Contemporary transcatheter aortic valve implantation related thrombocytopenia.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation related thrombocytopenia (TAVI-rTP) is an inevitable phenomenon. However, no study has been performed on TAVI-rTP in the current setting of extended clinical indications combined with technology improvements.

Methods: Patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis who underwent transfemoral TAVI, from January 2016 to December 2019 were enrolled.

Camel nanobodies: Promising molecular tools against leishmaniasis.

Aim: To characterize several anti-Leishmania tropica nanobodies and to investigate their effect on Leishmania infection.

Methods: Several immunological tests were implied to characterize five different (as confirmed by sequencing) anti-L tropica nanobodies (NbLt05, NbLt06, NbLt14, NbLt24 and NbLt36) against parasite lysates or intact cells from different stages, promastigotes and amastigotes. Direct inhibitory effect of these nanobodies on parasite infection cycle on macrophages was tested in cell culture.

Sequencing and Gene Expression Analysis of Leishmania tropica LACK Gene.

Background: Leishmania Homologue of receptors for Activated C Kinase (LACK) antigen is a 36-kDa protein, which provokes a very early immune response against Leishmania infection. There are several reports on the expression of LACK through different life-cycle stages of genus Leishmania, but only a few of them have focused on L.tropica.

Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) enhances immunity against L. tropica by stimulating human macrophage functions.

During pregnancy, there are important changes in hormone levels such as the huge production of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which is supposed to influence the immune system. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hCG on immune response against Leishmania, through the evaluation of the functions of human macrophages infected with L. tropica.

Dental disease, fibrinogen and white cell count; links with myocardial infarction?

Plasma fibrinogen and white blood cell count were compared in fifty patients aged 25-50 years with periodontal disease and in fifty age-matched controls with relatively healthy periodontal tissues. Patients had significantly higher levels of fibrinogen and white cell count, and dental indices correlated significantly with these two cardiovascular risk factors on multivariate analyses. We suggest that inflammatory dental disease may be a determinant of fibrinogen level and white cell count in the general population, and that fibrinogen and white cell count may be two mediators of the link between dental disease and myocardial infarction.