[Covid-19: how the pandemic revealed gender inequalities].

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has revealed inequalities between men and women and has deepened some existing disparities. While in Switzerland, more women than men have been infected, men have been at greater risk of developing complications and dying. A weaker immune response and more co-morbidities help to explain this poorer prognosis.

A mouse model for cystinuria type I.

Cystinuria, one of the most common inborn errors of metabolism in humans, accounts for 1-2% of all cases of renal lithiasis. It is caused by defects in the heterodimeric transporter system rBAT/b0,+AT, which lead to reduced reabsorption of cystine and dibasic amino acids through the epithelial cells of the renal tubules and the intestine. In an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis screen for recessive mutations we identified a mutant mouse with elevated concentrations of lysine, arginine and ornithine in urine, displaying the clinical syndrome of urolithiasis and its complications.

Correlation of interferon treatment response with GBV-C/HGV genomic RNA and anti-envelope 2 protein antibody.

The clinical significance of GB virus C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) co-infection was studied retrospectively in 100 consecutive patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. All 100 patients had been treated with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha). Co-infection with GBV-C/HGV and HCV was detected in 10 of the 100 patients (10%) and anti-envelope 2 region (anti-E2) antibody was detected in 25 patients.

Humoral immune response to the E2 protein of hepatitis G virus is associated with long-term recovery from infection and reveals a high frequency of hepatitis G virus exposure among healthy blood donors.

The second envelope protein (E2) of the hepatitis G virus (HGV) was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and showed a molecular weight of approximately 60 to 70 kd, with 15 to 25 kd of the size contributed by N-linked glycosylation. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using HGV-E2 was developed to test for antibodies to this protein (anti-E2) in human sera. High sensitivity was achieved by developing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to HGV-E2, which were used as capture antibodies in the ELISA.