Pediatrician-Authored Opinion/Editorial Articles Published in Newspapers Before and After the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Pediatricians publish opinion/editorials in newspapers as a form of advocacy. No research has characterized these publications to determine the scope of this communication. OBJECTIVE: We examined the characteristics of pediatrician-authored op-eds, comparing articles published in a seasonally matched six-month period before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We reviewed 249 pediatrician-authored op-eds (109 before COVID-19; 140 during COVID-19 pandemic) over two six-month periods accessed through America's Newspapers database in June 2021. Each article was coded for topics covered, presumed motivations for the publication, and communication techniques used. RESULTS: Total number of articles published by pediatricians was higher after the start of COVID-19 compared with a period before the pandemic. Authors commonly asked for legislative action before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, but within the COVID-19 pandemic authors more often asked for behavioral changes in the readers themselves. Personal stories were a common technique used in both time periods; shaming of government became more common during COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide context for additional studies examining the usefulness of op-eds in pediatrician advocacy.

Sodium channel NaV1.3 is important for enterochromaffin cell excitability and serotonin release.

In the gastrointestinal (GI) epithelium, enterochromaffin (EC) cells are enteroendocrine cells responsible for producing >90% of the body's serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT). However, the molecular mechanisms of EC cell function are poorly understood. Here, we found that EC cells in mouse primary cultures fired spontaneous bursts of action potentials. We examined the repertoire of voltage-gated sodium channels (NaV) in fluorescence-sorted mouse EC cells and found that Scn3a was highly expressed. Scn3a-encoded NaV1.3 was specifically and densely expressed at the basal side of both human and mouse EC cells. Using electrophysiology, we found that EC cells expressed robust NaV1.3 currents, as determined by their biophysical and pharmacologic properties. NaV1.3 was not only critical for generating action potentials in EC cells, but it was also important for regulating 5-HT release by these cells. Therefore, EC cells use Scn3a-encoded voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.3 for electrical excitability and 5-HT release. NaV1.3-dependent electrical excitability and its contribution to 5-HT release is a novel mechanism of EC cell function.