Publications by authors named "H Katano"
Objective: The duration of viral shedding and criteria for de-isolation in the hospital among immunocompromised patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate viral shedding duration in immunocompromised patients infected with the Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed at 2 tertiary medical centers in Japan during the Omicron epidemic waves from July 2022 to January 2023.
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating disease caused by the JC polyomavirus (JCPyV). Based on the clinical criteria, PML is diagnosed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of JCPyV DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in combination with neurological and imaging findings. Although the utility of CSF JCPyV testing using ultrasensitive PCR assays has been suggested, its potential requires further evaluation.
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- Knee osteoarthritis leads to wear in the articular cartilage, but the details of how this progresses are still unclear.
- This study focused on 17 knees from a group of 277 women to investigate factors affecting cartilage defects in the femur, especially in relation to the menisci and tibial cartilage lesions.
- Findings showed that defects were often linked to medial meniscus issues and tibial cartilage degeneration, particularly in older individuals, highlighting complex interactions that worsen cartilage health over time.
Article Synopsis
- Researchers investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be found on the skin of COVID-19 patients by analyzing skin surface lipids (SSLs) collected from their faces.
- Using RT-PCR, they found that 84.6% of samples tested positive within 5 days of symptom onset, while only 30.4% tested positive between 6-10 days.
- The study also revealed an increase in specific genes related to the immune response in the skin samples, highlighting a new method for detecting the virus and studying its impact on human health non-invasively.
Article Synopsis
- A 40-year-old Japanese man with HIV experienced a decline in consciousness after two years of not receiving treatment, showing severe weight loss and a critically low CD4+ lymphocyte count.
- He was diagnosed with disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection and pneumocystis pneumonia, and a brain biopsy confirmed varicella zoster virus (VZV) encephalitis.
- The patient was treated with antiretroviral therapy and intravenous acyclovir, leading to survival but with ongoing neurological complications; VZV encephalitis is rare and carries a poor prognosis in AIDS patients.