Large variation in anti-factor Xa levels with nadroparin as thromboprophylaxis in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 critically ill patients.

Purpose: Critically ill COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients receive thromboprophylaxis with the LMWH nadroparin. Whether a standard dosage is adequate in attaining the target anti-FXa levels (0.20-0.

Ongoing Peritoneal Dialysis Training at Home Allows for the Improvement of Patients' Empowerment: A Single Center Experience.

Introduction: Peritoneal dialysis (PD), as a home treatment, ensures better patient autonomy and lower intrusiveness compared to hemodialysis. However, choosing PD comes with an increased burden of responsibility that the patient may not always be able to bear, due to advanced age and deteriorating health condition. Various approaches have been explored to address this issue and mitigate its primary complications.

Should we depend on reference intervals from manufacturer package inserts? Comparing TSH and FT4 reference intervals from four manufacturers with results from modern indirect methods and the direct method.

Objectives: Correct interpretation of thyroid function tests relies on correct reference intervals (RIs) for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4). ISO15189 mandates periodic verification of RIs, but laboratories struggle with cost-effective approaches. We investigated whether indirect methods (utilizing historical laboratory data) could replace the direct approach (utilizing healthy reference individuals) and compared results with manufacturer-provided RIs for TSH and FT4.

Defining trimester-specific reference intervals for carbohydrate deficient transferrin in pregnant women.

Objectives: Extensive consumption of alcohol during pregnancy can lead to severe complications for the unborn child. Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) levels in serum have become a common biomarker for excessive alcohol intake. However, during pregnancy CDT levels can rise to levels above commonly used cut-off values, for reasons unrelated to alcohol intake.

Thyroid and adrenal incidentalomas on chest CT: Prevalence, diagnostic work-up and outcomes in a cohort of COVID-19 suspected patients.

Objective: Due to increased use of computed tomography (CT), prevalence of thyroid and adrenal incidentalomas is rising. Yet, previous studies on the outcomes of diagnostic work-up of incidentalomas are subjected to inclusion bias. Therefore, we aimed to investigate prevalence and outcomes of diagnostic work-up of thyroid and adrenal incidentalomas detected on chest CT in a less selected population of COVID-19 suspected patients.

Infantile B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia with the highest recorded count of white blood cells in the literature: case report and literature review.

Introduction: Infantile leukaemia is an uncommon haematological cancer that manifests within the first year of life. This malignancy is highly aggressive and possesses distinctive immunophenotypic, cytogenetic, and molecular attributes. It can originate from either myeloid or lymphoid cells.

Single-cell functional genomics reveals determinants of sensitivity and resistance to natural killer cells in blood cancers.

Cancer cells can evade natural killer (NK) cell activity, thereby limiting anti-tumor immunity. To reveal genetic determinants of susceptibility to NK cell activity, we examined interacting NK cells and blood cancer cells using single-cell and genome-scale functional genomics screens. Interaction of NK and cancer cells induced distinct activation and type I interferon (IFN) states in both cell types depending on the cancer cell lineage and molecular phenotype, ranging from more sensitive myeloid to less sensitive B-lymphoid cancers.

EPIC-TRACE: predicting TCR binding to unseen epitopes using attention and contextualized embeddings.

Motivation: T cells play an essential role in adaptive immune system to fight pathogens and cancer but may also give rise to autoimmune diseases. The recognition of a peptide-MHC (pMHC) complex by a T cell receptor (TCR) is required to elicit an immune response. Many machine learning models have been developed to predict the binding, but generalizing predictions to pMHCs outside the training data remains challenging.

Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin in Peritoneal Dialysis-Related Peritonitis: Correlation with White Blood Cells over Time and a Possible Role as the Outcome Predictor.

Introduction: The present study aimed to monitor peritoneal neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (pNGAL) during peritonitis episodes and to enhance its diagnostic value by evaluating pNGAL at scheduled times in parallel with white blood cell (WBC) count. In addition, we investigated possible correlations between pNGAL and the etiology of peritonitis, evaluating it as a possible marker of the clinical outcome.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with peritoneal dialysis (PD)-related peritonitis were enrolled.

Effect of conventional hemodialysis on the apixaban plasma concentration.

Purpose: Apixaban is a factor Xa inhibitor used in patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of hemodialysis on apixaban plasma concentrations.

Methods: This observational study is on patients treated with apixaban 2.

Single-cell analysis of immune recognition in chronic myeloid leukemia patients following tyrosine kinase inhibitor discontinuation.

Immunological control of residual leukemia cells is thought to occur in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that maintain treatment-free remission (TFR) following tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) discontinuation. To study this, we analyzed 55 single-cell RNA and T cell receptor (TCR) sequenced samples (scRNA+TCRαβ-seq) from patients with CML (n = 13, N = 25), other cancers (n = 28), and healthy (n = 7). The high number and active phenotype of natural killer (NK) cells in CML separated them from healthy and other cancers.

Rare occurrence of hemoglobin Lepore variant in a Palestinian patient: a case report and brief literature review.

Introduction: In hemoglobinopathies, a basic lesion alters the rate of globin synthesis or the structure of the globin in healthy hemoglobin (Hb). Genetic instructions are used to synthesize the polypeptide chains that make up globin chains. The kind and extent of the structural aberration of the Hb molecule are closely related to the clinical features.

Antibody deficiencies in children are associated with prematurity and a family history of infections.

Background: Recurrent respiratory tract infections (rRTIs) frequently affect young children and are associated with antibody deficiencies. We investigated the prevalence of and epidemiological risk factors associated with antibody deficiencies in young children with rRTIs and their progression over time, and linked these to prospectively measured RTI symptoms.

Methods: We included children <7 years with rRTIs in a prospective cohort study.

Immunologic Characterization and T cell Receptor Repertoires of Expanded Tumor-infiltrating Lymphocytes in Patients with Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Unlabelled: The successful use of expanded tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in adoptive TIL therapies has been reported, but the effects of the TIL expansion, immunophenotype, function, and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of the infused products relative to the tumor microenvironment (TME) are not well understood. In this study, we analyzed the tumor samples ( = 58) from treatment-naïve patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), "pre-rapidly expanded" TILs (pre-REP TIL, = 15) and "rapidly expanded" TILs (REP TIL, = 25) according to a clinical-grade TIL production protocol, with single-cell RNA (scRNA)+TCRαβ-seq (TCRαβ sequencing), TCRβ-sequencing (TCRβ-seq), and flow cytometry. REP TILs encompassed a greater abundance of CD4 than CD8 T cells, with increased LAG-3 and low PD-1 expressions in both CD4 and CD8 T cell compartments compared with the pre-REP TIL and tumor T cells.

Computational textural mapping harmonises sampling variation and reveals multidimensional histopathological fingerprints.

Background: Technical factors can bias H&E digital slides potentially compromising computational histopathology studies. Here, we hypothesised that sample quality and sampling variation can introduce even greater and undocumented technical fallacy.

Methods: Using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) as a model disease, we annotated ~78,000 image tiles and trained deep learning models to detect histological textures and lymphocyte infiltration at the tumour core and its surrounding margin and correlated these with clinical, immunological, genomic, and transcriptomic profiles.

Distinguishing Oligosaccharide Isomers Using Far-Infrared Ion Spectroscopy: Identification of Biomarkers for Inborn Errors of Metabolism.

Distinguishing isomeric saccharides poses a major challenge for analytical workflows based on (liquid chromatography) mass spectrometry (LC-MS). In recent years, many studies have proposed infrared ion spectroscopy as a possible solution as the orthogonal, spectroscopic characterization of mass-selected ions can often distinguish isomeric species that remain unresolved using conventional MS. However, the high conformational flexibility and extensive hydrogen bonding in saccharides cause their room-temperature fingerprint infrared spectra to have broad features that often lack diagnostic value.

Pollen Sensitization Can Increase the Allergic Reaction to Non-Cross-Reactive Allergens in a Soy-Allergic Patient.

During and after the pollen season, an increase in food-triggered allergic symptoms has been observed in pollen-food syndrome patients, possibly due to seasonal boosting of pollen-IgE levels. It has been suggested that consumption of birch-pollen-related foods plays a role in seasonal allergenic inflammation. However, whether this increased pollen sensitization during the pollen season can also affect the allergenicity of allergens that are non-cross-reactive with birch pollen remains in question.

Switching from imatinib to nilotinib plus pegylated interferon-α2b in chronic phase CML failing to achieve deep molecular response: clinical and immunological effects.

In order to improve molecular response for a discontinuation attempt in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients in chronic phase, who had not achieved at least a molecular response <0.01% BCR-ABL1 (MR) after at least 2 years of imatinib therapy, we prospectively evaluated whether they could attain MR after a switch to a combination of nilotinib and 9 months of pegylated interferon-α2b (PegIFN). The primary endpoint of confirmed MR at month 12 (a BCR-ABL1 level ≤ 0.

Unusual location of gouty arthritis with shoulder joint involvement in an elderly male patient: a rare case report.

Unlabelled: Gout is a metabolic disease characterized by recurrent episodes of acute arthritis. Gout has been reported in many locations but is rarely localized in the shoulder joint.

Case Presentation: A 73-year-old man who visited an outpatient clinic with the main complaint of a right shoulder ache lasting 2 weeks came to our attention.

Co-targeting BCL-XL and BCL-2 by PROTAC 753B eliminates leukemia cells and enhances efficacy of chemotherapy by targeting senescent cells.

BCL-XL and BCL-2 are key anti-apoptotic proteins and validated cancer targets. 753B is a novel BCL-XL/BCL-2 proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) that targets both BCL-XL and BCL-2 to the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) E3 ligase, leading to BCLX L/BCL-2 ubiquitination and degradation selectively in cells expressing VHL. Because platelets lack VHL expression, 753B spares on-target platelet toxicity caused by the first-generation dual BCL-XL/BCL-2 inhibitor navitoclax (ABT-263).

Soy Gly m 8 sIgE Has Limited Value in the Diagnosis of Soy Allergy in Peanut Ara h 2-Sensitized Adults.

Introduction: Recently, specific IgE (sIgE) sensitization against Gly m 8 (soy 2S albumin) has been described as a good diagnostic marker for soy allergy (SA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of Gly m 8 by determining the sensitization profiles based on the homologues soy allergens Bet v 1, Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 3.

Methods: Thirty soy-allergic adults were included; sIgE to total soy extract, Gly m 8, Gly m 4, Gly m 5, Gly m 6, Bet v 1, Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 3 were determined.

The Frequency of CYP2C19 Loss-of-Function Variants in Patients with Non-Cardioembolic Ischemic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack in the Dutch Population.

Introduction: The CYP2C19 enzyme converts clopidogrel into an active metabolite. Carriers of CYP2C19 loss-of-function (LOF) variants with a history of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) using clopidogrel may have a higher risk of recurrent stroke. To study the implications of genetic CYP2C19 heterogeneity in treatment of cerebral ischemia, knowledge about the prevalence of CYP2C19 LOF variants within the population is important.