COVID-19 vaccination of expectant mothers elicits levels of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 outer “spike” protein at the time of delivery that don’t vary dramatically with the timing of vaccination during pregnancy and thus don’t justify delaying vaccination, according to a study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

• Survey results indicate that there’s a global shortage of dietitians to provide kidney nutrition care, and many patients with kidney disease who need nutritional interventions either do not receive them or receive suboptimal therapy with inadequate monitoring.

What The Study Did: People with immune dysfunction such as HIV infection, rheumatoid arthritis and solid organ transplant had a higher rate for COVID-19 breakthrough infection and worse outcomes after full or partial vaccination compared with people without immune dysfunction in a study that included 660,000 patients who received at least one dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Recent studies have shown variation in the gene-expression profile and phenotype of microglia across brain regions and between different age and disease states. But the molecular mechanisms that contribute to these transcriptomic changes in the human brain are not well understood. Now, a new study targets the methylation profile of microglia from human brain.

Norwegian researchers have studied how a mother's immune system changes during the course of pregnancy. This knowledge can help detect disease and complications, and give the foetus a better start in life.