Publications by authors named "Rosa Bellmann Weiler"

Coronavirus Disease 2019 causes significant morbidity, and different variants of concern (VOCs) can impact organ systems differently. We conducted a single-center retrospective cohort analysis comparing biomarkers and clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients infected with the wild-type or Alpha (wt/Alpha) VOC against patients infected with the Omicron VOC. We included 428 patients infected with the wt/Alpha VOC and 117 patients infected with the Omicron VOC.

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  • Pneumonia, caused by viruses and bacteria, triggers both innate and adaptive immune responses, which can be measured through biomarkers like C-reactive protein (CRP) and Neopterin.
  • A study involving 194 patients aimed to evaluate these biomarkers in differentiating between viral and bacterial pneumonia and to assess the occurrence of neuropsychiatric symptoms among patients.
  • Results indicated that higher CRP/Neopterin ratios are linked to bacterial pneumonia, while lower ratios were found in COVID-19 and bacterial superinfections, successfully distinguishing between the types of pneumonia and indicating the presence of superinfections.
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Research into the molecular basis of disease trajectory and Long-COVID is important to get insights toward underlying pathophysiological processes. The objective of this study was to investigate inflammation-mediated changes of metabolism in patients with acute COVID-19 infection and throughout a one-year follow up period. The study enrolled 34 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 infection admitted to the University Clinic of Innsbruck in early 2020.

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  • Seasonally circulating viruses, like Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 variants, highlight the need for affordable and effective antiviral medications.
  • The study tested a natural essence called P80, derived from Dimocarpus longan, and found it effectively protected human airway cells from these viruses while reducing inflammation.
  • P80 can be used as a nasal spray or lozenge, showing promise as a preventive treatment against respiratory infections, with lasting protective effects on tissue integrity and immune response.
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Purpose: Olfactory dysfunction (OD) commonly accompanies coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We investigated the kinetics of OD resolution following SARS-CoV-2 infection (wild-type and alpha variant) and its impact on quality of life, physical and mental health.

Methods: OD prevalence was assessed in an ambulatory COVID-19 survey (n = 906, ≥ 90 days follow-up) and an observational cohort of ambulatory and hospitalized individuals (n = 108, 360 days follow-up).

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Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or immunosuppression are at increased risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. The vaccination of CKD patients has resulted in lower antibody concentrations and possibly reduced protection. However, little information is available on how T-cell-mediated immune response is affected in those patients and how vaccine-induced immune responses can neutralise different SARS-CoV-2 variants.

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Objectives: Immune checkpoints play an important role in maintaining the balance of the immune system and in the development of autoimmune diseases. A central checkpoint molecule is the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1, CD279) which is typically located on the surface of T cells. Its primary ligand PD-L1 is expressed on antigen presenting cells and on cancer cells.

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Post-infectious fatigue is a common complication that can lead to decreased physical efficiency, depression, and impaired quality of life. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota has been proposed as a contributing factor, as the gut-brain axis plays an important role in regulating physical and mental health. This pilot study aimed to investigate the severity of fatigue and depression, as well as the quality of life of 70 patients with post-infectious fatigue who received a multi-strain probiotic preparation or placebo in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

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  • Fatigue, sleep disturbances, and neurological symptoms are frequently reported among patients during and after COVID-19, potentially linked to changes in how the body metabolizes tryptophan (Trp) and phenylalanine (Phe) due to inflammation.
  • The study involved 31 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, analyzing various biochemicals and neurotransmitter precursors during their acute illness and 60 days later to understand the connections between symptoms and lab results.
  • Findings showed that many patients experienced significant symptoms during acute COVID-19, with high levels of inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and although these markers decreased during recovery, a
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  • - Immunothrombosis is a severe inflammatory response linked to excessive blood clotting, causing serious complications like organ failure in sepsis and COVID-19 patients.
  • - In a study of 78 sepsis patients, 14 were infected with SARS-CoV-2, which was correlated with higher mortality rates and increased biomarkers of immunothrombosis compared to healthy individuals.
  • - Both COVID-19 negative and positive patients exhibited elevated inflammatory cytokines, but those with SARS-CoV-2 infection had higher levels of specific cytokines (IP-10, MCP-1, IL-13), highlighting the impact of the virus on the inflammatory response.
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Anemia of inflammation (AI) is frequently present in subjects with inflammatory disorders, primarily caused by inflammation-driven iron retention in macrophages. So far, only limited data on qualitative and quantitative estimates of tissue iron retention in AI patients exist. We performed a prospective cohort study analyzing splenic, hepatic, pancreatic, and cardiac iron content with MRI-based R2*-relaxometry in AI patients, including subjects with concomitant true iron deficiency (AI+IDA) hospitalized between 05/2020-01/2022.

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Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on respiratory tract swabs has become the gold standard for sensitive and specific detection of influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this retrospective analysis, we report on the successive implementation and routine use of multiplex RT-PCR testing for patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Emergency Department (ED) at a tertiary care center in Western Austria, one of the hotspots in the early coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Europe. Our description focuses on the use of the Cepheid Xpert Xpress closed RT-PCR system in point-of-care testing (POCT).

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  • The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed global healthcare systems, highlighting the need for better methods to allocate treatment and resources in intensive care for critically ill patients.
  • Current risk assessment tools like SOFA and APACHE II have shown limited effectiveness in predicting outcomes for severe COVID-19 patients, necessitating additional monitoring tools, especially for those undergoing experimental therapies.
  • A study analyzing plasma proteins from critically ill COVID-19 patients identified 14 proteins that could predict survival more accurately than existing methods, achieving high classification accuracy, especially in relation to coagulation and complement processes.
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Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 protect from critical or severe pathogenesis also against new variants of concern (VOCs) such as BA.4 and BA.5, but immediate interventions to avoid viral transmission and subsequent inflammatory reactions are needed.

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Omicron variants are still the dominant SARS-CoV-2 viruses worldwide, therefore determination of the level of protection from infection and severe disease is essential. Here, we investigated humoral and cellular immunity of individuals immunized by ChAdOx1, BNT162b2, and mRNA-1273 and our results show that IgG and neutralization titers wane over time. However, strongest neutralization against Omicron BA.

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Introduction: Influenza and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are two potentially severe viral infections causing significant morbidity and mortality. The causative viruses, influenza A/B and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) can cause both pulmonary and extra-pulmonary disease, including cardiovascular involvement. The objective of this study was to determine the levels of cardiac biomarkers in hospitalized patients infected with influenza or COVID-19 and their correlation with secondary outcomes.

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  • Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease marked by specific granulomas, but similar findings can result from infections, making accurate diagnosis crucial for proper treatment.
  • A case of a 31-year-old woman who was misdiagnosed with sarcoidosis revealed a serious infection caused by Mycobacterium genavense due to an immunodeficiency linked to the IL-12Rβ1 gene.
  • The patient improved on antimycobacterial treatment and interferon therapy, highlighting the need to consider infections as potential causes of sarcoid-like lesions.
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Severe coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) manifests with systemic immediate proinflammatory innate immune activation and altered iron turnover. Iron homeostasis, differentiation, and function of myeloid leukocytes are interconnected. Therefore, we characterized the cellularity, surface marker expression, and iron transporter phenotype of neutrophils and monocyte subsets in COVID-19 patients within 72 h from hospital admission, and analyzed how these parameters relate to infection severity.

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Background: Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) convalescents are at risk of developing a mental health disorder or worsening of a pre-existing one. COVID-19 outpatients have been less well characterized than their hospitalized counterparts. The objectives of our study were to identify indicators for poor mental health following COVID-19 outpatient management and to identify high-risk individuals.

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The presence of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in a large number of people is - besides cellular immunity - important to overcome the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. While determination of neutralizing antibodies via virus neutralization tests are laborious, assays to determine the antibody levels serologically are fully automated and widely available. Correlations between these methodologies were recently given by the manufacturers, however performance in samples close to the cut off value have not yet been fully validated.

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The CovILD study is a prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study to systematically follow up patients after coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). We extensively evaluated 145 COVID-19 patients at 3 follow-up visits scheduled for 60, 100, and 180 days after initial confirmed diagnosis based on typical symptoms and a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). We employed comprehensive pulmonary function and laboratory tests, including serum concentrations of IgG against the viral spike (S) glycoprotein, and compared the results to clinical data and chest computed tomography (CT).

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Background And Purpose: Neurological sequelae from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may persist after recovery from acute infection. Here, the aim was to describe the natural history of neurological manifestations over 1 year after COVID-19.

Methods: A prospective, multicentre, longitudinal cohort study in COVID-19 survivors was performed.

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Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare hemolytic disease driven by impaired complement regulation. Mutations in genes encoding the enzymes that build the GPI anchors are causative, with somatic mutations in the gene occurring most frequently. As a result, the important membrane-bound complement regulators CD55 and CD59 are missing on the affected hematopoietic stem cells and their progeny, rendering those cells vulnerable to complement attack.

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Objective: To develop and validate a prognostic model for in-hospital mortality after four days based on age, fever at admission and five haematological parameters routinely measured in hospitalized Covid-19 patients during the first four days after admission.

Methods: Haematological parameters measured during the first 4 days after admission were subjected to a linear mixed model to obtain patient-specific intercepts and slopes for each parameter. A prediction model was built using logistic regression with variable selection and shrinkage factor estimation supported by bootstrapping.

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