Aspergillus Test Profiles and Mortality in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients.

The literature regarding COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) has shown conflicting observations, including survival of CAPA patients not receiving antifungal therapy and discrepancy between CAPA diagnosis and autopsy findings. To gain insight into the pathophysiology of CAPA, we performed a case-control study in which we compared Aspergillus test profiles in CAPA patients and controls in relation to intensive care unit (ICU) mortality. This was a multinational case-control study in which Aspergillus test results, use of antifungal therapy, and mortality were collected from critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Molecular Diagnosis of Yeast Infections.

Purpose Of Review: The use of molecular tests to aid the diagnosis of invasive yeast infection, in particular invasive candidosis, has been described for over two decades, yet widespread application is limited, and diagnosis remains heavily dependent on classical microbiology. This article will review developments from the past decade in attempt to build on existing knowledge. It will highlight clinical performance and limitations while reviewing developments on recognized procedures; it will also provide insight into novel approaches incorporated in response to clinical demand (e.

Training of vertical versus horizontal reading in patients with hemianopia - a randomized and controlled study.

Hypothesis: Patients with hemianopic field defects (HFD) might benefit from reading text in vertical orientation if they place the text in the seeing hemifield along the vertical midline.

Methods: We assigned 21 patients with HFD randomly to either vertical or horizontal reading training. They trained reading single lines of texts from a computer screen at home for 2 × 30 min/day, 5 days/week, for 4 weeks.

A National Strategy to Diagnose Coronavirus Disease 2019-Associated Invasive Fungal Disease in the Intensive Care Unit.

Background: Fungal coinfection is a recognized complication of respiratory virus infections, increasing morbidity and mortality, but can be readily treated if diagnosed early. An increasing number of small studies describing aspergillosis in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with severe respiratory distress are being reported, but comprehensive data are lacking. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, risk factors, and impact of invasive fungal disease in adult COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory distress.

Effects of home reading training on reading and quality of life in AMD-a randomized and controlled study.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) causes reading impairment, reduced quality of life (QoL), and secondary depression. We have shown that support with magnifying aids improved reading speed (RS), emotional and cognitive status, and QoL. The present study investigates whether additional reading training (RT) (after adapting to appropriate visual aids) can further improve vision rehabilitation.

Effects of visual search training in children with hemianopia.

Background: This study investigates the effect of a new computer-based visual search training (VST) that was adapted for children with homonymous hemianopia (HH).

Methods: 22 children with HH (median age 11 years, 8 months: 6y6m-19y2m) trained at home for 15 minutes twice/day, 5 days/week, for 6 weeks. To assess performance before training (T1), directly after training (T2) and 6 weeks after the end of training (T3), we measured search times (STs) during on-screen search (with eye tracking), and in a real life search task.

Homonymous Hemianopia in Children and Adolescents: An MRI Study.

Aim: Diagnosing homonymous hemianopia (HH) in children can be difficult due to inability to comply with perimetry. Therefore, HH can often only be suspected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing lesions to the retrochiasmatic visual pathways. The aim of our retrospective observational cross-sectional study was to improve the radiologic detection of HH.

Eye movement involvement in Parry-Romberg Syndrome: a clinicopathologic case report.

We report the case of a 38-year-old woman who developed a progressive bilateral disease in which the eye motility disorder-diplopia-is the outstanding feature over a period of 12 years. The muscle biopsy of the medial rectus muscle did not show any trace of striated muscle. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first pathological report in an affected extraocular muscle of a patient with Parry-Romberg syndrome (PRS).

Training the adult amblyopic eye with "perceptual learning" after vision loss in the non-amblyopic eye.

We recently reported acuity development in the amblyopic eye of a 60-year-old patient after loss of vision in her non-amblyopic eye. Here, we focus on the training that we implemented, based on new insights from psychophysical procedures aiming at functional visual improvement of adults ("perceptual learning"). We alternately used the following procedures: grating acuity (Teller-Cards); contrast sensitivity (Vistech-Charts); two spatial localization tests (vertical alignment, pointing); and labyrinth patterns for a eye-hand coordination exercise.

Visual improvement during psychophysical training in an adult amblyopic eye following visual loss in the contralateral eye.

Background: Recent publications have demonstrated neural plasticity in adult amblyopes subjected to psychophysical training based on perceptual learning. The purpose of this case report is to present rarely available prospective data of visual acuity development in a strabismic amblyope undergoing psychophysical training and pleoptic treatment after loss of function of the non-amblyopic eye.

Methods: The design is a prospective, observational and interventional case report.

Monocyte adhesion to activated aortic endothelium: role of L-selectin and heparan sulfate proteoglycans.

This study examines the role of L-selectin in monocyte adhesion to arterial endothelium, a key pathogenic event of atherosclerosis. Using a nonstatic (rotation) adhesion assay, we observed that monocyte binding to bovine aortic endothelium at 4 degrees C increased four to nine times upon endothelium activation with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha. mAb-blocking experiments demonstrated that L-selectin mediates a major part (64 +/- 18%) of monocyte attachment.

P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1 is a ligand for L-selectin on neutrophils, monocytes, and CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Selectins play a critical role in initiating leukocyte binding to vascular endothelium. In addition, in vitro experiments have shown that neutrophils use L-selectin to roll on adherent neutrophils, suggesting that they express a nonvascular L-selectin ligand. Using a L-selectin/IgM heavy chain (mu) chimeric protein as an immunocytological probe, we show here that L-selectin can bind to neutrophils, monocytes, CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors, and HL-60 and KG-1 myeloid cells.

Cleaved L-selectin concentrations in meningeal leukaemia.

Involvement of the central nervous system has important therapeutic implications in acute leukaemia. Because the identification of blast cells in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is often difficult, there is a need for sensitive markers of leukaemic infiltration. Since the shed form of L-selectin (sL-selectin) is frequently increased in acute leukaemia (sL-selectin+ leukaemia), we examined whether assay of sL-selectin in CSF could improve our ability to detect such meningeal involvement.

High levels of the shed form of L-selectin are present in patients with acute leukemia and inhibit blast cell adhesion to activated endothelium.

L-selectin is expressed by most leukocytes and mediates the initial step of adhesion to vascular endothelium. A feature of this adhesion receptor is to be shed from the cell surface. We report here the presence of high levels of the shed form of L-selectin (sL-selectin) in plasma from patients with acute leukemia.

Highly diverse T cell recognition of a single Plasmodium berghei peptide presented by a series of mutant H-2Kd molecules.

We have tested 21 independent CTL clones for recognition of a single peptide derived from the Plasmodium berghei circumsporozoite protein in the context of 13 mutants of the murine MHC class I molecule H-2Kd. In this series of Kd mutants, amino acid residues located on the upper surface of the alpha-helices were individually substituted by alanine. Remarkably, most clones displayed individual recognition patterns on the Kd mutants.

Immunization with synthetic peptides containing a defined malaria epitope induces a highly diverse cytotoxic T lymphocyte response. Evidence that two peptide residues are buried in the MHC molecule.

In the present study, we have explored ways of inducing a CTL response to a previously defined H-2Kd MHC class I restricted epitope in the circumsporozoite (CS) protein of Plasmodium berghei, and studied in detail the fine specificity of the response. We found that the s.c.

CD8+ cytolytic T cell clones derived against the Plasmodium yoelii circumsporozoite protein protect against malaria.

Immunization of BALB/c mice with radiation-attenuated Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites induces cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for an epitope located within the amino acid sequence 277-288 of the P. yoelii circumsporozoite (CS) protein. Several CD8+ CTL clones were derived from the spleen cells of sporozoite-immunized mice, all displaying an apparently identical epitope specificity.

Isolation and characterization of protective cytolytic T cells in a rodent malaria model system.

Protective immunity against malaria is induced by immunization with irradiation-attenuated sporozoites. Here we report the isolation of cytolytic T-cell (CTL) clones from BALB/c (H-2d) mice immunized with either Plasmodium berghei or Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites. The epitopes recognized by these CTL can be mimicked by synthetic peptides corresponding to a homologous region in the CS proteins of both rodent malaria species.