Targeted plasma proteomics reveals signatures discriminating COVID-19 from sepsis with pneumonia.

Background: COVID-19 remains a major public health challenge, requiring the development of tools to improve diagnosis and inform therapeutic decisions. As dysregulated inflammation and coagulation responses have been implicated in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and sepsis, we studied their plasma proteome profiles to delineate similarities from specific features.

Methods: We measured 276 plasma proteins involved in Inflammation, organ damage, immune response and coagulation in healthy controls, COVID-19 patients during acute and convalescence phase, and sepsis patients; the latter included (i) community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by Influenza, (ii) bacterial CAP, (iii) non-pneumonia sepsis, and (iv) septic shock patients.

Inhaled ciclesonide in adults hospitalised with COVID-19: a randomised controlled open-label trial (HALT COVID-19).

Objective: To assess the efficacy of inhaled ciclesonide in reducing the duration of oxygen therapy (an indicator of time to clinical improvement) among adults hospitalised with COVID-19.

Design: Multicentre, randomised, controlled, open-label trial.

Setting: 9 hospitals (3 academic hospitals and 6 non-academic hospitals) in Sweden between 1 June 2020 and 17 May 2021.

Plasma calprotectin as an indicator of need of transfer to intensive care in patients with suspected sepsis at the emergency department.

Background: Deciding whether to transfer patients with sepsis from the emergency department (ED) to intensive care units (ICUs) is challenging. We hypothesised that the new biomarker plasma calprotectin (p-calprotectin) could be used to aid the selection of patients for intensive care transfer, since it has been shown to be a promising tool for the determination of sepsis severity in critical care.

Methods: This prospective study was performed on consecutive sepsis alert patients in the ED of Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge.

Correlation of clinical sepsis definitions with microbiological characteristics in patients admitted through a sepsis alert system; a prospective cohort study.

Background: Sepsis was recently redefined as a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. With this redefinition (Sepsis-3), clinical and microbiological characteristics of patients with sepsis may differ from the patients fulfilling the previous definition (Sepsis-2).

Purpose: To describe differences in clinical and microbiological characteristics of sepsis episodes between Sepsis-3 and Sepsis-2.

Peripheral Oxygen Saturation Facilitates Assessment of Respiratory Dysfunction in the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Score With Implications for the Sepsis-3 Criteria.

Objectives: Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score is the basis of the Sepsis-3 criteria and requires arterial blood gas analysis to assess respiratory function. Peripheral oxygen saturation is a noninvasive alternative but is not included in neither Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score nor Sepsis-3. We aimed to assess the association between worst peripheral oxygen saturation during onset of suspected infection and mortality.

Discriminatory plasma biomarkers predict specific clinical phenotypes of necrotizing soft-tissue infections.

BACKGROUNDNecrotizing soft-tissue infections (NSTIs) are rapidly progressing infections frequently complicated by septic shock and associated with high mortality. Early diagnosis is critical for patient outcome, but challenging due to vague initial symptoms. Here, we identified predictive biomarkers for NSTI clinical phenotypes and outcomes using a prospective multicenter NSTI patient cohort.

Single-Sampling Strategy vs. Multi-Sampling Strategy for Blood Cultures in Sepsis: A Prospective Non-inferiority Study.

Background: Optimal sampling is critical for the performance of blood cultures (BCs). Most guidelines recommend collecting 40 ml of blood, divided between two venipuncture sites, i.e.

The influence of traditional medicine and religion on discontinuation of ART in an urban informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the influence of traditional medicine and religion on discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in one of Africa's largest informal urban settlement, Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Methods: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 20 patients discontinuing the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) ART program in Kibera due to issues related to traditional medicine and religion.

Results: Traditional medicine and religion remain important in many people's lives after ART initiation, but these issues are rarely addressed in a positive way during ART counseling.

Long-term adherence to antiretroviral treatment and program drop-out in a high-risk urban setting in sub-Saharan Africa: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Seventy percent of urban populations in sub-Saharan Africa live in slums. Sustaining HIV patients in these high-risk and highly mobile settings is a major future challenge. This study seeks to assess program retention and to find determinants for low adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART) and drop-out from an established HIV/ART program in Kibera, Nairobi, one of Africa's largest informal urban settlements.

Challenges for scaling up ART in a resource-limited setting: a retrospective study in Kibera, Kenya.

Objective: To determine levels of dropout and adherence in an antiretroviral treatment (ART) program in sub-Saharan Africa's largest urban informal settlement, Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Method: Retrospective cohort study.

Results: : Of 830 patients that started ART between January 2005 and September 2007, 29% dropped out of the program for more than 90 days at least once after the last prescribed dose.

Are donor allocations for humanitarian health assistance based on needs assessment data?

Donors have agreed to fund humanitarian assistance according to needs. We studied if project applications to a major donor, and the subsequent funding decisions for humanitarian health projects contained needs assessment data. In 2003, a total of 258 million SEK (37 million USD) was allocated by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to 38 humanitarian health projects.

Reasons for unsatisfactory acceptance of antiretroviral treatment in the urban Kibera slum, Kenya.

The aim of this study was to explore why patients in the urban Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya, offered free antiretroviral treatment (ART) at the Médecins Sans Frontièrs (MSF) clinic, choose not to be treated despite signs of AIDS. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 patients, 9 men and 17 women. Six main reasons emerged for not accepting ART: a) fear of taking medication on an empty stomach due to lack of food; b) fear that side-effects associated with ART would make one more ill; c) fear of disclosure and its possible negative repercussions; d) concern for continuity of treatment and care; e) conflicting information from religious leaders and community, and seeking alternative care (e.

Platelet monoamine oxidase in a pedigree with schizophrenia: an interlaboratory project.

Conflicting reports on the association between platelet MAO activity and schizophrenia prompted a critical review and determinations on identical samples at one laboratory in Sweden and one in the U.S.A.