Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Isavuconazole Versus Amphotericin B for Patients with Invasive Mucormycosis.

Background: Invasive mucormycosis (IM) poses a substantial morbidity and mortality burden among immunocompromised patients.

Objectives: We aim to compare the real-world effectiveness and safety of isavuconazole with those of amphotericin B in patients with IM.

Patients And Methods: In this observational cohort study, we enrolled patients who were diagnosed with IM and treated with either isavuconazole or amphotericin B.

Chronic active Epstein‒Barr virus colitis, a rare cause of recurrent diarrhea in an immunocompetent female: a case report.

Background: Chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV) colitis is a rare disease with clinical and endoscopic manifestations very similar to those of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In clinical practice, it is easy to be misdiagnosed and mistreated, leading to poor clinical outcomes.

Case Presentation: We report a case of a 56-year-old Chinese woman who presented with 6 years of intermittent severe diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain.

Individualized small bowel preparation for computed tomography enterography: A prospective randomized controlled trial.

Background And Aim: The study aims to evaluate the feasibility of body mass index (BMI)-based individualized small bowel preparation for computed tomography enterography (CTE).

Methods: In this prospective randomized controlled study, patients undergoing CTE were randomly assigned to the individualized group or standardized group. Those in individualized group were given different volumes of mannitol solution based on BMI (1000 mL for patients with BMI < 18.

Disseminated disease caused by Mycobacterium marseillense: A case report and literature review.

Rationale: Among numerous types of nontuberculous mycobacterial infections, Mycobacterium avium complex is a related group of species, which can cause various diseases in humans. Mycobacterium marseillense is a member of the Mycobacterium avium complex, which accounts for only a small proportion of species, but causes rare diseases affecting the lungs, lymph nodes, skin, and tendon sheath. So far, very few cases have been reported.

Excessive Mitochondrial Fission Suppresses Mucosal Repair by Impairing Butyrate Metabolism in Colonocytes.

Background: Mucosal healing is one of the principal therapeutic targets for ulcerative colitis (UC). Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that undergo constant fusion and fission; however, the process that is most conducive to mucosal healing remains unclear. This study investigated the role of mitochondrial fission in mucosal healing in UC patients.

Targeted, programmable, and precise tandem duplication in the mammalian genome.

Tandem duplications are frequent structural variations of the genome and play important roles in genetic disease and cancer. However, interpreting the phenotypic consequences of tandem duplications remains challenging, in part owing to the lack of genetic tools to model such variations. Here, we developed a strategy, tandem duplication via prime editing (TD-PE), to create targeted, programmable, and precise tandem duplication in the mammalian genome.

Real-world effectiveness of ceftazidime/avibactam versus polymyxin B in treating patients with carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections.

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of ceftazidime/avibactam (CAZ/AVI) and polymyxin B against carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (CRGNB) infections in western China.

Methods: The medical records of patients with CRGNB infections in this hospital from 2018-2022 were retrospectively reviewed. The data included demographic characteristics, laboratory results, antibiotic strategies and clinical outcomes.

Optimal concentration of Lugol's solution for detecting early esophageal carcinoma: A randomized controlled trial.

Background And Aim: Lugol chromoendoscopy is the standard technique to detect an esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, a high concentration of Lugol's solution can induce mucosal injury and adverse events. We aimed to investigate the optimal concentration of Lugol's solution to reduce mucosal injury and adverse events without degrading image quality.

Efficacy and safety of polymyxin E sulfate in the treatment of critically ill patients with carbapenem-resistant organism infections.

Objective: Polymyxins are currently the last line of defense in the treatment of carbapenem-resistant organisms (CRO). As a kind of polymyxin available for clinical use in China, we aim to explore the efficacy and safety of colistin sulfate (Polymyxin E sulfate, PES) in this study.

Methods: This real-world retrospective study included 119 patients diagnosed with CRO infection and treated with PES for more than 72 h, from May 2020 to July 2022 at West China Hospital.

Cryptococcal meningitis in apparently immunocompetent patients.

Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) is an invasive fungal disease that currently poses a threat to human health worldwide, with high morbidity and mortality, particularly in immunocompromised patients. Although CM mainly occurs in HIV-positive patients and other immunocompromised patients, it is also increasingly seen in seemingly immunocompetent hosts. The clinical characteristics of CM between immunocompromised and immunocompetent populations are different.

A rare case of human taeniasis caused by with species undetermined cysticercosis.

Taeniasis and cysticercosis, which are caused by , and , are zoonotic parasitic infections with a significant disease burden worldwide. There is consensus amongst experts that is a common tapeworm that causes taeniasis in humans as opposed to cysticercosis. This case study of a middle-aged Tibetan man conducted in 2021 challenges the prevailing notion that exclusively causes taeniasis and not cysticercosis by documenting symptoms and laboratory studies related to both taeniasis and multiple cysticercosis.

Disseminated alveolar echinococcosis in a patient diagnosed by metagenomic next-generation sequencing: A case report.

Background: Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a parasitic zoonosis with high mortality and disability rates. Diverse clinical manifestations and mimicking of differential diagnoses such as tuberculosis and malignancy pose a diagnostic dilemma. With the rapid development of molecular diagnostic techniques in recent years, metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) has become an attractive approach for the etiological diagnosis of infectious diseases.

Application of deep learning in the real-time diagnosis of gastric lesion based on magnifying optical enhancement videos.

Background And Aim: Magnifying image-enhanced endoscopy was demonstrated to have higher diagnostic accuracy than white-light endoscopy. However, differentiating early gastric cancers (EGCs) from benign lesions is difficult for beginners. We aimed to determine whether the computer-aided model for the diagnosis of gastric lesions can be applied to videos rather than still images.

Existing tests vs. novel non-invasive assays for detection of invasive aspergillosis in patients with respiratory diseases.

Background: Although existing mycological tests (bronchoalveolar lavage [BAL] galactomannan [GM], serum GM, serum (1,3)-β-D-glucan [BDG], and fungal culture) are widely used for diagnosing invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in non-hematological patients with respiratory diseases, their clinical utility in this large population is actually unclear. We aimed to resolve this clinical uncertainty by evaluating the diagnostic accuracy and utility of existing tests and explore the efficacy of novel sputum-based Aspergillus assays.

Methods: Existing tests were assessed in a prospective and consecutive cohort of patients with respiratory diseases in West China Hospital between 2016 and 2019 while novel sputum assays (especially sputum GM and Aspergillus-specific lateral-flow device [LFD]) in a case-controlled subcohort.

Giant splenic cyst complicated by infection due to Salmonella enterica serovar Livingstone in a previously healthy adolescent male: a case report.

Background: Splenic cyst complicated by non-typhoid Salmonella infection is rare in healthy individuals in the era of antibiotics. Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Livingstone causing infection of giant splenic cyst has not been previously reported.

Bi-PE: bi-directional priming improves CRISPR/Cas9 prime editing in mammalian cells.

Prime editors consisting of Cas9-nickase and reverse transcriptase enable targeted precise editing of small DNA pieces, including all 12 kinds of base substitutions, insertions and deletions, while without requiring double-strand breaks or donor templates. Current optimized prime editing strategy (PE3) uses two guide RNAs to guide the performance of prime editor. One guide RNA carrying both spacer and templating sequences (pegRNA) guides prime editor to produce ssDNA break and subsequent extension, and the other one produces a nick in the complementary strand.

The Nuclear Pore Complex 62 Suppression Inhibits Coxsackievirus B Replication and Inflammatory Response.

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is one of the major viruses associated with human viral myocarditis, in members of the order. Cellular localization depends on the activity of nuclear pore complexes, which are composed of nucleoporins (Nups), including Nup62. To better understand interactions between Nup62 and CVB3, we investigated the impact of CVB3 infection on Nup62 levels and the impact of Nup62 production on CVB3 replication in cultured cells.

Strongyloidiasis in a Patient Diagnosed by Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing: A Case Report.

Background: Strongylodiasis may be asymptomatic or cause mild gastrointestinal symptoms, and may be a fatal disseminated disease or hyperinfection syndrome. Non-specific clinical manifestations, such as pneumonia and gastroenteritis, pose a diagnostic dilemma.

Case Presentation: We report a case of a 67-year-old Chinese male who presented with abdominal pain, fever, headache, vomiting, constipation, and slight cough with sputum for nearly 2 months.

Expanding PAM recognition and enhancing base editing activity of Cas9 variants with non-PI domain mutations derived from xCas9.

The recognition of protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) is a key factor for the CRISPR (i.e. clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/CRISPR-associated 9 (Cas9) system to distinguish foreign DNAs from the host genome, and also significantly restricts the targeting scope of the system during genome-editing applications.

Delayed diagnosis of multiple systemic disseminated tuberculosis: A case report.

Rationale: The clinical manifestations in patients with disseminated tuberculosis (TB) are nonspecific and may present challenges for early diagnosis.

Patient Concerns And Diagnoses: We describe the case of a 44-year-old man who presented with abdominal pain and discomfort for more than a month. He had undergone surgery for a chest wall abscess 9 months ago.

Emergent Virus Reactivation in SARS-CoV-2-Negative Community Acquired Pneumonia Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Emergent viruses (namely, HSV-1, CMV, and EBV) reactivation were common in critically ill patients and/or immunosuppressed patients. This study aimed to understand the clinical manifestations and reactivation of the emergent viruses in SARS-CoV-2-Negative community acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of CAP patients from January to March 2020, in our university hospital in China.

Effects of enhanced education for patients with the Helicobacter pylori infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections are of serious concern due to the associated risk of gastric cancer. However, many patients have poor medication and therapy compliance, which makes it difficult to eradicate their infections.

Pulmonary Mucormycosis as the Leading Clinical Type of Mucormycosis in Western China.

The aim was to better understand the clinical characteristics of patients with mucormycosis in western China. We retrospectively investigated the clinical, laboratory, radiological and treatment profiles of mucormycosis patients during a 10-year period (2010-2019). As a result, 59 proven mucormycosis were enrolled in this study.

A split cytosine deaminase architecture enables robust inducible base editing.

Directed base substitution with base editing technology enables efficient and programmable conversion of C:G or A:T base pairs to T:A or G:C in the genome. Although this technology has shown great potentials in a variety of basic research, off-target editing is among one of the biggest challenges toward its way to clinical application. Base editing tools, especially the tools converting C to T, caused unpredictable off-target editing throughout the genome, which raise the concern that long-term application of these tools would induce genomic instability or even tumorigenesis.