Mother-child histocompatibility and risk of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus among mothers.

The study objective was to test the hypothesis that having histocompatible children increases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), possibly by contributing to the persistence of fetal cells acquired during pregnancy. We conducted a case control study using data from the UC San Francisco Mother Child Immunogenetic Study and studies at the Inova Translational Medicine Institute. We imputed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles and minor histocompatibility antigens (mHags). We created a variable of exposure to histocompatible children. We estimated an average sequence similarity matching (SSM) score for each mother based on discordant mother-child alleles as a measure of histocompatibility. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals. A total of 138 RA, 117 SLE, and 913 control mothers were analyzed. Increased risk of RA was associated with having any child compatible at HLA-B (OR 1.9; 1.2-3.1), DPB1 (OR 1.8; 1.2-2.6) or DQB1 (OR 1.8; 1.2-2.7). Compatibility at mHag ZAPHIR was associated with reduced risk of SLE among mothers carrying the HLA-restriction allele B*07:02 (n = 262; OR 0.4; 0.2-0.8). Our findings support the hypothesis that mother-child histocompatibility is associated with risk of RA and SLE

A study of the synergistic action of compatible cytoplasmic osmolytes in the protection of photosynthetic machinery against environmental salinity and drought stress

We studied two genetic transformants of the freshwater cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 during their adaptation to unfavorable salinity PAMCOD cells which oxidize imported choline and accumulate approx. 0.06 - 0.08 Μ glycine betane, and PAM cells which do not oxidize choline. The main scope of our research was to examine if dissacharide sucrose and zwitterionic glycine betaine exerted a beneficial synergistic effect in the NaCI tolerance of PAMCD cells. Employing chlorophyll a fluorometry, we succeeded to measure, for the first time, the evolution of cytoplasmic osmolality (turgor threshold) during adaptation of PAM and PAMCOD cells to salinity. Turgor thresholds increased linearly (a) with the NaCl concentration in the culture, and (b) with the molar sucrose/chlorophyll α ratio in the cell. PAMCOD cells could proliferate in culture medium containing 0.4 M NaCl (external osmolality, 0.815 Osm kg⁻¹), after a lag period, during which intracellular sucrose rose to 10 mol (mol Chi a)-1, or more, and turgor threshold (cytoplasmic osmolality) exceeded 10 Osm kg⁻¹. At comparative conditions, PAM cells accumulated half as much sucrose, and they did not proliferate. These results indicate that glycine betaine improved the salinity tolerance of the PAMCOD cells synergistically, to sucrose, enhancement of sucrose biosynthesis, and/or alleviation of sucrose toxicity.Μελετήσαμε δύο γενετικά μετασχηματισμένων κυττάρων του κυανοβακτηρίου του γλυκού νερού Synechococcus sp. PCC7942, κατά την προσαρμογή τους σε δυσμενή περιβαλλοντική αλατότητα. Τα κύτταρα PAM που συσσωρεύουν τον οσμωλύτη σακχαρόζη και τα κύτταρα PAMCOD που συσσωρεύουν επιπλέον 0.06 - 0.08 Μ βεταΐνης της γλυκίνης. Στόχος μας ήταν να ελέγξουμε εάν η συμπαρουσία της σακχαρόζης και της διιονικής βεταΐνης, της γλυκίνης στα κύτταρα PAMCOD βελτιώνει την αλατοανθεκτικότητά τους συγκριτικά προς τα κύτταρα PAM. Για πρώτη φορά, χρησιμοποιώντας το φθορισμό της χλωροφύλλης α των κυττάρων αυτών, μετρήσαμε το όριο σπαργής τους (κυτοπλασματική οσμωτικότητα). Δείξαμε ότι κατά την προσαρμογή των κυττάρων στην αλατότητα, το όριο σπαργής τους αυξανόταν γραμμικά (α) με την συγκέντρωση NaCl στην καλλιέργεια και (β) με την κυτοπλασματική συγκέντρωση σακχαρόζης. Τα κύτταρα PAMCOD πολλαπλασιάστηκαν σε περιοριστική αλατότητα με 0.4 Μ Nacl (0. 815 Osm kg⁻¹) αφού πρώτα, η κυτοπλασματική του σακχαρόζη αυξήθηκε στα 20 mol (mol Chla)-1 και το όριο σπαργής τους υπερέβη τα 10 Osm kg⁻¹. Στις ίδιες συνθήκες, τα κύτταρα PAM συσσώρευσαν την μισή σακχαρόζη και δεν πολλαπλασιάστηκαν. Εικάζουμε ότι η βεταΐνη της γλυκίνης δρα συνεργιστικά με την σακχαρόζη, βελτιώνοντας την αλατοανθεκτικότητα των κυττάρων PAMCOD ως εξής. (α) ενισχύει τη βιοσύνθεση και συσσώρευση σακχαρόζης, (β) μετριάζει την τοξικότητα της σακχαρόζης προς το κυτόπλασμα

openEHR-to-FHIR: Converting openEHR Compositions to Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) for the German Corona Consensus Dataset (GECCO)

The German Corona Consensus (GECCO) established a uniform dataset in FHIR format for exchanging and sharing interoperable COVID-19 patient specific data between health information systems (HIS) for universities. For sharing the COVID-19 information with other locations that use openEHR, the data are to be converted in FHIR format. In this paper, we introduce our solution through a web-tool named “openEHR-to-FHIR” that converts compositions from an openEHR repository and stores in their respective GECCO FHIR profiles. The tool provides a REST web service for ad hoc conversion of openEHR compositions to FHIR profiles

Mother-child histocompatibility and risk of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus among mothers.

The study objective was to test the hypothesis that having histocompatible children increases the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), possibly by contributing to the persistence of fetal cells acquired during pregnancy. We conducted a case control study using data from the UC San Francisco Mother Child Immunogenetic Study and studies at the Inova Translational Medicine Institute. We imputed human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles and minor histocompatibility antigens (mHags). We created a variable of exposure to histocompatible children. We estimated an average sequence similarity matching (SSM) score for each mother based on discordant mother-child alleles as a measure of histocompatibility. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals. A total of 138 RA, 117 SLE, and 913 control mothers were analyzed. Increased risk of RA was associated with having any child compatible at HLA-B (OR 1.9; 1.2-3.1), DPB1 (OR 1.8; 1.2-2.6) or DQB1 (OR 1.8; 1.2-2.7). Compatibility at mHag ZAPHIR was associated with reduced risk of SLE among mothers carrying the HLA-restriction allele B*07:02 (n = 262; OR 0.4; 0.2-0.8). Our findings support the hypothesis that mother-child histocompatibility is associated with risk of RA and SLE