• Borre Bender posted an update 3 days, 2 hours ago

    Immunoglobulin Z (IgZ) or its equivalent immunoglobulin T (IgT) is a newly identified immunoglobulin (Ig) class from teleost fish. This Ig class is characterized by its involvement in mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues (MALTs) for mucosal defence against pathogen infection. Recently, several subclass members of IgZ/IgT, such as IgZ, IgZ2, Igτ1, Igτ2 and Igτ3, have been further identified from zebrafish, common carp and rainbow trout. However, the functional diversity and correlation among these subclasses remain uncertain. Here, we explored the differential immune reactions of the IgZ and IgZ2 subclasses in antibacterial immunity in a zebrafish model. IgZ was extensively distributed in the peripheral serum and skin/gill MALTs and showed a rapid induction upon bacterial infection. IgZ2 was specialized in skin/gill MALTs and showed a strong induction following IgZ production. Correspondingly, the IgZ+ B cells had a wider distribution in the systemic primary/secondary lymphoid tissues and MALTs than the IgZ2+ B cells, which were predominant in MALTs. IgZ and IgZ2 exhibited a complementary effect in antibacterial immunity by possessing differential abilities. That is, IgZ is preferentially involved in bactericidal reaction that is in part C1q-dependent, and IgZ2 participates in neutralization action through bacteria-coating activity. The production of IgZ largely depended on the αβ T/CD4+ T cells, whereas that of IgZ2 did not, suggesting the different dependencies of IgZ and IgZ2 on systemic immunity. Our findings demonstrate that the functional behaviour and mechanism of the IgZ/IgT family are more diverse than previously recognized and thus improve the current knowledge about this ancient Ig class.

    To assess how mothers are feeling and coping during lockdown, and to identify the potential pathways that can assist them.

    A descriptive analysis of maternal mental health, coping, support, activities, lockdown consequences was conducted. Women living in the UK with an infant aged ≤12months completed an online survey. Linear regression was used to identify predictors of maternal mental health and coping.

    A majority of the 1329 participants reported feeling down (56%),lonely (59%), irritable (62%), and worried (71%) to some extent since lockdown began, but 70% felt able to cope. Support with her own health (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.004-0.235), contacting infant support groups (95% CI -0.003 to 0.252), and higher gestational age of the infant (95% CI 0.000-0.063) predicted better mental health. Travelling for work (95% CI -0.680 to -0.121), the impact of lockdown on the ability to afford food (95% CI -1.202 to -0.177), and having an income <£30000 (95% CI -0.475 to -0.042) predicted poorer mental health. Support with her own health and more equal division of household chores were associated with better coping.

    There is a need to assess maternal mental health and identify prevention strategies for mothers during lockdown.

    There is a need to assess maternal mental health and identify prevention strategies for mothers during lockdown.

    Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a topic of concern worldwide; however, the impacts of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on disease severity, therapeutic effect, and mortality of patients with COVID-19 are unclear.

    All consecutive patients with COVID-19 admitted to the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University from January 11 to February 6, 2020, were included in this study.

    A total of 663 patients with COVID-19 were included, while 67 patients with T2DM accounted for 10.1% of the total. Compared with patients with COVID-19 without T2DM, those with T2DM were older (aged 66 years vs 57 years; P < 0.001) and had a male predominance (62.7% vs 37.3%; P = 0.019) and higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (61.2% vs 20.6%; P < 0.001) and urinary diseases (9% vs 2.5%; P = 0.014). Patients with T2DM were prone to developing severe (58.2% vs 46.3%; P = 0.002) and critical COVID-19 (20.9% vs 13.4%; P = 0.002) and having poor therapeutic effect (76.1% vs 60.4%; P = 0.017). But there was no obvious difference in the mortality between patients with COVID-19 with and without T2DM (4.5% vs 3.7%; P = 0.732). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified that T2DM was associated with poor therapeutic effect in patients with COVID-19 (odd ratio [OR] 2.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-8.66; P = 0.04). Moreover, having a severe and critical COVID-19 condition (OR 3.27; 95% CI, 1.02-9.00; P = 0.029) and decreased lymphocytes (OR 1.59; 95% CI, 1.10-2.34; P = 0.016) were independent risk factors associated with poor therapeutic effect in patients with COVID-19 with T2DM.

    T2DM influenced the disease severity and therapeutic effect and was one of the independent risk factors for poor therapeutic effect in patients with COVID-19.

    T2DM influenced the disease severity and therapeutic effect and was one of the independent risk factors for poor therapeutic effect in patients with COVID-19.The insect order Psocodea is a diverse lineage comprising both parasitic (Phthiraptera) and non-parasitic members (Psocoptera). The extreme age and ecological diversity of the group may be associated with major genomic changes, such as base compositional biases expected to affect phylogenetic inference. Divergent morphology between parasitic and non-parasitic members has also obscured the origins of parasitism within the order. Belumosudil research buy We conducted a phylogenomic analysis on the order Psocodea utilizing both transcriptome and genome sequencing to obtain a data set of 2,370 orthologous genes. All phylogenomic analyses, including both concatenated and coalescent methods suggest a single origin of parasitism within the order Psocodea, resolving conflicting results from previous studies. This phylogeny allows us to propose a stable ordinal level classification scheme that retains significant taxonomic names present in historical scientific literature and reflects the evolution of the group as a whole. A dating analysis, with internal nodes calibrated by fossil evidence, suggests an origin of parasitism that predates the K-Pg boundary. Nucleotide compositional biases are detected in third and first codon positions and result in the anomalous placement of the Amphientometae as sister to Psocomorpha when all nucleotide sites are analyzed. Likelihood-mapping and quartet sampling methods demonstrate that base compositional biases can also have an effect on quartet-based methods.