Novel Dolutegravir and Lenacapavir Resistance Patterns in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2 Infection: A Case Report.

Background: The treatment management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-2 infection presents greater challenges compared to HIV-1 infection, primarily because of inherent resistance against non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Integrase strand transfer inhibitors, particularly dolutegravir, have improved treatment outcomes for people with HIV-2. Lenacapavir, a novel and potent antiretroviral capsid inhibitor, offers additional therapeutic options.

A position and wave spectra dataset of Marginal Ice Zone dynamics collected around Svalbard in 2022 and 2023.

Sea ice is a key element of the global Earth system, with a major impact on global climate and regional weather. Unfortunately, accurate sea ice modeling is challenging due to the diversity and complexity of underlying physics happening there, and a relative lack of ground truth observations. This is especially true for the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ), which is the area where sea ice is affected by incoming ocean waves.

High quality of SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostics in a diverse laboratory landscape through supported benchmark testing and External Quality Assessment.

A two-step strategy combining assisted benchmark testing (entry controls) and External Quality Assessments (EQAs) with blinded simulated clinical specimens to enhance and maintain the quality of nucleic acid amplification testing was developed. This strategy was successfully applied to 71 diagnostic laboratories in The Netherlands when upscaling the national diagnostic capacity during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The availability of benchmark testing in combination with advice for improvement substantially enhanced the quality of the laboratory testing procedures for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Immunological profiling in long COVID: overall low grade inflammation and T-lymphocyte senescence and increased monocyte activation correlating with increasing fatigue severity.

Background: Many patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection develop long COVID with fatigue as one of the most disabling symptoms. We performed clinical and immune profiling of fatigued and non-fatigued long COVID patients and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: Long COVID symptoms were assessed using patient-reported outcome measures, including the fatigue assessment scale (FAS, scores ≥22 denote fatigue), and followed up to one year after hospital discharge.

A dataset of direct observations of sea ice drift and waves in ice.

Variability in sea ice conditions, combined with strong couplings to the atmosphere and the ocean, lead to a broad range of complex sea ice dynamics. More in-situ measurements are needed to better identify the phenomena and mechanisms that govern sea ice growth, drift, and breakup. To this end, we have gathered a dataset of in-situ observations of sea ice drift and waves in ice.

Standardization of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques by Calibration and Quantification to the First WHO International Standard for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

Clinical decision-making regarding isolation of SARS-CoV-2 patients is usually based on semiquantitative cycle-threshold (Ct) values without standardization. However, not all molecular assays produce Ct values, and there is ongoing discussion about whether Ct values can be safely used for decision-making. In this study, we standardized two molecular assays which use different nucleic acid amplification techniques (NAAT): the Hologic Aptima SARS-CoV-2/Flu (TMA) and Roche Cobas 6800 SARS-CoV-2 assays.

HIV-1 resistance against dolutegravir fluctuates rapidly alongside erratic treatment adherence: a case report.

Objectives: We report a case of incomplete HIV-1 suppression on a dolutegravir, lamivudine, and abacavir single-tablet regimen with the emergence of the H51Y and G118R integrase resistance mutations.

Methods: Integrase sequencing was performed retrospectively by Sanger and next-generation sequencing. Rates of emergence and decline of resistance mutations were calculated using next-generation sequencing data.

Serum Markers Associated with Disease Severity in a Bosnian Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome Cohort.

Puumala orthohantavirus (PUUV) is endemic in Europe and can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (nephropathia epidemica). Disease features include fever, thrombocytopenia, and acute kidney injury (AKI). This retrospective cohort study of forty PUUV patients aims to characterize associations of serum immunological, hemostatic or kidney injury markers to disease severity.

Diminished amplification of SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab in a commercial dual-target qRT-PCR diagnostic assay.

Here we describe a SARS-CoV-2 variant with diminished amplification of the ORF ORF1ab target in the Cobas® dual-target SARS-CoV-2 assay resulting in a discrepancy of Ct-values (Ct-value 20.7 for the E-gene and Ct-value 30.2 for ORF1ab).

Prevalence of hepatitis delta virus among chronic hepatitis B carriers in a large tertiary center in the Netherlands.

Background & Aims: Hepatitis D virus infection (HDV) is considered the most severe form of viral hepatitis. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of HDV infection in a tertiary center of a large, multi-ethnic city in the Netherlands. Moreover, we validate the reliability of a novel anti-HDV CLIA assay.

Oceanic eddy-induced modifications to air-sea heat and CO fluxes in the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence.

Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies caused by a warm core eddy (WCE) in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean (SWA) rendered a crucial influence on modifying the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL). During the first cruise to support the Antarctic Modeling and Observation System (ATMOS) project, a WCE that was shed from the Brazil Current was sampled. Apart from traditional meteorological measurements, we used the Eddy Covariance method to directly measure the ocean-atmosphere sensible heat, latent heat, momentum, and carbon dioxide (CO) fluxes.

Sexual Dimorphism in Hepatocyte Xenograft Models.

Humanized liver mouse models are crucial tools in liver research, specifically in the fields of liver cell biology, viral hepatitis and drug metabolism. The livers of these humanized mouse models are repopulated by 3-dimensional islands of fully functional primary human hepatocytes (PHH), which are notoriously difficult to maintain in vitro. As low efficiency and high cost hamper widespread use, optimization is of great importance.

Duration and key determinants of infectious virus shedding in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).

Key questions in COVID-19 are the duration and determinants of infectious virus shedding. Here, we report that infectious virus shedding is detected by virus cultures in 23 of the 129 patients (17.8%) hospitalized with COVID-19.

Inter-Laboratory Reproducibility of Inducible HIV-1 Reservoir Quantification by TILDA.

Substantial efforts to eliminate or reduce latent HIV-1 reservoirs are underway in clinical trials and have created a critical demand for sensitive, accurate, and reproducible tools to evaluate the efficacy of these strategies. Alternative reservoir quantification assays have been developed to circumvent limitations of the quantitative viral outgrowth assay. One such assay is induced limiting dilution assay (TILDA), which measures the frequency of CD4+ T cells harboring inducible latent HIV-1 provirus.

Performance evaluation of the Panther Fusion® respiratory tract panel.

Background: Respiratory tract infections are among the most common infections during winter season. Rapid diagnostics is required for clinical decision making regarding isolation of patients and appropriate therapy.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the analytical and clinical performance characteristics of the Panther Fusion® respiratory panel using published laboratory-developed real-time PCR assays (LDT).

Hepatitis E Virus Shows More Genomic Alterations in Cell Culture than In Vivo.

Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) mutations following ribavirin treatment have been associated with treatment non-response and viral persistence, but spontaneous occurring genomic variations have been less well characterized. We here set out to study the HEV genome composition in 2 patient sample types and 2 infection models. Near full HEV genome Sanger sequences of serum- and feces-derived HEV from two chronic HEV genotype 3 (gt3) patients were obtained.

The Association Between Cytomegalovirus Infection and Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy in the Era of Antiviral Valganciclovir Prophylaxis.

Background: Previous studies on the association between cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) were conducted on patients transplanted in the prevalganciclovir prophylaxis era. The aim of our study is to evaluate this relation in heart transplantation (HTx) recipients treated according to current prophylactic and immunosuppressive regimens.

Methods: This single-center retrospective study included all consecutive adult patients that underwent HTx between January 1, 2000, and May 31, 2018.

Whole-Blood Testing for Diagnosis of Acute Zika Virus Infections in Routine Diagnostic Setting.

We evaluated the benefit of whole blood versus plasma to detect acute Zika virus infections. Comparison of Zika virus quantitative reverse transcription PCR results in single timepoint whole blood-plasma pairs from 227 patients with suspected Zika virus infection resulted in confirmation of 8 additional patients with Zika virus infection.

A longitudinal and cross-sectional study ofEpstein-Barr virus DNA load: a possible predictor of AIDS-related lymphoma in HIV-infected patients.

Introduction: HIV-infected patients are more than 100-fold greater at risk for developing malignant AIDS-related lymphoma (ARL) compared to the general population. Most ARLs are EBV related. The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether a high peak EBV DNA load in HIV-infected patients is predictive of ARL, including classical Hodgkin lymphoma.

HIV-1 Resistance Dynamics in Patients With Virologic Failure to Dolutegravir Maintenance Monotherapy.

Background: A high genetic barrier to resistance to the integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) dolutegravir has been reported in vitro and in vivo. We describe the dynamics of INSTI resistance-associated mutations (INSTI-RAMs) and mutations in the 3'-polypurine tract (3'-PPT) in relation to virologic failure (VF) observed in the randomized Dolutegravir as Maintenance Monotherapy for HIV-1 study (DOMONO, NCT02401828).

Methods: From 10 patients with VF, plasma samples were collected before the start of cART and during VF, and were used to generate Sanger sequences of integrase, the 5' terminal bases of the 3' long terminal repeat (LTR), and the 3'-PPT.

Performance evaluation of a rapid molecular diagnostic, MultiCode based, sample-to-answer assay for the simultaneous detection of Influenza A, B and respiratory syncytial viruses.

Background: Clinical signs and symptoms of different airway pathogens are generally indistinguishable, making laboratory tests essential for clinical decisions regarding isolation and antiviral therapy. Immunochromatographic tests (ICT) and direct immunofluorescence assays (DFA) have lower sensitivities and specificities than molecular assays, but have the advantage of quick turnaround times and ease-of-use.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of a rapid molecular assay, ARIES FluA/B & RSV, using laboratory developed RT-PCR assays (LDA), ICT (BinaxNOW) and DFA.

The sample of choice for detecting Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in asymptomatic dromedary camels using real-time reversetranscription polymerase chain reaction.

The newly identified Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which causes severe respiratory disease, particularly in people with comorbidities, requires further investigation. Studies in Qatar and elsewhere have provided evidence that dromedary camels are a reservoir for the virus, but the exact modes of transmission of MERS-CoV to humans remain unclear. In February 2014, an assessment was made of the suitability and sensitivity of different types of sample for the detection of MERSCoV by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for three gene targets: UpE (upstream of the E gene), the N (nucleocapsid) gene and open reading frame (ORF) 1a.