CRISPR-Cas9 system and generated four homozygous knockout clones. All were able to proliferate and to differentiate in response to phorbol ester (PMA) treatment.

WITHDRAWN: Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors in Pregnancy: Systematic review and meta-analysis of maternal and perinatal safety and clinical outcomes.

This article has been withdrawn at the request of the author(s) and/or editor. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.

CSF1R-dependent macrophages control postnatal somatic growth and organ maturation.

Homozygous mutation of the Csf1r locus (Csf1rko) in mice, rats and humans leads to multiple postnatal developmental abnormalities. To enable analysis of the mechanisms underlying the phenotypic impacts of Csf1r mutation, we bred a rat Csf1rko allele to the inbred dark agouti (DA) genetic background and to a Csf1r-mApple reporter transgene. The Csf1rko led to almost complete loss of embryonic macrophages and ablation of most adult tissue macrophage populations.

Measuring the impact of cardiotocograph decision support software on neonatal outcomes: A propensity score-matched observational study.

Background: This study follows the 2017 UK INFANT Collaborative Group RCT, which compared neonatal outcomes with and without the use of the INFANT cardiotocograph decision support system for over 46 000 patients in labour. The original trial failed to demonstrate a significant improvement to neonatal outcomes; however, the study design was subject to methodological critique.

Aims: This Australian retrospective cohort study aimed to report perinatal outcomes before and after the introduction of INFANT decision support software for cardiotocograph use in labour.

Endogenous retroviruses in the origins and treatment of cancer.

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are emerging as promising therapeutic targets in cancer. As remnants of ancient retroviral infections, ERV-derived regulatory elements coordinate expression from gene networks, including those underpinning embryogenesis and immune cell function. ERV activation can promote an interferon response, a phenomenon termed viral mimicry.

Long-read cDNA sequencing identifies functional pseudogenes in the human transcriptome.

Pseudogenes are gene copies presumed to mainly be functionless relics of evolution due to acquired deleterious mutations or transcriptional silencing. Using deep full-length PacBio cDNA sequencing of normal human tissues and cancer cell lines, we identify here hundreds of novel transcribed pseudogenes expressed in tissue-specific patterns. Some pseudogene transcripts have intact open reading frames and are translated in cultured cells, representing unannotated protein-coding genes.

Microdeletion of 9q22.3: A patient with minimal deletion size associated with a severe phenotype.

Basal cell nevus syndrome (also known as Gorlin Syndrome; MIM109400) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by recurrent pathological features such as basal cell carcinomas and odontogenic keratocysts as well as skeletal abnormalities. Most affected individuals have point mutations or small insertions or deletions within the PTCH1 gene on human chromosome 9, but there are some cases with more extensive deletion of the region, usually including the neighboring FANCC and/or ERCC6L2 genes. We report a 16-year-old patient with a deletion of approximately 400,000 bases which removes only PTCH1 and some non-coding RNA genes but leaves FANCC and ERCC6L2 intact.

Prospective cohort study: Causes of stillbirth in Australia 2013-2018.

Background: Stillbirth is a major public health problem that is slow to improve in Australia. Understanding the causes of stillbirth through appropriate investigation is the cornerstone of prevention and important for parents to understand why their baby died.

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess compliance with the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ) Perinatal Mortality Clinical Practice Guidelines (2009) for stillbirths.

Human bone marrow-derived stromal cell behavior when injected directly into the bone marrow of NOD-scid-gamma mice pre-conditioned with sub-lethal irradiation.

Background: Direct bone marrow injection of cells into murine marrow cavities is used in a range of cell characterization assays and to develop disease models. While human bone marrow-derived stromal cells (hBMSC, also known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSC)) are frequently described in therapeutic applications, or disease modeling, their behavior following direct injection into murine bone marrow is poorly characterized. Herein, we characterized hBMSC engraftment and persistence within the bone marrow of NOD-scid interleukin (IL)-2γ (NSG) mice with or without prior 2 Gy total-body γ-irradiation of recipient mice.

A preferential switch between placental GR exon 1 promoter variants in the presence of maternal asthma or inflammation upregulates GRα D isoforms.

Introduction: The human placenta expresses multiple glucocorticoid receptor (GR) isoforms that may be partially regulated by the untranslated 5' exon 1 GR gene promoter region which consists of 9 different promoters and 13 splice variants. The objective of this study was to determine which GR exon 1 variants are expressed in the human placenta and relate these findings to GR mRNA and protein expression.

Methods: Placental extracts from pregnancies with or without the complication of maternal asthma and trophoblast cells exposed to an inflammatory challenge in vitro were examined using PCR and Western blot to measure GR exon 1 variants, GR splice variant mRNA and GR protein isoforms, respectively.

Clinical and Echocardiographic Findings in an Aged Population of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is the most common cardiac disease in dogs. It varies from dogs without clinical signs to those developing left-sided congestive heart failure, leading to death. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCSs) are particularly susceptible to MMVD.

Systematic review of ambient temperature exposure during pregnancy and stillbirth: Methods and evidence.

Background: Associations between ambient temperature exposure during pregnancy and stillbirth have been reviewed and described in the literature. However, there is no existing review of environmental and epidemiologic methods applied to measure stillbirths resulting from exposure to ambient temperatures during pregnancy. The objective of this study is to systematically review published methods, data sources, and data linkage practices to characterize associations between ambient temperature and stillbirth to inform stillbirth prevention and risk management strategies.