is an opportunistic yeast capable of causing a wide range of mucosal, cutaneous, and systemic infections. However, therapeutic strategies are limited to a few antifungal agents. Inorganic nanoparticles have been investigated as carrier systems for antifungals as potential new treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Traditional blood cultures for gram-negative bacteremia can take up to 72 hours or more to return results, prolonging the duration of empiric broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics. The Accelerate Pheno system provides rapid identification and susceptibilities for blood cultures in gram-negative bacteremia. Current data on its clinical utility are mixed overall, so the system requires further research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The field of long COVID research is rapidly evolving, however, tools to assess and monitor symptoms and recovery of the disease are limited. The objective of the present study was to develop a new patient-reported outcomes instrument, the Symptoms Evolution of Long COVID‑19 (SE-LC19), and establish its content validity.
Methods: The 40-item SE-LC19 instrument was developed based on patient-relevant empirical evidence from scientific literature and clinical guidelines that reported symptoms specific to long COVID.
PLoS One
July 2024
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who receive immunosuppressive medications have a heightened risk of infection. The goal of our study was to calculate the pooled cumulative incidence and risk of infection in patients with RA treated with Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi). The PubMed and EMBASE databases were queried for randomized controlled trials comparing patients with RA treated with JAKi (upadacitinib, baricitinib, tofacitinib, peficitinib, or filgotinib), defined as the treatment group, compared with control subjects, defined as participants receiving placebo or treatment regimen that was similar to that of participants in the treatment group, with the exception of JAKi.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE/ACM Trans Comput Biol Bioinform
July 2024
Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a major public health threat, and new agents are needed. Computational approaches have been proposed to reduce the cost and time needed for compound screening.
Aims: A machine learning (ML) model was developed for the in silico screening of low molecular weight molecules.
Lasioglossin-III (LL-III) is a potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide used in diverse antimicrobial applications. In this work, coarse-grained and all-atom molecular dynamics simulation strategies were used in tandem to interpret the molecular mechanisms involved in the interfacial dynamics of LL-III and its recombinant variants during interactions with diverse cell membrane systems. Our results indicate that the membrane charges act as the driving force for initiating the membrane-peptide interactions, while the hydrophobic or van der Waals forces help to reinforce the membrane-peptide bindings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Serial measurement of virological and immunological biomarkers in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 can give valuable insight into the pathogenic roles of viral replication and immune dysregulation. We aimed to characterise biomarker trajectories and their associations with clinical outcomes.
Methods: In this international, prospective cohort study, patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and enrolled in the Therapeutics for Inpatients with COVID-19 platform trial within the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines programme between Aug 5, 2020 and Sept 30, 2021 were included.
Contemp Clin Trials
August 2024
Background: Early in the pandemic, extensive attention was cast on limited inclusion of historically underrepresented patient populations in COVID-19 clinical trials. How diverse representation improved following these initial reports remains unclear.
Methods: PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched (through April 2024) for US-based COVID-19 trials.
López-Cortés LE, Delgado-Valverde M, Moreno-Mellado E, et al; SIMPLIFY study group. Lancet Infect Dis. 2024;24:375-385.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLau RI, Su Q, Lau IS, et al. Lancet Infect Dis. 2024;24:256-265.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGoogle Trends provides spatiotemporal data for user-specific terms scaled from less than 1 (lowest relative popularity) to 100 (highest relative popularity) as a proxy for the public interest. Here we use US state-level data for COVID-19 to examine popularity trends during the pandemic evolution. We used "coronavirus" and "covid" search terms and set the period up from January 1st, 2020, to November 12, 2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at increased risk of infection. The aim of this study was to assess the cumulative incidence and risk of infection in patients with IBD treated with interleukin (IL)-targeting agents.
Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science for randomized controlled trials including patients with IBD receiving IL-targeting agents compared with patients receiving placebo or treatment that only differed from the intervention arm in the absence of an IL-targeting agent.
Objectives: There is limited qualitative research on patients' experiences with long COVID-19, and how specific symptoms impact their daily lives. The study aimed to understand patients' lived experiences of long COVID-19 and to develop a conceptual model representing the symptoms and their impact on overall quality of life.
Setting: Qualitative study consisting of a comprehensive literature review, and in-depth clinician and patient semistructured interviews.
Background: The prevalence of steatotic liver disease (SLD) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains largely unknown.
Aims: To investigate the prevalence of SLD and liver fibrosis among patients with RA.
Methods: We utilized data from the United States (US)-based National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-2020 cycle.
Influenza infection is associated with cardiovascular complications that range significantly in presentation and severity. The cumulative incidence of cardiovascular complications due to laboratory-confirmed influenza, however, is not reported in the literature. We conducted a systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis to evaluate the cumulative incidence and mortality rate of influenza virus-related cardiovascular complications in hospitalized patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, notably methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), pose treatment challenges due to its ability to tolerate antibiotics and develop antibiotic resistance. The former, a mechanism independent of genetic changes, allows bacteria to withstand antibiotics by altering metabolic processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Gastroenterol
November 2023
Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a growing public health concern worldwide. Early detection and management of modifiable risk factors are critical to mitigating its impact. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of NAFLD, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and fibrosis among lean adults in the United States (US), using the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset from 2017-2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Invasive infection with complex (SBSEC) bacteria is associated with underlying colorectal neoplasia. However, the link between intestinal or fecal colonization with SBSEC isolates or antibody responses to SBSEC members and colorectal cancer is not thoroughly investigated in the literature.
Methods: We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases for case-control studies as well as retrospective or prospective cohort studies reporting an association between SBSEC bacteria and colorectal neoplasia.