Age, seasons and influence of body mass index on menarche among secondary school girls in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Menarche is a significant marker of maturity and puberty in girls, and it is a transition influenced by different biophysical factors. This study was carried out to determine the age, seasons and the influence of body mass index (BMI) on menarche. A total of 450 girls’ between the ages of 10 and 19 years participated in the study. Age at menarche was obtained via the recall quo cross sectional method. Parameters measured were; standing height (SH), weight (Wt) and BMI. A total of 373 (82.9%) girls had their menarche in their early adolescence while 77 girls (17.1%) had their menarche in mid adolescence. Mean age at menarche was 13.17± 1.48 years. The average value for BMI was 20.35 ± 3.77 kg/m2, SH was 161.09 ± 6.16 cm, Wt was 52.53 ± 9.21kg. Overweight girls were observed to attain menarche earlier, followed by those whose mean weight was in the normal range .Subjects in the underweight category had higher age at menarche. Menarche was high in the months of August, July and January. Menarche occurs early among secondary school girls in Port Harcourt and among other factors, those associated with BMI and stress are important in the onset of the biological event.

Empirical Assessment of Alternative Methods for Identifying Seasonality in Observational Healthcare Data

BackgroundSeasonality classification is a well-known and important part of time series analysis. Understanding the seasonality of a biological event can contribute to an improved understanding of its causes and help guide appropriate responses. Observational data, however, are not comprised of biological events, but timestamped diagnosis codes the combination of which (along with additional requirements) are used as proxies for biological events. As there exist different methods for determining the seasonality of a time series, it is necessary to know if these methods exhibit concordance. In this study we seek to determine the concordance of these methods by applying them to time series derived from diagnosis codes in observational data. Methods: We compared 8 methods for determining the seasonality of a time series at three levels of significance (0.01, 0.05, and 0.1), against 10 observational health databases. We evaluated 61,467 time series at each level of significance, totaling 184,401 evaluations. Results: Methods of binary seasonality classification when applied to time series derived from diagnosis codes in observational health data produce inconsistent results. Across all databases and levels of significance, concordance ranged from 20.2% to 40.2%.Conclusion: The results indicate that researchers relying on automated methods to assess the seasonality of time series derived from diagnosis codes in observational data should be aware that the methods are not interchangeable. Seasonality determination is highly dependent on the method chosen.

Childbearing culture: a prominent context in the process of maternal role attainment in Iranian mothers with preterm neonates

Transition to the role of mothering is one of the most important events in a woman’s life. While childbirth is a biological event, pregnancy and the experiences around it are more influenced by social structure, which is shaped by cultural perceptions and practices. The aim of this study was to explore cultural context during maternal role attainment in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in Iran. The study was part of a grounded theory study on how the mothers of preterm neonates go through maternal role attainment. Data collection was carried out by purposeful sampling from 20 participants (15 mothers of preterm neonates and 5 NICU nurses). Data were analysed according to Corbin and Strauss’s (2015) approach. Four categories of childbearing culture emerged: ‘The necessity of childbearing’, ‘Childbearing rituals’, ‘Maternal persistent presence’ and ‘Attitudes and religious beliefs’. The findings showed that the special beliefs and practices in Iranian culture affected all of the participants’ reactions to mothering process. Culture is one of the most important factors affecting the development of motherhood in Iran. In order to provide sensitive and culturally appropriate care, nurses should be aware of the general impact of cultural norms and values on the process of maternal role attainment and strive to meet the cultural needs of all mothers.

COSMIN Checklist for Systematic Reviews of the Hospital Preparedness Instruments in Biological Events

Background and PurposeThe purpose of this research was to evaluate the psychometric properties of hospital preparedness instruments in biological events. The Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurements Instruments (COSMIN) checklist has been used to design the appropriate hospital preparedness instruments in these events.MethodsA systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and ProQuest, Google Scholar for relevant literature until December 31, 2018, and the data were extracted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The quality of the identified studies was assessed per measurement property according to the COSMIN checklist. Twenty studies that met the inclusion criteria were included.ResultsThe result showed that none of the evaluated checklists and instruments included all dimensions required for an appropriate hospital preparedness evaluation. The results revealed that none of the included studies reported adequate information on all the measurement properties of the instruments studied as per the COSMIN criteria.ConclusionsThe information on their measurement properties was lacking. Thus, there was a need for evaluating measurement. However, a vital necessity is felt for developing an instrument with acceptable psychometric properties for measuring hospital preparedness in biological events. The present study provided improved clarity about the quality of currently available hospital preparedness instruments in the biological event and the results of this systematic review could be used to prepare a standardized instrument to evaluate hospital preparedness in biological disaster.

Remodeling of organelles and microtubules during spermiogenesis in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha

Gametogenesis is an essential biological event for sexual reproduction in various organisms. Bryophytes and some other plants employ motile sperms (spermatozoids) as male gametes, which self-locomote to the egg cells to accomplish fertilization. Spermatozoids of bryophytes harbor distinctive morphological characteristics, including the cell body with a helical slender shape and two motile flagella at the anterior edge. During transformation from a spermatid to spermatozoid (spermiogenesis), the shape and cellular contents of spermatids are dynamically reorganized. However, how each organelle is reorganized during plant spermiogenesis remains obscure. In this study, we classified the developmental processes during spermiogenesis in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha according to cellular and nuclear shapes and flagella development. We then examined the remodeling of microtubules and reorganization of endomembrane organelles during spermiogenesis. The results indicate that the state of post-translational modification of tubulin is dynamically changed during the formation of the flagella and spline, and the plasma membrane and endomembrane organelles are drastically reorganized in a precisely regulated manner during spermiogenesis. These findings are expected to provide useful indexes to classify developmental and subcellular processes of spermiogenesis in bryophytes.

Staying with the trouble of collegiality, professionalism and care: Fertilities in academia

Collegiality and professionalism are touted as crucial in academic career success and security, and as required for participation in academic spaces. Conversely, care, essential to well-being and social reproduction, is rarely portrayed as necessary or even appropriate in academic space. This auto-ethnographic article uncovers discursive constructions of professionalism, collegiality, and care. I frame them as practices academics are unevenly required to perform—whether explicitly demanded or as a necessity for well-being—through the lens of my experience of fertilities as a graduate student. Rather than a single biological event, I frame fertilities as experienced as “an anticipatory weight shouldered throughout the life course” (Introduction, Themed Issue). Within academia, fertilities are constructed as threatening to academic success, particularly as they impose the burden of care work that may detract from academic work, impede professionalism, and leave less time for collegiality. This piece contributes to the intersection of three phases of fertilities experienced during graduate school: early pregnancy, miscarriage diagnosis, and the process of becoming un-pregnant. I highlight my experience of fertilities because they are common yet hushed by stigma—a silence co-constitutive with the under-theorizing of fertilities and leading to the absence of care, exacerbated by university policies and norms. Through this engagement, the article aims to change the parameters of the speakable within departments so we can seek and receive the care we need. Without discarding the positive potential of collegiality or professionalism, I advocate for mentorship, slow scholarship, and intersectional acts of care, arguing that ‘care’ should be neither stigmatized nor mandated. Instead, the definition must be collaborative, evolving, and intersectional. As bell hooks writes, “imagine how much easier it would be for us to learn to love [or care] if we began with a shared definition.”

Oxidative Stress Triggers Defective Autophagy in Endothelial Cells: Role in Atherothrombosis Development

Atherothrombosis, a multifactorial and multistep artery disorder, represents one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The development and progression of atherothrombosis is closely associated with age, gender and a complex relationship between unhealthy lifestyle habits and several genetic risk factors. The imbalance between oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses is the main biological event leading to the development of a pro-oxidant phenotype, triggering cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with the atherothrombotic process. The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its late thrombotic complications involve multiple cellular events such as inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs), extracellular matrix (ECM) alterations, and platelet activation, contributing to chronic pathological remodeling of the vascular wall, atheromatous plague formation, vascular stenosis, and eventually, thrombus growth and propagation. Emerging studies suggest that clotting activation and endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction play key roles in the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis. Furthermore, a growing body of evidence indicates that defective autophagy is closely linked to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which, in turn, are involved in the development and progression of atherosclerotic disease. This topic represents a large field of study aimed at identifying new potential therapeutic targets. In this review, we focus on the major role played by the autophagic pathway induced by oxidative stress in the modulation of EC dysfunction as a background to understand its potential role in the development of atherothrombosis.

PD-L1 Expression on Circulating Tumor Cells and Platelets in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICPi) is effective in several cancers. Expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) on circulating tumor or immune effector cells could provide insights into selection of patients for ICPi. Methods: Whole blood (WB) was collected at serial timepoints from metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients and healthy donors for circulating tumor cell (CTC) and platelet PD-L1 analysis using the CellSearch® assay. CTC PD-L1 was considered positive if detected on at least 1% of the cells; platelet PD-L1 was considered positive if ≥100 platelets per CellSearch frame expressed PD-L1. Results: A total of 207 specimens from 124 MBC patients were collected. 52/124 (42%) samples at timepoint-1 (at or close to time of progressive disease) had ≥5 CTC/7.5ml WB. Of those, 21 (40%) had positive CTC PD-L1. In addition, platelet PD-L1 expression was observed in 35/124 (28%) at timepoint-1. Platelet PD-L1 was not detected in more than 70 specimens from 12 healthy donors. Platelet PD-L1 was associated with ≥5 CTC/7.5ml WB (p=0.0002), less likely in patients with higher red blood cell counts (OR=0.72, p<0.001) and a history of smoking tobacco (OR=0.76, p<0.001). Platelet PD-L1 staining was not associated with tumor marker status, recent procedures or treatments, platelet-affecting drugs, or CTC PD-L1 expression. Conclusion: PD-L1 expression was found in MBC patients on both CTC and platelets in an independent fashion. Inter-patient platelet PD-L1 expression was highly heterogeneous suggesting that it is a biological event associated with cancer in some but not all patients. Taken together, our data suggest that CTC and platelet PD-L1 expression could play a role in predicting which patients should receive ICPi and as a pharmacodynamics biomarker during treatment.

Title: insoluble proteins catch heterologous soluble proteins into inclusion bodies by intermolecular interaction of aggregating peptides

Background Protein aggregation is a biological event observed in expression systems in which the recombinant protein is produced under stressful conditions surpassing the homeostasis of the protein quality control system. In addition, protein aggregation is also related to conformational diseases in animals as transmissible prion diseases or non-transmissible neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer, Parkinson’s disease, amyloidosis and multiple system atrophy among others. At the molecular level, the presence of aggregation-prone domains in protein molecules act as seeding igniters to induce the accumulation of protein molecules in protease-resistant clusters by intermolecular interactions. Results In this work we have studied the aggregating-prone performance of a small peptide (L6K2) with additional antimicrobial activity and we have elucidated the relevance of the accompanying scaffold protein to enhance the aggregating profile of the fusion protein. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the fusion of L6K2 to highly soluble recombinant proteins directs the protein to inclusion bodies (IBs) in E. coli through stereospecific interactions in the presence of an insoluble protein displaying the same aggregating-prone peptide (APP). Conclusions These data suggest that the molecular bases of protein aggregation are related to the net balance of protein aggregation potential and not only to the presence of APPs. This is then presented as a generic platform to generate hybrid protein aggregates in microbial cell factories for biopharmaceutical and biotechnological applications.

Insoluble proteins catch heterologous soluble proteins into inclusion bodies by intermolecular interaction of aggregating peptides.

Background Protein aggregation is a biological event observed in expression systems in which the recombinant protein is produced under stressful conditions surpassing the homeostasis of the protein quality control system. In addition, protein aggregation is related to conformational diseases in animals as transmissible prion diseases, and non-transmissible neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer, Parkinson's disease, amyloidosis and multiple system atrophy among others. At the molecular level, the presence of aggregating-prone domains in protein molecules act as seeding igniters to induce the accumulation of protein molecules in protease-resistant clusters by intermolecular interactions. Results In this work the aggregating-prone performance of a small peptide (L6K2) with additional antimicrobial activity was studied and the relevance of the accompanying scaffold protein to enhance the aggregating profile of the fusion protein has been elucidated. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the fusion of L6K2 to highly soluble recombinant proteins directs the protein to inclusion bodies (IBs) in E. coli through stereospecific interactions in the presence of an insoluble protein displaying the same aggregating-prone peptide (APP). Conclusions These data suggest that the molecular bases of protein aggregation are related not only to the presence of aggregation-prone stretches, but to the net balance of protein aggregation potential. and not only to the presence of aggregation-prone stretches. This is ultimately presented as a generic platform to generate hybrid protein aggregates in microbial cell factories for biopharmaceutical and biotechnological applications.