Pituitary histopathology did not uncover any pituitary adenomas or somatotroph hyperplasia in either group. These results demonstrate a slow progression from elevated GH release to the formation of overt somatotropinomas in Aip+/- mice; the acromegalic phenotype of these mice is surprisingly ameliorated in Aip+/-, Prkar1a+/- mice. This highlights the complexities of interaction between the AIP and PKA pathway. Specifically targeting GH secretion rather than somatotroph proliferation may be an advantage in the medical treatment of AIP-dependent human acromegaly.

Many patients with atopic diseases, including asthma, have sought complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments. But, limited clinical studies have yet examined TCM effects on medical utility in asthma patients.

To assess the medical utility of TCM in patients with asthma.

Population-based retrospective cohort study.

We performed a 13-year population-based retrospective cohort study. A total of 5235 asthma patients who were TCM users and 5235 propensity-score matched asthma patients who never used TCM were sampled from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database from 2000 to 2012. We compared these two groups of patients to calculate their medical utility, including numbers of emergency visits and hospitalizations until 2013. Selleck BAY-218 Univariate analyses were performed using Chi-square tests for dichotomous variables and t-tests for continuous variables. Cox proportional hazard models were conducted to investigate the medical utility of asthma after TCM use.

Compared with non-TCM patients, TCM patients had a significantly decreased medical utility of asthma admission (adjusted OR = 0.63; 95% CI 0.46-0.85; P < 0.05), especially in patients who used TCM for more than 60 days. Asthma medical utility in asthma emergencies was significantly higher for male than for female patients (adjusted OR = 1.45; 95% CI 1.08-1.96). The most frequently used TCMs for asthma control or cough treatment were antitussive agents.

This population-based retrospective cohort study showed a significantly decreased medical utility of emergency visits and admissions in TCM patients, especially using TCM for more than 60 days.

This population-based retrospective cohort study showed a significantly decreased medical utility of emergency visits and admissions in TCM patients, especially using TCM for more than 60 days.

There is urgent need to understand the dynamics and risk factors driving ongoing SARS-CoV-2 transmission during shelter-in-place mandates.

We offered SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-PCR and antibody (Abbott ARCHITECT IgG) testing, regardless of symptoms, to all residents (≥4 years) and workers in a San Francisco census tract (population 5,174) at outdoor, community-mobilized events over four days. We estimated SARS-CoV-2 point prevalence (PCR-positive) and cumulative incidence (antibody or PCR-positive) in the census tract and evaluated risk factors for recent (PCR-positive/antibody-negative) versus prior infection (antibody-positive/PCR-negative). SARS-CoV-2 genome recovery and phylogenetics were used to measure viral strain diversity, establish viral lineages present, and estimate number of introductions.

We tested 3,953 persons 40% Latinx; 41% White; 9% Asian/Pacific Islander; and 2% Black. Overall, 2.1% (83/3,871) tested PCR-positive 95% were Latinx and 52% asymptomatic when tested. 1.7% of census intain income during San Francisco’s shelter-in-place ordinance.The biological impact of microRNAs (miRNAs) is determined by their targets, and robustly identifying direct miRNA targets remains challenging. Existing methods suffer from high false-positive rates and are unable to effectively differentiate direct miRNA targets from downstream regulatory changes. Here, we present an experimental and computational framework to deconvolute post-transcriptional and transcriptional changes using a combination of RNA-seq and PRO-seq. This novel approach allows us to systematically profile the regulatory impact of a miRNA. We refer to this approach as CARP Combined Analysis of RNA-seq and PRO-seq. We apply CARP to multiple miRNAs and show that it robustly distinguishes direct targets from downstream changes, while greatly reducing false positives. We validate our approach using Argonaute eCLIP-seq and ribosome profiling, demonstrating that CARP defines a comprehensive repertoire of targets. Using this approach, we identify miRNA-specific activity of target sites within the open reading frame. Additionally, we show that CARP facilitates the dissection of complex changes in gene regulatory networks triggered by miRNAs and identification of transcription factors that mediate downstream regulatory changes. Given the robustness of the approach, CARP would be particularly suitable for dissecting miRNA regulatory networks in vivo.Maternal health status is vital for the development of the offspring of humans, including physiological health and psychological functions. The complex and diverse microbial ecosystem residing within humans contributes critically to these intergenerational impacts. Perinatal factors, including maternal nutrition, antibiotic use and maternal stress, alter the maternal gut microbiota during pregnancy, which can be transmitted to the offspring. In addition, gestational age at birth and mode of delivery are indicated frequently to modulate the acquisition and development of gut microbiota in early life. The early-life gut microbiota engages in a range of host biological processes, particularly immunity, cognitive neurodevelopment and metabolism. The perturbed early-life gut microbiota increases the risk for disease in early and later life, highlighting the importance of understanding relationships of perinatal factors with early-life microbial composition and functions. In this review, we present an overview of the crucial perinatal factors and summarise updated knowledge of early-life microbiota, as well as how the perinatal factors shape gut microbiota in short and long terms. We further discuss the clinical consequences of perturbations of early-life gut microbiota and potential therapeutic interventions with probiotics/live biotherapeutics.