Abstract
STUDY QUESTION
Are JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) and BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) infections associated with spontaneous abortion (SA)?
SUMMARY ANSWER
There is no association of JCPyV or BKPyV with SA.
...WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
A large number of risk factors have been associated with SA. The role of polyomaviruses, including JCPyV and BKPyV, in SA remains to be clarified.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
This is a case–control study including women affected by spontaneous abortion (SA, n = 100, the cases) and women who underwent voluntary interruption of pregnancy (VI, n = 100, the controls).
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
Viral DNAs were investigated by qualitative PCR and quantitative droplet-digital PCR (ddPCR) in matched chorionic villi tissues and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SA (n = 100) and VI (n = 100). Indirect ELISAs with mimotopes/synthetic peptides corresponding to JCPyV and BKPyV viral capsid protein 1 epitopes were then employed to investigate specific IgG antibodies against JCPyV and BKPyV in human sera from SA (n = 80) and VI (n = 80) cohorts.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
JCPyV DNA was detected in 51% and 61% of SA and VI samples, respectively, with a mean viral DNA load of 7.92 copy/104 cells in SA and 5.91 copy/104 cells in VI (P > 0.05); BKPyV DNA was detected in 11% and 12% of SA and VI specimens, respectively, with a mean viral DNA load of 2.7 copy/104 cells in SA and 3.08 copy/104 cells in VI (P > 0.05). JCPyV was more prevalent than BKPyV in both SA and VI specimens (P < 0.0001). In PBMCs from the SA and VI cohorts, JCPyV DNA was detected with a prevalence of 8% and 12%, respectively, with a mean viral DNA load of 2.29 copy/104 cells in SA and 1.88 copy/104 cells in VI (P > 0.05). The overall prevalence of serum IgG antibodies against JCPyV detected by indirect ELISAs was 52.5% and 48.7% in SA and VI groups, respectively, whereas BKPyV-positive sera were found in 80% SA and 78.7% VI samples.
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
This study did not investigate the presence of viral mRNA and/or proteins, which are indicative of an active viral infection, and these might be taken into consideration in future studies.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
JCPyV and BKPyV DNA sequences were detected and quantitatively analyzed for the first time by PCR/ddPCR in chorionic villi tissues and PBMCs from SA and VI specimens. Moreover specific immunological approaches detected serum IgG against JCPyV/BKPyV. Statistical analyses, however, do not indicate an association between these polyomaviruses and SA.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(s)
This work was supported by the University of Ferrara, FAR research grants and the University Hospital of Ferrara/University of Ferrara joint grant. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
An early double case of acute Ophthalmia neonatorum in 3-day-old twins is reported. Culture of eye swabs showed a wide bacterial polymorphism, in which common bacteria, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, ...Streptococcus pneumoniae, Corynebacterium ulcerans and other Enterobacteriaceae, coexisted with atypical Mycoplasmataceae and Chlamydiaceae from resident cervical-vaginal maternal microbiota. The neonates were in an apparently healthy state, but showed red eyes with abundant greenish-yellow secretion, mild chemosis and lid edema. The maternal cervical-vaginal ecosystem resulted differently positive to the same common cultivable, atypical bacteria culturally and molecularly determined. This suggested a direct maternal-foetal transmission or a further foetal contamination before birth. An extended culture analysis for common bacteria to atypical ones was decisive to describe the involvement of Mycoplasmas (M. hominis and U. urealyticum) within the scenario of the Ophthalmia neonatorum in a Caucasian couple. The introduction of a routine PCR molecular analysis for Chlamydiaceae and N. gonorrhoeae allowed to establish which of these were present at birth, and contributed to determine the correct laboratory diagnosis and to define an adequate therapeutic protocol obtaining a complete resolution after one year for culture and atypical bacteria controls. This study suggests to improve the quality of laboratory diagnosis as unavoidable support to a correct clinical diagnosis and therapy, in a standardized modality both for swabbing and scraping, to check the new-born microbial programming starting in uterus, overtaking the cultural age to the molecular age, and to revise the WHO guidelines of SAFE Strategy for trachoma eye disease, transforming it into SAFES Strategy where the S letter is the acronym of Sexual ecosystem and behavioural valuation/education.
Melatonin, a metabolic product of the amino acid tryptophan, induces a dose-dependent energy drop correlated with a decrease in the oxidative phosphorylation process in isolated rat liver ...mitochondria. This effect involves a gradual decrease in the respiratory control index and significant alterations in the state 4/state 3 transition of membrane potential (ΔΨ). Melatonin, alone, does not affect the insulating properties of the inner membrane but, in the presence of supraphysiological Ca
2+
, induces a ΔΨ drop and colloid-osmotic mitochondrial swelling. These events are sensitive to cyclosporin A and the inhibitors of Ca
2+
transport, indicative of the induction or amplification of the mitochondrial permeability transition. This phenomenon is triggered by oxidative stress induced by melatonin and Ca
2+
, with the generation of hydrogen peroxide and the consequent oxidation of sulfydryl groups, glutathione and pyridine nucleotides. In addition, melatonin, again in the presence of Ca
2+
, can also induce substantial release of cytochrome C and AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor), thus revealing its potential as a pro-apoptotic agent.
In experiments to evaluate responses to the activation of cerebral delta-opioid receptors, repeated daily injection of the selective delta-opioid agonist Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Glu-Val-Val-Gly-NH2 ...(D-Ala2deltorphin II) into rat brain resulted in the development of tolerance, whereas repeated daily injection or continuous infusion of morphine resulted in sensitization to the behavioral activating effects of the delta-opioid agonist. Although the rats did not modify their spontaneous locomotor activity after morphine withdrawal, they became markedly hyperresponsive to the locomotor and stereotypy-producing effects of a challenge dose of the delta-opioid agonist. Sensitization to activation of delta-opioid receptors persisted for at least 60 days after discontinuing morphine treatment. These results show that the development of tolerance and long-term sensitization to opioids involves delta-opioid as well as mu-opioid receptors.
In experiments to evaluate responses to the activation of cerebral delta -opioid receptors, repeated daily injection of the selective delta -opioid agonist Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Glu-Val-Val-Gly-NH sub(2) ...((D-Ala super(2))deltorphin II) into rat brain resulted in the development of tolerance, whereas repeated daily injection or continuous infusion of morphine resulted in sensitization to the behavioral activating effects of the delta -opioid agonist. Although the rats did not modify their spontaneous locomotor activity after morphine withdrawal, they became markedly hyperresponsive to the locomotor and stereotypy-producing effects of a challenge dose of the delta -opioid agonist. Sensitization to activation of delta -opioid receptors persisted for at least 60 days after discontinuing morphine treatment. The results show that the development of tolerance and long-term sensitization to opioids involves delta -opioid as well as mu -opioid receptors.
A longitudinal behavioral study was performed in mice exposed to the bovine brain phospholipid phosphatidylserine (BC-PS) from birth until sixty days. Examination of treated and control pups revealed ...no effect of the treatment on body weight nor on sensorimotor reflexes. At one and two months of age, when placed in an open field and, particularly, in the presence of a novel object, treated mice were found more interactive with their environment than control mice. Finally, when submitted to a radial eight-arm maze problem, choice accuracy was higher and maze-running strategies more adaptive in treated than in control adult mice. These results suggest a stimulating effect of the treatment on subject-environment interactions during ontogeny underlying improved cognitive abilities in adulthood.
International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 369 drilled four sites on the southwestern Australian continental margin, in the deep water Mentelle Basin (MB) and on the neighboring Naturaliste ...Plateau (NP). The drillsites are located on continental crust that continued rifting after seafloor spreading began further north on the Perth Abyssal Plain (PAP) between magnetochrons M11r and M11n (133–132 Ma), ending when spreading began west of the NP between chrons M5n and M3n (126–124 Ma). Drilling recovered the first in situ samples of basalt flows overlying the breakup unconformity on the NP, establishing a magnetostratigraphically constrained eruption age of >131–133 Ma, and confirming a minimal late Valanginian age for the breakup unconformity (coeval with the onset of PAP seafloor spreading). Petrogenetic modeling indicates the basalts were generated by 25% melting at 1.5 GPa and a potential temperature of 1380°C–1410°C, consistent with proximity of the Kerguelen plume during breakup. Benthic foraminiferal fossils indicate that the NP remained at upper bathyal or shallower depths during the last 6 Myr of rifting and for 3–5 Myr after breakup between India and Australia. The limited subsidence is attributed to heat from the nearby Kerguelen plume and PAP spreading ridge. The margin subsided to middle bathyal depths by Albian time and to lower bathyal (NP) or greater (MB) depths by late Paleogene time. Periods of rapid sedimentation accompanied a westward jump of the PAP spreading ridge (108 Ma), rifting on the southern margin (100–84 Ma), and opening of the southern seaway between Australia and Antarctica (60–47 Ma).
Plain Language Summary
The southwestern Australian margin formed during the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous Periods. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 369 drilled four sites on the southwestern Australian rifted continental margin in order to better understand the subsidence and magmatic behavior of the margin during the final stages of rifting. Drilling shows that a widespread unconformity imaged in seismic data on the margin correlates with the onset of seafloor spreading on the Perth Abyssal Plain at 132–133 Ma. This was followed by eruption of basalts on the Naturaliste Plateau, which were generated from melting of the underlying mantle that was enhanced by the nearby Kerguelen mantle plume. Proximity of the plume kept the margin at shallow depths during rifting and for about 3–5 Myr after final separation of India and Australia at 126 Ma. The margin subsided to > 1,000 m depths between about 121 Ma and the present, with intervening periods of relatively rapid sedimentation associated with adjustments to the spreading ridge configuration in the Indian Ocean at 108 Ma, and rifting events between southwestern Australia and Antarctica at 100–84 Ma and 60–47 Ma.
Key Points
Continental breakup occurred at 132–133 Ma on the Perth Abyssal Plain and at 126 Ma west of the Naturaliste Plateau
Volcanism on the Naturaliste Plateau with both plume and mid‐ocean ridge compositional affinities accompanied Perth Abyssal Plain breakup
Late synrift and early postrift subsidence was limited by proximity of the Kerguelen plume and Perth Abyssal Plain spreading ridge
The role of sex in biomedical studies has often been overlooked, despite evidence of sexually dimorphic effects in some biological studies. Here, we used high-throughput phenotype data from 14,250 ...wildtype and 40,192 mutant mice (representing 2,186 knockout lines), analysed for up to 234 traits, and found a large proportion of mammalian traits both in wildtype and mutants are influenced by sex. This result has implications for interpreting disease phenotypes in animal models and humans.
Sedimentary basins beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) have immense potential to inform models of the tectonic evolution of East Antarctica and its ice‐sheet. However, even basic ...characteristics such as thickness and extent are often unknown. Using airborne geophysical data, we resolve the tectonic architecture of the Knox Subglacial Sedimentary Basin in western Wilkes Land. In addition, we apply an erosion restoration model to reconstruct the original basin geometry for which we resolve geometry typical of a transtensional pull‐apart basin. The tectonic architecture strongly indicates formation as a consequence of the rifting of India from East Gondwana from ca. 160‐130 Ma, and we suggest a spatial link with the western Mentelle Basin offshore Western Australia. The erosion restoration model shows that erosion is confined within the rift margins, suggesting that rift structure has strongly influenced the evolution of the Denman and Scott ice streams.
Key Points
First model of the structure of Knox Subglacial Sedimentary Basin of Wilkes Land
Basin shown to result from India‐Antarctic rifting in late Jurassic‐ Early Cretaceous
Rift structure controls past erosion within Denman and Scott glacier catchment
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