A deep learning approach for automatic recognition of abnormalities in the cytoplasm of neutrophils.

Background And Objectives: This study aims to develop and evaluate NeuNN, a system based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) and generative adversarial networks (GAN) for the automatic identification of normal neutrophils and those containing several types of inclusions or showing hypogranulation.

Methods: From peripheral blood smears, a set of 5605 digital images was obtained with neutrophils belonging to seven categories: Normal neutrophils (NEU), Hypogranulated (HYP) or containing cryoglobulins (CRY), Döhle bodies (DB), Howell-Jolly body-like inclusions (HJBLI), Green-blue inclusions of death (GBI) and phagocytosed bacteria (BAC). The dataset utilized in this study has been made publicly available.

K-Means Clustering Identifies Diverse Clinical Phenotypes in COVID-19 Patients: Implications for Mortality Risks and Remdesivir Impact.

Introduction: The impact of remdesivir on mortality in patients with COVID-19 is still controversial. We aimed to identify clinical phenotype clusters of COVID-19 hospitalized patients with highest benefit from remdesivir use and validate these findings in an external cohort.

Methods: We included consecutive patients hospitalized between February 2020 and February 2021 for COVID-19.

Real-Life Comparison of Antivirals for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Infection in Patients With Hematologic Malignancies.

Background: We aimed to describe a cohort of hematologic patients with COVID-19 treated with antivirals early.

Methods: Non-interventional chart review study. Comparison of baseline characteristics and outcomes in high-risk hematologic patients treated with remdesivir between December 2021 and April 2022 versus those treated with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir between May and August 2022.

Improving management of febrile neutropenia in oncology patients: the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Introduction: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have the potential to revolutionize the management of febrile neutropenia (FN) and drive progress toward personalized medicine.

Areas Covered: In this review, we detail how the collection of a large number of high-quality data can be used to conduct precise mathematical studies with ML and AI. We explain the foundations of these techniques, covering the fundamentals of supervised and unsupervised learning, as well as the most important challenges, e.

The Etiology, Antibiotic Therapy and Outcomes of Bacteremic Skin and Soft-Tissue Infections in Onco-Hematological Patients.

Objectives: to assess the current epidemiology, antibiotic therapy and outcomes of onco- hematological patients with bacteremic skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs), and to identify the risk factors for Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) infection and for early and overall mortality.

Methods: episodes of bacteremic SSTIs occurring in cancer patients at two hospitals were prospectively recorded and retrospectively analyzed.

Results: Of 164 episodes of bacteremic SSTIs, 53% occurred in patients with solid tumors and 47% with hematological malignancies.

Infection epidemiology in relation to different therapy phases in patients with haematological malignancies receiving CAR T-cell therapy.

Background: We described the real-life epidemiology and causes of infections on the different therapy phases in patients undergoing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells directed towards CD19+ or BCMA+ cells.

Methods: All consecutive patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy at our institution were prospectively followed-up. We performed various comparative analyses of all patients and subgroups with and without infections.

Expert Opinion on Dose Regimen and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Long-Term Use of Dalbavancin: Expert Review Panel.

Background: Dalbavancin is a lipoglycopeptide with a long elimination half-life and is currently licensed for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections in adults. Dalbavancin's potential in treating off-label complex Gram-positive infections is promising and real-world experience in treating such infections is growing. However, clear guidance on extended dosing regimens is lacking.

COLUMBUS 5-year update: a randomized, open-label, phase III trial of encorafenib plus binimetinib versus vemurafenib or encorafenib in patients with BRAF.

What Is This Summary About?: Here, we summarize the 5-year results from part 1 of the COLUMBUS clinical study, which looked at the combination treatment of encorafenib plus binimetinib in people with a specific type of skin cancer called melanoma. Encorafenib (BRAFTOVI) and binimetinib (MEKTOVI) are medicines used to treat a type of melanoma that has a change in the gene, called advanced or metastatic BRAF V600-mutant melanoma. Participants with advanced or metastatic BRAF V600-mutant melanoma took either encorafenib plus binimetinib together (COMBO group), compared with encorafenib alone (ENCO group) or vemurafenib (ZELBORAF) alone (VEMU group).

Automatic normalized digital color staining in the recognition of abnormal blood cells using generative adversarial networks.

Background And Objectives: Combining knowledge of clinical pathologists and deep learning models is a growing trend in morphological analysis of cells circulating in blood to add objectivity, accuracy, and speed in diagnosing hematological and non-hematological diseases. However, the variability in staining protocols across different laboratories can affect the color of images and performance of automatic recognition models. The objective of this work is to develop, train and evaluate a new system for the normalization of color staining of peripheral blood cell images, so that it transforms images from different centers to map the color staining of a reference center (RC) while preserving the structural morphological features.

Current outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in high-risk haematological patients treated early with antivirals.

Objectives: We aimed to describe the clinical outcomes and duration of viral shedding in high-risk patients with haematological malignancies hospitalized with COVID-19 during Omicron variant predominance who received early treatment with antivirals.

Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study on high-risk haematological patients admitted in our hospital between December 2021 and March 2022. We performed detection techniques on viral subgenomic mRNAs until negative results were obtained to document active, prolonged viral replication.

Carriage of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli: duration and risk factors.

Identification of risk factors influencing the duration of carriage of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli (MDR-GNB) may be useful for infection control. The aim of this study is to estimate the impact of several factors collected for routine hospital surveillance on the duration of carriage of selected MDR-GNB. From January 2015 to July 2021, patients with at least two clinical/surveillance samples positive for MDR-GNB different from ESBL-producing E.

C-reactive protein isoforms as prognostic markers of COVID-19 severity.

C-reactive protein (CRP), an active regulator of the innate immune system, has been related to COVID-19 severity. CRP is a dynamic protein undergoing conformational changes upon activation in inflammatory microenvironments between pentameric and monomeric isoforms. Although pentameric CRP is the circulating isoform routinely tested for clinical purposes, monomeric CRP shows more proinflammatory properties.

Automatic generation of artificial images of leukocytes and leukemic cells using generative adversarial networks (syntheticcellgan).

Background And Objectives: Visual analysis of cell morphology has an important role in the diagnosis of hematological diseases. Morphological cell recognition is a challenge that requires experience and in-depth review by clinical pathologists. Within the new trend of introducing computer-aided diagnostic tools in laboratory medicine, models based on deep learning are being developed for the automatic identification of different types of cells in peripheral blood.

Qualitative Subgenomic RNA to Monitor the Response to Remdesivir in Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019: Impact on the Length of Hospital Stay and Mortality.

Background: There is no reliable microbiological marker to guide the indication and the response to antiviral treatment in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to evaluate the dynamics of subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) in patients with COVID-19 before and after receiving treatment with remdesivir.

Methods: We included consecutive patients admitted for COVID-19 who received remdesivir according to our institutional protocol and accepted to participate in the study.

Bacterial Bloodstream Infections in Patients Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation With Post-Transplantation Cyclophosphamide.

This study investigates the incidence and predictors for bacterial bloodstream infection (BSI) in 330 adults undergoing allo-HCT, and explores the effect of post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCY) on the probability of presenting this complication. All patients received levofloxacin during the aplastic phase. Only the first episode of BSI was counted as an event.