The researchers, whose study was published Dec. 28 in Obstetrics & Gynecology, analyzed how anti-spike antibody levels in the mother’s blood and baby’s umbilical cord blood at delivery varied with the timing of prior vaccination in nearly 1,400 women and their babies.

They found that the levels of these antibodies at delivery tended to be higher when the initial vaccination course occurred in the third trimester. However, they also found that antibody levels at delivery are still comparably high, and probably still protective, when vaccination occurs in early pregnancy or even a few weeks before pregnancy — and a booster shot late in pregnancy can make those antibody levels much higher.

“Women often ask what is the best vaccination timing for the baby — our data suggest that it’s now,” said Dr. Malavika Prabhu, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine and an obstetrician and gynecologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women. Prior studies suggest that COVID-19 tends to be more severe for women when they are pregnant, and increases the risks of preterm birth, stillbirth and other adverse outcomes for their babies. COVID-19 vaccination protects pregnant women from severe COVID-19, and elicits antibodies that cross the placenta to circulate in their babies’ blood after delivery. Studies of the commonly used vaccines so far have found no increased rate of adverse side effects for mothers or their babies.

Dr. Prabhu and her colleagues set up the new study to address the question of the best timing for COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. The analysis covered 1,359 pregnant women who reported vaccination against COVID-19, during or up to six weeks before pregnancy, and gave birth at NewYork-Presbyterian/Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns after 34 or more weeks of gestation.

They found that anti-spike antibodies were generally detectable at delivery, in maternal and cord blood, among all the fully vaccinated women, regardless of the timing of their first vaccine dose. Among women with no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection who received the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine, the levels of antibodies at delivery were lowest after pre-pregnancy or first trimester vaccination and highest after third trimester vaccination; however, the difference wasn’t large. There was no significant difference in anti-spike antibody levels by timing of vaccination among the relatively small number of women who received the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) single-dose vaccine.

Among vaccinated women who had a prior history of COVID-19 infection, anti-spike antibody levels at delivery in maternal and cord blood were moderately higher on average, and showed even less of a decline with earlier vaccination timing.

Twenty of the women reported having a booster dose in the third trimester, and they on average had still higher levels of anti-spike antibodies in maternal blood and in cord blood.

In women that did not receive a complete course of vaccination by time of birth, the levels of anti-spike antibodies in maternal blood and in cord blood were significantly lower than all other cohorts including the earliest vaccinated cohort.

The findings suggest that pregnant women should not delay COVID-19 vaccination until late pregnancy.

“The message here is that you can get vaccinated at any point during pregnancy and it is likely going to be beneficial to you and your baby at the time of birth — and of course by getting vaccinated early you will be protecting yourself and your baby throughout the pregnancy,” said first author Dr. Yawei Jenny Yang, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a pathologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

“These study results are consistent with what we see with other maternal vaccines such as flu and Tdap, which, when given during pregnancy, protect the mother and baby,” said senior author Dr. Laura Riley, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine and obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The researchers now plan further studies to examine vaccine and booster effects under different maternal conditions, and in the context of the spread of the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The mother-child study conducted at the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland examined the connection between dietary intake and onset of gestational diabetes in 351 overweight or obese women.

The women’s nutrient intake was calculated from food diaries, on the basis of which two dietary patterns, a healthier and an unhealthier dietary pattern, were recognised. In addition, the overall quality of the diet in reference to that recommended was described with a diet quality index and the inflammatory potential with a dietary inflammatory index.

“Our research results show that following a healthy diet in early pregnancy reduces the risk of gestational diabetes, says first author,” Doctoral Candidate Lotta Pajunen from the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Turku.

Diet that increases body’s inflammation heightens the risk of gestational diabetes

The study also found that a higher dietary inflammatory index, meaning a diet that increases the low-grade inflammatory markers in the body was connected to an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, a higher consumption of fat and especially saturated fats was connected to gestational diabetes. This is of interest as the intake of saturated fats is known to increase the body’s inflammation.

Several methods were used in the study to examine the dietary intake in early pregnancy. These analyses revealed that a diet comprehensively promoting health is associated with a smaller risk of developing gestational diabetes.

“Eating vegetables, fruit, berries, and wholegrain products as well as unsaturated fats is particularly important. These nutrients and foods reduce inflammation in the body and therefore also the risk of gestational diabetes. Mothers who are overweight or obese already before the pregnancy would most likely benefit from dietary guidance in early pregnancy,” says Associate Professor in Nutrition Kirsi Laitinen from the University of Turku, the PI of the Early Nutrition and Health research group that conducted the study.

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Numerous studies have established obesity as a major risk factor for developing serious illness from an infection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Obesity weakens the immune system, creates a chronic inflammatory state, and increases risk for cardiovascular disease, blood clots, and lung conditions. All of these conditions can complicate COVID-19.

The aim of this study was to examine whether a successful weight-loss intervention in patients with obesity prior to contracting COVID-19 could reduce the risk of developing a severe form of this disease.

“The research findings show that patients with obesity who achieved substantial and sustained weight loss with bariatric surgery prior to a COVID-19 infection reduced their risk of developing severe illness by 60 percent,” said Ali Aminian, M.D., lead author of the study and director of Cleveland Clinic’s Bariatric & Metabolic Institute. “Our study provides strong evidence that obesity is a modifiable risk factor for COVID-19 that can be improved through a successful weight-loss intervention.”

A total of 20,212 adult patients with obesity were included in this observational study. A group of 5,053 patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or greater who had weight-loss surgery between 2004 and 2017 were carefully matched 1:3 to non-surgical patients, resulting in 15,159 control patients. Compared with those in the non-surgical group, patients who had bariatric surgery lost 19% more body weight prior to March 1, 2020 (the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Cleveland).

After the COVID-19 outbreak, researchers looked at four COVID-19-related outcomes: rate of contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization, need for supplemental oxygen and severe disease (defined as a combination of ICU admission, need for mechanical ventilation or death).

Although the rate of contracting SARS-CoV-2 was similar between the groups (9.1% in the surgical group and 8.7% in the non-surgical group), participants in the weight-loss surgery group experienced much better outcomes after contracting COVID-19 compared with those in the non-surgical group. Researchers found that patients with prior weight loss surgery had a 49% lower risk of hospitalization, 63% lower risk of need for supplemental oxygen, and 60% lower risk of developing severe COVID-19.

Although the exact underlying mechanisms are not known, these data suggest that patients who underwent weight-loss surgery were healthier at the time of contracting a SARS-CoV-2 infection, which resulted in better clinical outcomes.

“Striking findings from the current study support the reversibility of the health consequences of obesity in the patients with COVID-19,” said the study’s senior author, Steven Nissen, M.D., Chief Academic Officer of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic. “This study suggests that an emphasis on weight loss as a public health strategy can improve outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic and future outbreaks or related infectious diseases. That is a very important finding considering that 40% of Americans have obesity. “

This study was funded by a research grant from Medtronic. Medtronic had no role in the design, conduct and publication of the study.

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The UK government recently selected four sites to develop multi-billion-pound CCS projects as part of its scheme to cut 20-30m tonnes of CO₂ per year by 2030 from heavy industry. Other countries have made similar carbon reduction commitments.

Depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs have a smaller (10%) storage potential compared to deep saline aquifers but are seen as a critical early opportunity in developing geological CO₂ storage technologies. Fortuitously, CO₂ has historically been injected into numerous depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs as a means of enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR). This provides a unique chance to evaluate the (bio)geochemical behaviour of injected carbon over engineering timescales.

‘CCS will be a key tool in our battle to avert climate change. Understanding how CCS works in practice, in addition tocomputer modelling and lab-based experiments, is essential to provide confidence in safe and secure CO₂ geologicalsequestration.’ Said Dr. Rebecca Tyne, Dept Earth Science, The University of Oxford

In a paper published, today in Nature, Dr. Rebecca Tyne and Prof. Chris Ballentine from Oxford University, lead a team of international collaborators to investigate the behaviour of CO₂ within a CO₂-EOR flooded oil field in Louisiana, USA. They compared (bio)geochemical composition of the CO₂-EOR flooded field with that of an adjacent field, which was never subjected to CO₂-EOR. Data suggest that up to 74% of CO₂ left behind by CO₂-EOR was dissolved in the groundwater. Unexpectedly, it also revealed, that microbial methanogenesis converted as much as 13-19% of the injected CO₂ to methane, which is a stronger greenhouse gas than CO₂.

This study is the first to integrate state of the art isotopic tracers (noble gas, clumped and stable isotope data) with microbiological data to investigate the fate of the injected CO₂.

‘Methane is less soluble, less compressible and less reactive than CO₂, so, if produced, the reduces the amount of CO₂ we can safely inject into these sites. However, now this process has been identified, we can take it into account in future CCS site selection.’ Said Prof. Chris Ballentine, Dept. Earth Sciences, The University of Oxford.

Additionally, the authors suggest that this process is occurring at other CO₂-rich natural gas fields and CO₂-EOR oil fields. Temperature is a critical consideration, and many CCS geological targets will be too deep and hot for microbesto operate. However, if CO₂ leaks from deeper hot systems into similar shallower colder geological structures, where microbes are present, this process could occur. This research is critical for identifying future CCS targets, establishing safe baseline conditions and long-term monitoring programs, which are essential for low-risk, long-term carbon storage.

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Dementia is thought to occur when proteins called amyloid-β, tau, and α-synuclein accumulate in the brain and form oligomers. A research group from the Department of Translational Neuroscience, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, had previously shown in a study using mice that the antibiotic rifampicin removes oligomers from the brain and improves cognitive function. However, the drug has been associated with side effects such as liver damage. Resveratrol, a naturally occurring antioxidant in plants, is used as a supplement in Europe and the United States. “To combat the negative side effects of the existing drug rifampicin, we thought of combining it with the hepatoprotective effects of resveratrol,” illustrates Professor Takami Tomiyama, who acted as lead investigator for the current study.

This time, the research group administered a fixed dose combination of rifampicin and resveratrol intranasally five days a week for a total of four weeks to mice models of Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies, and observed their cognitive functions and brain pathology. The results showed that the combination significantly improved the cognitive function of the mice, inhibited the accumulation of oligomers, and restored synaptophysin levels — presynaptic proteins that facilitate synapses. Additionally, blood levels of liver enzymes, a marker of hepatic damage that normally increases with rifampicin, remained normal in the fixed-dose combination. Furthermore, increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression were observed in the hippocampus, which was not seen with rifampicin alone. These results indicate that this fixed-dose combination is superior to rifampicin alone in terms of both safety and efficacy.

The results of this study were published online in the Swiss scientific journal Frontiers in Neuroscience on December 13, 2021.

“The number of patients with dementia has been increasing all over the world, with some sources predicting a doubling of patients every 20 years. However, there is still no effective treatment for the disease,” states Specially Appointed Lecturer Tomohiro Umeda, first author of the study. “Recent studies have shown that abnormalities begin to appear in the brains of dementia patients more than 20 years before the onset of the disease.” By investigating new therapeutic purposes with existing drugs in a process called drug repositioning, the research team hopes to diagnose and prevent dementia before the neurons start dying.

Furthermore, based on the team’s previous research experience, nasal administration of a fixed dose combination of rifampicin and resveratrol would increase drug transferability to the brain and further enhance both safety and medicinal effects. The dosage used in this study was 0.02 mg of rifampicin per mouse per day, or 1 mg/kg/day assuming a mouse weight of 20g. “Converted to a human dosage based on body surface area, it becomes 0.081 mg/kg/day,” states Prof. Tomiyama, “currently, rifampicin is prescribed at 10 mg/kg/day as an antibiotic, and compared to this, we confirmed an effect at a much lower dosage.”

The development of a fixed-dose combination of rifampicin and resveratrol nasal spray is currently being carried out by Medilabo RFP, a venture company originating from the research team’s laboratory. Following the publication of this paper, Medilabo RFP has begun preparations for global clinical trials. In November 2021, with the support of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Medilabo RFP has established a subsidiary in Massachusetts, USA.

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The study appears in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier.

Microglia, the brain’s own immune cells, were once thought of as a homogenous population that was either “activated” or “inactivated,” with either pro-inflammatory or neuroprotective effects. But the cells are now recognized to have a vast array of phenotypes depending on environmental conditions with myriad functional consequences. Microglia are increasingly appreciated as critical players in neurologic and psychiatric disorders.

Fatemeh Haghighi, PhD, senior author of the new work, said: “To address this gap in knowledge, we set out to characterize the DNA methylation landscape of human primary microglia cells and factors that contribute to variations in the microglia methylome.”

DNA methylation is the main form of epigenetic regulation, which determines the pattern of which genes are being turned “on” or “off” in various circumstances over time.

The researchers studied isolated microglia cells from post-mortem human brain tissue from 22 donors of various age, including 1 patient with schizophrenia, 13 with mood disorder, and 8 controls with no psychiatric disorder, taken from 4 brain regions. They analyzed the microglia using genome-scale methylation microarrays.

Unsurprisingly, microglia showed DNA methylation profiles that were distinct from other cells in the central nervous system. But less expected, said Haghighi, “we found that interindividual differences rather than brain region differences had a much larger effect on the DNA methylation variability.” In addition, an exploratory analysis showed differences in the methylation profile of microglia from brains of subjects with psychiatric disorders compared to controls.

John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said of the work, “These promising data point to pathology of the microglia, key immune cells of the brain, in the biology of depression.”

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