Graph based study of allergen cross-reactivity of plant lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) using microarray in a multicenter study.

The study of cross-reactivity in allergy is key to both understanding. the allergic response of many patients and providing them with a rational treatment In the present study, protein microarrays and a co-sensitization graph approach were used in conjunction with an allergen microarray immunoassay. This enabled us to include a wide number of proteins and a large number of patients, and to study sensitization profiles among members of the LTP family. Fourteen LTPs from the most frequent plant food-induced allergies in the geographical area studied were printed into a microarray specifically designed for this research. 212 patients with fruit allergy and 117 food-tolerant pollen allergic subjects were recruited from seven regions of Spain with different pollen profiles, and their sera were tested with allergen microarray. This approach has proven itself to be a good tool to study cross-reactivity between members of LTP family, and could become a useful strategy to analyze other families of allergens

The involvement of thaumatin-like proteins in plant food cross-reactivity: a multicenter study using a specific protein microarray.

Cross-reactivity of plant foods is an important phenomenon in allergy, with geographical variations with respect to the number and prevalence of the allergens involved in this process, whose complexity requires detailed studies. We have addressed the role of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) in cross-reactivity between fruit and pollen allergies. A representative panel of 16 purified TLPs was printed onto an allergen microarray. The proteins selected belonged to the sources most frequently associated with peach allergy in representative regions of Spain. Sera from two groups of well characterized patients, one with allergy to Rosaceae fruit (FAG) and another against pollens but tolerant to food-plant allergens (PAG), were obtained from seven geographical areas with different environmental pollen profiles. Cross-reactivity between members of this family was demonstrated by inhibition assays. Only 6 out of 16 purified TLPs showed noticeable allergenic activity in the studied populations. Pru p 2.0201, the peach TLP (41%), chestnut TLP (24%) and plane pollen TLP (22%) proved to be allergens of probable relevance to fruit allergy, being mainly associated with pollen sensitization, and strongly linked to specific geographical areas such as Barcelona, Bilbao, the Canary Islands and Madrid. The patients exhibited mayor que50% positive response to Pru p 2.0201 and to chestnut TLP in these specific areas. Therefore, their recognition patterns were associated with the geographical area, suggesting a role for pollen in the sensitization of these allergens. Finally, the co-sensitizations of patients considering pairs of TLP allergens were analyzed by using the co-sensitization graph associated with an allergen microarray immunoassay. Our data indicate that TLPs are significant allergens in plant food allergy and should be considered when diagnosing and treating pollen-food allergy

Prediction of Recurrent Pregnancy Loss by a New Thrombophilia Based Genetic Risk Score

We  examined the predictive ability of the new thrombophilia-based genetic risk score that has been developed (TiC-RPL)  to acutely determine the risk of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) closely related to thrombophilia and to compare it with the ability of the classical genetic thrombophilia variants F5 rs6025 and F2 rs1799963. This is a case-control observational study, with retrospective data analysis. We included 180 healthy women with at least one uncomplicated pregnancy to term and no previous miscarriage and 184 cases of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). The predictive ability was assessed in terms of discrimination (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV), and positive and negative likelihood ratios (PLR and NLR). TiC-RPL has a better AUC (95 CI) than F5 rs6025+F2 rs1799963 [0.763 (0.715-0.811) vs 0.540 (0.514-0.567); p<0.0001], with a sensitivity of 70.65%, a specificity of 67.78%, a PPV of 69.15%, an NPV of 69.32%, a PLR of 2.19, and an NLR of 0.43. Our results show that the new score TiC-RPL is significantly better than F5 rs6025+F2 rs1799963 in identifying RPL women in whom RPL appears to be associated with thrombophilia. This identification can guide a personalized approach in the prevention of RPL

Safety and Revisit Related to Discharge the Sixty-one Spanish Emergency Department Medical Centers Without Hospitalization in Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia. A Prospective Cohort Study UMC-Pneumonia COVID-19

Background: Information is needed on the safety and efficacy of direct discharge from the emergency department (ED) of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the variables associated with discharge from the ED in patients presenting with COVID-19 pneumonia, and study ED revisits related to COVID-19 at 30 days (EDR30d). Methods: Multicenter study of the SIESTA cohort including 1198 randomly selected COVID patients in 61 EDs of Spanish medical centers from March 1, 2020, to April 30, 2020. We collected baseline and related characteristics of the acute episode and calculated the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for ED discharge. In addition, we analyzed the variables related to EDR30d in discharged patients. Results: We analyzed 859 patients presenting with COVID-19 pneumonia, 84 (9.8%) of whom were discharged from the ED. The variables independently associated with discharge were being a woman (aOR 1.890; 95%CI 1.176-3.037), age 1200/mm(3) (aOR 4.667; 95%CI 1.045-20.839). The EDR30d of the ED discharged group was 40.0%, being lower in women (aOR 0.368; 95%CI 0.142-0.953). A total of 130 hospitalized patients died (16.8%) as did two in the group discharged from the ED (2.4%) (OR 0.121; 95%CI 0.029-0.498). Conclusion: Discharge from the ED in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia was infrequent and was associated with few variables of the episode. The EDR30d was high, albeit with a low mortality

Proper assignation of reactivation in a COVID-19 recurrence initially interpreted as a reinfection

A 77-year-old-male (Case R) who had had a previous diagnosis of mild COVID-19 episode, was hospitalized 35 days later. On Day 23 post-admission, he developed a second COVID-19 episode, now severe, and finally died. Initially, Case R COVID-19 recurrence was interpreted as a reinfection due to the exposure to a SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR-positive room-mate. However, whole-genome-sequencing indicated that case R recurrence corresponded to a reactivation of the strain involved in his first episode. Case R reactivation had major consequences, leading to a more severe episode, and causing a subsequent transmission to another two hospitalized patients, one of them with fatal outcome.Peer reviewe

Graph based study of allergen cross-reactivity of plant lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) using microarray in a multicenter study.

The study of cross-reactivity in allergy is key to both understanding. the allergic response of many patients and providing them with a rational treatment In the present study, protein microarrays and a co-sensitization graph approach were used in conjunction with an allergen microarray immunoassay. This enabled us to include a wide number of proteins and a large number of patients, and to study sensitization profiles among members of the LTP family. Fourteen LTPs from the most frequent plant food-induced allergies in the geographical area studied were printed into a microarray specifically designed for this research. 212 patients with fruit allergy and 117 food-tolerant pollen allergic subjects were recruited from seven regions of Spain with different pollen profiles, and their sera were tested with allergen microarray. This approach has proven itself to be a good tool to study cross-reactivity between members of LTP family, and could become a useful strategy to analyze other families of allergens

Don't erase

Aquesta exposició del Postgrau en Il·lustració creativa i tècniques de comunicació visual d’EINA és una mostra condensada de l’odissea personal que 26 il·lustradors hem fet durant un any. Us ensenyem fins a on hem arribat sota la consigna de “No esborrar”, d’abraçar l’error i perdre-li la por, de trobar la nostra manera única i intransferible d’il·lustrar. No hi ha camí ràpid per convertir-se en il·lustrador o il·lustradora d’èxit, igualment no hi ha una única manera d’il·lustrar. Cadascun de nosaltres ho fem i ho seguirem fent a la nostra manera, però el que està clar és que per il·lustrar bé necessites fer-ho sense por, amb confiança i seguretat en els encerts i també en els errors perquè això és el que fa que una obra ens emocioni.Esta exposición del Postgrado en Ilustración creativa y técnicas de comunicación visual de EINA es una muestra condensada de la odisea personal que 26 ilustradores hemos hecho durante un año. Os enseñamos hasta donde hemos llegado bajo la consigna de “No borrar”, de abrazar el error y perderle el miedo, de encontrar nuestra manera única e intransferible de ilustrar. No existe el camino rápido para convertirse en ilustrador o ilustradora de éxito, al igual que no hay una única forma de ilustrar, cada uno de nosotros lo hace y lo seguirá haciendo a su manera, pero lo que está claro es que para ilustrar bien necesitas hacerlo sin miedo, con confianza y seguridad en tus aciertos y también en tus errores porque eso es lo que hace que una obra nos emocione.This exhibition of the Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Illustration and Visual Communication Techniques of EINA is a condensed sample of the personal odyssey that 26 illustrators have made in the past year. In it we show you, the public, how far we have come under the slogan of “Don’t Erase”, of embracing error and facing our fears, of finding our unique and non-transferable way of illustrating. There is no quick way to become a successful illustrator, just as there is no single way to illustrate, each one of us will continue to work his or her own way, but what is clear is that to illustrate well you need to do it without fear, with confidence in both your achievements and failures because that is what helps create emotional, moving work

Association Between Preexisting Versus Newly Identified Atrial Fibrillation and Outcomes of Patients With Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) may exist before or occur early in the course of pulmonary embolism (PE). We determined the PE outcomes based on the presence and timing of AF. Methods and Results Using the data from a multicenter PE registry, we identified 3 groups: (1) those with preexisting AF, (2) patients with new AF within 2 days from acute PE (incident AF), and (3) patients without AF. We assessed the 90-day and 1-year risk of mortality and stroke in patients with AF, compared with those without AF (reference group). Among 16 497 patients with PE, 792 had preexisting AF. These patients had increased odds of 90-day all-cause (odds ratio [OR], 2.81; 95% CI, 2.33-3.38) and PE-related mortality (OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.37-4.14) and increased 1-year hazard for ischemic stroke (hazard ratio, 5.48; 95% CI, 3.10-9.69) compared with those without AF. After multivariable adjustment, preexisting AF was associated with significantly increased odds of all-cause mortality (OR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.57-2.32) but not PE-related mortality (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 0.85-2.66). Among 16 497 patients with PE, 445 developed new incident AF within 2 days of acute PE. Incident AF was associated with increased odds of 90-day all-cause (OR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.75-2.97) and PE-related (OR, 3.64; 95% CI, 2.01-6.59) mortality but not stroke. Findings were similar in multivariable analyses. Conclusions In patients with acute symptomatic PE, both preexisting AF and incident AF predict adverse clinical outcomes. The type of adverse outcomes may differ depending on the timing of AF onset.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Human importin α3 and its N-terminal truncated form, without the importin-β-binding domain, are oligomeric species with a low conformational stability in solution

[Background]: Eukaryotic cells have a continuous transit of macromolecules between the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Several carrier proteins are involved in this transport. One of them is importin α, which must form a complex with importin β to accomplish its function, by domain-swapping its 60-residue-long N terminus. There are several human isoforms of importin α; among them, importin α3 has a particularly high flexibility.[Methods]: We studied the conformational stability of intact importin α3 (Impα3) and its truncated form, where the 64-residue-long, N-terminal importin-β-binding domain (IBB) has been removed (ΔImpα3), in a wide pH range, with several spectroscopic, biophysical, biochemical methods and with molecular dynamics (MD).[Results]: Both species acquired native-like structure between pH 7 and 10.0, where Impα3 was a dimer (with an apparent self-association constant of ~10 μM) and ΔImpα3 had a higher tendency to self-associate than the intact species. The acquisition of secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure, and the burial of hydrophobic patches, occurred concomitantly. Both proteins unfolded irreversibly at physiological pH, by using either temperature or chemical denaturants, through several partially folded intermediates. The MD simulations support the presence of these intermediates.[Conclusions]: The thermal stability of Impα3 at physiological pH was very low, but was higher than that of ΔImpα3. Both proteins were stable in a narrow pH range, and they unfolded at physiological pH populating several intermediate species.[General significance]: The low conformational stability explains the flexibility of Impα3, which is needed to carry out its recognition of complex cargo sequences.This work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and European FEDER Funds (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, EU) [RTI2018-097991-B-I00 to JLN and JG, BFU2016-75471-C2-1-P to CA, PGC2018-094548-B-I00 to AA and BIO2016-78020-R to ACA], Basque Country [IT-1175-19 to AA], GVA and EU-FEDER funds “Una forma de hacer Europa” [GVA-IDIFEDER 2018/020] and Portuguese FCT [UIDB/04565/2020 and SAICTPAC/0019/2015 to AC and MP]. AUC SV assays were performed at the Molecular Interactions Facility at the CIB Margarita Salas. CD-G acknowledges Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics Doctoral Programme (M2B-PhD) FCT reference: SFRH/PD/BD/135154/2017. BR acknowledges the kind hospitality and use of computational resources in the European Magnetic Resonance Center (CERM), Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), Italy.Peer reviewe