Acetylcholine (ACh) signaling orchestrates mammalian movement, mental capacities, and inflammation. Dysregulated ACh signaling associates with many human mental disorders and neurodegeneration in an individual-, sex-, and tissue-related manner. Moreover, aged patients under anticholinergic therapy show increased risk of dementia, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we report that certain cholinergic-targeting noncoding RNAs, named Cholino-noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), can modulate ACh signaling, agonistically or antagonistically, via distinct direct and indirect mechanisms and at different timescales. Cholino-ncRNAs include both small microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). The former may attenuate translation and/or induce destruction of target mRNAs that code for either ACh-signaling proteins or transcription factors controlling the expression of cholinergic genes. lncRNAs may block miRNAs via 'sponging' events or by competitive binding to the cholinergic target mRNAs. Also, single nucleotide polymorphisms in either Cholino-ncRNAs or in their recognition sites in the ACh-signaling associated genes may modify ACh signaling-regulated processes. Taken together, both inherited and acquired changes in the function of Cholino-ncRNAs impact ACh-related deficiencies, opening new venues for individual, sex-related, and age-specific oriented research, diagnosis, and therapeutics. © 2020 The Authors. FEBS Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Biochemical Societies.BACKGROUND A pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been spreading throughout the world. Though molecular diagnostic tests are the gold standard for COVID-19, serological testing is emerging as a potential surveillance tool, in addition to its complementary role in COVID-19 diagnostics. Indubitably quantitative serological testing provides greater advantages than qualitative tests but today there is still little known about serological diagnostics and what the most appropriate role quantitative tests might play. METHODS Sixty-one COVID-19 patients and 64 patients from a control group were tested by iFlash1800 CLIA analyzer for anti-SARS CoV-2 antibodies IgM and IgG. All COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in San Giovanni di Dio Hospital (Florence, Italy) and had a positive oro/nasopharyngeal swab RT-PCR result. RESULTS The highest sensitivity with a very good specificity performance was reached at a cutoff value of 10.0 AU/mL for IgM and of 7.1 for IgG antibodies, hence near to the manufacturer's cutoff values of 10 AU/mL for both isotypes. The ROC performance curves showed area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.918 and 0.980 for anti-SARS CoV-2 antibodies IgM and IgG, respectively. CONCLUSIONS iFlash1800 CLIA analyzer has shown highly accurate results for the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies profile and can be considered an excellent tool for COVID-19 diagnostics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.In the last 15 years, it became clear that the symbiotic microbiota has an important impact on the development and regulation of the immune system. Consequently, it is incorrect to interpret a phenotype solely as a direct result of the genotype, without considering the impact of the microbiota. In fact, ignorance of the effects exerted by the microbiota may account for a large part of the "replication issues" found in many studies. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Beller et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2020. 50 XXXX-XXXX] provide data suggesting that eosinophils are not required to maintain IgA-producing plasma cells in the intestine, contrary to earlier reports. This paper shows that mice lacking eosinophils develop an altered intestinal microbiota, which poorly induces IgA. Normal levels of IgA were obtained in mice lacking eosinophils when these were colonized by microbiota from the wild-type mice. Therefore, the use of littermate controls carrying the same microbiota, in experiments comparing wild-type and mutant mice, is necessary to control the potential role of the microbiota. Nevertheless, caution should always be exercised in the interpretation of the results changes in the microbiota may result from mutations in the host, and thereby, indirectly convey the effect of genotypes on phenotypes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.A 21-year-old woman (primipara) at 33w+6 d gestation was admitted to the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University on February 3, 2020. None of her prenatal screening results were abnormal. She complained of cold symptoms on January 29, 2020. Upon onset a fever of 39°C on January 31, she went to a local clinic, where her blood pressure was 170/110 mmHg. Her white blood cell count was 10.92×109 /L, total lymphocyte count was 0.85×10 9 /L, hemoglobin was 9.8 g/dl, and platelet count was 56×1010 /L and acetaminophen was given. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.With the developing COVID-19 pandemic (caused by the novel zoonotic SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus), the UK population are urged to follow Government advice on managing symptoms and reducing viral transmission (1). Unusually, patients with sickle cell anaemia (HbSS genotype) have been explicitly mentioned in this as a group at increased risk due to their non-functioning spleen (2). Unfortunately, there is no specific advice for patients with sickle cell disease of other genotypes, thalassaemia and other inherited anaemias. Many of these are at increased risk of fulminant bacterial infection, and therefore may erroneously self-isolate if their fever is mistakenly attributed to a viral cause, delaying potentially life-saving antibiotic therapy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND Clinical presentation and outcomes of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy remain limited and fragmented. OBJECTIVES To summarize the existing literature on COVID-19 infection during pregnancy and childbirth, particularly concerning clinical presentation and outcomes. SEARCH STRATEGY A systematic search of LitCovid, EBSCO MEDLINE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus electronic databases.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/PD-98059.html  The references of relevant studies were also searched. SELECTION CRITERIA Identified titles and abstracts were screened to select original reports and cross-checked for overlap of cases. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS A descriptive summary organized by aspects of clinical presentations (symptoms, imaging, and laboratory) and outcomes (maternal and perinatal). MAIN RESULTS We identified 33 studies reporting 385 pregnant women with COVID-19 infection 368 (95.6%) mild; 14 (3.6%) severe; and 3 (0.8%) critical. Seventeen women were admitted to intensive care, including six who were mechanically ventilated and one maternal mortality.