Nocardiose disseminada com abscesso do psoas em paciente com AIDS: primeiro caso relatado

O abscesso do músculo psoas é uma infecção pouco comum que tem sido diagnosticada de maneira crescente nos últimos anos. Apresentamos um caso de paciente com infecção avançada pelo vírus da imunodeficiência humana (HIV) que desenvolveu uma infecção disseminada por Nocardia asteroides senso estrito tipo VI, com abscesso no psoas. Em nosso conhecimento, não foram relatados na literatura outros casos de abscesso do psoas por Nocardia, no contexto da infecção por HIV.Psoas muscle abscess is an uncommon infection that have been diagnosed increasingly in the last years. We present a case of a patient with advanced human immunodeficiency virus infection who developed a disseminated infection due to Nocardia asteroides sensu stricto type VI with psoas abscess. To our knowledge no other cases of Nocardia psoas abscess in the setting of HIV infection have been reported in the literature

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Study in Pediatric Patients and Health Care Workers Using Multiplex Antibody Immunoassays

SARS-CoV-2 infection has become a global health problem specially exacerbated with the continuous appearance of new variants. Healthcare workers (HCW) have been one of the most affected sectors. Children have also been affected, and although infection generally presents as a mild disease, some have developed the Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome Temporally Associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS). We recruited 190 adults (HCW and cohabitants, April to June 2020) and 57 children (April 2020 to September 2021), of whom 12 developed PIMS-TS, in a hospital-based study in Spain. Using an in-house Luminex assay previously validated, antibody levels were measured against different spike and nucleocapsid SARS-CoV-2 proteins, including the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants of concern (VoC). Seropositivity rates obtained from children and adults, respectively, were: 49.1% and 11% for IgG, 45.6% and 5.8% for IgA, and 35.1% and 7.3% for IgM. Higher antibody levels were detected in children who developed PIMS-TS compared to those who did not. Using the COVID-19 IgM/IgA ELISA (Vircell, S.L.) kit, widely implemented in Spanish hospitals, a high number of false positives and lower seroprevalences compared with the Luminex estimates were found, indicating a significantly lower specificity and sensitivity. Comparison of antibody levels against RBD-Wuhan versus RBD-VoCs indicated that the strongest positive correlations for all three isotypes were with RBD-Alpha, while the lowest correlations were with RBD-Delta for IgG, RBD-Gamma for IgM, and RBD-Beta for IgA. This study highlights the differences in antibody levels between groups with different demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as reporting the IgG, IgM, and IgA response to RBD VoC circulating at the study period

Identification of Marine Biotechnology Value Chains with High Potential in the Northern Mediterranean Region

© 2023. The authors. This document is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by /4.0/ This document is the Accepted version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Marine Drugs. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.3390/md21070416Marine (blue) biotechnology is an emerging field enabling the valorization of new products and processes with massive potential for innovation and economic growth. In the Mediterranean region, this innovation potential is not exploited as well as in other European regions due to a lack of a clear identification of the different value chains and the high fragmentation of business innovation initiatives. As a result, several opportunities to create an innovative society are being missed. To address this problem, eight Northern Mediterranean countries (Croatia, France, Greece, Mar. Drugs 2023, 21, 416. https://doi.org/10.3390/md21070416 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/marinedrugs Mar. Drugs 2023, 21, 416 2 of 26 Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) established five national blue biotechnology hubs to identify and address the bottlenecks that prevent the development of marine biotechnology in the region. Following a three-step approach (1. Analysis: setting the scene; 2. Transfer: identification of promising value chains; 3. Capitalization: community creation), we identified the three value chains that are most promising for the Northern Mediterranean region: algae production for added-value compounds, integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) and valorization aquaculture/fisheries/processing by-products, unavoidable/unwanted catches and discards. The potential for the development and the technical and non-technical skills that are necessary to advance in this exciting field were identified through several stakeholder events which provided valuable insight and feedback that should be addressed for marine biotechnology in the Northern Mediterranean region to reach its full potential

Identification of Marine Biotechnology Value Chains with High Potential in the Northern Mediterranean Region

©2023. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This document is the Published, version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Marine Drugs. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/ 10.3390/md21070416Marine (blue) biotechnology is an emerging field enabling the valorization of new products and processes with massive potential for innovation and economic growth. In the Mediterranean region, this innovation potential is not exploited as well as in other European regions due to a lack of a clear identification of the different value chains and the high fragmentation of business innovation initiatives. As a result, several opportunities to create an innovative society are being missed. To address this problem, eight Northern Mediterranean countries (Croatia, France, Greece Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) established five national blue biotechnology hubs to identify and address the bottlenecks that prevent the development of marine biotechnology in the region. Following a three-step approach (1. Analysis: setting the scene; 2. Transfer: identifi cation of promising value chains; 3. Capitalization: community creation), we identified the three value chains that are most promising for the Northern Mediterranean region: algae production for added-value compounds, integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) and valorization aquacul ture/fisheries/processing by-products, unavoidable/unwanted catches and discards. The potential for the development and the technical and non-technical skills that are necessary to advance in this exciting field were identified through several stakeholder events which provided valuable insight and feedback that should be addressed for marine biotechnology in the Northern Mediterranean region to reach its full potential

Antibody conversion rates to SARS-CoV-2 in saliva from children attending summer schools in Barcelona, Spain.

Background: Surveillance tools to estimate viral transmission dynamics in young populations are essential to guide recommendations for school opening and management during viral epidemics. Ideally, sensitive techniques are required to detect low viral load exposures among asymptomatic children. We aimed to estimate SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in children and adult populations in a school-like environment during the initial COVID-19 pandemic waves using an antibody-based field-deployable and non-invasive approach. Methods: Saliva antibody conversion defined as ≥ 4-fold increase in IgM, IgA, and/or IgG levels to five SARS-CoV-2 antigens including spike and nucleocapsid constructs was evaluated in 1509 children and 396 adults by high-throughput Luminex assays in samples collected weekly in 22 summer schools and 2 pre-schools in 27 venues in Barcelona, Spain, from June 29th to July 31st, 2020. Results: Saliva antibody conversion between two visits over a 5-week period was 3.22% (49/1518) or 2.36% if accounting for potentially cross-reactive antibodies, six times higher than the cumulative infection rate (0.53%) assessed by weekly saliva RT-PCR screening. IgG conversion was higher in adults (2.94%, 11/374) than children (1.31%, 15/1144) (p=0.035), IgG and IgA levels moderately increased with age, and antibodies were higher in females. Most antibody converters increased both IgG and IgA antibodies but some augmented either IgG or IgA, with a faster decay over time for IgA than IgG. Nucleocapsid rather than spike was the main antigen target. Anti-spike antibodies were significantly higher in individuals not reporting symptoms than symptomatic individuals, suggesting a protective role against COVID-19. Conclusion: Saliva antibody profiling including three isotypes and multiplexing antigens is a useful and user-friendlier tool for screening pediatric populations to detect low viral load exposures among children, particularly while they are not vaccinated and vulnerable to highly contagious variants, and to recommend public health policies during pandemics

Oral cavity lymphoma as secondary AIDS-defining neoplasm in a patient on HAART with immune reconstitution

Lymphomas of the oral cavity are a rare complication of advanced HIV/AIDS disease. The clinical appearance of these neoplasms includes masses or ulcerative lesions that involve the oral soft tissue and the jaw as the predominant manifestation. We report the case of a patient with AIDS who developed diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the oral cavity during highly active antiretroviral therapy, with undetectable plasma viral load and immune reconstitution