Plos One
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Twin pregnancies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) pose a high risk to mothers and newborns due to inherent biological risks and scarcity of health resources. We conducted a secondary analysis of the WHO Global Survey dataset to analyze maternal and perinatal outcomes in twin pregnancies and factors associated with perinatal morbidity and mortality in twins. ⋯ Twin pregnancy is a significant risk factor for maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in low-resource settings; maternal risk and access to safe caesarean section may determine safest mode of delivery in LMICs. Improving obstetric care in twin pregnancies, particularly timely access to safe caesarean section, is required to reduce risk to mother and baby.
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Previous research has shown that being affectively unstable is an indicator of several forms of psychological maladjustment. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying affective instability. ⋯ We investigated this hypothesis by relating affective instability, assessed in daily life using the experience sampling method, to self-reported emotion regulation strategies and to parasympathetically mediated heart rate variability (HRV), a physiological indicator of emotion regulation capacity. Results showed that HRV was negatively related to instability of positive affect (as measured by mean square successive differences), indicating that individuals with lower parasympathetic tone are emotionally less stable, particularly for positive affect.
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There is evidence indicating that invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells play an important role in defense against influenza A virus (IAV). However, the effect of inhibitory receptor, programmed death-1 (PD-1), and its ligands, programmed death ligand (PD-L) 1 and 2 on iNKT cells in protection against IAV remains to be elucidated. Here we investigated the effects of these co-stimulatory molecules on iNKT cells in the response to influenza. ⋯ We identified that PD-L1 negatively regulates the frequency of iNKT cell subsets in the lungs of IAV infected mice. Altogether, these results demonstrate that lack of PD-L1 expression by iNKT cells reduces the sensitivity to IAV and that the presence of PD-L2 is important for dampening the deleterious inflammatory responses after IAV infection. Our findings potentially have clinical implications for developing new therapies for influenza.
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Acromegaly is frequently associated with impaired glucose tolerance and/or diabetes. To evaluate the relationship between glucose metabolism and acromegaly disease, we evaluated 269 consecutive patients from two referral centres. ⋯ Patients with pure somatotroph adenomas are more likely than those with mixed adenomas to exhibit abnormal glucose metabolism.
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The objectives of the current study are to provide nationally representative estimates of hospital based emergency department visits (ED) attributed to self inflicted injuries and attempted suicides among children in United States; and to identify potential methods of such intentional self inflicted injuries and attempted suicides. ⋯ Females comprise a greater proportion of ED visits attributed to self inflicted injuries. 227 children died either in the ED's or in hospitals. The current study results highlight the burden associated with such injuries among children.