Background And Aims: Increased risk of stroke, particularly large artery stroke (LAS), has been observed in patients with COVID-19. The biological processes underlying the observed higher risk are still unknown. We explored the association between stroke subtypes and COVID-19 susceptibility to understand whether biological mechanisms specific to SARS-CoV-2 uptake/infection could be leading to excess stroke risk in this population.
Patients And Methods: We constructed a polygenic risk score (PRS) of COVID-19 susceptibility and tested its association with stroke subtypes using individual- and summary-level genetic data (SiGN, MEGASTROKE). We generated co-expression networks of genes involved in SARS-CoV-2 uptake/infection (, , , and ) based on existing tissue expression libraries. Gene-based association testing was performed using S-PrediXcan and VEGAS2. Permutation independence tests were performed to assess SARS-CoV-2-related gene enrichment in stroke and its subtypes.
Results: Our PRS demonstrated an association between COVID-19 susceptibility and LAS in SiGN (OR = 1.05 per SD increase, 95% CI: (1.00, 1.10), p = 0.04) and MEGASTROKE (β = 0.510, 95% CI: (0.242, 0.779), FDR-p = 0.0019). The SARS-CoV-2 risk-related co-expression gene network was significantly associated with genetic risk of LAS in aorta, tibial arteries, and multiple brain regions (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Presence of genetic correlation and significant pathway enrichment suggest that increases in LAS risk reported in COVID-19 patients may be intrinsic to the viral infection, rather than a more generalized response to severe illness.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17474930221095696 | DOI Listing |
J Infect Dev Ctries
December 2024
Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Introduction: Since the dawn of the new millennium, Candida species have been increasingly implicated as a cause of both healthcare-associated as well as opportunistic yeast infections, due to the widespread use of indwelling medical devices, total parenteral nutrition, systemic corticosteroids, cytotoxic chemotherapy, and broad-spectrum antibiotics. Candida tropicalis is a pathogenic Candida species associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and drug resistance issues on a global scale.
Methodology: We report a case of a 43-year-old man who was admitted to our hospital for further management of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.
Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis
January 2025
National Reference Laboratory of Control and Monitoring of Antibiotic Resistance (NRL-CMAR), Department Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD), 26 Yanko Sakazov Blvd., Sofia, Bulgaria.
Increased incidence of Clostridioides difficile infections were documented in Bulgarian hospitals during COVID-19. WGS was performed on 39 isolates from seven hospitals during 2015-2022. Antimicrobial resistance and toxin genes were inferred from genomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses
January 2025
School of Life and Health Technology, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China.
Coronavirus epidemics have posed a serious threat to both human and animal health. To combat emerging infectious diseases caused by coronaviruses, various animal infection models have been developed and applied in research, including non-human primate models, ferret models, hamster models, mouse models, and others. Moreover, new approaches have been utilized to develop animal models that are more susceptible to infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFViruses
December 2024
Clinical Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Therapy, Wroclaw Medical University, Borowska 213, 50-556 Wroclaw, Poland.
Background: This study compares organ dysfunction, treatment strategies, and unfavorable outcome rates between pregnant and nonpregnant women admitted to the ICU with severe COVID-19, highlighting the increased susceptibility of pregnant women to respiratory infections due to physiological changes.
Methods: A retrospective, age-matched study was conducted at a referral center specializing in critical care for pregnant women. Data from 14 pregnant/postpartum and 11 nonpregnant women were analyzed at ICU admission and on days 3, 5, and 7.
Viruses
December 2024
Instituto René Rachou/Fiocruz Minas, Belo Horizonte 30190-009, MG, Brazil.
The global number of COVID-19 deaths has reached 7 million, with 4% of these deaths occurring in children and adolescents. In Brazil, around 1500 children up to 11 years old died from the disease. The most common symptoms in children are respiratory, potentially progressing to severe illnesses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and MIS-C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!