Arterial stiffness in acute COVID-19 and potential associations with clinical outcome.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) interferes with the vascular endothelium. It is not known whether COVID-19 additionally affects arterial stiffness.

Methods: This case-control study compared brachial-ankle pulse wave (baPWV) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocities (cfPWV) of acutely ill patients with and without COVID-19.

Cytokine profiling of human peripheral blood CD4+ T lymphocytes reveals a new Th-subpopulation (Th6) characterized by IL-6.

The number of functional subsets of CD4+ T lymphocytes distinguished by their cytokine production has been extended in the last decade. The in vitro generation of a T cell subset characterized by IL-6 production has resurrected the question of cytokine co-expression patterns in T cells. In order to delineate these cells as a specific functional subpopulation in vivo, we profiled the cytokine production pattern of human peripheral blood CD4+ T lymphocytes across established subsets.