Polyomaviruses detectable in head and neck carcinomas

Peer reviewe

Olfactory dysfunction in patients after recovering from COVID-19

Background Smell and taste disorders occur in COVID-19 with a high prevalence, but little is known about the duration of the symptoms. In particular, studies using validated olfactory tests are very rare to date. Aims/Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the olfactory function of COVID-19 recoveries by a detailed olfactory test. Methods 91 patients with PCR-confirmed, past COVID-19 disease were included. Olfactory history was taken using a questionnaire. Olfactory function was evaluated with the sniffin' sticks test, tasting function with taste sprays. Results 80 patients had experienced sudden olfactory loss during the course of disease and at the time of testing, 33 patients subjectively still had an impaired olfactory sense. Around 8 weeks had passed since the onset of symptoms. 45.1% of the tested individuals were still hyposmic according to the olfactory test while 53.8% showed an olfactory performance within the normal range. Patients' self-assessment correlated poorly with the measured olfactory performance. Conclusions and significance Half of the patients with an olfactory loss as a symptom of COVID-19 still have olfactory impairments after two months, although not all of these patients subjectively notice a restriction. Long-term measurements must confirm whether all affected patients will make full recovery

Web-based, rapid and contactless management of ambulatory patients for SARS-CoV-2-testing

Abstract Background During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic a mass casualty incident of ambulatory patients occurred at the COVID-19 rapid response infrastructure (CRRI) facility at the University Hospital of Cologne (UHC). We report the development of a patient-centred mobile-device solution to support efficient management of the facility, triage of patients and rapid delivery of test results. Methods The UHC-Corona Web Tool (CWT) was developed as a web-based software useable on each patient’s smartphone. It provides, among others, a self-reported medical history including type and duration of symptoms and potential risk contacts and links all retrieved information to the digital patient chart via a QR code. It provides scheduling of outpatient appointments and automated transmission of SARS-CoV-2 test results. Results The UHC-CWT was launched on 9 April 2020. It was used by 28,652 patients until 31 August 2020. Of those, 15,245 (53,2%) consulted the CRRI, representing 43,1% of all CRRI patients during the observed period. There were 8304 (29,0%) specifications concerning travel history and 17,145 (59,8%) indications of ≥1 symptom of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The most frequently indicated symptoms were sore throat (60,0%), headache (50,7%), common cold (45,1%) and cough (42,6%) while 11,057 (40,2%) patients did not report any symptoms. After implementation of the UHC-CWT, the amount of patient contacts per physician rose from 38 to 98,7 per day. The personnel for communication of test results were reduced from four on seven days to one on five days. Conclusion The UHC-CWT is an effective digital solution for management of large numbers of outpatients for SARS-CoV-2 testing

Upregulation of AKR1C1 and AKR1C3 expression in OPSCC with integrated HPV16 and HPV-negative tumors is an indicator of poor prognosis

Different studies have shown that HPV16-positive OPSCC can be subdivided based on integration status (integrated, episomal and mixed forms). Because we showed that integration neither affects the levels of viral genes, nor those of virally disrupted human genes, a genome-wide screen was performed to identify human genes which expression is influenced by viral integration and have clinical relevance. Thirty-three fresh-frozen HPV-16 positive OPSCC samples with known integration status were analyzed by mRNA expression profiling. Among the genes of interest, Aldo-keto-reductases 1C1 and 1C3 (AKR1C1, AKR1C3) were upregulated in tumors with viral integration. Additionally, 141 OPSCC, including 48 HPV-positive cases, were used to validate protein expression by immunohistochemistry. Results were correlated with clinical and histopathological data. Non-hierarchical clustering resulted in two main groups differing in mRNA expression patterns, which interestingly corresponded with viral integration status. In OPSCC with integrated viral DNA, often metabolic pathways were deregulated with frequent upregulation of AKR1C1 and AKR1C3 transcripts. Survival analysis of 141 additionally immunostained OPSCC showed unfavorable survival rates for tumors with upregulation of AKR1C1 or AKR1C3 (both p <0.0001), both in HPV-positive (p <= 0.001) and -negative (p <= 0.017) tumors. OPSCC with integrated HPV16 show upregulation of AKR1C1 and AKR1C3 expression, which strongly correlates with poor survival rates. Also in HPV-negative tumors, upregulation of these proteins correlates with unfavorable outcome. Deregulated AKR1C expression has also been observed in other tumors, making these genes promising candidates to indicate prognosis. In addition, the availability of inhibitors of these gene products may be utilized for drug treatment