Indirect effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital mortality in patients with hip fracture: a competing risk survival analysis using linked administrative data.

Background: Hip fracture is a leading cause of disability and mortality among older people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, orthopaedic care pathways in the National Health Service in England were restructured to manage pressures on hospital capacity. We examined the indirect consequences of the pandemic for hospital mortality among older patients with hip fracture, admitted from care homes or the community.

Activation-Induced Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptor 3DL2 Binding to HLA-B27 Licenses Pathogenic T Cell Differentiation in Spondyloarthritis.

Objective: In the spondyloarthritides (SpA), increased numbers of CD4+ T cells express killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor 3DL2 (KIR-3DL2). The aim of this study was to determine the factors that induce KIR-3DL2 expression, and to characterize the relationship between HLA-B27 and the phenotype and function of KIR-3DL2-expressing CD4+ T cells in SpA.

Methods: In total, 34 B27+ patients with SpA, 28 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (20 B27- and 8 B27+), and 9 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were studied.

Exonic deletions as a cause of erythropoietic protoporphyria.

Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is an inherited disorder that results from partial deficiency of ferrochelatase (FECH), the terminal enzyme of haem biosynthesis. Current methods that examine the exons and their flanking regions of the FECH gene fail to identify mutations in about one in seven of families with EPP. The presence in some families of intragenic deletions that are not identifiable by current methods for sequencing the FECH gene may partly explain the low sensitivity of mutation detection in EPP.

The rationale for combined chemo/immunotherapy using a Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist and tumour-derived exosomes in advanced ovarian cancer.

A clinical trial employing an immunotherapeutic approach based on the use of a Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist and tumour-derived exosomes carrying tumour-associated antigens is planned in advanced ovarian cancer in conjunction with conventional first line chemotherapy. Most patients with ovarian cancer present with advanced disease and despite high initial response rate to chemotherapy the majority will relapse within 2 years with poor overall survival. Tumour antigen-specific T cells are naturally occurring in ovarian cancer patients and T cell infiltration of the tumour is highly prognostic.