Overproduction of Outer Membrane Protein A by Acinetobacter baumannii as a Risk Factor for Nosocomial Pneumonia, Bacteremia, and Mortality Rate Increase.

Background: Outer membrane protein A (OmpA) is a porin involved in Acinetobacter baumannii pathogenesis. However, OmpA clinical implication in hospital-acquired infections remains unknown. We aimed to determine whether OmpA overproduction was a risk factor associated with pneumonia, bacteremia, and mortality.

Genomic Evolution of Two Acinetobacter baumannii Clinical Strains from ST-2 Clones Isolated in 2000 and 2010 (ST-2_clon_2000 and ST-2_clon_2010).

Acinetobacter baumannii is a successful nosocomial pathogen due to its ability to persist in hospital environments by acquiring mobile elements such as transposons, plasmids, and phages. In this study, we compared two genomes of A. baumannii clinical strains isolated in 2000 (ST-2_clon_2000) and 2010 (ST-2_clon_2010) from GenBank project PRJNA308422.

Mapping the HLA diversity of the Iberian Peninsula.

The polymorphism of HLA genes can be used to reconstruct human peopling history. However, this huge diversity impairs successful matching in stem cell transplantation, a situation which has led to the recruitment of millions of donors worldwide. In parallel to the increase of recruitment, registries are progressively relying on information from population genetics to optimize their donor pools in terms of HLA variability.

Lewy- and Alzheimer-type pathologies in midbrain and cerebellum across the Lewy body disorders spectrum.

Aims: Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are pathologically characterized by intraneuronal α-synuclein aggregates and thus labelled as Lewy body disorders (LBD). Conjoint cortical α-synuclein, tau and amyloid-β (Aβ), and striatal Aβ aggregates, have been related to dementia in LBD. Interpretation of current and emerging in vivo molecular imaging of these pathologies will need of precise knowledge of their topographic distribution.

Role of Amylase-α2A Autoantibodies in the Diagnosis of Autoimmune Pancreatitis.

Objectives: Several serological markers have been reported in autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) patients. However, only serum IgG4 (sIgG4) is available in clinical practice for AIP diagnosis. Antiamylase α antibodies (AMY-α Abs) have been proposed to diagnose AIP.

Epidemiologic and clinical impact of Acinetobacter baumannii colonization and infection: a reappraisal.

Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the most important antibiotic-resistant nosocomial bacteria. We investigated changes in the clinical and molecular epidemiology of A. baumannii over a 10-year period.

High proportion of pretransplantation activated regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25highCD62L+CD45RO+) predicts acute rejection in kidney transplantation: results of a multicenter study.

Background: Prognostic biomarkers of acute rejection (AR) in solid organ transplantation have been addressed in multiple small retrospective studies, and there is a critical need for multicenter studies. Because of their tolerogenic properties, regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an important role in transplant outcome.

Methods: In the present multicenter study, we have retrospectively examined different Treg subpopulations in an independent cohort of kidney transplant patients within first year after kidney transplantation.

Influence of interleukin 10 promoter polymorphisms in polymyalgia rheumatica: disease susceptibility and functional consequences.

Objectives: To investigate the functional consequences of IL10 (-592C/A and -1082A/G) gene polymorphisms and their association with susceptibility to, and disease phenotype, in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).

Methods: A total number of 168 with PMR and 124 age-matched controls were genotyped using allele-specific primers and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The levels of circulating IL10 and the production of IL10 by PBMCs after in vitro stimulation were studied by Cytometric Bead Array.

Predictive factors of allosensitization in renal transplant patients switched from calcineurin to mTOR inhibitors.

Conversion of kidney-transplant recipients from calcineurin inhibitors to mTOR inhibitors has been suggested to be a risk factor for increased alloimmune response. We have analyzed the development of new HLA-antibodies (HLA-Abs) early after conversion in 184 patients converted in stable phase at our hospital and compared with a control group of nonconverted comparable 63 transplants. Using single-antigen solid-phase immunoassay analysis, a preconversion and a 3-6 months postconversion sera were prospectively analyzed in every patient for the appearance of new HLA-Abs.

[Ceftaroline breakpoints].

Ceftaroline is a new cephalosporin for parenteral use. Notable among its microbiological properties is its ability to inhibit penicillin-binding protein 2a of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and its good in vitro activity against several microorganisms of clinical interest. The European Committee of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) has defined both epidemiological breakpoints (defining wild-type populations that lack known acquired mechanisms of resistance) and clinical breakpoints for this compound.

Cytokine gene considerations in giant cell arteritis: IL10 promoter polymorphisms and a review of the literature.

Polymorphisms of cytokine genes have been investigated as susceptibility markers of giant cell arteritis (GCA). Here, we have reviewed the evidence to date and especially addressed the functional consequences of IL10 (-592C/A and -1082A/G) gene polymorphisms and their association with susceptibility to and disease phenotype in GCA. A total number of 71 patients with GCA and 124 age-matched controls were genotyped using allele-specific primers and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.

Rearrangements of MYC gene facilitate risk stratification in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients treated with rituximab-CHOP.

In order to address the debatable prognostic role of MYC rearrangements in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone, we evaluated MYC rearrangements by fluorescence in situ hybridization in 563 cases using break-apart probes and IGH/MYC dual-fusion probes. Concurrent BCL2 and BCL6 aberrations were also assessed. Data were correlated with clinicopathological variables and prognostic parameters.

Anti-TNF-α therapy in the management of severe neurosarcoidosis: a report of five cases from a single centre and literature review.

Neurologic manifestations are found in 5-15 % of patients with sarcoidosis. This granulomatous disease may affect any part of the peripheral or the central nervous system, being potentially severe and difficult to treat. Corticosteroids are the cornerstone of therapy in sarcoidosis.

Hepatitis C virus-related lymphoproliferative disorders encompass a broader clinical and morphological spectrum than previously recognized: a clinicopathological study.

We describe a retrospective series of B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders associated with hepatitis C virus infection. In addition to splenic marginal zone lymphoma, follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, all of which showed some specific features, we found two poorly described groups of cases. The first featured disseminated marginal zone lymphoma without splenic marginal zone lymphoma features, defying the current marginal zone lymphoma classification; the other consisted of monoclonal B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood, bone marrow or other tissues, with no clinical or histological evidence of lymphoma, and exhibiting a pattern that requires proper identification in order to avoid the misdiagnosis of the lymphoma.

The IL-17 G-152A single nucleotide polymorphism is associated with pulmonary tuberculosis in northern Spain.

Background: Interleukin 17 (IL-17) is induced during the early stages of tuberculosis infection, playing an important role in the defense against mycobacterial infection. To date, only one study performed in Chinese Han population has found an association between IL-17F sequence variants and susceptibility to tuberculosis, but no relationship has been found with another single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in IL-17A gene (rs2275913).

Methods: To assess if rs2275913 (G-152A) SNP, could be associated with susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in a genetically homogeneous Caucasian population, we analyzed if its allele and genotype frequencies were statistically significant in a case-control study.

Induction of proinflammatory cytokines in human lung epithelial cells during Rhodococcus equi infection.

Rhodococcus equi is an opportunistic human pathogen associated with immunosuppressed people. While the interaction of R. equi with macrophages has been comprehensively studied, little is known about its interactions with non-phagocytic cells.

[Multiresistant Gram-negative bacterial infections: Enterobacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii and other non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli].

Multiresistant Gram-negative bacteria represent a major health problem worldwide. This is related to the severity of the infections they cause, the difficulties for empiric (even directed) treatment, the ease of multiresistance spread, and the absence of new antimicrobial agents active against this group of pathogens. Accordingly, antimicrobial therapy should be based on the results of susceptibility testing, and may require using antimicrobial combinations.