Synergistic Effect between SARS-CoV-2 Wave and COVID-19 Vaccination on the Occurrence of Mild Symptoms in Healthcare Workers.

Background: Since the beginning of the pandemic, five variants of epidemiological interest have been identified, each of them with its pattern of symptomology and disease severity. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of vaccination status in modulating the pattern of symptomatology associated with COVID-19 infection during four waves.

Methods: Data from the surveillance activity of healthcare workers were used to carry out descriptive analysis, association analyses and multivariable analysis.

Association of traumatic events with levels of psychological distress and depressive symptoms in male asylum seekers and refugees resettled in Italy.

Background: In recent years there has been a progressive rise in the number of asylum seekers and refugees displaced from their country of origin, with significant social, economic, public health and mental health implications. The aim of this study is to (1) describe the level of psychological distress and frequency of psychiatric disorders in a sample of male asylum seekers and refugees across different ethnic groups resettled in Italy; (2) establish whether the number of traumatic events experienced before, during and after the migration process is associated with level of psychological distress and depressive symptoms.

Methods: In two large Italian catchment areas, over a period of 1 year a consecutive series of male asylum seekers and refugees, aged 18 or above and included in the Italian protection system, were screened for psychological distress and psychiatric disorders using validated questionnaires.

Rate and determinants of treatment response to different antiretroviral combination strategies in subjects presenting at HIV-1 diagnosis with advanced disease.

Background: The optimal therapeutic strategies for patients presenting with advanced disease at HIV-1 diagnosis are as yet incompletely defined.

Methods: All patients presenting at two outpatient clinics in 2000-2009 with an AIDS-defining clinical condition or a CD4+ T cell count < 200/μL at HIV-1 diagnosis were analyzed for the presence of combined immunovirological response, defined by the concomitant presence of an absolute number of CD4+ T cells > 200 cells/μL and a plasma HIV-1 RNA copy number < 50/mL after 12 months of HAART.

Results: Among 102 evaluable patients, first-line regimens were protease inhibitors [PI]-based in 78 cases (77%) and efavirenz-based in 24 cases (23%).

The operational emergency department attendance register (OPEDAR): a new epidemiological tool.

Aim: To determine the number, status and nature of emergency department attendances to deployed field hospitals.

Population: All attendances to the emergency department (ED) of deployed field hospitals in support of Operation TELIC (Iraq) from initial entry war fighting to enduring operations.

Methods: Analysis of hand written and electronic registers ED attendance registers and validation with four other data sources.

Prolongation of patency of airway bypass stents with use of drug-eluting stents.

Objective: Airway bypass by transbronchial fenestration has been shown to improve forced expiratory volume and flow in explanted emphysematous human lungs. We previously demonstrated the feasibility and safety of airway bypass stent placement in a canine model, but we found that most stents occluded within 1 week. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of controlled-release paclitaxel-eluting stents on prolongation of patency.

Neutralizing antibodies against autologous human immunodeficiency virus Type 1 isolates in patients with increasing CD4 cell counts despite incomplete virus suppression during antiretroviral treatment.

Antiretroviral-treated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1-seropositive individuals can remain clinically stable for a long period of time with an increasing CD4 cell count irrespective of incomplete viral suppression. We evaluated the role of neutralizing antibody (NtAb) activity in the etiopathogenesis of this viro-immunological disconnection (defined as an increasing CD4(+)-cell count despite a persistent, detectable viral load during antiretroviral therapy) in 33 patients failing therapy with two analogue nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. An HIV NtAb titer of >/=1:25 was detected in specimens from 16 out of 33 (48%) patients.

Human immunodeficiency virus-1 specific and natural cellular immunity in HIV seronegative subjects with multiple sexual exposures to virus.

The probability of HIV infection by sexual contact, although it varies greatly, appears to be lower than that of infection by other routes of exposure. The aim of this study was to evaluate immunological determinants involved in protection against HIV infection in subjects with multiple and repeated sexual exposures to the virus. Twenty-two subjects were studied for CD8+ cell anti-HIV suppression activity and serum neutralizing activity against the HIV strain of their own partners, beta-chemokine production, and natural killer cell activity.

Paramyosin of Echinococcus granulosus: cDNA sequence and characterization of a tegumental antigen.

A lambda ZAPII cDNA library of Echinococcus granulosus larvae was expressed in Escherichia coli SURE cells. Screening of the library with a rabbit antiserum raised against total larval antigen yielded several immunoreactive clones. For analysis of the nucleotide sequence, in vivo excision into pBlueskript was carried out and the 3' end of the cloned insert was sequenced.