Use of Biologic Therapy by Pregnant Women With Inflammatory Bowel Disease Does Not Affect Infant Response to Vaccines

BACKGROUND & AIMS: In women with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), exposure to immunomodulator or biologic therapy has not been associated with adverse events during pregnancy or outcomes of newborns. We investigated whether exposure of patients to these agents during pregnancy affects serologic responses to vaccines in newborns. METHODS: We collected data from the Pregnancy in IBD and Neonatal Outcomes registry, which records outcomes of pregnant women with diagnosis of IBD receiving care at multiple centers in the United States, from 2007 through 2016. Serum samples collected from infants at least 7 months old were analyzed for titers of antibodies to Haemophilus influenzae B (HiB) or tetanus toxin; mothers completed a survey of vaccine practices and outcomes from July 2013 through October 2016. Umbilical cord blood samples from 33 infants were assayed for concentration of biologic agents. Vaccination response was compared between infants born to mothers exposed to biologic therapy (infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, golimumab, natalizumab, vedolizumab, or ustekinumab-either as a single agent or in combination with an immunomodulator, at any time between conception and delivery) and infants born to unexposed mothers. RESULTS: A total of 179 women completed the vaccine survey (26 biologic unexposed, 153 exposed to a biologic agent). We found no significant difference in proportions of infants with protective antibody titers against HiB born to exposed mothers (n = 42, 71%) vs unexposed mothers (n = 8, 50%) (P = .41). We also found no difference in the proportion of infants with protective antibody titers to tetanus toxoid born to exposed mothers (80%) vs unexposed mothers (75%) (P = .66). The median concentration of infliximab in cord blood did not differ significantly between infants with vs without protective antibody titers to HiB (P = .30) or tetanus toxoid (P = .93). Mild reactions were observed in 7/40 infants who received rotavirus vaccine and whose mothers had been exposed to biologic therapies. CONCLUSIONS: Vaccination of infants against HiB and tetanus toxin, based on antibody titers measured when infants were at least 7 months old, does not appear to be affected by in utero exposure to biologic therapy

EUCLID : Dark Universe Probe and Microlensing planet Hunter

There is a remarkable synergy between requirements for Dark Energy probes by cosmic shear measurements and planet hunting by microlensing. Employing weak and strong gravitational lensing to trace and detect the distribution of matter on cosmic and Galactic scales, but as well as to the very small scales of exoplanets is a unique meeting point from cosmology to exoplanets. It will use gravity as the tool to explore the full range of masses not accessible by any other means. EUCLID is a 1.2m telescope with optical and IR wide field imagers and slitless spectroscopy, proposed to ESA Cosmic Vision to probe for Dark Energy, Baryonic acoustic oscillation, galaxy evolution, and an exoplanet hunt via microlensing. A 3 months microlensing program will already efficiently probe for planets down to the mass of Mars at the snow line, for free floating terrestrial or gaseous planets and habitable super Earth. A 12+ months survey would give a census on habitable Earth planets around solar like stars. This is the perfect complement to the statistics that will be provided by the KEPLER satellite, and these missions combined will provide a full census of extrasolar planets from hot, warm, habitable, frozen to free floating.Comment: 6 pages 3 figures, invited talk in Pathways towards habitable planets, Barcelona, Sept 200

Using gene expression data to identify certain gastro-intestinal diseases

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are considered to be of autoimmune origin, but the etiology of irritable bowel syndrome remains elusive. Furthermore, classifying patients into irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases can be difficult without invasive testing and holds important treatment implications. Our aim was to assess the ability of gene expression profiling in blood to differentiate among these subject groups. METHODS: Transcript levels of a total of 45 genes in blood were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We applied three separate analytic approaches; one utilized a scoring system derived from combinations of ratios of expression levels of two genes and two different support vector machines. RESULTS: All methods discriminated different subject cohorts, irritable bowel syndrome from control, inflammatory bowel disease from control, irritable bowel syndrome from inflammatory bowel disease, and ulcerative colitis from Crohn’s disease, with high degrees of sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest these approaches may provide clinically useful prediction of the presence of these gastro-intestinal diseases and syndromes

Association Between Affective-Cognitive Symptoms of Depression and Exacerbation of Crohn’s Disease

The prevalence of depression is high in patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD). We examined the influence of affective-cognitive symptoms of depression on the risk of exacerbation of CD

Dysregulation of the Norepinephrine Transporter Sustains Cortical Hypodopaminergia and Schizophrenia-Like Behaviors in Neuronal Rictor Null Mice

A novel animal model highlights the link between Akt dysfunction, reduced cortical dopamine function, norepinephrine transporters, and schizophrenia-like behaviors

Eating disorders in weight-related therapy (EDIT): protocol for a systematic review with individual participant data meta-analysis of eating disorder risk in behavioural weight management

The Eating Disorders In weight-related Therapy (EDIT) Collaboration brings together data from randomised controlled trials of behavioural weight management interventions to identify individual participant risk factors and intervention strategies that contribute to eating disorder risk. We present a protocol for a systematic review and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis which aims to identify participants at risk of developing eating disorders, or related symptoms, during or after weight management interventions conducted in adolescents or adults with overweight or obesity. We systematically searched four databases up to March 2022 and clinical trials registries to May 2022 to identify randomised controlled trials of weight management interventions conducted in adolescents or adults with overweight or obesity that measured eating disorder risk at pre- and post-intervention or follow-up. Authors from eligible trials have been invited to share their deidentified IPD. Two IPD meta-analyses will be conducted. The first IPD meta-analysis aims to examine participant level factors associated with a change in eating disorder scores during and following a weight management intervention. To do this we will examine baseline variables that predict change in eating disorder risk within intervention arms. The second IPD meta-analysis aims to assess whether there are participant level factors that predict whether participation in an intervention is more or less likely than no intervention to lead to a change in eating disorder risk. To do this, we will examine if there are differences in predictors of eating disorder risk between intervention and no-treatment control arms. The primary outcome will be a standardised mean difference in global eating disorder score from baseline to immediately post-intervention and at 6- and 12- months follow-up. Identifying participant level risk factors predicting eating disorder risk will inform screening and monitoring protocols to allow early identification and intervention for those at risk