Sars-cov-2 and skin: The pathologist’s point of view

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has dramatically changed our lives and habits. In just a few months, the most advanced and efficient health systems in the world have been overwhelmed by an infectious disease that has caused 3.26 million deaths and more than 156 million cases worldwide. Although the lung is the most frequently affected organ, the skin has also resulted in being a target body district, so much so as to suggest it may be a real “sentinel” of COVID-19 disease. Here we present 17 cases of skin manifestations studied and analyzed in recent months in our Department; immunohistochemical investigations were carried out on samples for the S1 spike-protein of SARS-CoV-2, as well as electron microscopy investigations showing evidence of virions within the constituent cells of the eccrine sweat glands and the endothelium of small blood vessels. Finally, we conduct a brief review of the COVID-related skin manifestations, confirmed by immunohistochemistry and/or electron microscopy, described in the literature

The Compartmentalized Bacteria of the Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobia-Chlamydiae Superphylum Have Membrane Coat-Like Proteins

Compartmentalized bacteria have proteins that are structurally related to eukaryotic membrane coats, and one of these proteins localizes at the membrane of vesicles formed inside bacterial cells

Genome Analysis of Planctomycetes Inhabiting Blades of the Red Alga

Porphyra is a macrophytic red alga of the Bangiales that is important ecologically and economically. We describe the genomes of three bacteria in the phylum Planctomycetes (designated P1, P2 and P3) that were isolated from blades of Porphyra umbilicalis (P.um.1). These three Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) belong to distinct genera; P2 belongs to the genus Rhodopirellula, while P1 and P3 represent undescribed genera within the Planctomycetes. Comparative analyses of the P1, P2 and P3 genomes show large expansions of distinct gene families, which can be widespread throughout the Planctomycetes (e.g., protein kinases, sensors/response regulators) and may relate to specific habitat (e.g., sulfatase gene expansions in marine Planctomycetes) or phylogenetic position. Notably, there are major differences among the Planctomycetes in the numbers and sub-functional diversity of enzymes (e.g., sulfatases, glycoside hydrolases, polysaccharide lyases) that allow these bacteria to access a range of sulfated polysaccharides in macroalgal cell walls. These differences suggest that the microbes have varied capacities for feeding on fixed carbon in the cell walls of P.um.1 and other macrophytic algae, although the activities among the various bacteria might be functionally complementary in situ. Additionally, phylogenetic analyses indicate augmentation of gene functions through expansions arising from gene duplications and horizontal gene transfers; examples include genes involved in cell wall degradation (e.g., κ-carrageenase, alginate lyase, fucosidase) and stress responses (e.g., efflux pump, amino acid transporter). Finally P1 and P2 contain various genes encoding selenoproteins, many of which are enzymes that ameliorate the impact of environmental stresses that occur in the intertidal habitat

Formation and Growth of Oligomers: A Monte Carlo Study of an Amyloid Tau Fragment

Small oligomers formed early in the process of amyloid fibril formation may be the major toxic species in Alzheimer's disease. We investigate the early stages of amyloid aggregation for the tau fragment AcPHF6 (Ac-VQIVYK-NH2) using an implicit solvent all-atom model and extensive Monte Carlo simulations of 12, 24, and 36 chains. A variety of small metastable aggregates form and dissolve until an aggregate of a critical size and conformation arises. However, the stable oligomers, which are β-sheet-rich and feature many hydrophobic contacts, are not always growth-ready. The simulations indicate instead that these supercritical oligomers spend a lengthy period in equilibrium in which considerable reorganization takes place accompanied by exchange of chains with the solution. Growth competence of the stable oligomers correlates with the alignment of the strands in the β-sheets. The larger aggregates seen in our simulations are all composed of two twisted β-sheets, packed against each other with hydrophobic side chains at the sheet–sheet interface. These β-sandwiches show similarities with the proposed steric zipper structure for PHF6 fibrils but have a mixed parallel/antiparallel β-strand organization as opposed to the parallel organization found in experiments on fibrils. Interestingly, we find that the fraction of parallel β-sheet structure increases with aggregate size. We speculate that the reorganization of the β-sheets into parallel ones is an important rate-limiting step in the formation of PHF6 fibrils

A role for gp210 in mitotic nuclear-envelope breakdown

International audienc

Routine invasive strategy is of most benefit in trials that did not specify positive cardiac biomarker status as an inclusion criterion:a meta-analysis

Purpose: We further explored the hypothesis of fewer cardiac deaths among Unstable Angina and Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (UA/NSTEMI) patients undergoing early angiography, attempting to address previous concerns on baseline risk of patients as assessed by troponin status. Methods: Only randomized controlled clinical trials reporting data on cardiac biomarkers were considered for inclusion in this meta-analysis. Routine invasive and selective invasive strategies were compared as follows: analysis 1: trials only recruiting participants with positive cardiac biomarkers (NSTEMI) versus those that recruited participants with positive and negative cardiac biomarkers as an inclusion criterion (UA/NSTEMI), regardless of stents use; analysis 2: trials selected as above, with stents deployed during procedures. The primary end-points were mortality, recurrent non fatal MI and their combination. Results: For analysis 1, a total of 8 trials (10,411 patients) were eligible for our study: 3 with NSTEMI (VINO, VANQWISH and ICTUS) and 5 with UA/NSTEMI (TIMI IIIB, MATE, FRISC II, TACTIS-TIMI 18 and RITA 3). For analysis 2, three of the eight selected trials (MATE; TIMI-3B and VANQWISH) were excluded because they were undertaken in the pre-stent era. Duration of the follow-up periods ranged from 6 to 24 months. In the period of time from randomization to the end of follow-up, the use of routine invasive strategy was associated with a significant reduction for the composite ischemic events with 21% lower odds (RR 0.79; CI, 0.70-0.90) in UA/NSTEMI. In contrast, there was no benefit of the use of such strategy (RR 1.19; CI, 1.03-1.38) in NSTEMI. The observed effects were consistent among most evaluated trials except for the case of MATE in UA/NSTEMI and VINO in NSTEMI. Regarding the period of time from randomization to discharge, a routine invasive strategy was associated with significantly higher odds of the endpoint in both UA/NSTEMI (RR 1.28; CI, 1.11-1.46) and NSTEMI (RR 1.85; CI, 1.49-2.29). Changing the methods for analysis from all randomized studies to studies that were undertaken in the post-stent era (analysis 2) did not alter the interpretation of the data. Conclusions: Contrary to expectations, a routine invasive strategy is of most benefit in trials recruiting a large number of UA patients, whereas it cannot be proven to reduce deaths or nonfatal myocardial infarction in NSTEMI patients. Potential clinical benefits from PCI do not seem to favorably affect the overall prognosis of the index myocardial infarction