Evaluation of the Vitros® Anti-T. cruzi assay for its incorporation into the infection diagnostic algorithm.

Background And Objective: Serological screening for Chagas disease (CD) in Latin American adults living in Europe is a cost-effective strategy for transmission prevention. The World Health Organization recommends two different serological tests including native and recombinant antigens for IgG detection. In Spain, most commercialized native tests require manual processing.

Detection of germline CNVs from gene panel data: benchmarking the state of the art.

Germline copy number variants (CNVs) play a significant role in hereditary diseases. However, the accurate detection of CNVs from targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) gene panel data remains a challenging task. Several tools for calling CNVs within this context have been published to date, but the available benchmarks suffer from limitations, including testing on simulated data, testing on small datasets, and testing a small subset of published tools.

Executive summary: Clinical practice guidelines on the management of resistant tuberculosis of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) and the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC).

The Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) and the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) have developed together Clinical Practice Guidelines (GPC) on the management of people affected by tuberculosis (TB) resistant to drugs with activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These clinical practice guidelines include the latest updates of the SEPAR regulations for the diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant TB from 2017 to 2020 as the starting point. The methodology included asking relevant clinical questions based on PICO methodology, a literature search focusing on each question, and a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of the evidence, with a summary of this evidence for each question.

Assessing advances in three decades of clinical antiretroviral therapy on the HIV-1 reservoir.

Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has improved the clinical management of HIV-1 infection. However, little is known about how the latest ART recommendations affect the heterogeneity of HIV-1 reservoir size.

Methods: We used a complete statistical approach to outline parameters underlying diversity in HIV-1 reservoir size in a cohort of 892 people with HIV-1 (PWH) on suppressive ART for >3 years.

Prognostic Significance of PD-L1 Expression on Circulating Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells in NSCLC Patients Treated with Anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Checkpoint Inhibitors.

Even though anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have improved survival, a high percentage of patients still do not respond to ICIs. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are circulating cells that express PD-L1 and can infiltrate and proliferate in the tumor microenvironment, inducing immunosuppression. By evaluating changes in PD-L1 expression of live peripheral blood MDSCs, we are able to define a new PD-L1 index, useful in predicting ICI escape in NSCLC patients before initiating anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy.

TAVI with the ACURATE neo2 in severe bicuspid aortic valve stenosis: the Neo2 BAV Registry.

Background: The ACURATE neo2 is a contemporary transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) system approved for the treatment of severe aortic stenosis in Europe. The ACURATE neo2 has not been evaluated in bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) stenosis.

Aims: We sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ACURATE neo2 in patients with BAV stenosis.

experimental model to test new antimicrobials: a methodological approach.

Given the increasing concern about antimicrobial resistance among the microorganisms that cause infections in our society, there is an urgent need for new drug discovery. Currently, this process involves testing many low-quality compounds, resulting from the testing, on mammal models, which not only wastes time, resources, and money, but also raises ethical questions. In this review, we have discussed the potential of as an intermediary experimental model in this drug discovery timeline.

Left Atrial Structure and Function Following Ethanol Infusion into Vein of Marshall (MR-SHALL Study).

Background: Ethanol infusion into the vein of Marshall (EI-VOM) is an adjunctive therapy to pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), which improves the efficacy of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation procedures. It is unknown how EI-VOM scar formation impacts left atrium (LA) structure and function.

Objective: To characterize scar formation after EI-VOM, and its impact on LA function, by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).

Point-of-care ultrasound training in nephrology: a position statement by the International Alliance for POCUS in Nephrology.

Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) has rapidly evolved from a niche technology to an indispensable tool across medical specialties, including nephrology. This evolution is driven by advancements in technology and the visionary efforts of clinicians in emergency medicine and beyond. Recognizing its potential, medical schools are increasingly integrating POCUS into training curricula, emphasizing its role in enhancing diagnostic accuracy and patient care.

Arrhythmic risk stratification in patients with left ventricular ring-like scar.

Aims: Left ventricular (LV) ring-like scar on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has been linked to malignant arrhythmias in patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. This study aimed to perform a comprehensive evaluation of this phenotype and to identify risk factors for life-threatening arrhythmic events (LAEs), a composite of sudden cardiac death (SCD), aborted SCD, and sustained ventricular tachycardia.

Methods And Results: One-hundred-fifteen patients (median age 39 [IQR 28-52], 42% females) were identified at 6 referral centres.

Targeting aryl hydrocarbon receptor functionally restores tolerogenic dendritic cells derived from patients with multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease characterized by dysregulated self-reactive immune responses that damage the neurons' myelin sheath, leading to progressive disability. The primary therapeutic option, immunosuppressants, inhibits pathogenic anti-myelin responses but depresses the immune system. Antigen-specific monocyte-derived autologous tolerogenic dendritic cells (tolDCs) offer alternative therapeutic approaches to restore tolerance to autoantigens without causing generalized immunosuppression.

Understanding the Importance of Blood-Brain Barrier Alterations in Brain Arteriovenous Malformations and Implications for Treatment: A Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced-MRI-Based Prospective Study.

Background And Objectives: The major clinical implication of brain arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) is spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage. There is a growing body of experimental evidence proving that inflammation and blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction are involved in both the clinical course of the disease and the risk of bleeding. However, how bAVM treatment affects perilesional BBB disturbances is yet unclear.

Robot-assisted insular stereoelectroencephalography in pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy: accuracy and diagnostic value.

Background: Insular epilepsy is a well-known cause of drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) in the pediatric population. It can be a source of surgical epilepsy treatment failures when not ruled out pre-operatively. Non-invasive methods often provide limited information about its existence, being the invasive methods necessary to diagnose it in the vast majority of cases.

Peripheral blood T-cell modulation by omalizumab in chronic urticaria patients.

Background: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a highly prevalent and difficult to manage cutaneous disease characterized by the presence of recurrent urticaria, angioedema, or both, for a period of 6 weeks or longer. One of the biological treatments used for patients with CSU with an autoimmune background and bad control of the disease is omalizumab, an anti-IgE monoclonal antibody. The understanding of the mechanism of action of this biological drug in CSU along with the identification of potential biomarkers of clinical response can be helpful in the personalized management of the disease.

Sex-related differences in severe native valvular heart disease: the ESC-EORP Valvular Heart Disease II survey.

Background And Aims: To assess sex differences in disease characteristics and treatment of patients with severe native valvular heart disease (VHD) included in the VHD II EURObservational Research Programme.

Methods: A total of 5219 patients were enrolled in 208 European and North African centres and followed for 6 months [41.2% aortic stenosis (AS), 5.

Telemonitoring of Active Inflammatory Bowel Disease Using the App TECCU: Short-Term Results of a Multicenter Trial of GETECCU.

Background: Telemonitoring for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has not consistently demonstrated superiority over standard care; however, noninferiority may be an acceptable outcome if remote care proves to be more efficient.

Objective: This study aims to compare the remission time and quality of life of patients with active IBD managed through standard care versus the TECCU (Telemonitoring of Crohn Disease and Ulcerative Colitis) app.

Methods: A 2-arm, randomized, multicenter trial with a noninferiority design was conducted across 24 hospitals in Spain.

Heterozygosity for loss-of-function variants in LZTR1 is associated with isolated multiple café-au-lait macules.

Purpose: Pathogenic LZTR1 variants cause schwannomatosis and dominant/recessive Noonan syndrome (NS). We aim to establish an association between heterozygous loss-of-function LZTR1 alleles and isolated multiple café-au-lait macules (CaLMs).

Methods: A total of 849 unrelated participants with multiple CaLMs, lacking pathogenic/likely pathogenic NF1 and SPRED1 variants, underwent RASopathy gene panel sequencing.