Functional and Genomic Architecture of Borrelia burgdorferi-Induced Cytokine Responses in Humans

Despite the importance of immune variation for the symptoms and outcome of Lyme disease, the factors influencing cytokine production during infection with the causal pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi remain poorly understood. Borrelia infection-induced monocyte- and T cell-derived cytokines were profiled in peripheral blood from two healthy human cohorts of Western Europeans from the Human Functional Genomics Project. Both non-genetic and genetic host factors were found to influence Borrelia-induced cytokine responses. Age strongly impaired IL-22 responses, and genetic studies identified several independent QTLs that impact Borrelia-induced cytokine production. Genetic, transcriptomic, and functional validation studies revealed an important role for HIF-1 alpha-mediated glycolysis in the cytokine response toBorrelia. HIF-1 alpha pathway activation and increase in glycolysis-derived lactate was confirmed in Lyme disease patients. In conclusion, functional genomics approaches reveal the architecture of cytokine production induced by Borrelia infection of human primary leukocytes and suggest a connection between cellular glucose metabolism and Borrelia-induced cytokine production.</p

Risk factors for infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales: an international matched case-control-control study (EURECA)

Cases were patients with complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI), complicated intraabdominal (cIAI), pneumonia or bacteraemia from other sources (BSI-OS) due to CRE; control groups were patients with infection caused by carbapenem-susceptible Enterobacterales (CSE), and by non-infected patients, respectively. Matching criteria included type of infection for CSE group, ward and duration of hospital admission. Conditional logistic regression was used to identify risk factors. Findings Overall, 235 CRE case patients, 235 CSE controls and 705 non-infected controls were included. The CRE infections were cUTI (133, 56.7%), pneumonia (44, 18.7%), cIAI and BSI-OS (29, 12.3% each). Carbapenemase genes were found in 228 isolates: OXA-48/like, 112 (47.6%), KPC, 84 (35.7%), and metallo-beta-lactamases, 44 (18.7%); 13 produced two. The risk factors for CRE infection in both type of controls were (adjusted OR for CSE controls; 95% CI; p value) previous colonisation/infection by CRE (6.94; 2.74-15.53; <0.001), urinary catheter (1.78; 1.03-3.07; 0.038) and exposure to broad spectrum antibiotics, as categorical (2.20; 1.25-3.88; 0.006) and time-dependent (1.04 per day; 1.00-1.07; 0.014); chronic renal failure (2.81; 1.40-5.64; 0.004) and admission from home (0.44; 0.23-0.85; 0.014) were significant only for CSE controls. Subgroup analyses provided similar results. Interpretation The main risk factors for CRE infections in hospitals with high incidence included previous coloni-zation, urinary catheter and exposure to broad spectrum antibiotics

The role of qSOFA score and biomarkers in assessing severity of community-acquired pneumonia in adults

Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the primary cause of severe sepsis. Severity assessment scores have been created, in order to help physicians decide the proper management of CAP. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlations between different CAP severity scores, including qSOFA, several biomarkers and their predictive value in the 30 day follow-up period, regarding adverse outcome

Usefulness of Presepsin (sCD14-ST) in diagnosis of Infective Endocarditis - preliminary results of an observational study / Utilitatea presepsinului (sCD14-ST) în Endocardita Infecțioasă –rezultate preliminare ale unui studiu observațional

Introducere: Presepsinul sau subtipul formei solubile a CD14 (s CD14-ST), a fost propus ca si biomarker nou în diagnosticul sepsisului. Scopul acestui studiu este de a testa utilitatea presepsinului in diagnosticul endocarditei infecțioase (EI)

Mise en place d’une consultation spécialisée « Douleur et Travail » au CHU de Rouen

International audienc

Comparison of COVID-19 Severity in Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Patients during the Delta and Omicron Wave of the Pandemic in a Romanian Tertiary Infectious Diseases Hospital

Romania has a poor uptake of COVID-19 vaccination in its population. The study objectives were to evaluate the differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated hospitalized COVID-19 patients with regard to disease severity, intensive care need, and mortality during the fourth and the fifth wave of the pandemic associated with the Delta and Omicron variants of concern. A retrospective study on a cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients was performed in a Romanian tertiary hospital for infectious diseases. Multivariate logistic regression models were built predicting severe/critical COVID-19, intensive care need, and death as a function of vaccination status and adjusted for age, comorbidities, and wave of the pandemic. 2235 COVID-19 patients were included, and vaccination status, as a primary vaccination or a booster dose, was described in 750 (33.5%). Unvaccinated patients were older, with more cardiovascular and endocrine diseases, a longer duration of hospitalization, a higher percentage of severe/critical COVID-19, need for intensive care, and death (p &lt; 0.05). The multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for age and comorbidities showed higher odds ratio for severe/critical COVID-19, intensive care need, and mortality in unvaccinated versus vaccinated patients. Our results support vaccination to prevent severe outcomes associated with COVID-19 due to both variants of concern

Comparison of COVID-19 Severity in Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Patients during the Delta and Omicron Wave of the Pandemic in a Romanian Tertiary Infectious Diseases Hospital

Romania has a poor uptake of COVID-19 vaccination in its population. The study objectives were to evaluate the differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated hospitalized COVID-19 patients with regard to disease severity, intensive care need, and mortality during the fourth and the fifth wave of the pandemic associated with the Delta and Omicron variants of concern. A retrospective study on a cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients was performed in a Romanian tertiary hospital for infectious diseases. Multivariate logistic regression models were built predicting severe/critical COVID-19, intensive care need, and death as a function of vaccination status and adjusted for age, comorbidities, and wave of the pandemic. 2235 COVID-19 patients were included, and vaccination status, as a primary vaccination or a booster dose, was described in 750 (33.5%). Unvaccinated patients were older, with more cardiovascular and endocrine diseases, a longer duration of hospitalization, a higher percentage of severe/critical COVID-19, need for intensive care, and death (p < 0.05). The multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for age and comorbidities showed higher odds ratio for severe/critical COVID-19, intensive care need, and mortality in unvaccinated versus vaccinated patients. Our results support vaccination to prevent severe outcomes associated with COVID-19 due to both variants of concern

Non-Coding RNAs and Reactive Oxygen Species–Symmetric Players of the Pathogenesis Associated with Bacterial and Viral Infections

Infections can be triggered by a wide range of pathogens. However, there are few strains of bacteria that cause illness, but some are quite life-threatening. Likewise, viral infections are responsible for many human diseases, usually characterized by high contagiousness. Hence, as bacterial and viral infections can both cause similar symptoms, it can be difficult to determine the exact cause of a specific infection, and this limitation is critical. However, recent scientific advances have geared us up with the proper tools required for better diagnoses. Recent discoveries have confirmed the involvement of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in regulating the pathogenesis of certain bacterial or viral infections. Moreover, the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is also known as a common infection trait that can be used to achieve a more complete description of such pathogen-driven conditions. Thus, this opens further research opportunities, allowing scientists to explore infection-associated genetic patterns and develop better diagnosis and treatment methods. Therefore, the aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of the implication of ncRNAs and ROS in bacterial and viral infections, with great emphasis on their symmetry but, also, on their main differences

Can we find accessible and relevant markers for sepsis outcome?

Background and Aim: Sepsis is a life-threatening disease with high mortality, therefore establishing early diagnostic and finding reliable prognostic biomarkers is vital. We aimed to investigate the prognostic role, as a single value, of serum procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, serum lactate, platelets number and serum glucose level in septic patients, all measured in the first 24 hours after hospital admittance