The airway microbiota and exacerbations of COPD.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the compositionality of the lower airway microbiota predicts later exacerbation risk in persons with COPD in a cohort study.

Materials And Methods: We collected lower airways microbiota samples by bronchoalveolar lavage and protected specimen brushes, and oral wash samples from 122 participants with COPD. Bacterial DNA was extracted from all samples, before we sequenced the V3-V4 region of the 16S RNA gene.

Differential in vivo expression of mycobacterial antigens in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infected lungs and lymph node tissues.

Background: The clinical course of tuberculosis (TB) infection, bacterial load and the morphology of lesions vary between pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. Antigens expressed in abundance during infection could represent relevant antigens in the development of diagnostic tools, but little is known about the in vivo expression of various M. tuberculosis antigens in different clinical manifestations.