PIRCHE-II scores prove useful as a predictive biomarker among kidney transplant recipients with rejection: An analysis of indication and follow-up biopsies

BackgroundIndication biopsies for deterioration of kidney allograft function often require follow-up biopsies to assess treatment response or lack of improvement. Immune-mediated injury, namely borderline rejection (BLR), T-cell mediated rejection (TCMR), or antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR), results from preformed or de novo alloreactivity due to donor and recipient HLA-mismatches. The impact of HLA-mismatches on alloreactivity is determined by highly immunogenic HLA-epitopes.MethodsWe analyzed 123 kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) from 2009 to 2019 who underwent a first indication and a follow-up biopsy. KTRs were divided into three groups according to the first biopsy: No rejection (NR)/BLR (n=68); TCMR (n=21); ABMR (n=34). The HLA-derived epitope-mismatches were calculated using the Predicted Indirectly Recognizable HLA-Epitopes (PIRCHE-II) algorithm.ResultsGroup NR/BLR: KTRs with higher total PIRCHE-II scores were more likely to develop TCMR in the follow-up biopsy (p=0.031). Interestingly, these differences were significant for both HLA-class I- (p=0.017) and HLA-class II-derived (p=0.017) PIRCHE-II scores. Group TCMR: KTRs with ongoing TCMR in the follow-up biopsy were more likely to show higher total PIRCHE-II scores (median 101.50 vs. 74.00). Group ABMR: KTRs with higher total PIRCHE-II scores were more likely to show an increase in the microvascular inflammation score in the follow-up biopsy. This difference was more pronounced for the HLA-class II-derived PIRCHE-II scores (median 70.00 vs. 31.76; p=0.086).ConclusionsPIRCHE-II scores may prove useful as a biomarker to predict the histopathological changes of immune-related injury from a first indication to a follow-up biopsy. This immunological risk stratification may contribute to individualized treatment strategies

ZHAW-CAI : ensemble method for Swiss German speech to Standard German text

This paper presents the contribution of ZHAW-CAI to the Shared Task ”Swiss German Speech to Standard German Text” at the SwissText 2021 conference. Our approach combines three models based on the Fairseq, Jasper and Wav2vec architectures trained on multilingual, German and Swiss German data. We applied an ensembling algorithm on the predictions of the three models in order to retrieve the most reliable candidate out of the provided translations for each spoken utterance. With the ensembling output, we achieved a BLEU score of 39.39 on the private test set, which gave us the third place out of four contributors in the competition

Is living in a household with children associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in adults? Results from the Swiss national seroprevalence study Corona Immunitas.

BACKGROUND We aimed to determine whether living in a household with children is associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in adults and investigated interacting factors that may influence this association. METHODS SARS-CoV-2 serology testing was performed in randomly selected individuals from the general population between end of October 2020 and February 2021 in 11 cantons in Switzerland. Data on sociodemographic and household characteristics, employment status, and health-related history was collected using questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association of living with children <18 years of age (number, age group) and SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. Further, we assessed the influence of reported non-household contacts, employment status, and gender. RESULTS Of 2393 working age participants (18-64 years), 413 (17.2%) were seropositive. Our results suggest that living with children and SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity are likely to be associated (unadjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.22, 95% confidence interval [0.98-1.52], adjusted OR 1.25 [0.99-1.58]). A pattern of a positive association was also found for subgroups of children aged 0-11 years (OR 1.21 [0.90-1.60]) and 12-17 years (OR 1.14 [0.78-1.64]). Odds of seropositivity were higher with more children (OR 1.14 per additional child [1.02-1.27]). Men had higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection when living with children than women (interaction: OR 1.74 [1.10-2.76]). CONCLUSIONS In adults from the general population living with children seems associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. However, child-related infection risk is not the same for every subgroup and depends on factors like gender. Further factors determining child-related infection risk need to be identified and causal links investigated. TRIAL REGISTRATION https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN18181860

Is living in a household with children associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in adults? Results from the Swiss national seroprevalence study Corona Immunitas

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine whether living in a household with children is associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in adults and investigated interacting factors that may influence this association. METHODS: SARS-CoV-2 serology testing was performed in randomly selected individuals from the general population between end of October 2020 and February 2021 in 11 cantons in Switzerland. Data on sociodemographic and household characteristics, employment status, and health-related history was collected using questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association of living with children <18 years of age (number, age group) and SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. Further, we assessed the influence of reported non-household contacts, employment status, and gender. RESULTS: Of 2393 working age participants (18-64 years), 413 (17.2%) were seropositive. Our results suggest that living with children and SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity are likely to be associated (unadjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.22, 95% confidence interval [0.98-1.52], adjusted OR 1.25 [0.99-1.58]). A pattern of a positive association was also found for subgroups of children aged 0-11 years (OR 1.21 [0.90-1.60]) and 12-17 years (OR 1.14 [0.78-1.64]). Odds of seropositivity were higher with more children (OR 1.14 per additional child [1.02-1.27]). Men had higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection when living with children than women (interaction: OR 1.74 [1.10-2.76]). CONCLUSIONS: In adults from the general population living with children seems associated with SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. However, child-related infection risk is not the same for every subgroup and depends on factors like gender. Further factors determining child-related infection risk need to be identified and causal links investigated

A FRAX model for the assessment of fracture probability in Belgium

peer reviewedRESUME : Cette étude a pour but d’adapter à la population belge l’algorithme FRAX® récemment publié par l’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS) et permettant de calculer, dans les deux sexes, le risque absolu de fractures ostéoporotiques, à 10 ans. Nous nous sommes attachés à quantifier le risque fracturaire correspondant aux critères actuellement appliqués, en Belgique, pour le remboursement des médicaments de l’ostéoporose et à identifier les situations cliniques correspondant à une probabilité équivalente de fracture. Les probabilités fracturaires ont été calculées, à partir des incidences de fractures et de décès publiées, pour la population belge. Ces probabilités prennent en considération l’âge, le sexe, l’existence de facteurs cliniques de risque (FCR) et la densité minérale osseuse (DMO), mesurée au niveau de la zone propre du col fémoral. L’algorithme FRAX® permet d’identifier différents scénarios d’intervention, en Belgique, correspondant à un risque fracturaire identique ou supérieur à celui servant de base aux critères actuels de remboursement des médicaments. Il est donc possible de recommander une modification des attitudes actuelles, délaissant une stratégie basée sur une évaluation dichotomique de la DMO, au profit d’une intégration progressive des FCR qui permettra, in fine, une meilleure identification des patients à risque accru de fracture. Cette approche devra être substantiée par des analyses pharmaco-économiques appropriées