Association Between Systemic Inflammation and Nutritional Compounds in Maternal-Infant Dyads

Many events during pregnancy and early infancy can affect infant brain development. Inflammation during pregnancy, around delivery and during early infancy appears to adversely affect infant brain development. As the brain is rapidly growing and developing from conception through early childhood, it is particularly vulnerable during this time to inflammatory insults, which may be exacerbated or ameliorated by nutritional factors. Inflammatory compounds, as well as many nutritional compounds, can be either pro- or anti-inflammatory. These compounds are of particular importance in preterm infants, who are at risk of deficiency in anti-inflammatory micronutrients typically stored as a result of prenatal maternal diets and thus reliant on post-natal dietary supplementation. Understanding the ways in which nutritional status and inflammation interact with each other has been identified as a key gap to fill in improving our ability to treat and prevent neurodevelopmental impairment as a result of prematurity. We examined the innovative conceptual framework by which nutritional compounds such as alpha- and beta-carotenes, lutein, lycopene and alpha-tocopherol are associated with decreased levels of pro-inflammatory compounds associated with inflammation in utero and after delivery. These studies will lay the foundation for long-term studies of neurodevelopment outcomes in these infants, as well as allow us to identify key pathways we might target for dietary or pharmacologic immunomodulation to improve neurologic outcomes in high risk infants. ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATION AND NUTRITIONAL COMPOUNDS IN MATERNAL-INFANT DYAD

Pressure Regulator for a High Altitude Balloon

High altitude balloons are large latex balloons filled with gas that carry a payload to near space. Because they can travel to around 100,000 feet, they provide a convenient way to study the Earth’s atmosphere. Per Boyle’s Law, the pressure and volume of a confined gas are inversely proportional. Thus, as the balloon ascends and the atmospheric pressure decreases, the gas inside the balloon expands. This pressure difference allows the balloon to ascend, but it also causes it to continuously expand until it bursts. For some observations, one might want their balloon to remain at about the same altitude for a period of time. One way to do this is to periodically release gas from the balloon, decreasing the volume of gas in the balloon. The objective of this experiment was to design a valve with a sensor to regulate the pressure inside the balloon and in turn, prolong its flight. To do this, we designed an automated pressure valve that will be tested in the near future by way of a tethered flight

CSF Inflammatory Markers Differ in Gram-Positive Versus Gram-negative Shunt Infections.

BACKGROUND: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt placement is frequently complicated by bacterial infection. Shunt infection diagnosis relies on bacterial culture of CSF which can often produce false-negative results. Negative cultures present a conundrum for physicians as they are left to rely on other CSF indices, which can be unremarkable. New methods are needed to swiftly and accurately diagnose shunt infections. CSF chemokines and cytokines may prove useful as diagnostic biomarkers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of systemic and CSF biomarkers for identification of CSF shunt infection. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of children with culture-confirmed CSF shunt infection at Children\u27s Hospital and Medical Center from July 2013 to December 2015. CSF cytokine analysis was performed for those patients with CSF in frozen storage from the same sample that was used for diagnostic culture. RESULTS: A total of 12 infections were included in this study. Patients with shunt infection had a median C-reactive protein (CRP) of 18.25 mg/dL. Median peripheral white blood cell count was 15.53 × 10 CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study is the first to characterize the CSF cytokine profile in patients with CSF shunt infection and supports the distinction of chemokine and cytokine profiles between gram-negative and gram-positive infections. Additionally, it demonstrates the potential of CSF chemokines and cytokines as biomarkers for the diagnosis of shunt infection

From the Editors

Editors\u27 Note

Pressure Regulator for a High Altitude Balloon

High altitude balloons are large latex balloons filled with gas that carry a payload to near space. Because they can travel to around 100,000 feet, they provide a convenient way to study the Earth’s atmosphere. Per Boyle’s Law, the pressure and volume of a confined gas are inversely proportional. Thus, as the balloon ascends and the atmospheric pressure decreases, the gas inside the balloon expands. This pressure difference allows the balloon to ascend, but it also causes it to continuously expand until it bursts. For some observations, one might want their balloon to remain at about the same altitude for a period of time. One way to do this is to periodically release gas from the balloon, decreasing the volume of gas in the balloon. The objective of this experiment was to design a valve with a sensor to regulate the pressure inside the balloon and in turn, prolong its flight. To do this, we designed an automated pressure valve that will be tested in the near future by way of a tethered flight

Explicit and implicit bias measures : their relation and utility as predictors of criminal verdict tendency

The relations between explicit and implicit racial bias measures were examined in the present study, along with the predictive validity of these measures for juror verdict tendency for criminal case summaries as a function of case type and defendant ethnicity. Participants completed a general implicit racial bias measure, the Implicit Association Test (IAT), and two explicit measures of racial bias, of which the Modern Racism Scale (MRS) was a general measure and of which the Racial Bias Scale (PJBQ-RB) of the Pretrial Juror Bias Questionnaire (PJBQ) was a legal specific measure. Participants read two criminal case summaries, the first of which was an assault case and the second of which was a robbery case. Defendant ethnicity (African American or European American) was varied between participants through the presentation of defendant photographs. Results demonstrated that explicit and implicit bias measures are related with one another, although the relations do not always emerge between the different types of bias measures or only between bias measures assessing the same construct. The more general MRS and IAT were significantly related to one another, while the more specific PJBQ-Race did not relate to the IAT. Additionally, the IAT measure was significantly related to several other legal bias measures that were not direct assessments of racial bias, indicating that perhaps implicit measures are not measuring an individual’s beliefs about racial bias so much as perhaps the degree to which an individual is aware of societal attitudes towards ethnic minority members. Both the PJBQ scales and the IAT predicted verdict tendency, although the specific results varied depending on both case type and defendant ethnicity. Predictive validity for the assault case was poor. The PJBQ scales displayed predictive validity for the robbery case across defendant ethnicity conditions, while the IAT had predictive utility solely when examining verdict tendency for specific defendant-case combinations. These findings demonstrate that although explicit and implicit measures are not entirely independent of each other, they do appear to be assessing largely independent constructs. Similarly, both explicit and implicit bias measures displayed evidence of their potential utility as predictors of juror verdict tendency for criminal cases

IL-10 plays an important role in the control of inflammation but not in the bacterial burden in S. epidermidis CNS catheter infection.

BACKGROUND: Shunt infection is a frequent and serious complication in the surgical treatment in hydrocephalus. Previous studies have shown an attenuated immune response to these biofilm-mediated infections. We proposed that IL-10 reduces the inflammatory response to Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) CNS catheter infection. METHODS: In this study, a murine model of catheter-associated S. epidermidis biofilm infection in the CNS was generated based on a well-established similar model for S. aureus. The catheters were pre-coated with a clinically derived biofilm-forming strain of S. epidermidis (strain 1457) which were then stereotactically implanted into the lateral left ventricle of 8-week-old C57BL/6 and IL-10 knockout (IL-10 knockout) mice. Bacterial titers as well as cytokine and chemokine levels were measured at days 3, 5, 7, and 10 in mice implanted with sterile and S. epidermidis-coated catheters. RESULTS: Cultures demonstrated a catheter-associated and parenchymal infection that persisted through 10 days following infection. Cytokine analysis of the tissue surrounding the catheters revealed greater levels of IL-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine, in the infected group compared to the sterile. In IL-10 KO mice, we noted no change in bacterial burdens, showing that IL-10 is not needed to control the infection in a CNS catheter infection model. However, IL-10 KO mice had increased levels of pro-inflammatory mediators in the tissues immediately adjacent to the infected catheter, as well as an increase in weight loss. CONCLUSIONS: Together our results indicate that IL-10 plays a key role in regulating the inflammatory response to CNS catheter infection but not in control of bacterial burdens. Therefore, IL-10 may be a useful therapeutic target for immune modulation in CNS catheter infection but this should be used in conjunction with antibiotic therapy for bacterial eradication

Editors\u27 Notes

Editors\u27 Note

Reviewer Acknowledgments

Reviewer Acknowledgment

Reviewer Acknowledgments

Reviewer Acknowledgment