The Additional Value of Lower Respiratory Tract Sampling in the Diagnosis of COVID-19: A Real-Life Observational Study.

Since December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has been causing cases of severe pneumonia in China and has spread all over the world, putting great pressure on health systems. Nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) sensitivity is suboptimal. When the SARS-CoV-2 infection is suspected despite negative NPSs, other tests may help to rule out the infection.

Gender specific airway gene expression in COPD sub-phenotypes supports a role of mitochondria and of different types of leukocytes.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a destructive inflammatory disease and the genes expressed within the lung are crucial to its pathophysiology. We have determined the RNAseq transcriptome of bronchial brush cells from 312 stringently defined ex-smoker patients. Compared to healthy controls there were for males 40 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 73 DEGs for females with only 26 genes shared.

Abnormal Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Syndrome.

Background: Pathological and MRI-based evidence suggests that multiple brain structures are likely to be involved in functional disconnection between brain areas. Few studies have investigated resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS). In this study, we investigated within- and between-network rsFC abnormalities in these two conditions.

Functional disconnection of thalamic and cerebellar dentate nucleus networks in progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome.

Aim: To assess functional rearrangement following neurodegeneration in the thalamus and dentate nucleus in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS).

Methods: We recruited 19 patients with PSP, 11 with CBS and 14 healthy subjects. All the subjects underwent resting-state (rs) fMRI using a 3T system.