Chromothripsis and Kataegis Induced by Telomere Crisis.

Telomere crisis occurs during tumorigenesis when depletion of the telomere reserve leads to frequent telomere fusions. The resulting dicentric chromosomes have been proposed to drive genome instability. Here, we examine the fate of dicentric human chromosomes in telomere crisis. We observed that dicentric chromosomes invariably persisted through mitosis and developed into 50-200 µm chromatin bridges connecting the daughter cells. Before their resolution at 3-20 hr after anaphase, the chromatin bridges induced nuclear envelope rupture in interphase, accumulated the cytoplasmic 3' nuclease TREX1, and developed RPA-coated single stranded (ss) DNA. CRISPR knockouts showed that TREX1 contributed to the generation of the ssDNA and the resolution of the chromatin bridges. Post-crisis clones showed chromothripsis and kataegis, presumably resulting from DNA repair and APOBEC editing of the fragmented chromatin bridge DNA. We propose that chromothripsis in human cancer may arise through TREX1-mediated fragmentation of dicentric chromosomes formed in telomere crisis.

Targeted and Persistent 8-Oxoguanine Base Damage at Telomeres Promotes Telomere Loss and Crisis.

Telomeres are essential for genome stability. Oxidative stress caused by excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) accelerates telomere shortening. Although telomeres are hypersensitive to ROS-mediated 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) formation, the biological effect of this common lesion at telomeres is poorly understood because ROS have pleiotropic effects. Here we developed a chemoptogenetic tool that selectively produces 8-oxoG only at telomeres. Acute telomeric 8-oxoG formation increased telomere fragility in cells lacking OGG1, the enzyme that removes 8-oxoG, but did not compromise cell survival. However, chronic telomeric 8-oxoG induction over time shortens telomeres and impairs cell growth. Accumulation of telomeric 8-oxoG in chronically exposed OGG1-deficient cells triggers replication stress, as evidenced by mitotic DNA synthesis at telomeres, and significantly increases telomere losses. These losses generate chromosome fusions, leading to chromatin bridges and micronucleus formation upon cell division. By confining base damage to the telomeres, we show that telomeric 8-oxoG accumulation directly drives telomere crisis.

Nationwide law enforcement impact on the pet bird trade in China.

Conservation enforcement is a direct strategy to combat illegal wildlife trade in open markets. Yet, its large-scale effectiveness has not been widely assessed due to the lack of extensive market data. Between August 2016 and June 2017, a national coordinated enforcement campaign led by the leading Chinese authority to combat illegal migratory bird trade coincided with the largest-ever pet bird market survey across China by voluntary birdwatchers before and after the enforcement, which served as a unique natural experiment. Across 73 markets from 22 Chinese provinces, the dataset contains 140,723 birds of 346 species from 48 families and recorded a drastic decline in bird abundance traded after enforcement. Notably, species protected under China's Wildlife Protection Law declined significantly, while commercially bred species increased, although responses to enforcement were spatially heterogeneous. Our model showed that the national protection level was the best predictor for the trend of traded species, even after accounting for confounding factors such as regional baseline enforcement pressure and wild native bird populations. However, the widely traded native songbirds were not offered adequate national protection. Future policies should consider the pet bird trade patterns, target key areas of trade, and develop a more systematic market survey design to monitor trade.

Higher total energy costs strain the elderly, especially low-income, across 31 developed countries.

Addressing the total energy cost burden of elderly people is essential for designing equitable and effective energy policies, especially in responding to energy crisis in an aging society. It is due to the double impact of energy price hikes on households-through direct impact on fuel bills and indirect impact on the prices of goods and services consumed. However, while examining the household energy cost burden of the elderly, their indirect energy consumption and associated cost burden remain poorly understood. This study quantifies and compares the direct and indirect energy footprints and associated total energy cost burdens for different age groups across 31 developed countries. It reveals that the elderly have larger per capita energy footprints, resulting from higher levels of both direct and indirect energy consumption compared with the younger age groups. More importantly, the elderly, especially the low-income elderly, have a higher total energy cost burden rate. As the share of elderly in the total population rapidly grows in these countries, the larger per capita energy footprint and associated cost burden rate of elderly people would make these aging countries more vulnerable in times of energy crises. It is therefore crucial to develop policies that aim to reduce energy consumption and costs, improve energy efficiency, and support low-income elderly populations. Such policies are necessary to reduce the vulnerability of these aging countries to the energy crisis.

Public response to government alerts saves lives during Russian invasion of Ukraine.

War is the cause of tremendous human suffering. To reduce such harm, governments have developed tools to alert civilians of imminent threats. Whether these systems are effective remains largely unknown. We study the introduction of an innovative smartphone application that notifies civilians of impending military operations developed in coordination with the Ukrainian government after the Russian invasion. We leverage quasi-experimental variation in the timing of more than 3,000 alerts to study civilian sheltering behavior, using high-frequency geolocation pings tied to 17 million mobile devices, 60% of the connected population in Ukraine. We find that, overall, civilians respond sharply to alerts, quickly seeking shelter. These rapid postalert changes in population movement attenuate over time, however, in a manner that cannot be explained by adaptive sheltering behavior or calibration to the signal quality of alerts. Responsiveness is weakest when civilians have been living under an extended state of emergency, consistent with the presence of an alert fatigue effect. Our results suggest that 35 to 45% of observed civilian casualties were avoided because of public responsiveness to the messaging system. Importantly, an additional 8 to 15% of civilian casualties observed during the later periods of the conflict could have been avoided with sustained public responsiveness to government alerts. We provide evidence that increasing civilians' risk salience through targeted government messaging can increase responsiveness, suggesting a potential policy lever for sustaining public engagement during prolonged episodes of conflict.

Efficient hydrogen production from wastewater remediation by piezoelectricity coupling advanced oxidation processes.

Efficient H2 harvesting from wastewater instead of pure water can minimize fresh water consumption, which is expected to solve the problem of water shortage in H2 production process and contribute to carbon neutrality in the environmental remediation, but the inevitable electron depletion caused by electron-consuming pollutants will result in an exhausted H2 evolution reaction (HER) performance. In this paper, by coupling piezocatalysis and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) by a MoS2/Fe0/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) ternary system, extensive types of wastewater achieved considerable H2 generation, which exceeded the yield in pure water with synchronous advanced degradation of organic pollutants. In addition, profiting from the crucial bridging role of PMS, the H2 yield in nitrobenzene wastewater after the introduction of PMS-based AOPs increased 3.37-fold from 267.7 µmol·g-1·h-1 to 901.0 µmol·g-1·h-1 because the presence of PMS both thermodynamically benefited MoS2 piezocatalytic H2 evolution and eliminated the electron depletion caused by organic pollutants. By this way, the original repressed H2 evolution performance in substrate of wastewater not only was regained but even showed a significant enhancement than that in pure water (505.7 µmol·g-1·h-1). Additionally, the cyclonic piezoelectric reactor was preliminarily designed for future industrialization. This strategy provided a valuable path for the recycling of actual wastewater by fuel production and synchronous advanced treatment.

Microfluidic study of retention and elimination of abnormal red blood cells by human spleen with implications for sickle cell disease.

The spleen clears altered red blood cells (RBCs) from circulation, contributing to the balance between RBC formation (erythropoiesis) and removal. The splenic RBC retention and elimination occur predominantly in open circulation where RBCs flow through macrophages and inter-endothelial slits (IESs). The mechanisms underlying and interconnecting these processes significantly impact clinical outcomes. In sickle cell disease (SCD), blockage of intrasplenic sickled RBCs is observed in infants splenectomized due to acute splenic sequestration crisis (ASSC). This life-threatening RBC pooling and organ swelling event is plausibly triggered or enhanced by intra-tissular hypoxia. We present an oxygen-mediated spleen-on-a-chip platform for in vitro investigations of the homeostatic balance in the spleen. To demonstrate and validate the benefits of this general microfluidic platform, we focus on SCD and study the effects of hypoxia on splenic RBC retention and elimination. We observe that RBC retention by IESs and RBC-macrophage adhesion are faster in blood samples from SCD patients than those from healthy subjects. This difference is markedly exacerbated under hypoxia. Moreover, the sickled RBCs under hypoxia show distinctly different phagocytosis processes from those non-sickled RBCs under hypoxia or normoxia. We find that reoxygenation significantly alleviates RBC retention at IESs, and leads to rapid unsickling and fragmentation of the ingested sickled RBCs inside macrophages. These results provide unique mechanistic insights into how the spleen maintains its homeostatic balance between splenic RBC retention and elimination, and shed light on how disruptions in this balance could lead to anemia, splenomegaly, and ASSC in SCD and possible clinical manifestations in other hematologic diseases.

Drivers of the artiodactyl turnover in insular western Europe at the Eocene-Oligocene Transition.

Simultaneously investigating the effects of abiotic and biotic factors on diversity dynamics is essential to understand the evolutionary history of clades. The Grande Coupure corresponds to a major faunal turnover at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) (~34.1 to 33.55 Mya) and is defined in western Europe as an extinction of insular European mammals coupled with the arrival of crown clades from Asia. Here, we focused on the species-rich group of endemic European artiodactyls to determine the drivers of the Grande Coupure during the major environmental disruptions at the EOT. Using Bayesian birth-death models, we analyzed an original high-resolution fossil dataset (90 species, >2,100 occurrences) from southwestern France (Quercy area) and estimated the regional diversification and diversity dynamics of endemic and immigrant artiodactyls. We show that the endemic artiodactyl radiation was mainly related to the Eocene tropical conditions, combined with biotic controls on speciation and clade-related diversity dependence. We further highlight that the major environmental changes at the transition (77% of species became extinct) and the concurrent increase in seasonality in Europe during the Oligocene were likely the main drivers of their decline. Surprisingly, our results do not support the widely-held hypothesis of active competition between endemic and immigrant artiodactyls but rather suggest a passive or opportunistic replacement by immigrants, which is further supported by morphological clustering of specific ecological traits across the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Our analyses provide insights into the evolutionary and ecological processes driving the diversification and decline of mammalian clades during a major biological and climatic crisis.

Lesion network of oculogyric crises maps to brain dopaminergic transcriptomic signature.

Oculogyric crises are acute episodes of sustained, typically upward, conjugate deviation of the eyes. Oculogyric crises usually occur as the result of acute D2-dopamine receptor blockade, but the brain areas causally involved in generating this symptom remain elusive. Here, we used data from 14 previously reported cases of lesion-induced oculogyric crises and employed lesion network mapping to identify their shared connections throughout the brain. This analysis yielded a common network that included basal ganglia, thalamic and brainstem nuclei, as well as the cerebellum. Comparison of this network with gene expression profiles associated with the dopamine system revealed spatial overlap specifically with the gene coding for dopamine receptor type 2 (DRD2), as defined by a large-scale transcriptomic database of the human brain. Furthermore, spatial overlap with DRD2 and DRD3 gene expression was specific to brain lesions associated with oculogyric crises when contrasted to lesions that led to other movement disorders. Our findings identify a common neural network causally involved in the occurrence of oculogyric crises and provide a pathophysiological link between lesion locations causing this syndrome and its most common pharmacological cause, namely DRD2 blockade.

Dynamic changes of peripheral inflammatory markers link with disease severity and predict short-term poor outcome of myasthenia gravis.

The relationship between peripheral inflammatory markers, their dynamic changes, and the disease severity of myasthenia gravis (MG) is still not fully understood. Besides, the possibility of using it to predict the short-term poor outcome of MG patients have not been demonstrated. This study aims to investigate the relationship between peripheral inflammatory markers and their dynamic changes with Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) classification (primary outcome) and predict the short-term poor outcome (secondary outcome) in MG patients. The study retrospectively enrolled 154 MG patients from June 2016 to December 2021. The logistic regression was used to investigate the relationship of inflammatory markers with MGFA classification and determine the factors for model construction presented in a nomogram. Finally, net reclassification improvement (NRI) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were utilized to evaluate the incremental capacity. Logistic regression revealed significant associations between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI) and MGFA classification (p = 0.013, p = 0.032, p = 0.017, respectively). Incorporating dynamic changes of inflammatory markers into multivariable models improved their discriminatory capacity of disease severity, with significant improvements observed for NLR, systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and AISI in NRI and IDI. Additionally, AISI was statistically associated with short-term poor outcome and a prediction model incorporating dynamic changes of inflammatory markers was constructed with the area under curve (AUC) of 0.953, presented in a nomograph. The inflammatory markers demonstrate significant associations with disease severity and AISI could be regarded as a possible and easily available predictive biomarker for short-term poor outcome in MG patients.

Serum amyloid A facilitates expansion of CD4+ T cell and CD19+ B cell subsets implicated in the severity of myasthenia gravis patients.

Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a clinically useful inflammatory marker involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. This study aimed to explore the SAA levels in a cohort of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) in relation to disease-related clinical parameters and myasthenic crisis (MC) and elucidate the effects of SAA on immune response. A total of 82 MG patients including 50 new-onset MG patients and 32 MC patients were enrolled in this study. Baseline data and laboratory parameters of all enrolled MG patients were routinely recorded through electronic medical systems. SAA levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. CD4+ T and CD19+ B cell subsets were analyzed by flow cytometry. In vitro, human recombinant SAA (Apo-SAA) was applied to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from MG patients to observe the effect on T and B cell differentiation. Our results indicated that SAA levels in new-onset MG patients were higher than those in controls and were positively correlated with QMG score, MGFA classification, plasmablast cells, IL-6, and IL-17 levels. Subgroup analysis revealed that SAA levels were increased in generalized MG (GMG) patients than in ocular MG (OMG), as well as elevated in late-onset MG (LOMG) than in early-onset MG (EOMG) and higher in MGFA III/IV compared with MGFA I/II. The ROC curve demonstrated that SAA showed good diagnostic value for MC, especially when combined with NLR. In vitro, Apo-SAA promoted the Th1 cells, Th17 cells, plasmablast cells, and plasma cells differentiation in MG PBMCs. The present findings suggested that SAA was increased in MG patients and promoted expansion of CD4+ T cell and CD19+ B cell subsets, which implicated in the severity of MG patients.

Clinical outcome and peripheral immune profile of myasthenic crisis with omicron infections: A prospective cohort study.

The impact of Omicron infections on the clinical outcome and immune responses of myasthenia gravis (MG) remained largely unknown. From a prospective multicenter MG cohort (n = 189) with 197 myasthenic crisis (MC), we finally included 41 independent MG patients to classify into two groups: the Omicron Group (n = 13) and the Control Group (n = 28). In this matched cohort study, all-cause mortality was 7.69% (1/13) in Omicron Group and 14.29% (4/28) in Control Group. A higher proportion of elevated serum IL-6 was identified in the Omicron Group (88.89% vs 52.38%, P = 0.049). In addition, the proportions of CD3+CD8+T in lymphocytes and Tregs in CD3+CD4+ T cells were significantly elevated in the Omicron Group (both P = 0.0101). After treatment, the Omicron Group exhibited a marked improvement in MG-ADL score (P = 0.026) and MG-QoL-15 (P = 0.0357). MCs with Omicron infections were associated with elevated serum IL-6 and CD3+CD8+T response. These patients tended to present a better therapeutic response after fast-acting therapies and anti-IL-6 treatment.

Aleukemic Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Without Neutrophilia and Thrombocytosis: A Report From the BCR::ABL1 Pathology Group.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by leukocytosis with left-shifted neutrophilia, basophilia, eosinophilia, and variable thrombocytosis. However, extremely rare cases of patients with CML without significant leukocytosis and thrombocytosis (aleukemic phase [ALP] CML, or CML-ALP) have been reported. Due to its rarity and limited awareness, there remains a significant knowledge gap concerning the pathologic diagnosis, disease progression, and optimal patient management and outcomes. In this multi-institutional study, we investigated 31 patients with CML-ALP. Over half (54.8%) of patients had a history of or concurrent hematopoietic or nonhematopoietic malignancies. At time of diagnosis of CML-ALP, approximately 26.7% of patients exhibited neutrophilia, 56.7% had basophilia, and 13.3% showed eosinophilia. The median number of metaphases positive for t(9;22)(q34;q11.2) was 15, with a median of 38.5% of interphase nuclei positive for BCR::ABL1 by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The median BCR::ABL1 level was 26.14%. Remarkably, 14 (45.2%) patients were initially misdiagnosed or not diagnosed before karyotype or fluorescence in situ hybridization information for BCR::ABL1 became available. Twenty-five patients received tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). One patient developed blast crisis while on TKI treatment 8 months after initial diagnosis. With a median follow-up time of 46.1 months, 20 of 22 patients who received TKI therapy and had detailed follow-up information achieved complete cytogenetic remission or deeper, 15 achieved major molecular remission or deeper, and 10 achieved molecularly undetectable leukemia. In conclusion, given the frequent occurrence of prior or concurrent malignancies, aleukemic presentation, and low level of t(9;22)(q34;q11.2)/BCR::ABL1, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis is common among these patients. While these patients generally respond well to TKIs, rare patients may develop blastic transformation. It is therefore important for pathologists and hematologists to be aware of this highly unusual presentation of CML to ensure timely diagnosis and appropriate management.

Kidney Care in Times of Crises: A Review.

The global burden of kidney disease is increasing, paralleled by a rising number of natural and man-made crises. During these tumultuous times, accessing vital healthcare resources becomes challenging, posing significant risks to individuals, particularly those with kidney disease. This review delves into the impact of crises on kidney disease, with a particular focus on acute kidney injury (AKI), kidney failure (KF), and kidney transplant (KT). Patients experiencing crush injuries leading to AKI may encounter delayed diagnosis due to the chaotic nature of disasters and limited availability of resources. In chronic crises, such as conflicts, patients with KF are particularly affected, and deviations from dialysis standards are unfortunately common, impacting morbidity and mortality rates. Additionally, crises also disrupt access to kidney transplants, potentially compromising transplant outcomes. This review underscores the critical importance of preparedness measures and proactive management for kidney disease in crisis settings. Collaborative efforts among government bodies, rescue teams, healthcare providers, humanitarian agencies, and nongovernmental organizations are imperative to ensure equitable and reasonable care for kidney disease patients during times of crises, with the aim of saving lives and improving outcomes.

Development of fentanyl-specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) to antagonize the pharmacological effects of fentanyl.

Fentanyl, a critical component of opioid analgesics, poses a severe threat to public health, exacerbating the drug problem due to its potential fatality. Herein, we present two novel haptens designed with different attachment sites conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), aiming to develop an efficacious vaccine against fentanyl. KLH-Fent-1 demonstrated superior performance over KLH-Fent-2 in antibody titer, blood-brain distribution, and antinociceptive tests. Consequently, we immunized mice with KLH-Fent-1 to generate fentanyl-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) using the hybridoma technique to compensate for the defects of active immunization in the treatment of opioid overdose and addiction. The mAb produced by hybridoma 9D5 exhibited the ability to recognize fentanyl and its analogs with a binding affinity of 10-10 M. Subsequently, we developed a human IgG1 chimeric mAb to improve the degree of humanization. Pre-treatment with murine and chimeric mAb significantly reduced the analgesic effect of fentanyl and altered its blood-brain biodistribution in vivo. Furthermore, in a mouse model of fentanyl-induced respiratory depression, the chimeric mAb effectively reversed respiratory depression promptly and maintained a certain level during the week. The development of high-affinity chimeric mAb gives support to combat the challenges of fentanyl misuse and its detrimental consequences. In conclusion, mAb passive immunization represents a viable strategy for addressing fentanyl addiction and overdose.

Toward solving the global green-green dilemma between wind energy production and bat conservation.

Wind energy production is growing rapidly worldwide in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, wind energy production is not environmentally neutral. Negative impacts on volant animals, such as bats, include fatalities at turbines and habitat loss due to land-use change and displacement. Siting turbines away from ecologically sensitive areas and implementing measures to reduce fatalities are critical to protecting bat populations. Restricting turbine operations during periods of high bat activity is the most effective form of mitigation currently available to reduce fatalities. Compensating for habitat loss and offsetting mortality are not often practiced, because meaningful offsets are lacking. Legal frameworks to prevent or mitigate the negative impacts of wind energy on bats are absent in most countries, especially in emerging markets. Therefore, governments and lending institutions are key in reconciling wind energy production with biodiversity goals by requiring sufficient environmental standards for wind energy projects.

Diagnosis and management of secondary adrenal crisis.

Adrenal crisis (AC) is a life threatening acute adrenal insufficiency (AI) episode which can occur in patients with primary AI but also secondary AI (SAI), tertiary AI (TAI) and iatrogenic AI (IAI). In SAI, TAI and IAI, AC may develop when the HPA axis is unable to mount an adequate glucocorticoid response to severe stress due to pituitary or hypothalamic disruption. It manifests as an acute deterioration in multi-organ homeostasis that, if untreated, leads to shock and death. Despite the availability of effective preventive strategies, its prevalence is increasing in patients with SAI, TAI and IAI due to more frequent exogenous steroid administration, pituitary immune-related effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors and opioid use in pain management. The delayed diagnosis of acute AI which remains infrequently suspected increases the risk of AC. Its main precipitating factors are infections, emotional distress, surgery, cessation or reduction in GC doses, pituitary infarction or surgical cure of endogenous Cushing's syndrome. In patients not known previously to have SAI/TAI/IAI, recognition of its symptoms, signs, and biochemical abnormalities can be challenging and cause delay in proper diagnosis and therapy. Effective therapy of AC is rapid intravenous administration of hydrocortisone (initial bolus of 100 mg followed by 200 mg/24 h as continuous infusion or bolus of 50 mg every 6 h) and 0.9% saline. In diagnosed patients, preventive education in sick-day rules adjustment of glucocorticoid replacement and hydrocortisone parenteral self-administration must be performed repeatedly by trained health care providers. Strategies to improve the adequate preventive education in patients at risk for secondary AI should be promoted in collaboration with various medical specialist societies and patients support associations.

Safety and efficacy of L-Glutamine in reducing the frequency of acute complications among patients with sickle cell disease: A randomized controlled study.

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of L-glutamine in reducing vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) and improving cerebral arterial blood flow in children with sickle cell disease (SCD). This is an interventional randomized controlled trial that recruited sixty SCD patients, aged 9.2 ± 3.7 years, who had at least two VOCs during the last 12 months and on a stable dose of hydroxyurea. They were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive glutamine (0.3 gm/kg/dose/12h) orally for 24 weeks or the standard of care (SOC). All patients had VOCs in the last year > 3, those on glutamine had a higher number of VOCs and hospitalization for VOC in the last year. There was a decreasing trend in the number, severity, and hospitalization of VOC and a significantly lower cumulative number of VOCs and hospitalizations in the glutamine group than in SOC (p = 0.008, p < 0.001 respectively). Time-averaged mean maximum velocity for the glutamine group had a marginal increase in both middle cerebral arteries, all values remained normal within a normal range, and in both internal carotid arteries, values increased from abnormally low to normal ranges at week 24. Glutamine reduced the number of VOCs and severity and may have a potentially favorable impact on the cerebral arterial flow velocities.

Burden of illness and costs in patients with myasthenia gravis currently receiving treatment in the United States.

INTRODUCTION/AIMS: If myasthenia gravis (MG) symptoms are inadequately controlled, patients may experience exacerbations or life-threatening myasthenic crises. Patients with inadequately controlled MG symptoms tend to be treated with chronic intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy and/or multiple immunosuppressant therapies (ISTs). This study aimed to examine disease burden, healthcare resource utilization, and associated costs in these patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study using a claims database. Patients with MG were classified into three cohorts based on treatment over a 1-y follow-up period: (a) treated with four or more IVIg episodes (chronic IVIg cohort); (b) received two or more non-steroidal ISTs (NSISTs) sequentially (multiple NSIST cohort); (c) received neither chronic IVIg nor multiple NSISTs (reference cohort). Incidences of crises and exacerbations and annual healthcare costs in each cohort were estimated. RESULTS: In total, 3516 patients with MG were included in the analysis. Compared with the reference cohort (n = 2992), the MG crisis rate was approximately twice as high in both the chronic IVIg (n = 324) and multiple NSIST (n = 291) cohorts (p < 0.001); and the MG exacerbation rate was approximately four-fold higher in the chronic IVIg cohort (p < 0.001) and three-fold higher in the multiple NSIST cohort (p < 0.001). Median annual MG-related inflation-adjusted total healthcare costs were higher in the chronic IVIg ($81,900) and multiple NSIST ($30,300) cohorts than in the reference cohort ($2540). DISCUSSION: The burden of crises/exacerbations was substantially higher and healthcare costs were considerably greater in patients with MG treated with chronic IVIg or multiple NSISTs than in patients not receiving these treatments.

Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Consult Series #68: Sickle cell disease in pregnancy.

Pregnant individuals with sickle cell disease have an increased risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. However, prepregnancy counseling and multidisciplinary care can lead to favorable maternal and neonatal outcomes. In this consult series, we summarize what is known about sickle cell disease and provide guidance for sickle cell disease management during pregnancy. The following are Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine recommendations.