Publications by authors named "Mariano Rodriguez-Mateos"
Background: Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PcP) is an opportunistic infection for which the standard of care is co-trimoxazole. However, safety concerns and intolerance may compromise its utility.
Objectives: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the combination of echinocandins and clindamycin to treat PcP.
Article Synopsis
- Dried blood spots (DBSs) allow researchers to study antibodies for diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis without needing blood from veins, making sample collection easier.
- In a study with 64 blood samples, the effectiveness of DBSs in tracking these diseases was assessed, showing high sensitivity and specificity for diphtheria and tetanus, while no protection against pertussis was found.
- The correlation between antibody levels in DBSs and plasma was strong for diphtheria and tetanus even after 4 months of storage at low temperatures, but significantly weaker for pertussis, indicating that DBSs are reliable for some markers but not all.
Dried blood spots (DBSs) are an economical and convenient alternative to serum/plasma, which allow for the serological and molecular study of different pathogens. Sixty-four blood samples were collected by venipuncture and spotted onto Whatman™ 903 cards to evaluate the utility of DBSs and the effect of the storage temperature for 120 days after sample collection to carry out serological diagnosis. Mumps, measles and rubella IgG were investigated from DBSs and plasma using an automated chemiluminescent immunoassay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Excessive inflammation is pathogenic in the pneumonitis associated with severe COVID-19. Neutrophils are among the most abundantly present leukocytes in the inflammatory infiltrates and may form neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) under the local influence of cytokines. NETs constitute a defense mechanism against bacteria, but have also been shown to mediate tissue damage in a number of diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Ivermectin was tested in a trial to see if it could reduce the SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission when given early to patients with non-severe COVID-19, but there's limited evidence for its clinical effectiveness.
- The study involved 24 patients who received either a single dose of ivermectin or a placebo, with the main goal of measuring detectable virus levels through PCR after a week.
- Results showed no significant difference in viral detection between the ivermectin and placebo groups at day 7, implying that ivermectin may not be effective in treating COVID-19 in this context.