ACE-2-like Enzymatic Activity in COVID-19 Convalescent Patients with Persistent Pulmonary Symptoms Associated with Immunoglobulin.

Many difficult to understand clinical features characterize COVID-19 and Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC or Long COVID, LC). These can include blood pressure instability, hyperinflammation, coagulopathies, and neuropsychiatric complaints. The pathogenesis of these features remains unclear.

ACE-2-like enzymatic activity is associated with immunoglobulin in COVID-19 patients.

Unlabelled: Many mechanisms responsible for COVID-19 pathogenesis are well-established, but COVID-19 includes features with unclear pathogenesis, such as autonomic dysregulation, coagulopathies, and high levels of inflammation. The receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain (RBD) is angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). We hypothesized that some COVID-19 patients may develop antibodies that have a negative molecular image of RBD sufficiently similar to ACE2 to yield ACE2-like catalytic activity-ACE2-like abzymes.

Vaccine Strategies to Elicit Mucosal Immunity.

Vaccines are essential tools to prevent infection and control transmission of infectious diseases that threaten public health. Most infectious agents enter their hosts across mucosal surfaces, which make up key first lines of host defense against pathogens. Mucosal immune responses play critical roles in host immune defense to provide durable and better recall responses.

Fever, Rash, and Cough in a 7-Year-Old Boy.

A 7-year-old boy presented to the emergency department with fever, cough, congestion, abdominal pain, myalgias, and morbilliform rash. Several aspects of the patient's history, including recent travel, living on a farm, exposure to sick contacts, and new medications, resulted in a wide differential diagnosis. Initial laboratory testing revealed leukocytosis with neutrophilia and elevated atypical lymphocytes, but did not reveal any infectious causes of illness.

Epstein-Barr Virus and Human Herpesvirus-6 Reactivation in Acute COVID-19 Patients.

Beyond their pulmonary disease, many COVID-19 patients experience a complex constellation of characteristics, including hyperinflammatory responses, autoimmune disorders, and coagulopathies. However, the pathogenesis of these aspects of COVID-19 is obscure. More than 90% of people are latently infected with the lymphotropic herpesviruses Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and/or Human Herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6).

Minicells from Highly Genome Reduced : Cytoplasmic and Surface Expression of Recombinant Proteins and Incorporation in the Minicells.

Minicells, small cells lacking a chromosome, produced by bacteria with mutated genes, which control cell division septum placement, have many potential uses. Minicells have contributed to basic bacterial physiology studies and can enable new biotechnological applications, including drug delivery and vaccines. Genome-reduced bacteria are another informative area of investigation.

Apple cider vinegar soaks do not alter the skin bacterial microbiome in atopic dermatitis.

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis is a common skin disease characterized by altered cutaneous immunity in which patients often exhibit lower skin microbiota diversity compared to healthy skin and are prone to colonization by Staphylococcus aureus. Apple cider vinegar has been shown to have antibacterial effects; however, its effects on the skin microbiome have not previously been well-described.

Objectives: We aimed to examine the effects of topical dilute apple cider vinegar soaks on Staphylococcus aureus abundance, skin bacterial microbiome composition, and skin bacterial microbiome diversity in atopic dermatitis participants compared to healthy skin.

Killed whole-genome reduced-bacteria surface-expressed coronavirus fusion peptide vaccines protect against disease in a porcine model.

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic rages on, it is important to explore new evolution-resistant vaccine antigens and new vaccine platforms that can produce readily scalable, inexpensive vaccines with easier storage and transport. We report here a synthetic biology-based vaccine platform that employs an expression vector with an inducible gram-negative autotransporter to express vaccine antigens on the surface of genome-reduced bacteria to enhance interaction of vaccine antigen with the immune system. As a proof-of-principle, we utilized genome-reduced to express SARS-CoV-2 and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) fusion peptide (FP) on the cell surface, and evaluated their use as killed whole-cell vaccines.

Nuclear Transit and HIV LTR Binding of NF-κB Subunits Held by IκB Proteins: Implications for HIV-1 Activation.

No effective therapy to eliminate the HIV latently infected cell reservoir has been developed. One approach, "shock and kill", employs agents that activate HIV, subsequently killing the activated infected cells and/or virus. Shock and kill requires agents that safely and effectively activate HIV.

Abdominal Pain and Intermittent Fevers in a 16-Year-Old Girl.

A 16-year-old girl presented to the emergency department with intermittent fevers and worsening abdominal pain of 5 weeks duration. She had a history of travel to a less developed country and exposure to possible infectious diseases. Abdominal imaging and blood tests revealed diffuse mesenteric lymphadenopathy, elevated transaminases, and elevation of inflammatory markers.

Apple cider vinegar soaks [0.5%] as a treatment for atopic dermatitis do not improve skin barrier integrity.

Background/objectives: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic inflammatory skin condition associated with high transepidermal water loss, high skin pH, and Staphylococcus aureus skin colonization. The treatment of AD with bath additives remains highly debated. Recent evidence suggests that dilute apple cider vinegar (ACV) may improve skin barrier integrity in AD, but its safety and efficacy are not well studied.

The bacterial communities of the small intestine and stool in children with short bowel syndrome.

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) presents an increasing problem in pediatrics. SBS often results from surgical resection of necrotic bowel following necrotizing enterocolitis or treatment of anatomic gastrointestinal defects. SBS is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, and creates substantial burdens for patients, families, and the health system.

RNA stability regulates human T cell leukemia virus type 1 gene expression in chronically-infected CD4 T cells.

Regulation of expression of HTLV-1 gene products from integrated proviruses plays an important role in HTLV-1-associated disease pathogenesis. Previous studies have shown that T cell receptor (TCR)- and phorbol ester (PMA) stimulation of chronically infected CD4 T cells increases the expression of integrated HTLV-1 proviruses in latently infected cells, however the mechanism remains unknown. Analysis of HTLV-1 RNA and protein species following PMA treatment of the latently HTLV-1-infected, FS and SP T cell lines demonstrated rapid induction of tax/rex mRNA.

The Oral Bacterial Communities of Children with Well-Controlled HIV Infection and without HIV Infection.

The oral microbial community (microbiota) plays a critical role in human health and disease. Alterations in the oral microbiota may be associated with disorders such as gingivitis, periodontitis, childhood caries, alveolar osteitis, oral candidiasis and endodontic infections. In the immunosuppressed population, the spectrum of potential oral disease is even broader, encompassing candidiasis, necrotizing gingivitis, parotid gland enlargement, Kaposi's sarcoma, oral warts and other diseases.

Apoptosis-induced activation of HIV-1 in latently infected cell lines.

Background: Despite much work, safe and effective approaches to attack and deplete the long-lived reservoir of cells latently infected with HIV-1 remain an elusive goal. Patients infected with HIV-1 treated with cytotoxic agents or bone marrow transplantation can experience decreases in the reservoir of HIV-1 latently infected cells. Other viruses capable of long-term latency, such as herpesviruses, can sense host cell apoptosis and respond by initiating replication.

Culture-independent evaluation of the appendix and rectum microbiomes in children with and without appendicitis.

Purpose: The function of the appendix is largely unknown, but its microbiota likely contributes to function. Alterations in microbiota may contribute to appendicitis, but conventional culture studies have not yielded conclusive information. We conducted a pilot, culture-independent 16S rRNA-based microbiota study of paired appendix and rectal samples.

Activation of human herpesvirus replication by apoptosis.

A central feature of herpesvirus biology is the ability of herpesviruses to remain latent within host cells. Classically, exposure to inducing agents, like activating cytokines or phorbol esters that stimulate host cell signal transduction events, and epigenetic agents (e.g.

Targeting IκB proteins for HIV latency activation: the role of individual IκB and NF-κB proteins.

Latently infected cell reservoirs represent the main barrier to HIV eradication. Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) effectively blocks viral replication but cannot purge latent provirus. One approach to HIV eradication could include cART to block new infections plus an agent to activate latent provirus.

Twice-daily application of HIV microbicides alter the vaginal microbiota.

Unlabelled: Vaginal HIV microbicides offer great promise in preventing HIV transmission, but failures of phase 3 clinical trials, in which microbicide-treated subjects had an increased risk of HIV transmission, raised concerns about endpoints used to evaluate microbicide safety. A possible explanation for the increased transmission risk is that the agents shifted the vaginal bacterial community, resulting in loss of natural protection and enhanced HIV transmission susceptibility. We characterized vaginal microbiota, using pyrosequencing of bar-coded 16S rRNA gene fragments, in samples from 35 healthy, sexually abstinent female volunteer subjects (ages 18 to 50 years) with regular menses in a repeat phase 1 study of twice-daily application over 13.

An alternative Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus replication program triggered by host cell apoptosis.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is linked to several neoplastic diseases: Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), and multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD). KSHV replicates actively, via a controlled gene expression program, but can also remain latent. It had been thought that the transition from latent to lytic replication was controlled exclusively by the replication and transcription activator protein RTA (open reading frame 50 [ORF50] gene product).