As the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the global health crisis, the containment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancies, and the inherent risk of vertical transmission of virus from mother-to-fetus (or neonate) poses a major concern. Most COVID-19-Pregnancy patients showed mild to moderate COVID-19 pneumonia with no pregnancy loss and no congenital transmission of the virus; however, an increase in

Type 2 diabetes, characterized by dysfunction of pancreatic β-cells and insulin resistance in peripheral organs, accounts for more than 90% of all diabetes. Despite current developments of new drugs and strategies to prevent/treat diabetes, there is no ideal therapy targeting all aspects of the disease. Restoration, however, of insulin-producing β-cells, as well as insulin-responsive cells, would

In this chapter, the authors shift between two overlapping positions, of both “being wrapped up in it” (Lieutenant Pelly’s vignettes) as well as “being outside of it” (Frandsen’s theoretical vignettes). They use storytelling vignettes of Duncan Pelly’s deployment to Korea as a Human Resource officer of the US army, which is supplemented with theoretical vignettes designed to guide the reader to un

Organotin compounds are highly toxic environmental pollutants with neurotoxic and endocrine-disrupting effects. They are potent inhibitors of glutathione transferases (GSTs), thus impeding their detoxication and antioxidant functions. Several GSTs, including equine GST A3-3 (EcaGST A3-3), exhibit steroid double-bond isomerase activity and are involved in the biosynthesis of testosterone and proges

Deoxygenation, i.e. loss of oxygen from the oceans, often considerably influences the aquatic organisms and the wholeecosystem and changes biogeochemical cycles. It results in increasing bottom areas of hypoxia (

Experiencing symptoms after heart transplantation may hamper the heart recipient’s self-management which can lead to negative effects. We know little about symptom occurrence and distress after heart transplantation, especially in relation to sociodemographic variables. The aim of the study was to explore self-reported symptom occurrence and distress after heart transplantation and their relations

Is a suction cup at the bottom of a bathtub subject to an upward force from the surrounding water, even if there is no water under it? A student question, posted in a teacher facebook group on a Monday morning, led to a discussion involving 21 comments with 225 replies offered by 16 teachers during the next few days, including several simple experiments, as well as modeling, to evaluate different

OBJECTIVE: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) are essential in host defense, but are also linked to inflammation and autoimmunity, including in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We recently described that immune complexes (IC) induce NET formation, promoting SLE-like disease in mice. In the current study, we investigated, for the first time to our knowledge, the role of NET in human SLE and th

Background: Heme released from red blood cells targets a number of cell components including the cytoskeleton. The purpose of the present study was to determine the impact of free heme (20–300 µM) on human skeletal muscle fibres made available during orthopedic surgery. Methods: Isometric force production and oxidative protein modifications were monitored in permeabilized skeletal muscle fibre seg

We propose the Positive Resampler to solve the problem associated with event samples from state-of-the-art predictions for scattering processes at hadron colliders typically involving a sizeable number of events contributing with negative weight. The proposed method guarantees positive weights for all physical distributions, and a correct description of all observables. A desirable side product of

OBJECTIVE: Complement components, including C4d, can be found on activated platelets, a process associated with vascular disease in SLE. We investigated whether platelet C4d (PC4d) adds additional value to traditional and known lupus-associated risk factors when identifying SLE patients with vascular disease. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 308 well-characterized SLE patients and 308