Long COVID symptoms in hospital employees after post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection in Austria: A study on self-reported incidence and associated factors.

Purpose: Post acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection are defined by persistence or re-occurrence of symptoms six to 12 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Methods: Twice vaccinated hospital employees after mild to moderate post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection completed a questionnaire on the incidence of general, respiratory, neuropsychiatric, dermatological and gastrointestinal symptoms, experienced during their acute infection and eight weeks after recovery. Post acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection were analysed in relation to socio-demographic-, health-, virus- and acute infection-related characteristics.

Postvaccination infections among staff of a tertiary care hospital after vaccination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vector and mRNA-based vaccines.

Objectives: The identification of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen or RNA in respiratory specimens ≥14 days after administration of all recommended doses of authorized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines is defined as breakthrough infection. In the present investigation, mRNA and vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were analysed with respect to postvaccination infections in vaccinated hospital employees.

Methods: A total of 8553 staff members were vaccinated with BNT162b2 (47%) or ChAdOx1-S (53%) between January and May 2021.

Bacterial colonization of Montgomery salivary bypass tubes after hypopharyngeal reconstruction in head and neck cancer patients.

Background: Hypopharyngeal reconstruction after salvage pharyngolaryngectomy results in high postoperative morbidity. The use of salivary bypass tubes can reduce pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) formation. The influence of bacterial colonization has not been described in literature.

Subclinical involvement of the liver is associated with prognosis in treatment naïve cancer patients.

Background: Routinely tested liver biomarkers as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), butyryl-cholinesterase (BChE), albumin and bilirubin are altered in distinct malignancies and hepatic metastases. This study aimed to investigate whether all liver parameters have the ability to predict long-term mortality in treatment naïve cancer patients but without a malignant hepatic involvement.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 555 consecutive patients with primary diagnosis of cancer without prior anticancer therapy.

Cardiovascular biomarkers in patients with cancer and their association with all-cause mortality.

Objective: Patients with cancer may display elevated levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and high-sensitive troponin T (hsTnT) without clinical manifestation of cardiac disease. This study aimed to evaluate circulating cardiovascular hormones and hsTnT and their association with mortality in cancer.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 555 consecutive patients with a primary diagnosis of cancer and without prior cardiotoxic anticancer therapy.

Rapid diagnostic algorithms as a screening tool for tuberculosis: an assessor blinded cross-sectional study.

Background: A major obstacle to effectively treat and control tuberculosis is the absence of an accurate, rapid, and low-cost diagnostic tool. A new approach for the screening of patients for tuberculosis is the use of rapid diagnostic classification algorithms.

Methods: We tested a previously published diagnostic algorithm based on four biomarkers as a screening tool for tuberculosis in a Central European patient population using an assessor-blinded cross-sectional study design.

Invasive fungal infections and (1,3)-beta-D-glucan serum concentrations in long-term intensive care patients.

Objective: Invasive fungal infections are associated with high morbidity and increased mortality. This study was performed to assess the epidemiology of fungal infections and to determine (1,3)-beta-D-glucan serum concentrations in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).

Patients And Methods: Overall 197 patients were admitted to nine medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) at a 2200-bed university hospital during a 3-month period.

Clinical behavior of implant infections due to Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Unlabelled: Surgical implants and other foreign material are increasingly used in modern medicine to restore or to improve the function of the human body. Infection of an implant is associated with considerable morbidity due to frequent hospitalizations, surgery and antimicrobial treatment. The underlying mechanism is the formation of a bacterial biofilm on the surface of the implanted body.

[Left ventricular dysfunction in Churg-Strauss syndrome].

Churg-Strauss syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by hypereosinophilia and a systemic vasculitis occurring inpatients with asthma and allergic rhinitis. Vasculitis commonly affects the lungs, the heart, the skin, and the peripheral nervous system. Cardiac involvement is characterized by acute and constrictive pericarditis, myocarditis and endocarditis, as well as ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Omeprazole treatment diminishes intra- and extracellular neutrophil reactive oxygen production and bactericidal activity.

Objective: Neutrophils play a crucial role in host defense against infectious disease. The objective was to analyze the effect of omeprazole treatment on indexes of neutrophil function in healthy subjects.

Design: Open.

Effect of preoperative prophylaxis with filgrastim in cancer neck dissection.

Background: Cancer surgery is known to lead to a deterioration in host defence mechanisms and an increase in susceptibility to infection after operation. Filgrastim enhances important antimicrobial functions of neutrophils including chemotaxis, phagocytosis and oxidative killing mechanisms.

Methods: The effects of additional (all patients received perioperative 3 ' 25 mg kg-1 cefotiam and 1 ' 20 mg kg-1 metronidazole) preoperative prophylaxis with filgrastim (5 microg kg-1 12 h prior to surgery plus 5 microg kg-1 0 h prior to surgery) on neutrophil phagocytosis and reactive oxygen radical production and postoperative infections in 24 patients undergoing cancer neck dissection were studied.

Human immunodeficiency virus: post-exposure prophylaxis.

Post-exposure prevention is a combined modality approach to reducing HIV transmission. The recommendations are based on the risk of local prevalence and on the likelihood of transmission. In the light of the severe consequences of HIV infection, post-exposure prophylaxis after occupational exposure should be recommended.

Ticlopidine induced prolonged leucopenia in a patient with immunocytoma and chronic hepatitis C.

Ticlopidine is increasingly used in the secondary prophylaxis in patients with arterial occlusive diseases. Neutropenia is a well known side effect of this drug. We report a case of a 73 year old woman who was admitted because of severe prolonged ticlopidine induced leucopenia.

Beneficial effects of protease inhibitors on body composition and energy expenditure: a comparison between HIV-infected and AIDS patients.

Objectives: (i) To investigate whether protease inhibitor (PI) (nelfinavir)-containing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) affects body composition differently in HIV-infected and AIDS patients without wasting syndrome. (ii) To delineate the changes in resting energy expenditure (REE) under PI therapy, and to determine whether sustained reductions in HIV RNA would decrease REE.

Design: Prospective longitudinal cohort study with individually matched healthy controls.

Effect of polyclonal immunoglobulins on neutrophil phagocytic capacity and reactive oxygen production in patients with gram-negative septicemia.

The effect of immunoglobulin (Ig) preparations on neutrophil phagocytic ability and oxidative burst in response to Escherichia coli stimulation was analyzed in 14 patients with gram-negative septicemia by an ex vivo whole blood assay using flow cytometry. In patients, neutrophils exhibited a decreased capacity to phagocytize E. coli and generate reactive oxygen products compared to healthy controls (median -68%, P < 0.

Effect of pentoxifylline on cytokine patterns in the therapy of complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

The effect of pentoxifylline (PTX) was tested for its capacity to modulate cytokine responses during therapy of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria in a placebo-controlled, randomized study in 45 adult patients in Bangkok, Thailand. The patients received standard antimalarial treatment with artesunate (120 mg intravenously given immediately, then 60 mg every 12 hr for a total dose of 600 mg). The patients received either low-dose PTX (20 mg/kg/day, n = 15), high-dose PTX (40 mg/kg/day, n = 15), or placebo (n = 15) as continuous infusion for the first three days of antimalarial treatment.

Complement activation in severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

We determined indices of plasma complement activation (C3, C4, Bb, C4d, iC3b, and SC5b-9), levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-6, and the APACHE II score in 23 patients with complicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria. On admission, plasma concentrations of Bb, SC5b-9, and C4d were markedly increased compared to healthy control subjects (n = 24) (4.5 +/- 1.

Prospective randomized comparison of cefodizime versus cefuroxime for perioperative prophylaxis in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

The effects of cefodizime and cefuroxime on neutrophil phagocytosis and reactive oxygen production in 54 patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting were studied. Both drugs were administered twice at a dosage of 40 mg/kg of body weight (pre- and intraoperative). Phagocytic capacity was assessed by measuring the uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by flow cytometry.

Effect of pentoxifylline in vitro on neutrophil reactive oxygen production and phagocytic ability assessed by flow cytometry.

Neutrophil granulocytes have been described as agents of defence and destruction. The effect of pentoxifylline on the phagocytic ability and generation of reactive oxygen radicals of neutrophils was studied at concentrations of 1, 10 and 100 mg/L. Flow cytometry was used to study phagocytic ability by measuring uptake of fluorescein-labelled bacteria.

The effect of artemisinin on granulocyte function assessed by flow cytometry.

The effect of dihydroartemisinin, artemisinin and artesunate (0.1, 0.5, 5 and 50 mg/L) on phagocytic function and release of reactive oxygen products by neutrophils was studied by flow cytometry.

Rapid susceptibility testing of fungi by flow cytometry using vital staining.

A 1-h assay for antifungal susceptibility testing measuring the impairment of fungal metabolic activity was developed. Yeast viability was analyzed by flow cytometry with a novel fluorescent probe, FUN-1, which emits a red fluorescence when the yeast is metabolically active. For nine Candida albicans strains tested, this method yielded results comparable to those obtained by the standard M27 procedure for amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, and ketoconazole.

Effect of single oral dose of azithromycin, clarithromycin, and roxithromycin on polymorphonuclear leukocyte function assessed ex vivo by flow cytometry.

Azithromycin was given as a single oral dose (20 mg/kg of body weight) to 12 volunteers in a crossover study with roxithromycin (8 to 12 mg/kg) and clarithromycin (8 to 12 mg/kg). Flow cytometry was used to study the phagocytic functions and the release of reactive oxygen products following phagocytosis by neutrophil granulocytes prior to administration of the three drugs, 16 h after azithromycin administration, and 3 h after clarithromycin and roxithromycin administration. Phagocytic capacity was assessed by measuring the uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled bacteria.

Dysregulation of the polymorphonuclear leukocyte--Candida spp. interaction in HIV-positive patients.

Objective: In HIV-infected patients there is an increased frequency of fungal infections. Dysregulation of the response of phagocytic cells to fungal pathogens may be involved.

Design: Phagocytosis of Candida spp.

High-dose catecholamine treatment decreases polymorphonuclear leukocyte phagocytic capacity and reactive oxygen production.

Flow cytometry was used to study phagocytic function (uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled bacteria) and release of reactive oxygen products (dihydrorhodamine 123 converted to rhodamine 123) following phagocytosis by neutrophil granulocytes of heparinized whole blood treated with adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine, dobutamine, or orciprenaline. Reduced neutrophil phagocytosis and reactive oxygen production were seen at 12 micrograms of adrenaline per liter (72% each compared with control values); at 120 micrograms of noradrenaline (72% each), dobutamine (83 and 80%, respectively), and orciprenaline (81 and 80%, respectively) per liter; and at 100 micrograms of dopamine per liter (66 and 70%) (P < 0.05 for all).