Maternal plasma lipid levels across pregnancy and the risks of small-for-gestational age and low birth weight: a cohort study from rural Gambia.

BACKGROUND: Sub-optimal maternal lipid levels during pregnancy may be implicated in the pathophysiological mechanisms leading to low birth weight (LBW) and small-for-gestational-age (SGA). We aimed to determine whether maternal lipid levels across pregnancy were associated with birth weight and the risks of LBW and SGA in rural Gambia. METHODS: This secondary analysis of the ENID trial involved 573 pregnant women with term deliveries. Plasma levels of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and triglycerides (TG) were analyzed at enrolment (mean (SD) = 13.9 (3.3) weeks gestation), 20 and 30 weeks gestation as continuous variables and percentile groups. Regression models with adjustment for confounders were used to examine associations between gestational lipid levels and birth weight and the risks of LBW (birth weight 90th percentile) LDL-c at 30 weeks gestation was associated with a 55% lower risk of SGA compared with referent LDL-c (P = 0.017). Increased levels of TC (β = 1.3, P = 0.027) at 20 weeks gestation and of TC (β = 1.2, P = 0.006) and LDL-c (β = 1.5, P = 0.002) at 30 weeks gestation were all associated with higher birth weight. CONCLUSIONS: In rural Gambia, lipid levels during pregnancy were associated with infant birth weight and the risks of LBW and SGA. Associations varied by lipid class and changed across pregnancy, indicating an adaptive process by which maternal lipids may influence fetal growth and birth outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered as ISRCTN49285450 on: 12/11/2009

Enzymatically Treated Spent Cellulose Sausage Casings as an Ingredient in Beef Emulsion Systems

The objective of this research was to incorporate an ingredient obtained from spent cellulose casings in beef emulsion modeling systems. The test ingredient (residual sausage casing [RSC]) was procured from cellulose sausage casings following thermal processing of the sausages. The casings were cleaned of contaminants before a combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and high-speed homogenization was conducted in an effort to improve the functional attributes of the cellulose casing residue (i.e., recycling/upcycling of the spent casings). The beef emulsion modeling systems used in this study consisted of 57.30% beef, 20% water, 15% olive oil, 6% of the combination of RSC and an all-purpose binder, 1.45% NaCl, 0.40% sodium tri-polyphosphate, 0.15% sodium nitrite cure, and 0.0035% sodium erythorbate. The overlying goal was to test the ability of the RSC ingredient as a partial or full replacement of binder ingredients in a beef emulsion system. Therefore, the beef emulsion model systems were prepared with 5 different levels of the RSC ingredient (0% RSC, 25% RSC, 50% RSC, 75% RSC, and 100% RSC). This study was independently replicated in its entirety 3 times (n = 3) in a completely randomized design, and data were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed statistical model. Emulsion samples were tested for proximate composition, cooking loss, emulsion stability, texture profile analysis, and instrumental color. Overall, technological properties and emulsion stability were lost as the level of the RSC ingredient increased, but low levels of the RSC ingredient (25% RSC) may help maintain acceptable levels of yield and emulsion stability while improving the sustainability of the sausage production system

A Leave of Absence Might Not Be a Bad Thing: Registered Practical Nurses Working in Home Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic

To describe the resilience and emotional intelligence of Registered Practical Nurses working in Home and Community Care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, to determine if there was a relationship between resilience and emotional intelligence based on whether a nurse: (1) left the sector, (2) considered leaving, or (3) took a leave of absence during the pandemic. An online cross-sectional survey was used to capture respondents’ demographic information and scores on the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, Resilience at Work Scale®, and Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale. Registered Practical Nurses working, or who had worked, in Home and Community Care January 2020 to September 2022 were eligible to participate. The Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys was used. The survey was available June to September 2022 and advertised by the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario to approximately 2105 members. Descriptive statistics and independent samples t-tests were used to analyze results at a level of P \u3c.05 was used for all analyses. A total of 672 respondents participated (completion rate = 92.8%). There were no differences on resilience or emotional intelligence scores based on whether a nurse left, or considered leaving, the Home and Community Care sector during the pandemic. However, nurses who took a leave of absence scored significantly higher on resilience and emotional intelligence measures when compared to those who did not. Results suggest that a leave of absence for these nurses during the pandemic may have been a supportive coping strategy

Enzymatically Treated Spent Cellulose Sausage Casings as an Ingredient in Beef Emulsion Systems

The objective of this research was to incorporate an ingredient obtained from spent cellulose casings in beef emulsion modeling systems. The test ingredient (residual sausage casing, RSC) was procured from cellulose sausage casings following thermal processing of the sausages. The casings were cleaned of contaminants before a combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and high-speed homogenization was conducted in an effort to improve the functional attributes of the cellulose casing residue (i.e. recycling/upcycling of the spent casings). The beef emulsion modeling systems used in this study consisted of 57.30% beef, 20% water, 15% olive oil, 6% of the combination of RSC and an all-purpose binder, 1.45% NaCl, 0.40% sodium tri-polyphosphate, 0.15% sodium nitrite cure, and 0.0035% sodium erythorbate. The overlying goal here was to test the ability of the RSC ingredient for partial or full replacement of binder ingredients in a beef emulsion system. Therefore, the beef emulsion model systems were prepared with five different levels of the RSC ingredient as a substitution to an all-purpose binder ingredient (0% RSC, 25% RSC, 50% RSC, 75% RSC, and 100% RSC). This study was independently replicated in its entirety three times in a completely randomized design and data were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed statistical model. Emulsion samples were tested for proximate composition, cooking loss, emulsion stability, texture profile analysis, and instrumental color. Overall, technological properties and emulsion stability were lost as the level of the RSC ingredient increased, but low inclusion levels of the RSC ingredient (25% RSC) may help maintain acceptable levels of yield and emulsion stability, while improving the sustainability of the sausage production system

Seasonal modulation of antibody response to diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination in infants: a cohort study in rural Gambia

BACKGROUND: In rural Gambia, rates of malnutrition and infection are higher during the annual rainy/'hungry' season (June-October) in comparison to the dry/'harvest' season (November-May). The effects of this seasonal pattern on an infant's immune development and their capacity to respond to childhood vaccinations remain unclear. The aim of the current analysis was to determine whether antibody responses to diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccinations in infants differ between seasons. METHODS: Infants received the DTP vaccine at 8, 12 and 16 weeks of age and antibody titres were measured in blood samples collected at 12 (n = 710) and 24 (n = 662) weeks of age. Mean DTP antibody titres, adjusted for maternal and infant confounders, were compared by t-tests and the effect sizes of the mean differences were calculated between seasons at mid-gestation (20 weeks gestation) and first vaccination (8 weeks of infant age). RESULTS: A smaller number of infants received their first vaccination during the rainy/hungry season months compared to the dry/harvest season (n = 224 vs. n = 486). At 12 weeks, infants vaccinated during the rainy/hungry season had lower weight-for-length Z-scores (p = 0.01) and were more likely to be anaemic (p < 0.001). Their mothers, however, were pregnant mostly during the dry/harvest season, had higher weight gain (p < 0.001) and were less likely to be anaemic during pregnancy (p < 0.001). At 12 weeks, infants vaccinated during the rainy/hungry season had significantly higher mean diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis antibody titres; by 62.3, 16.9 and 19.7%, respectively (all, p < 0.001). However, at 24 weeks, they had lower mean anti-diphtheria titres (by 20.6%, p < 0.001) compared with infants vaccinated during the dry/harvest season, and no differences were observed in mean tetanus and pertussis antibody titres by vaccination season. CONCLUSIONS: Infant antibody response to the primary dose of the DTP vaccine was influenced by both season of pregnancy and infancy, although effects were diminished following three doses. Environmental exposures, including nutrition, to both the mother and infant are hypothesised as likely drivers of these seasonal effects

Impact of nutritional supplementation during pregnancy on antibody responses to diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination in infants: A randomised trial in The Gambia.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to a nutritionally deficient environment during fetal life and early infancy may adversely alter the ontogeny of the immune system and affect an infant's ability to mount an optimal immune response to vaccination. We examined the effects of maternal nutritional supplementation during pregnancy on infants' antibody responses to the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine included in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI). METHODS AND FINDINGS: The Early Nutrition and Immune Development (ENID) trial was a randomised, partially blinded trial conducted between April 2010 and February 2015 in the rural West Kiang region of The Gambia, a resource-poor region affected by chronic undernutrition. Pregnant women (<20 weeks' gestation) with a singleton pregnancy (n = 875) were randomised to receive one of four supplements: iron-folic acid (FeFol; standard of care), multiple micronutrient (MMN), protein-energy (PE), or PE + MMN daily from enrolment (mean [SD] 13.7 [3.3] weeks' gestation) until delivery. Infants were administered the DTP vaccine at 8, 12, and 16 weeks of age according to the Gambian Government protocol. Results for the primary outcome of the trial (infant thymic size) were described previously; here, we report on a secondary outcome, infant antibody response to vaccination. The effects of supplementation on mean DTP antibody titres measured in blood samples collected from infants at 12 weeks (n = 710) and 24 weeks (n = 662) were analysed with adjustment for confounders including maternal age, compliance to supplement, and infant sex and season. At 12 weeks, following a single dose of the vaccine, compared with FeFol (mean 95% confidence interval [CI]; 0.11 IU/mL, 0.09-0.12), antenatal supplementation with MMN or MMN + PE resulted in 42.4% (95% CI 20.1-64.6; p < 0.001) and 29.4% (6.4-52.5; p = 0.012) higher mean anti-diphtheria titres, respectively. Mean anti-tetanus titres were higher by 9.0% (5.5-12.5), 7.8% (4.3-11.4), and 7.3% (4.0-10.7) in MMN, PE, and PE + MMN groups (all, p < 0.001), respectively, than in the FeFol group (0.55 IU/mL, 0.52-0.58). Mean anti-pertussis titres were not significantly different in the FeFol, MMN, and PE + MNN groups but were all higher than in the PE group (all, p < 0.001). At 24 weeks, following all three doses, no significant differences in mean anti-diphtheria titres were detected across the supplement groups. Mean anti-tetanus titres were 3.4% (0.19-6.5; p = 0.038) higher in the PE + MMN group than in the FeFol group (3.47 IU/mL, 3.29-3.66). Mean anti-pertussis titres were higher by 9.4% (3.3-15.5; p = 0.004) and 15.4% (9.6-21.2; p < 0.001) in PE and PE + MMN groups, compared with the FeFol group (74.9 IU/mL, 67.8-82.8). Limitations of the study included the lack of maternal antibody status (breast milk or plasma) or prevaccination antibody measurements in the infants. CONCLUSION: According to our results from rural Gambia, maternal supplementation with MMN combined with PE during pregnancy enhanced antibody responses to the DTP vaccine in early infancy. Provision of nutritional supplements to pregnant women in food insecure settings may improve infant immune development and responses to EPI vaccines. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN49285450

Parent-of-origin-specific allelic associations among 106 genomic loci for age at menarche.

Age at menarche is a marker of timing of puberty in females. It varies widely between individuals, is a heritable trait and is associated with risks for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and all-cause mortality. Studies of rare human disorders of puberty and animal models point to a complex hypothalamic-pituitary-hormonal regulation, but the mechanisms that determine pubertal timing and underlie its links to disease risk remain unclear. Here, using genome-wide and custom-genotyping arrays in up to 182,416 women of European descent from 57 studies, we found robust evidence (P < 5 × 10(-8)) for 123 signals at 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche. Many loci were associated with other pubertal traits in both sexes, and there was substantial overlap with genes implicated in body mass index and various diseases, including rare disorders of puberty. Menarche signals were enriched in imprinted regions, with three loci (DLK1-WDR25, MKRN3-MAGEL2 and KCNK9) demonstrating parent-of-origin-specific associations concordant with known parental expression patterns. Pathway analyses implicated nuclear hormone receptors, particularly retinoic acid and γ-aminobutyric acid-B2 receptor signalling, among novel mechanisms that regulate pubertal timing in humans. Our findings suggest a genetic architecture involving at least hundreds of common variants in the coordinated timing of the pubertal transition

Parallel independent evolution of pathogenicity within the genus Yersinia

Peer reviewe

A very luminous magnetar-powered supernova associated with an ultra-long gamma-ray burst

A new class of ultra-long duration (>10,000 s) gamma-ray bursts has recently been suggested1,2,3. They may originate in the explosion of stars with much larger radii than normal long gamma-ray bursts3,4 or in the tidal disruptions of a star3. No clear supernova had yet been associated with an ultra-long gamma-ray burst. Here we report that a supernova (2011kl) was associated with the ultra-long duration burst 111209A, at z=0.677. This supernova is more than 3 times more luminous than type Ic supernovae associated with long gamma-ray bursts5,6,7, and its spectrum is distinctly different. The continuum slope resembles those of super-luminous supernovae8,9, but extends farther down into the rest-frame ultra-violet implying a low metal content. The light curve evolves much more rapidly than super-luminous supernovae. The combination of high luminosity and low metal-line opacity cannot be reconciled with typical type Ic supernovae, but can be reproduced by a model where extra energy is injected by a strongly magnetized neutron star (a magnetar), which has also been proposed as the explanation for super-luminous supernovae20,20a