SARS-CoV-2 Genotyping Highlights the Challenges in Spike Protein Drift Independent of Other Essential Proteins.

As of 2024, SARS-CoV-2 continues to propagate and drift as an endemic virus, impacting healthcare for years. The largest sequencing initiative for any species was initiated to combat the virus, tracking changes over time at a full virus base-pair resolution. The SARS-CoV-2 sequencing represents a unique opportunity to understand selective pressures and viral evolution but requires cross-disciplinary approaches from epidemiology to functional protein biology.

Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Cross-Sectional Study in Three Communities in the United States and Lebanon.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the significance of vaccine hesitancy in shaping vaccination outcomes. Understanding the factors underpinning COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy is crucial for tailoring effective vaccination strategies. This cross-sectional study, conducted in three communities across the United States and Lebanon, employed surveys to assess respondents' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding COVID-19 infection and vaccination.

Knowledge, Perception, Attitudes and Behavior on Influenza Immunization and the Determinants of Vaccination.

Background: We sought to determine the knowledge of, perception, attitudes, and behaviors toward influenza virus and immunization, and the determinants of vaccination among students, patients, and Healthcare Workers (HCWs) at the American University of Beirut and its affiliated Medical Center.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study between October 2016 and January 2017 utilizing a self-administered questionnaire that was provided to 247 randomly selected adult participants. Data collected included socio-demographic characteristics, prior vaccination against influenza, knowledge, perception, attitudes, and behaviors toward influenza and influenza immunization.

Consequences of Delayed Chest Closure During Lung Transplantation.

Background: Delayed chest closure is commonly used for cardiac surgery. However, insufficient data exist to guide its management in immunosuppressed lung transplantation patients, with unclear long-term consequences.

Methods: We performed 769 lung transplantations between January 2009 and January 2016.

Real-world use-Isavuconazole at a large academic medical center.

Background: Isavuconazole use in the real-world setting has not been extensively described. Subgroups of patients with particular prognostic significance, such as previous triazole prophylaxis or treatment and the important subgroup treated empirically for invasive fungal infection, have beforehand been excluded from trials.

Objectives: We aimed to determine treatment response and safety in these patients at a large US transplant and cancer centre.

Meropenem-Vaborbactam as Salvage Therapy for Ceftazidime-Avibactam-Resistant Bacteremia and Abscess in a Liver Transplant Recipient.

We report a case of a 24-year-old liver transplant recipient who developed hepatic artery thrombosis and graft failure, which was complicated by subphrenic abscess and persistent carbapenemase (KPC)-producing bacteremia. Ceftazidime-avibactam treatment led to emergence of resistance, and alternative combination therapy failed due to persistent infection and toxicity. The infection resolved after initiation of meropenem-vaborbactam, which created a bridge to retransplantation.

Axillary and rectal thermometry in the newborn: do they agree?

Background: Accurate measurement of body temperature is critical for the assessment of a newborn's general well-being. In nursery settings, the gold standard rectal thermometry has been replaced by the axillary method. However, evidence pertaining to the agreement between axillary and rectal thermometry in the newborn is controversial.