Facing COVID-19: Early Recognition and Triage Tool for Medical Treatment Facilities With Limited Resources.

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading all over the world. Health systems around the globe have to deal with decreased capabilities and exhausted resources because of the surge of patients. The need to identify COVID-19 patients to achieve a timely opportunity to treat and isolate them is an ongoing challenge for health care professionals everywhere.

Triage Decisions in the Context of COVID-19: Old Burden, New Challenge-The Structured Approach for Intensive Care Unit Triage (SAINT) Protocol.

Introduction: The medical treatment facilities (MTF) represent the equivalent of the healthcare system in the home countries, but they face the limitations of an outpost at the end of the supply chain. The capabilities are limited, and the necessary effort to extend the treatment capacity is tremendous. Algorithms based on scientific evidence or at least profound medical expertise are a tool to facilitate the decision-making process in triage under difficult circumstances.

Perforin-like protein PPLP4 is crucial for mosquito midgut infection by Plasmodium falciparum.

The genomes of Plasmodium parasites encode for five perforin-like proteins, PPLP1-5, and four of them have previously been demonstrated to be involved in disruption of host cell barriers. We now show that the fifth perforin, PPLP4, is crucial for infection of the mosquito vector by Plasmodium falciparum parasites. PPLP4 is expressed in the blood and mosquito midgut stages in granular structures.

Inhibition of the SR protein-phosphorylating CLK kinases of Plasmodium falciparum impairs blood stage replication and malaria transmission.

Cyclin-dependent kinase-like kinases (CLKs) are dual specificity protein kinases that phosphorylate Serine/Arginine-rich (SR) proteins involved in pre-mRNA processing. Four CLKs, termed PfCLK-1-4, can be identified in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which show homology with the yeast SR protein kinase Sky1p. The four PfCLKs are present in the nucleus and cytoplasm of the asexual blood stages and of gametocytes, sexual precursor cells crucial for malaria parasite transmission from humans to mosquitoes.

Perforin-like protein PPLP2 permeabilizes the red blood cell membrane during egress of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes.

Egress of malaria parasites from the host cell requires the concerted rupture of its enveloping membranes. Hence, we investigated the role of the plasmodial perforin-like protein PPLP2 in the egress of Plasmodium falciparum from erythrocytes. PPLP2 is expressed in blood stage schizonts and mature gametocytes.

Changes in the transcriptome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum during the initial phase of transmission from the human to the mosquito.

Background: The transmission of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum from the human to the mosquito is mediated by dormant sexual precursor cells, the gametocytes, which become activated in the mosquito midgut. Because gametocytes are the only parasite stages able to establish an infection in the mosquito, they play a crucial role in spreading the tropical disease. The human-to-mosquito transmission triggers important molecular changes in the gametocytes, which initiate gametogenesis and prepare the parasite for life-cycle progression in the insect vector.

A perforin-like protein mediates disruption of the erythrocyte membrane during egress of Plasmodium berghei male gametocytes.

Successful gametogenesis of the malaria parasite depends on egress of the gametocytes from the erythrocytes within which they developed. Egress entails rupture of both the parasitophorous vacuole membrane and the erythrocyte plasma membrane, and precedes the formation of the motile flagellated male gametes in a process called exflagellation. We show here that egress of the male gametocyte depends on the function of a perforin-like protein, PPLP2.

Molecular mechanisms of host cell egress by malaria parasites.

Egress is a crucial step for malaria parasites to progress from one host cell to another. The rapid transition between host cells is mediated by the invasive merozoite stages. Merozoite egress from the enveloping cell includes the rupture of two membranes, the membrane of the parasitophorous vacuole and the host cell membrane.