Immune escape and waning immunity of COVID-19 monovalent mRNA vaccines against symptomatic infection with BA.1/BA.2 and BA.5 in Japan.

Background: Repeated emergence of variants with immune escape capacity and waning immunity from vaccination are major concerns for COVID-19. We examined whether the surge in Omicron subvariant BA.5 cases was due to immune escape or waning immunity through vaccine effectiveness (VE) evaluation.

Left-Right Reversal Recurrently Evolved Regardless of Diaphanous-Related Formin Gene Duplication or Loss in Snails.

Bilateria exhibit whole-body handedness in internal structure. This left-right polarity is evolutionarily conserved with virtually no reversed extant lineage, except in molluscan Gastropoda. Phylogenetically independent snail groups contain both clockwise-coiled (dextral) and counterclockwise-coiled (sinistral) taxa that are reversed from each other in bilateral handedness as well as in coiling direction.

Effectiveness of BA.1- and BA.4/BA. 5-Containing Bivalent COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines Against Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection During the BA.5-Dominant Period in Japan.

In this multicenter, prospective, test-negative, case-control study in Japan, the effectiveness of both BA.1-containing and BA.4/BA.

Efficacy estimation of a combination of triple antimicrobial agents against clinical isolates of subsp. .

Background: subsp. () is a rapidly growing mycobacterium that is resistant to most antibiotics. The number of patients with pulmonary disease caused by is increasing in several regions, and therapy involves long-term antibiotic combination treatments, although no standard treatment regimen has been established.

Clinical Features and Prognosis of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pleuritis: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

The clinical features and prognosis of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) pleuritis and pleural effusion combined with NTM lung disease remain unclear. To investigate the clinical features and prognosis of NTM pleuritis. This retrospective observational study included patients with NTM pleuritis from January 2001 to June 2018 across eight hospitals in Japan.

Genome-wide association study in patients with pulmonary complex disease.

Rationale: Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental mycobacteria that can cause a chronic progressive lung disease. Although epidemiological data indicate potential genetic predisposition, its nature remains unclear.

Objectives: We aimed to identify host susceptibility loci for complex (MAC), the most common NTM pathogen.

Genus-level revision of the Alycaeidae (Gastropoda, Cyclophoroidea), with an annotated species catalogue.

412 species-group names (including 11 replacement names), and 14 genus-group names of the Alycaeidae have been introduced to date. Type materials of 85% (336) of the known species and subspecies were examined, a further 5% (19) of the taxa were studied using available non-type material, and for another 6% (22) the original descriptions were sufficiently detailed to evaluate their taxonomic status. Only 3% of the taxa (12) could not be examined.

SARS-CoV-2 and Legionella co-infection in a person returning from a Nile cruise.

We report a case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and co-infection manifesting as pneumonia with gastrointestinal symptoms. The case highlights the importance of differential diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we do not miss the opportunity to diagnose other treatable causes of disease with similar symptoms.

Retrospective evaluation of natural course in mild cases of Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease.

Background: There is no proven management for mild cases of Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) pulmonary disease, who do not immediately receive treatment and are managed with observation alone, because its long term-natural course, factors predictive of deterioration, and the effect of treating the disease remain unclear. Thus, we sought to investigate the natural course of mild cases of MAC pulmonary disease.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective study.

Obesity worsens the outcome of influenza virus infection associated with impaired type I interferon induction in mice.

Increasing evidence indicates that obesity is a risk factor for increased severity of influenza virus infection. However, its precise immunological mechanism is not fully understood. To investigate this, diet-induced obese (DIO) mice were established by feeding C57BL/6 male mice a high-fat diet for 16 weeks.

Heterochirality results from reduction of maternal expression in a terrestrial pulmonate snail.

Background: Spiral cleavage is a feature of non-ecdysozoan protostomes, in which left-right reversal frequently evolved in gastropod molluscs. In pulmonate gastropods, maternal molecules are responsible for chirality patterning, on which the polarities of visceral and coiling asymmetries depend. In the pond snail, (the clade Hygrophila), a frame-shift mutation of one of tandem-duplicated, diaphanous-related formin genes () resulted in incomplete reversal from dextral to sinistral cleavage.

Enantiomorphs and taxonomy of three conchological species in flat-shelled snails (Pulmonata, Camaenidae).

Biomodal (flat/globular or slender/tall) shell/body shapes are associated with dichotomous (simultaneous reciprocal or non-reciprocal) modes of copulation behaviour in the fully-shelled stylommatophoran snails. In flat-shelled groups that copulate simultaneously reciprocally, no study has found an example of enantiomorphism that persists within a population. However, the original description of a flat camaenid snail, , noted that it is dextral- or sinistral-coiled.

Clinico-microbiological analysis of 121 patients with pulmonary Mycobacteroides abscessus complex disease in Japan - An NTM-JRC study with RIT.

Rationale: No comprehensive analysis has previously been performed to evaluate the clinical aspects of and microbiological evidence associated with Mycobacteroides abscessus complex (MABC) infection in a region, such as Japan, with a low MABC incidence.

Objectives: This study aimed to clarify the clinicopathological characteristics of MABC, which included clinical relatedness to erm(41) sequevar, phenotype (as colony morphology and minimum inhibitory concentration), and genotype.

Methods: A total of 121 MABC patients (68 with M.

Association between six-minute walk test parameters and the health-related quality of life in patients with pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex disease.

Background: Pulmonary Mycobacterium avium complex (pMAC) disease is a chronic, slowly progressive disease. The aim of the present study was to determine the association of six-minute walk test (6MWT) parameters with pulmonary function and the health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with pMAC disease.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included adult patients with pMAC and was conducted at Keio University Hospital.

Clarithromycin expands CD11b+Gr-1+ cells via the STAT3/Bv8 axis to ameliorate lethal endotoxic shock and post-influenza bacterial pneumonia.

Macrolides are used to treat various inflammatory diseases owing to their immunomodulatory properties; however, little is known about their precise mechanism of action. In this study, we investigated the functional significance of the expansion of myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC)-like CD11b+Gr-1+ cells in response to the macrolide antibiotic clarithromycin (CAM) in mouse models of shock and post-influenza pneumococcal pneumonia as well as in humans. Intraperitoneal administration of CAM markedly expanded splenic and lung CD11b+Gr-1+ cell populations in naïve mice.

Anti-inflammatory roles of mesenchymal stromal cells during acute Streptococcus pneumoniae pulmonary infection in mice.

Background: Pneumonia is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, and Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most commonly associated pathogen. Increasing evidence suggests that mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have anti-inflammatory roles during innate immune responses such as sepsis. However, little is known about the effect of MSCs on pneumococcal pneumonia.

Revision of the Alycaeidae of China, Laos and Vietnam (Gastropoda: Cyclophoroidea) I: The genera and .

This is the first part of the revision of the Alycaeidae of China, Laos and Vietnam. Here we revise the species hitherto classified in Chamalycaeus Möllendorff, 1897 (genera Dicharax and Metalycaeus in this study). We show that no Chamalycaeus live in the region, and the alycaeid species of the investigated region can be classified into five genera: Alycaeus Baird, 1850, Dicharax Kobelt & Möllendorff, 1900, Dioryx Benson, 1859, Metalycaeus Pilsbry, 1900 and Pincerna Preston, 1907.

Clinical characteristics of pulmonary Mycobacterium lentiflavum disease in adult patients.

Background: Mycobacterium lentiflavum is a slow-growing non-tuberculous Mycobacterium that is often associated with an immunocompromised state and cervical lymphadenitis in young children. However, little is known about the clinical importance of pulmonary infection with M. lentiflavum in adults.

The efficacy, safety, and feasibility of inhaled amikacin for the treatment of difficult-to-treat non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung diseases.

Background: In multidrug regimens, including an intravenous aminoglycoside (e.g. amikacin [AMK]) is recommended for difficult-to-treat non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung diseases.

A new diplommatinid genus and two new species from the Philippines (Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda, Cyclophoroidea).

A new diplommatinid genus, Páll-Gergely & Hunyadi, is erected for two new species, Páll-Gergely & Hunyadi, and Páll-Gergely & Hunyadi, Both species inhabit the northeastern part of Luzon Island, Philippines. The genus is mostly characterized by a very slender shell with 14-18 whorls, a strongly expanded peristome, an interrupted, weak columellar lamella, the absence of any additional plicae or lamellae, and a rachidian tooth having five cusps.