A novel "lateral approach short axis in-plane" technique vs. conventional "short-axis out-of-plane approach" for ultrasound-guided internal jugular vein access: a prospective randomized non-inferiority trial.

Background: The cannulation of the internal jugular vein (IJV) is a frequent procedure in critically ill patients. According to the guidelines, real-time ultrasound navigation is recommended. Traditional techniques pose several disadvantages, such as suboptimal needle visualization.

Prolonged fever in a 13-year-old girl misdiagnosed as Ochrobactrum spp. bacteremia-the pitfalls of diagnostic Brucella spondylitis in a non-endemic country.

Brucellosis is a zoonosis with non-specific clinical symptoms involving multiple systems and organs. Its prevalence is low in most of EU countries, which can lead to the difficulties in laboratory and clinical diagnostic. Due to its relationship to the Ochrobactrum spp.

Fosfomycin-Overcoming Problematic In Vitro Susceptibility Testing and Tricky Result Interpretation: Comparison of Three Fosfomycin Susceptibility Testing Methods.

Fosfomycin (FOS) is an older antimicrobial agent newly rediscovered as a possible treatment for infections with limited therapeutic options (e.g., Gram-negative bacteria with difficult-to-treat resistance, DTR), especially in intravenous form.

Convalescent anti-SARS-CoV-2 plasma for the treatment of patients with COVID-19: a retrospective study RESCOVID-19.

Purpose: Convalescent plasma (CP) collected from people who recovered from COVID-19 became a rapidly available treatment modality in numerous countries, including the Czech Republic. The aims of our study were to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of CP in the treatment of COVID-19.

Methods: This retrospective observational study involved six Czech hospitals.

Demographic, epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Ukrainian war refugees with HIV infection in the Slovak Republic.

Background: The Slovak Republic, an Eastern European country, borders Ukraine, which has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in Europe. This study aims to inform readers about the demographic characteristics of Ukrainian war refugees with HIV/AIDS seeking temporary protection status in Slovakia due to the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022. It focuses on their epidemiology, immunological profiles, co-infections, and treatment.

Harnessing the Biomimetic Effect of Macromolecular Crowding in the Cell-Derived Model of Clubfoot Fibrosis.

Fibrotic changes in pediatric clubfoot provide an opportunity to improve corrective therapy and prevent relapses with targeted drugs. This study defines the parameters of clubfoot fibrosis and presents a unique analysis of a simple pseudo-3D model for disease-specific high-throughput drug screening experiments. The model combines clubfoot-derived fibroblasts with a biomimetic cultivation environment induced by the water-soluble polymers Ficoll and Polyvinylpyrrolidone, utilizing the principle of macromolecular crowding.

Chemotherapy Drives Tertiary Lymphoid Structures That Correlate with ICI-Responsive TCF1+CD8+ T Cells in Metastatic Ovarian Cancer.

Purpose: Patients with high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) are virtually insensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) employed as standalone therapeutics, at least in part reflecting microenvironmental immunosuppression. Thus, conventional chemotherapeutics and targeted anticancer agents that not only mediate cytotoxic effects but also promote the recruitment of immune effector cells to the HGSOC microenvironment stand out as promising combinatorial partners for ICIs in this oncological indication.

Experimental Design: We harnessed a variety of transcriptomic, spatial, and functional assays to characterize the differential impact of neoadjuvant paclitaxel-carboplatin on the immunological configuration of paired primary and metastatic HGSOC biopsies as compared to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT)-naïve HGSOC samples from five independent patient cohorts.

Effect of Sodium-Glucose Co-Transporter-2 Inhibitor on Estimated Plasma Volume in a Patient With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction and a Patient With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Background: The increased diuresis after sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) was associated with a reduction of the estimated plasma volume (ePV) in type 2 diabetic patients.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the early effect of SGLT2i on ePV may be monitored by the change of biomarkers of hemoconcentration.

Patients And Methods: We analyzed the early- and long-term effect of SGLT2i empagliflozin on the ePV as assessed by biomarkers of hemoconcentration in a nondiabetic patient with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and a nondiabetic patient with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Adherence to the ISHLT Protocol for the Referral of Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis to the Transplantation Center among of Czech Centers for Interstitial Lung Diseases.

There are limited data on referral rates and the number of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who are eligible for lung transplantation. The aim of the present study was to assess adherence to the consensus of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) for the referral of patients with IPF among Czech interstitial lung disease (ILD) centers. Czech patients who were diagnosed with IPF between 1999 and 2021 ( = 1584) and who were less than 65 years old at the time of diagnosis were retrospectively selected from the Czech Republic of the European Multipartner Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Registry (EMPIRE).

Sentinel lymph node pathological ultrastaging: Final outcome of the Sentix prospective international study in patients with early-stage cervical cancer.

Objective: To report the outcome of SLN staging in the SENTIX international prospective trial of SLN biopsy in patients with cervical cancer with an intensive ultrastaging protocol and central quality control and to evaluate how the intensity of pathological assessment correlates with metastatic detection rate in SLNs.

Methods: Eligible were patients with stages T1a1/LVSI+ to T1b2 (<4 cm, ≤2 cm for fertility sparing), common tumor types, no suspicious lymph nodes on imaging, and bilateral SLN detection. SLNs were examined intraoperatively and processed by an intensive protocol for ultrastaging (paraffin blocks sectioned completely in 150-μm intervals/levels).

Increasing Rate of Fatal Bacteriemia-A Challenge for Prompt Diagnosis and Appropriate Therapy in Real Praxis.

, group A streptococci (GAS) bacteriaemia, is a life-threatening infection with high mortality, requiring fast diagnosis together with the use of appropriate antibiotic therapy as soon as possible. Our study analysed data from 93 patients with GAS bacteraemia at the General University Hospital in Prague between January 2006 and March 2024. In the years 2016-2019 there was an increase in GAS bacteraemia.

Simple, fast, cost-efficient, reliable, and highly automated DNA content analysis of cells in adherent cultures.

The most commonly used flow cytometric (FCM) analysis of cellular DNA content relies on ethanol fixation followed by RNA digestion and propidium iodide (PI) intercalation into double-stranded DNA. This is a laborious and time-consuming procedure that is subject to systematic errors due to centrifugation and washing steps associated with sample preparation. It can adversely affect the reliability of the results.

Is shorter also better in the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection?

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of shortened regimens of vancomycin or fidaxomicin in the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).

Methods: Adult patients with CDI hospitalized from January 2022 to May 2023 were included in this observational study. In patients with CDI treated with vancomycin or fidaxomicin, antibiotic treatment was discontinued after either 5 or 7 days of vancomycin or 5 days of fidaxomicin if there was a clinical response and improvement in laboratory parameters.

Measles in Czech population with varying vaccination rates in 2018-2019: clinical and laboratory differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals and their relevance to clinical practice.

Background And Objectives: In a highly vaccinated population, an increasing number of previously vaccinated measles cases can be expected. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of vaccination on the clinical course and immune response in relation to the current measles case definition.

Methods: The presence of fever, catarrhal symptoms, exanthema and complications, and specific IgM and IgG positivity were assessed in all 230 patients and compared in 193 patients with known vaccination status, divided into measles-containing vaccine (MCV) groups: MCV0 (85 patients), MCV1 (25 patients) and MCV2 (83 patients).

Tertiary lymphoid structures and B cells determine clinically relevant T cell phenotypes in ovarian cancer.

Intratumoral tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) have been associated with improved outcome in various cohorts of patients with cancer, reflecting their contribution to the development of tumor-targeting immunity. Here, we demonstrate that high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) contains distinct immune aggregates with varying degrees of organization and maturation. Specifically, mature TLSs (mTLS) as forming only in 16% of HGSOCs with relatively elevated tumor mutational burden (TMB) are associated with an increased intratumoral density of CD8 effector T (T) cells and TIM3PD1, hence poorly immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-sensitive, CD8 T cells.

TB index case tracing in the Roma community in the Czech Republic.

Tuberculosis (TB) contact tracing and TB preventive treatment are key tools in preventing the transmission of TB with the aim of eliminating the disease. Our study seeks to demonstrate how the infection spread from an individual patient to the entire community and how proactive contact tracing facilitated prompt diagnosis and treatment. Our work was conducted as a retrospective analysis of the spread of TB infection within the Roma community in the Czech Republic, following the case of an index patient who succumbed to pulmonary TB.

Treatment and Prognosis of Male Breast Cancer: A Multicentric, Retrospective Study Over 11 Years in the Czech Republic.

Purpose: Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare, but increasingly common disease, and lacks prospective studies. Collaborative efforts are needed to understand and address MBC, including its prognosis, in different countries.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical, histopathological, and molecular-genetic characteristics, treatments, and survival outcomes of MBC diagnosed between 2007 and 2017 in the Czech Republic.

Paretic complications of tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme neuroborreliosis in the Czech Republic: Characteristics and clinical outcome.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), the most common tick-borne diseases of the central nervous system in Central Europe, are frequently associated with pareses. The aim of this study was to characterise paretic complications in patients with TBE and LNB, including their severity, persistence and impact on the patients' quality of life. Our retrospective observational study included patients with aseptic CNS infection due to TBE virus or Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato.

Tuberculosis in Ukrainian War Refugees and Migrants in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: A Molecular Epidemiological Study.

Background: The war in Ukraine has led to significant migration to neighboring countries, raising public health concerns. Notable tuberculosis (TB) incidence rates in Ukraine emphasize the immediate requirement to prioritize approaches that interrupt the spread and prevent new infections.

Methods: We conducted a prospective genomic surveillance study to assess migration's impact on TB epidemiology in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.