"It Means Being Safe, Having Power over One's Body": Black Female Adolescent Experiences with Reproductive Health Counseling in Primary Care.

Study Objective: There is limited research examining the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care needs and experiences of Black adolescents who are assigned female at birth (AFAB). This study aimed to understand the perspectives of Black AFAB adolescents in their receipt of SRH counseling in primary care and elicit preferences for SRH-related communication with clinicians.

Methods: We interviewed English-speaking Black AFAB adolescents, ages 13-17, living in North Carolina between February and June 2022 about their SRH care experiences.

Public health guidelines for physical activity during pregnancy from around the world: a scoping review.

Background And Objective: Despite the known health benefits of physical activity (PA), pregnancy is a time of marked decline in PA levels. To provide women with reliable and trustworthy information, and to encourage greater participation in PA during pregnancy, many governments have developed guidelines for PA during pregnancy. Our aim was to synthesise the most recent public health guidelines on PA during pregnancy from different countries in order to understand the nature and extent of advice that is available.

Kappa opioid receptor and dynorphin signaling in the central amygdala regulates alcohol intake.

Excessive alcohol drinking has been shown to modify brain circuitry to predispose individuals for future alcohol abuse. Previous studies have implicated the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) as an important site for mediating the somatic symptoms of withdrawal and for regulating alcohol intake. In addition, recent work has established a role for both the Kappa Opioid Receptor (KOR) and its endogenous ligand dynorphin in mediating these processes.

3-1,2-Dithiole-3-Thione as a Potentially Novel Therapeutic Compound for Sepsis Intervention.

Through the history of modern medicine, bioactive components in natural products have been either employed directly as medicines or used as prototypes for synthetic drug development. This brief Research Highlights paper considers 3-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (D3T), a member of the 1,2-dithiole-3-thiones-compounds which may naturally occur in cruciferous vegetables. Among 1,2-dithiole-3-thiones, D3T is the most potent member with regard to the capacity of inducing tissue defenses against oxidative and inflammatory stress.

GPx4 in Bacterial Infection and Polymicrobial Sepsis: Involvement of Ferroptosis and Pyroptosis.

While it is well known that bacterial infection is the predominant cause of sepsis, the molecular pathophysiology of this clinical syndrome remains ill-defined. In this Research Highlights article, we discuss the recent research findings regarding a protective role for glutathione peroxidase-4 (GPx4) in bacterial infection and polymicrobial sepsis via modulating ferroptosis and pyroptosis, two novel modes of regulated cell death. It is suggested that GPx4, being a requisite gateway to both ferroptosis and pyroptosis, may serve as a critical molecular target for developing effective drugs for controlling infection and sepsis.

Dietary Supplementation with Anti-Inflammatory Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Cardiovascular Protection: Help or Hoax?

Dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids, also known as n-3 fatty acids, has been widely considered cardiovascular protective in the general human population. This widely acclaimed status of omega-3 fatty acids as cardiovascular protective molecules has, however, been questioned by findings from multiple rigorously designed randomized controlled trials, recently reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Although the anti-inflammatory and other beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids are substantiated by research in experimental models as well as findings from observational epidemiological studies, dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids at the typical dosage of 1 g daily does not appear to be an effective strategy for either primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in humans.

Graphene Quantum Dots Potently Block Copper-Mediated Oxidative DNA Damage: Implications for Cancer Intervention.

Our early work suggested that graphene quantum dots (GQDs) block Cu(II)/Cu(I) redox cycle in biological systems. Here we report that GQDs could also potently protect against copper redox-mediated oxidative DNA damage. Using Cu(II)/hydrogen peroxide, Cu(II)/hydroquinone, and Cu(II)/ascorbic acid as three biologically relevant systems for inducing oxidative DNA damage, we demonstrated that GQDs protected against the above system-induced DNA strand breaks in ϕx-174 plasmid DNA in a concentration-dependent manner.

Graphene Quantum Dots Protect against Copper Redox-Mediated Free Radical Generation and Cardiac Cell Injury.

In this work, we investigated the effects of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) on copper redox-mediated free radical generation and cell injury. Using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometry in conjunction with 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline -oxide (DMPO) as a spin trap, we found that GQDs at a concentration as low as 1 μg/ml significantly inhibited Cu(II)/HO-mediated hydroxyl radical formation. GQDs also blocked Cu(II)-catalyzed nucleophilic addition of HO to DMPO to form a DMPO-OH adduct in the absence of HO, suggesting a potential for GQDs to inhibit copper redox activity.