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Children of incarcerated parents experience a range of vulnerabilities which have led to them being dubbed the ‘invisible victims' of the criminal justice system. This article discusses the needs of children with incarcerated parents using recent literature describing children's experiences during prison visitation suspensions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We then critically examine the human rights-based communications framework, as well as the challenges faced by children of incarcerated parents, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). We recommend corrective services around Australia retain alternative contact methods and consider introducing in-cell communication technology. © The Author(s) 2023.
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In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the inception of the CCN society, and of the first post-Covid-19 live meeting, the executive board of the ICCNS had chosen Nice as the venue for the 11th International workshop on the CCN family of genes. On this occasion participation in the meeting was extended to colleagues from other cell signaling fields who were invited to present both an overview of their work and the future directions of their laboratory. Also, for the first time, the members of the JCCS Editorial Board were invited to participate in a JCCS special session during which all aspects of the journal « life ¼ were addressed and opened to free critical discussion. The scientific presentations and the discussions that followed showed once more that an expansion of the session topics was beneficial to the quality of the meeting and confirmed that the ARBIOCOM project discussed last April in Nice was now on track to be launched in 2023. The participants unanimously welcomed Professor Attramadal's proposition to organize the 2024, 12th International CCN workshop in Oslo, Norway.
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Health systems and their trends are continually evolving with advanced research on new tools and techniques. Since every health system has its limitations, there is a requirement for the integration of different medical systems to better serve mankind. In this direction, a practitioner of modern medicine should take into consideration traditional medicine practices, while the traditional medicine practitioner should also integrate the beneficial strategies of modern medicine. In spite of different approaches, the aim of all these medical systems is the same, which is to serve mankind by treating various health problems. Although traditional medicine has the potential to treat a variety of diseases, its acceptance by the global community is less than that of modern medicine due to inadequate scientific validation of its therapeutic benefits. In recent years, many new diseases have emerged, perhaps due to changes in geography, environment, weather conditions, and soil composition. A complete treatment of such diseases is a challenge for all medical practitioners, whether belonging to modern or traditional medicine. Therefore, an in-depth multidisciplinary research is needed to find an effective therapeutic strategy by connecting modern and traditional medical systems with biomedical sciences. In this direction, biotechnology can play an important role in developing a diagnostic method and treatment protocol. The present review provides an overview of the available Ayurvedic treatment options and future possibilities in which biotechnology may assist as a service provider. Copyright © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.
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Introduction: Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) catalyses production of nitric oxide during an inflammatory stimuli and is a signature marker of M1-like microglia/macrophages. iNOS mRNA and protein were found in brain lesions of MS patients however its role in demyelination remains unclear. We employed RSA59, a mild hepatoneurotropic strain of Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) which in 4-weeks-old C57BL/6 mice causes biphasic CNS disease characterised by acute neuroinflammation (day5 p.i.) and chronic demyelination and axonal loss (day30 p.i.). Microglia/ macrophages are central to the disease pathology and require assistance from infiltrating CD4+ T cells to mount protective host immune response. The CNS immune interactions during the acute-adaptive transition stage thus determine disease trajectory. Objective(s): To understand the role of iNOS in microglia/macrophage and peripheral T cell communication and assess its effect on demyelination. Aim(s): To study the role of iNOS in demyelination. Method(s): 4-5-weeks-old MHV-free wildtype C57BL/6 (WT) and iNOS knockout (iNOS-/-) mice were infected intracranially with 20000 or 10000 pfus of RSA59 and assessed daily for weight loss and disease score. Mice were sacrificed at day9/10 and day30 p.i. CNS viral titers were detected by plaque assay. Transcript levels of anti-inflammatory and phagocytic M2-like phenotype markers were analysed by qRT PCR. Differential CNS immune cell infiltration was assessed by flow cytometry. LFB and Iba1 staining was used to study demyelination and microglia/macrophage activation in the CNS. Result(s): iNOS-/- mice infected with RSA59 at 20000 pfus exhibited aggravated disease and high mortality at the acute-adaptive transition stage i.e., day9/10 p.i. as compared to wildtype controls despite being no differences in virus clearance by the CNS. Histopathology at this stage showed early demyelination in the spinal cords accompanied by presence of amoeboid microglia macrophages;high CNS mRNA expression of M2-like phenotype markers, TGFbeta, Arg1, CD206 and TREM2;and more infiltration of T regulatory cells. iNOS-/- mice infected at low pfus of virus i.e., 10000 also showed significantly more chronic demyelination at day30 p.i. Conclusion(s): Our studies reveal a protective role of iNOS against RSA59 induced demyelination by regulating the CNS inflammatory phenotype specifically the phenotypic transition of microglia/macrophages and thereby their interaction with peripheral immune cells.
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Background: Several studies have demonstrated immunogenicity after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRD) [1], but the differences between mRNA-based and vector vaccines and the cellular responses to COVID-19 vaccines according to distinct immunogenicity in AIRD patients are still unclear. Objectives: To investigate the differences in efficacy and safety between the vector vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) and mRNA-based vaccine mRNA-1273 (Moderna) in patients with AIRD, and to explore the cell-cell interactions between high and low anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG levels in patients with rheumatic arthritis (RA) by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Methods: From September 16 to November 15, 2021, we consecutively enrolled 243 participants aged ≥20 years with AIRD who received COVID-19 vaccination, of whom 113 were immunized with AZD1222 and 130 with mRNA-1273. The level of serum IgG antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain on the spike protein S1 subunit was quantifed by electrochemiluminescence immuno-assay at 4-6 weeks after vaccination. Moreover, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from two RA patient with high anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG level and four RA patients with low level for scRNA-seq and cell-cell communication signal was analyzed by CellChat. Results: The anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG seropositivity rate was 78.8% (89/113) for AZD1222 and 83.1% (108/130) for mRNA-1273. The level of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG was higher in patients who received mRNA-1273 than in those who received AZD1222 (β: 30.15, 95% CI: 11.67-48.63, p=0.002) (Table 1). Prednisolone-equivalent dose >5 mg/day and methotrexate (MTX) use in AIRD patients, and non-anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α biologics and Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor use in RA patients were associated with inferior immunogenicity. ScRNA-seq revealed CD16-monocytes were predominant in RA patients with high anti-SARS-CoV2-IgG antibody level, and enriched pathways related to antigen presentation via major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC class II) were found (Figure 1). HLA-DRA and CD4 interaction was vigorous among all identifed MHC-II pathway and was enhanced in high anti-SARS-CoV2-IgG antibody group. Conclusion: mRNA-1273 and AZD1222 vaccines exhibited differential immunogenicity in patients with AIRD. Enriched pathways related to antigen presentation via MHC class II in CD16-monocytes might be associated with higher anti-SARS-CoV2-IgG level in RA patients and further study is warranted.
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In this editorial I briefly review the new JCCS scientific directions that have emerged from the complicated situations created by the pandemics of COVID- 19, and by the internal audit of both Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling and International CCN Society, that were initiated since my proposal at the 2019 International Workshop on the CCN family of genes.I also welcome the distinguished members of our renewed JCCS Editorial and congratulate all those who have in many different ways participated to the consolidation of the 2021 JCCS Impact Factor attaining 5.908.
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Cell-cell communication is the basis of physiological processes and cell signals. The disease occurs when the cells do not adequately communicate and the messages are blocked. With ligand-receptor interaction databases and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) databases, we can detect intercellular signaling and reconstruct the cell-cell communications among different cell types. This review summarized the computational approaches for analyzing the cell-cell communication based on scRNA-seq data and discussed its applications in carcinogenesis and COVID-19. We believe that this review will accelerate the scRNA-seq data deciphering and facilitate the cell-cell communication studies for complex physiological processes, such as carcinogenesis and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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The proceedings contain 593 papers. The topics discussed include: association of transthyretin VAL122ILE variant with incident heart failure and mortality among Black Americans: insights from the regards study;vitamin d modulates histone modifications governing the natriuretic peptide receptor-a gene;cell to cell communication through entanglement and superconductivity improving left ventricular function in an uncoupled state;association of serum lipid levels with COVID-19 infection, severity and mortality;impaired glucose tolerance in guanylyl cyclase/natriuretic peptide receptor-a gene-knockout and gene-duplication mutant mice;meta-analysis of randomized vs observational studies of the effects of invasive therapy in patients with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction and chronic kidney disease;a retrospective analysis of mortality in adult patients with acute coronary syndrome and cardiogenic shock requiring temporary mechanical circulatory support;and mitochondrial myopathy mimicking Guillain-Barre syndrome in a 21-year-old graduate student.
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BACKGROUND: Cellular communication is an essential feature of multicellular organisms. Binding of ligands to their homologous receptors, which activate specific cell signaling pathways, is a basic type of cellular communication and intimately linked to many degeneration processes leading to diseases. MAIN BODY: This study reviewed the history of ligand-receptor and presents the databases which store ligand-receptor pairs. The recently applications and research tools of ligand-receptor interactions for cell communication at single cell level by using single cell RNA sequencing have been sorted out. CONCLUSION: The summary of the advantages and disadvantages of analysis tools will greatly help researchers analyze cell communication at the single cell level. Learning cell communication based on ligand-receptor interactions by single cell RNA sequencing gives way to developing new target drugs and personalizing treatment.