Proportion of confirmed Lyme neuroborreliosis cases among patients with suspected early European Lyme neuroborreliosis.

To determine the frequency of confirmed Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) cases in adult patients with three different clinical presentations consistent with early LNB. Data were obtained through routine health care at the UMC Ljubljana, Slovenia from 2005-2022, using clinical pathways. The patients were classified into three groups: i) radicular pain of new onset (N = 332); or ii) involvement of cranial nerve(s) but without radicular pain (N = 997); or iii) erythema migrans (EM) skin lesion(s) in conjunction with symptoms suggestive of nervous system involvement but without either cranial nerve palsy or radicular pain (N = 240).

Proportion of confirmed Lyme neuroborreliosis cases among adult patients with suspected early European Lyme neuroborreliosis.

Purpose: To determine the frequency of confirmed Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) cases in adult patients with three different clinical presentations consistent with early LNB.

Methods: Data were obtained through routine health care at the UMC Ljubljana, Slovenia from 2005 to 2022, using clinical pathways. The patients were classified into three groups: (i) radicular pain of new onset (N = 332); or (ii) involvement of cranial nerve(s) but without radicular pain (N = 997); or (iii) erythema migrans (EM) skin lesion(s) in conjunction with symptoms suggestive of nervous system involvement but without either cranial nerve palsy or radicular pain (N = 240).

Assessment of three criteria to establish borrelial infection in suspected lyme neuroborreliosis.

Purpose: Diagnosis of (European) Lyme neuroborreliosis has been based on clinical presentation, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis and demonstration of intrathecal borrelial antibody synthesis (ITBAS) to document Borrelia burgdorferi s. l.

Infection: It is not known if other criteria to document Borrelia infection may contribute to the diagnosis.

Elevated levels of serum muscle enzymes in the initial phase of tick-borne encephalitis.

Purpose: Since some patients with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) have pronounced myalgias, and since myositis is reported in diseases such as dengue, we performed systematic search for abnormalities of muscle enzymes in a group of patients in whom the presence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) RNA in the first phase of the disease was demonstrated and who developed second phase of TBE.

Methods: Total leukocyte and platelet blood counts were determined routinely at the initial examination during the first and the second phase of TBE. Activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatine kinase (CK), myoglobin and troponin was determined from the available stored serum specimens; the first and second phase disease specimens were tested simultaneously.

Why Is the Duration of Erythema Migrans at Diagnosis Longer in Patients with Lyme Neuroborreliosis Than in Those without Neurologic Involvement?

In prior studies, the skin lesion erythema migrans (EM) was present for a longer time period before diagnosis of concomitant borrelial meningoradiculoneuritis (Bannwarth's syndrome) compared to EM patients without neurologic symptoms. To determine if this observation pertains to other manifestations of Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), we compared EM characteristics in patients with borrelial meningoradiculoneuritis (n = 122) to those with aseptic meningitis without radicular pain (n = 72 patients), and to patients with EM but without neurologic involvement (n = 12,384). We also assessed factors that might impact duration.

Psychometric Properties of the Slovenian Version of Brief Sensation Seeking Scale.

Sensation seeking (SS) is a psychobiological personality trait characterized by an individual's propensity to engage in various forms of risk-taking behavior. The Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS-8) is a widely used instrument for assessing SS that has been translated into several languages. However, only outdated and non-validated questionnaires have been used to measure SS in the Slovenian population.

Comparison of antithrombin activity assays in detection of patients with heparin binding site antithrombin deficiency: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Antithrombin (AT) deficiency increases the risk for venous thromboembolism, therefore, a highly sensitive assay to identify this condition is crucial. The aim of this paper was to perform a meta-analysis comparing AT activities measured by different AT activity assays in patients with heparin binding site AT deficiency. In addition, the diagnostic sensitivity of selected assays was compared depending on the available data.

Association of Persistent Symptoms after Lyme Neuroborreliosis and Increased Levels of Interferon-α in Blood.

Patients who have Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) might experience lingering symptoms that persist despite antibiotic drug therapy. We tested whether those symptoms are caused by maladaptive immune responses by measuring 20 immune mediators in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 79 LNB patients followed for 1 year. At study entry, most mediators were highly concentrated in CSF, the site of the infection.

Comparison of laboratory and immune characteristics of the initial and second phase of tick-borne encephalitis.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) usually has a biphasic course which begins with unspecific febrile illness, followed by central nervous system involvement. Because TBE is not yet suspected during the initial phase, knowledge of early TBE pathogenesis is incomplete. Herein we evaluated laboratory and immune findings in the initial and second (meningoencephalitic) phase of TBE in 88 well-defined adult patients.

Complete sequence of classic F-type plasmid pRK100 shows unique conservation over time and geographic location.

Plasmids exhibit great diversity of gene content and host ranges and are famous for quick adaptation to the genetic background of the bacterial host cell. In addition to observing ever evolving plasmids, some plasmids have conserved backbones: a stable core composition and arrangement of genes in addition to variable regions. There are a few reports of extremely conserved plasmids.

Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics and Outcome of Illness Caused by Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus without Central Nervous System Involvement.

Information on febrile illness caused by tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) without central nervous system involvement is limited. We characterized 98 patients who had TBEV RNA in their blood but no central nervous system involvement at the time of evaluation. Median duration of illness was 7 days; 37 (38%) patients were hospitalized.

Immunosuppression and immunization: Vaccination in pediatric patients with neuromuscular diseases treated with steroids or immune-modulating drugs.

Background: Modulating the immune response has proven to be beneficial in different neurologic diseases, even in those not perceived thus far to be autoimmune.

Methods: Extensive literature search has been done for available data on vaccine safety, efficacy and immunization recommendations in patients with neuromuscular disease in general and when receiving immune-modulating treatments.

Results: Vaccinations have been associated with some neuromuscular diseases, but these occurrences are very rare and should not influence the general vaccination recommendations for the pediatric population and for the especially vulnerable patient populations, such as neuromuscular disease patients.

Colocalization of Radicular Pain and Erythema Migrans in Patients With Bannwarth Syndrome Suggests a Direct Spread of Borrelia Into the Central Nervous System.

Background: There is a general assumption that after deposition into skin, Lyme borreliae disseminate hematogenously to other organs, resulting in extracutaneous manifestations of Lyme borreliosis, including Lyme neuroborreliosis. However, our experience over the past 40 years, along with several published case reports that observed colocalization of radicular pain and erythema migrans (EM) in patients with borrelial meningoradiculoneuritis (Bannwarth syndrome), argues against hematogenous dissemination in Lyme neuroborreliosis.

Methods: We compared the location of EM in 112 patients with Bannwarth syndrome to 12315 EM patients without neurological involvement.

Are Differences in Presentation of Early Lyme Borreliosis in Europe and North America a Consequence of a More Frequent Spirochetemia in American Patients?

To assess whether differences in presentation between US and European patients with early Lyme borreliosis are due to the lower rate of spirochetemia in Europe, we compared multiple variables for patients with erythema migrans (EM), restricting the analysis to subjects with a positive blood culture at the time of presentation: 93 US patients infected with versus 183 European patients infected with (No = 144) or (No = 39). Compared to spirochetemic Slovenian EM patients infected with , US patients with a positive blood culture significantly less often recalled a preceding tick bite at the site of the EM skin lesion, had a shorter duration of EM prior to diagnosis and more often had multiple EM lesions, regional lymphadenopathy, constitutional symptoms, an increased ESR value, a low blood lymphocyte count and detectable borrelia antibodies in acute and convalescent phase blood samples. Similar differences were observed when US patients were compared to Slovenian patients with infection, but not all reached statistical significance.

Characteristics of spirochetemic patients with a solitary erythema migrans skin lesion in Europe.

Neither pre-treatment characteristics, nor the outcome after antibiotic therapy, have been reported for spirochetemic European patients with Lyme borreliosis. In the present study, patients with a solitary erythema migrans (EM) who had a positive blood culture for either Borrelia afzelii (n = 116) or Borrelia garinii (n = 37) were compared with age- and sex-matched patients who had a negative blood culture, but were culture positive for the corresponding Borrelia species from skin. Collectively, spirochetemic patients significantly more often recalled a tick bite at the site of the EM skin lesion, had a shorter time interval from the bite to the onset of EM, had a shorter duration of the skin lesion prior to diagnosis, and had a smaller EM skin lesion that was more often homogeneous in appearance.

Drug repurposing for COVID-19 via knowledge graph completion.

Objective: To discover candidate drugs to repurpose for COVID-19 using literature-derived knowledge and knowledge graph completion methods.

Methods: We propose a novel, integrative, and neural network-based literature-based discovery (LBD) approach to identify drug candidates from PubMed and other COVID-19-focused research literature. Our approach relies on semantic triples extracted using SemRep (via SemMedDB).

Drug Repurposing for COVID-19 via Knowledge Graph Completion.

Objective: To discover candidate drugs to repurpose for COVID-19 using literature-derived knowledge and knowledge graph completion methods.

Methods: We propose a novel, integrative, and neural network-based literature-based discovery (LBD) approach to identify drug candidates from both PubMed and COVID-19-focused research literature. Our approach relies on semantic triples extracted using SemRep (via SemMedDB).

Effect of Statin Use on the Clinical Manifestations, Laboratory Test Results and Outcome of Lyme Neuroborreliosis.

Statins have anti-inflammatory and potentially antimicrobial activity, but whether they have a beneficial effect on the course of infectious diseases is controversial. In this study, we assessed the impact of pre-existing statin use on the course and outcome of Lyme neuroborreliosis manifested as meningoradiculitis (Bannwarth's syndrome). One hundred and twenty three consecutive patients with Bannwarth's syndrome, of whom 18 (14.

Lyme Neuroborreliosis in Children: Etiology and Comparison of Clinical Findings of Lyme Neuroborreliosis Caused by Borrelia garinii and Borrelia afzelii.

Background: Information on the etiology of Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) in children in Europe and the influence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species isolated from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on clinical presentation of LNB in children are limited.

Methods: The study was monocentric. During its 17-year period, children younger than 15 years with presentation suggestive of LNB or confirmed Lyme borreliosis that had B.

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato infection in patients with peripheral facial palsy.

The aims of the study were to determine the frequency of borrelial infection in patients with peripheral facial palsy (PFP) and to compare clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with borrelial PFP and patients with PFP of unknown etiology. Adult patients with PFP who presented at our department between January 2006 and December 2013 qualified for the study if they had undergone lumbar puncture and also been tested for the presence of borrelial IgM and IgG antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in indirect chemiluminescence immunoassay. Patients with PFP who had obvious signs/symptoms indicating a disease other than Lyme borreliosis (LB) were excluded.

Disentangling the evolution of MEDLINE bibliographic database: A complex network perspective.

Scientific knowledge constitutes a complex system that has recently been the topic of in-depth analysis. Empirical evidence reveals that little is known about the dynamic aspects of human knowledge. Precise dissection of the expansion of scientific knowledge could help us to better understand the evolutionary dynamics of science.

Predicting potential drug-drug interactions on topological and semantic similarity features using statistical learning.

Drug-drug interaction (DDI) is a change in the effect of a drug when patient takes another drug. Characterizing DDIs is extremely important to avoid potential adverse drug reactions. We represent DDIs as a complex network in which nodes refer to drugs and links refer to their potential interactions.

The long-term outcome of tick-borne encephalitis in Central Europe.

Background: Information on the long-term outcome of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is limited.

Objectives: To assess the frequency and severity of post-encephalitic syndrome (PES) at different time points after TBE, and to determine the parameters associated with unfavourable outcome.

Methods: Adult patients diagnosed with TBE in Slovenia in the period 2007-2012 were followed-up for 12 months and also examined 2-7 years after TBE.

Link Prediction on a Network of Co-occurring MeSH Terms: Towards Literature-based Discovery.

Objectives: Literature-based discovery (LBD) is a text mining methodology for automatically generating research hypotheses from existing knowledge. We mimic the process of LBD as a classification problem on a graph of MeSH terms. We employ unsupervised and supervised link prediction methods for predicting previously unknown connections between biomedical concepts.