Dendritic cell deficiencies persist seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 infection induces an exacerbated inflammation driven by innate immunity components. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a key role in the defense against viral infections, for instance plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), have the capacity to produce vast amounts of interferon-alpha (IFN-α). In COVID-19 there is a deficit in DC numbers and IFN-α production, which has been associated with disease severity. In this work, we described that in addition to the DC deficiency, several DC activation and homing markers were altered in acute COVID-19 patients, which were associated with multiple inflammatory markers. Remarkably, previously hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients remained with decreased numbers of CD1c+ myeloid DCs and pDCs seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, the expression of DC markers such as CD86 and CD4 were only restored in previously nonhospitalized patients, while no restoration of integrin β7 and indoleamine 2,3-dyoxigenase (IDO) levels were observed. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the immunological sequelae of COVID-19

The value of ABPM and subclinical target organ damage parameters in diagnosis of resistant hypertension

Introduction: We aimed to assess the effectiveness of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) and subclinical target organ damage parameters for diagnosis of resistant hypertension (RH). Methods: We assessed demographic and anthropometric variables, the incidence of cardiovascular events and subclinical target organ damage (n = 112). We also studied the relationship between these variables and the ABPM results. Results: Of the 112 patients referred from primary care with a diagnosis of RH, 69 (61.6%) were confirmed by ABPM. We found statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) between patients with RH and pseudo-resistant hypertension in the appearance of subclinical target organ damage. A percentage of 84 of the patients had microalbuminuria: 66.25 ± 30.7 mg/dl); 44.9% had stage 3 chronic kidney disease: the average glomerular filtration was 59 ml/min/1.73 m2; and 56.5% had left ventricular hypertrophy on echocardiography. Fundoscopy revealed that 64% of the patients had hypertensive retinopathy. Three variables were associated with an increased HR risk: microalbuminuria, hypertensive retinopathy and left ventricular hypertrophy (OR 5.7, 6.2 and 11.2, respectively). Conclusions: This study shows that the systematic testing for target organ damage, particularly in terms of albuminuria, is a simple and inexpensive tool, with a high predictive value for RH (85%), which could be useful for prioritizing patients who need ABPM. Resumen: Introducción: El presente estudio tiene como objetivo destacar la importancia de la monitorización ambulatoria de la presión arterial (MAPA) y de los parámetros de lesión subclínica de órgano diana en el diagnóstico de hipertensión refractaria (HR). Métodos: Se estudiaron pacientes con diagnóstico de HR (n = 112). Se analizaron variables demográficas, antropométricas, riesgo cardiovascular y lesión subclínica de órgano diana y se relacionaron con la confirmación de HR a través de la MAPA. Resultados: Del total de 112 pacientes con el diagnóstico de HR derivados desde atención primaria se confirmaron mediante MAPA el 61,6% de los casos (n = 69). Se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas (p < 0,001) en la aparición de lesión subclínica de órgano diana en los hipertensos refractarios respecto a los pseudorrefractarios. Un 84% de los pacientes con HR presentaban microalbuminuria: 66,25 ± 30,7 mg/dl). El 44,9% tienen una enfermedad renal crónica estadio 3 con filtrado glomerular medio de 59 ml/min/1,73 m2. El 56,5% presentaba hallazgos ecocardiográficos de hipertrofia de ventrículo izquierdo. El examen de fondo de ojo reveló que un 64% de los pacientes presentaban retinopatía hipertensiva. Las 3 variables que se asociaron a mayor riesgo de HR fueron la presencia de microalbuminuria, retinopatía hipertensiva e hipertrofia de ventrículo izquierdo por ecocardiograma (OR 5,7, 6,2 y 11,2, respectivamente). Conclusiones: Nuestro estudio demuestra que la búsqueda sistemática de daño de órgano diana, especialmente en lo referente a albuminuria, es una herramienta sencilla y barata, con un valor predictivo de HR alto (85%). Podría ser de utilidad en circunstancias en las que es necesario priorizar la realización de MAPA. Keywords: Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, Resistant hypertension, Subclinical target organ damage, Palabras clave: Monitorización ambulatoria de la presión arterial, Hipertensión refractaria, Lesión subclínica de órgano dian

El valor de la MAPA y de los parámetros de lesión subclínica de órgano diana en el diagnóstico de hipertensión refractaria.

We aimed to assess the effectiveness of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) and subclinical target organ damage parameters for diagnosis of resistant hypertension (RH). We assessed demographic and anthropometric variables, the incidence of cardiovascular events and subclinical target organ damage (n=112). We also studied the relationship between these variables and the ABPM results. Of the 112 patients referred from primary care with a diagnosis of RH, 69 (61.6%) were confirmed by ABPM. We found statistically significant differences (P This study shows that the systematic testing for target organ damage, particularly in terms of albuminuria, is a simple and inexpensive tool, with a high predictive value for RH (85%), which could be useful for prioritising patients who need ABPM

Discovering HIV related information by means of association rules and machine learning

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is still one of the main health problems worldwide. It is therefore essential to keep making progress in improving the prognosis and quality of life of affected patients. One way to advance along this pathway is to uncover connections between other disorders associated with HIV/AIDS-so that they can be anticipated and possibly mitigated. We propose to achieve this by using Association Rules (ARs). They allow us to represent the dependencies between a number of diseases and other specific diseases. However, classical techniques systematically generate every AR meeting some minimal conditions on data frequency, hence generating a vast amount of uninteresting ARs, which need to be filtered out. The lack of manually annotated ARs has favored unsupervised filtering, even though they produce limited results. In this paper, we propose a semi-supervised system, able to identify relevant ARs among HIV-related diseases with a minimal amount of annotated training data. Our system has been able to extract a good number of relationships between HIV-related diseases that have been previously detected in the literature but are scattered and are often little known. Furthermore, a number of plausible new relationships have shown up which deserve further investigation by qualified medical experts

COVID-19 in hospitalized HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients : A matched study

CatedresObjectives: We compared the characteristics and clinical outcomes of hospitalized individuals with COVID-19 with [people with HIV (PWH)] and without (non-PWH) HIV co-infection in Spain during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study. People with HIV were identified by reviewing clinical records and laboratory registries of 10 922 patients in active-follow-up within the Spanish HIV Research Network (CoRIS) up to 30 June 2020. Each hospitalized PWH was matched with five non-PWH of the same age and sex randomly selected from COVID-19@Spain, a multicentre cohort of 4035 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19. The main outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality. Results: Forty-five PWH with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 were identified in CoRIS, 21 of whom were hospitalized. A total of 105 age/sex-matched controls were selected from the COVID-19@Spain cohort. The median age in both groups was 53 (Q1-Q3, 46-56) years, and 90.5% were men. In PWH, 19.1% were injecting drug users, 95.2% were on antiretroviral therapy, 94.4% had HIV-RNA < 50 copies/mL, and the median (Q1-Q3) CD4 count was 595 (349-798) cells/μL. No statistically significant differences were found between PWH and non-PWH in number of comorbidities, presenting signs and symptoms, laboratory parameters, radiology findings and severity scores on admission. Corticosteroids were administered to 33.3% and 27.4% of PWH and non-PWH, respectively (P = 0.580). Deaths during admission were documented in two (9.5%) PWH and 12 (11.4%) non-PWH (P = 0.800). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that well-controlled HIV infection does not modify the clinical presentation or worsen clinical outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalization