Etiological risk factors in children with cerebral palsy.

To evaluate the etiological risk factors of cerebral palsy, especially the preventable ones. The study was carried out with the mothers of 210 children with cerebral palsy (CP) registered in Mardin Guidance and Research Center between February and May 2022. The data form prepared by the researchers was applied to the mothers by face-to-face interview technique. The data form consisted of 29 questions including sociodemographic characteristics of the child and mother, risk factors for CP, and secondary medical problems of the child. Of the 210 patients included in the study, 43.3% (91) were female and 56.7% (119) were male. The mean age of the children was 67.4 (SD = 50.6) weeks, and 73.3% of children were premature. The number of children with a birth weight below 2500 g was 48.1% (101). The mean birth weight was 2472.5 (SD = 871.8) g. The children with another disabled sibling consisted 6.2% of the population. Among the mothers, 41.9% stated that they were illiterate and 73.3% stated that their income status was low. The rate of the parents that were related to each other was 51%. In our study, it was noteworthy that most of the children were premature, had low birth weight, more than half of them had parents who were relatives, the education level of the mothers was low, the socioeconomic status of most of the families was low, and most of these risk factors were preventable.

Frequencies and TCR Repertoires of Human 2,4,6-Trinitrobenzenesulfonic Acid-specific T Cells.

Allergic contact dermatitis is a widespread T cell-mediated inflammatory skin disease, but in vitro monitoring of chemical-specific T cells remains challenging. We here introduce short-term CD154/CD137 upregulation to monitor human T cell responses to the experimental sensitizer 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy donor buffy coats were TNBS-modified and incubated with unmodified PBMC. After 5 and 16 h, we detected TNBS-specific activated CD154+CD4+ and CD137+CD8+ T cells by multi-parameter flow cytometry, respectively. Activated cells were sorted for restimulation and bulk T cell receptor (TCR) high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Stimulation with TNBS-modified cells (3 mM) induced CD154 expression on 0.04% of CD4+ and CD137 expression on 0.60% of CD8+ memory T cells, respectively (means, n = 11-17 donors). CD69 co-expression argued for TCR-mediated activation, which was further supported by TNBS-specific restimulation of 10/13 CD154+CD4+ and 11/15 CD137+CD8+ T cell clones and lines. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) blocking antibodies prevented activation, illustrating MHC restriction. The high frequencies of TNBS-specific T cells were associated with distinct common changes in the TCR ß-chain repertoire. We observed an overrepresentation of tryptophan and lysine in the complementarity determining regions 3 (CDR3) (n = 3-5 donors), indicating a preferential interaction of these amino acids with the TNBS-induced epitopes. In summary, the detection of TNBS-specific T cells by CD154/CD137 upregulation is a fast, comprehensive and quantitative method. Combined with TCR HTS, the mechanisms of chemical allergen recognition that underlie unusually frequent T cell activation can be assessed. In the future, this approach may be adapted to detect T cells activated by additional chemical sensitizers.