Comparative Analysis of The Self- and Co-assembly of Type-I and Type-III Collagen

Collagen represents the most abundant protein family in the human body which forms 30% of the total protein. Among different types, type-I and type-III are the two most abundant, respectively, in the heterotypic fibril structure. Although many tissues in the human body have a heterotypic form of co-assembled two or more types of collagens, not much is known concerning the heterotypic assembly of two or more types of collagens. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of the co-assembly process of the two main types of collagen. Collagen, which is a major component of an Extracellular Matrix (ECM) protein, also has a self-assembly ability in vitro, and the resulting matrices are used as scaffolds for cell-biological applications, templates for microelectronic applications, coating materials for non-biological surfaces for enhanced bio-compatibility. The assembly process is, so far, mostly monitored turbidimetrically in solution. In this study, by using atomic force microscopy(AFM), custom image analysis, and kinetic modeling, we study the homotypic and the heterotypic assembly of type-I and type-III collagen on muscovite and phlogopite mica surfaces with varying concentrations and ratios of the two collagen types. We found that when assembled individually, type-I collagen nucleates and assembles faster than type-III, and forms thicker fibrils. When the two collagens co-assemble, the fibril thickness and growth rate decrease as the fraction of type-III collagen increases. However, the fibril nucleation rate depends non-monotonically on the type-III fraction, being the highest for an intermediate mixture of types-I and III collagens. These results can be understood based on their amino acid composition, where type-I collagen, being more hydrophobic, nucleates fibrils fast and grows in both longitudinal and lateral directions. In contrast, the more hydrophilic character of type-III collagen limits the lateral growth of fibrils, which in turn makes more monomers available to nucleate additional fibrils. These results demonstrate how subtle differences in physico-chemical properties of similar molecules can be used to fine-tune their assembly behavior

Comparative Analysis of The Self- and Co-assembly of Type-I and Type-III Collagen

Collagen represents the most abundant protein family in the human body which forms 30% of the total protein. Among different types, type-I and type-III are the two most abundant, respectively, in the heterotypic fibril structure. Although many tissues in the human body have a heterotypic form of co-assembled two or more types of collagens, not much is known concerning the heterotypic assembly of two or more types of collagens. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of the co-assembly process of the two main types of collagen. Collagen, which is a major component of an Extracellular Matrix (ECM) protein, also has a self-assembly ability in vitro, and the resulting matrices are used as scaffolds for cell-biological applications, templates for microelectronic applications, coating materials for non-biological surfaces for enhanced bio-compatibility. The assembly process is, so far, mostly monitored turbidimetrically in solution. In this study, by using atomic force microscopy(AFM), custom image analysis, and kinetic modeling, we study the homotypic and the heterotypic assembly of type-I and type-III collagen on muscovite and phlogopite mica surfaces with varying concentrations and ratios of the two collagen types. We found that when assembled individually, type-I collagen nucleates and assembles faster than type-III, and forms thicker fibrils. When the two collagens co-assemble, the fibril thickness and growth rate decrease as the fraction of type-III collagen increases. However, the fibril nucleation rate depends non-monotonically on the type-III fraction, being the highest for an intermediate mixture of types-I and III collagens. These results can be understood based on their amino acid composition, where type-I collagen, being more hydrophobic, nucleates fibrils fast and grows in both longitudinal and lateral directions. In contrast, the more hydrophilic character of type-III collagen limits the lateral growth of fibrils, which in turn makes more monomers available to nucleate additional fibrils. These results demonstrate how subtle differences in physico-chemical properties of similar molecules can be used to fine-tune their assembly behavior

Clinical characteristics of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 vaccinated with at least two doses in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey

Background. We aimed to examine the characteristics of Turkish patients hospitalized with COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated. Method. A retrospective, single-center study was conducted in fully vaccinated patients with inactivated whole virion (CoronaVac) and/or BNT162b2 mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccines and admitted to the hospital. We evaluated the hospitalized patients regarding the intensive care unit admission and death. A multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors for mortality. Results. We conducted the study with 541 patients. The mean age was 70.2, and 52.1% of the patients were women. 73.6% of the patients were 65 years or older. The most common comorbidities were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and COPD. The rate of the alpha variant was 54.3%, and the delta variant was 29.4%. The mortality rate was 45.8%, and the ICU admission rate was 55.3%. The delta (B.1.617.2) variant had higher ICU admission and mortality rate. Patients vaccinated with two-dose Sinovac-CoronaVac had a higher mortality rate. There was no difference between the time between the last vaccination dose to hospitalization, ICU admission, and mortality. LOS in the hospital was longer in ICU and mortality patients. In multivariate binary logistic analysis; age (odds ratio (OR), 1.06; 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 1.04-1.08- year increase), male gender (OR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.04-2.38), presence of comorbid diseases (OR, 4; 95% CI, 2-8) and delta variant (OR, 7.3; 95% CI, 4.4- 12.2) and vaccination with CoronaVac plus BioNTech (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.07-0.62) were associated with death. Conclusion. Our results suggest administering a third and fourth dose of mRNA vaccine to subjects vaccinated primarily with two doses of CoronaVac

CAN HOMEOPATHY BE A "REMEDY" FOR LOSS OF SMELL AND TASTE IN PATIENTS WITH COVID-19?

Background: Homeopathy is applied as a supportive in the treatment of viral infections and in relieving their symptoms. Objective: To create an awareness that effective remedial results can be obtained by homeopathy in patients with loss of smell and taste in Coronavirus Disease 2019. Methods: A prospective, cohort and randomized study was conducted. The main inclusion criterion was the loss of smell and taste for at least one week. Homeopathic remedies were also applied as supportive therapy. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the loss of smell and taste perception before and after treatment. Results: A total of 30 patients, 32.17±10.25 years, were included in the study. The mean pre-treatment VAS-smell perception of the patients was 0.67±1.24, while the mean VAS-taste perception was 2.57±3.01. After the treatment, the mean of VAS-smell perception was 8.67±1.92, while the mean of VAS-taste increased to 9.43±1.22. There was a strong positive correlation between ΔVAS-smell perception and ΔVAS-taste perception (r: 0.563, p: 0.001). There was also a strong negative correlation between ΔVAS-taste perception and the level of ferritin (r: -0.552, p: 0.002). Conclusion: The present study on the effective improvement via homeopathy treatment in patients with loss of smell and taste in COVID-19 that “has spoiled the taste of life and living” should be supported by further studies

Prolonged GnRH suppression period in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation cycles: Impacts on IVF outcomes?

Background: Prolonged GnRH-a administration in IVF cycles may have some advantages related to the treatment outcomes. Objective: In this study, we aimed to analyse the effect of prolonged gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) administration on controlled ovarian hyperstimulation outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, 55 patients with a GnRH-a administration period more than 10 days were compared with 55 patients whose same period was ≤10 days with respect to the demographic characteristics, metaphase II (MII) oocyte ratio, grade I (GI) embryo ratio, blastocyst ratio, fertilization, implantation, and the clinical pregnancy rates. Results: The mean hospital visit count of the prolonged GnRH-a patients was 2.6±0.4. As we expected, total GnRH-a doses used during hypophyseal down regulation were significantly different between the groups (p<0.0001). MII oocyte, G1 embryo and the blastocyst ratios were also significantly different between the groups (p<0.0001; p<0.01 and p<0.05). All the other parameters were insignificant. Conclusion: Prolonged GnRH-a administration during ovarian suppression in IVF patients may have positive impacts on the oocytes and the embryos, but this affect may not be observed in the overall pregnancy rates

Analysis of 232 total fertilization failure cycles during intracytoplasmic sperm injection

Background: The intracytoplasmic sperm injection procedure ending with total fertilization failure is very distressfull event for both the clinician and the patient.Objective: The aim of this study was to identify independent factors which could be used to identify total fertilization failure before the day of intracytoplasmic sperm injection.Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study of 232 patients who were admitted to a tertiary-care hospital IVF Unit and showed total fertilization failure during intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycles. To sort out the interwined effects of female age, basal FSH, sperm quality, antral follicle count, starting dose of gonadotrophine, sperm extraction technique, cycle length, >14 mm follicle number, oocyte number after oocyte pick up, estradiol and progesterone level on the day of hCG and the MI, MII and GV oocyte number on the fertilization, multiple logistic regression analysis was used.Results: The total fertilization failure rate was 6% and the recurrance rate was 23%. The original model illustrated that the presence of GV oocytes, total oocyte number less than six, <2000 pg/mL E2 concentration on the day of hCG and testicular sperm extraction increases the total fertilization failure risk.Conclusion: It is very difficult to predict total fertilization failure. Sometimes even with one good quality oocyte and sperm and in the case of globozoospermia fertilization can be achieved. Not only azoospermia but also low oocyte numbers increase the chance of total fertilization failure even after intracytoplasmic sperm injectio

Title: The course of COVID-19 in patients with hematological malignancies and risk factors affecting mortality: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the clinical outcomes and risk factors affecting mortality in patients with COVID-19 following hematological malignancy (HM). METHODS: Patients diagnosed with HM and hospitalized for COVID-19 were included in this retrospective study. The age, demographic and clinical characteristics, prognosis and treatment of surviving and non-surviving patients were compared. RESULTS: A total of 49 patients were included in this study, 17 (34.6%) of whom died within 28 days of being diagnosed with COVID-19. Older age (p = 0.001), diabetes (p = 0.001), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p = 0.002), secondary infection (p < 0.001) and secondary bacterial infection (p = 0.005) were statistically significantly higher in non-survivors. The remission status of HM was higher in surviving patients (p < 0.001). In multivariate regression analysis, age (OR: 1.102, p = 0.035) and secondary infection (OR: 16.677, p = 0.024) were risk factors increasing mortality, the remission status of HM (OR: 0.093, p = 0.047) was a protective factor from mortality. CONCLUSION: The older age, the remission status of HM and secondary infection due to COVID-19 were determined as prognostic factors predicting mortality in HM patients with following COVID-19

The association of De Ritis ratio with the severity of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever

Aim: This study aimed to present the characteristics and poor prognostic factors of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) patients. Materials & methods: Adult patients (>18 years) with CCHF were included in this retrospective study. Demographics, risk scores and laboratory findings of survivors and nonsurvivors were compared. Results: Fifteen (9.2%) of 163 CCHF patients were nonsurvivors and had a higher Severity Score Index (p 3 in 10.1% of survivors and 53.3% of nonsurvivors (p 3 (OR: 5.428, p = 0.045) and SGS (OR: 1.776, p = 0.005) were found as predictive factors. Conclusion: De Ritis ratio may predict prognosis in combination with severity risk scores in CCHF. Plain language summary Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a disease caused by a virus that causes a high fever and bleeding. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease yet. It is important for doctors to be able to predict which patients are more or less likely to get better, so they need inexpensive tests to predict this. One example test checks the liver enzymes in the blood. This study looked at these tests and discovered that when a certain enzyme called aspartate transaminase is high, patients were more likely to be seriously ill and the sickness affected their whole body. Another enzyme called alanine transaminase was also high when sickness was severe. By checking liver enzymes, doctors can predict whether a patient will recover. If the ratio of these two enzymes, called the De Ritis ratio, is more than 3, the patient may not recover easily. Tweetable abstract De Ritis ratio (aspartate transaminase/alanine transaminase) increases in correlation with clinical severity in patients with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. If the De Ritis ratio is >3, the probability of mortality is found to increase 5.4-times