Seroprevalence of diphtheria and measles antibodies and their association with demographics, self-reported immunity, and immunogenetic factors in healthcare workers in Latvia

Funding Information: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: [Aija Leidere-Reine reports financial support was provided by European Social Fund and Latvian state budget. The study was partially funded by the project No 8.2.2.0/20/I/004 “Support for involving doctoral students in scientific research and studies”.] Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)Latvia is among European countries with outbreaks of diphtheria and measles. Healthcare workers (HCW) are exposed to infections and can transmit them to unvaccinated patients. We assessed the seroprevalence of antibodies against diphtheria and measles and their association with demographics, self-reported immunity, the presence of the HLA-B27 allele, and level of interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) in Latvian HCW. Anti-diphtheria and anti-measles IgG antibodies and the level of IRF5 in serum were tested by enzyme immunoassay. The presence of the HLA-B27 allele was detected by a real-time polymerase chain reaction. The study involved 176 HCW, including 29% doctors and 44% nurses. Among HCW, 95.5% were seropositive for diphtheria. However, only 65.9% had full seroprotection against it. The seronegativity for measles (21.6%) was higher than for diphtheria (4.5%) without differences in gender and medical staff groups. Older age was associated with waning immunity against diphtheria and a higher rate of seropositivity for measles. Considered immunogenetic factors did not affect the level of antibodies, and variability of the level of IRF5 in serum can reflect ageing processes. Self-reported vaccination status had a low informative value regarding full seroprotection against diphtheria and seropositivity for measles indicating the need for pre-vaccination IgG screening in planning the booster vaccination.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Retrospective serological evidence of high exposure of globally relevant zoonotic parasite toxoplasma gondii in the Latvian Population

Funding Information: This study was partly funded by the European Regional Development Fund “1.1.1.2. “Post-doctoral research aid” project “One Health multidisciplinary approaches for epidemiology and prevention of selected parasitic zoonosis (OMEPPAZ)” (1.1.1.2/VIAA/1/16/204). Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Gunita Deksne et al., published by Sciendo 2019.Toxoplasmosis is an important infection caused by the single-celled parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which is a zoonotic parasite causing widespread human and animal diseases, mostly involving the central nervous system. Humans can acquire toxoplasmosis by ingestion of raw or undercooked meat containing T. gondii tissue cysts, ingestion of oocysts shed by infected felids via contaminated food or water, and by vertical transmission to the fetus through the placenta from the mother during pregnancy. The aim of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of specific anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies using a large set of clinical diagnostic laboratory data obtained over a 14-year period. In total, 25 069 unique patients were included in the present study. The overall specific anti-T. gondii IgG prevalence were 36.3%, which was significantly (p < 0.01) higher than IgM prevalence (2.4%). Mean age for IgG antibody-positive patients was 33.7 ± 12.2 years. A significant positive correlation (r = 0.99; p < 0.01) was observed between age group and anti-T. gondii IgG antibody prevalence, which ranged from 4.2% to 66.7%. The most prevalent (69.9%; 95% CI 69.2-70.7) comorbidities of patients tested for presence of anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies were classified as factors affecting health status which includes also monitoring of normal pregnancy.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Electrocardiographic Abnormalities and Mortality in Epilepsy Patients

Background and Objectives: People with epilepsy (PWE) have a 2-3 times higher mortality rate than the general population. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) comprises a significant proportion of premature deaths, whereas sudden cardiac death (SCD) is among the leading causes of sudden death in the general population. Cardiac pathologies are significantly more prevalent in PWE. Whether electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters are associated with remote death in PWE has yet to be elucidated. The study objective was to assess whether interictal ECG parameters are associated with mortality in the long-term. Materials and Methods: The study involved 471 epilepsy patients who were hospitalized after a bilateral tonic-clonic seizure(s). ECG parameters were obtained on the day of hospitalization (heart rate, PQ interval, QRS complex, QT interval, heart rate corrected QT interval (QTc), ST segment and T wave changes), as well as reported ECG abnormalities. Mortality data were obtained from the Latvian National Cause-of-Death database 3-11, mean 7.0 years after hospitalization. The association between the ECG parameters and the long-term clinical outcome were examined. Results: At the time of assessment, 75.4% of patients were alive and 24.6% were deceased. Short QTc interval (odds ratio (OR) 4.780; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.668-13.698; p = 0.004) was associated with a remote death. After the exclusion of known comorbidities with high mortality rates, short QTc (OR 4.631) and ECG signs of left ventricular hypertrophy (OR 5.009) were associated with a remote death. Conclusions: The association between routine 12-lead rest ECG parameters-short QTc interval and a pattern of left ventricular hypertrophy-and remote death in epilepsy patients was found. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to associate rest ECG parameters with remote death in an epileptic population.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Therapeutic effect of fractionated by ultrafiltration red beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) juice in rats with food-induced fatty liver

The prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), being a component of metabolic syndrome, has increased (15-27%) in the industrialized world. The deep mechanism of this pathology is not clear, but it is multifactorial. There is a huge amount of food supplements and medicines with hepatoprotective effect on the market, but the NAFLD problem is far from being resolved. Hepatoprotective products have to provide wide spectra of biological effects, including antioxidant, hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory action. It is peculiar to natural compounds, including red beetroot juice, which is well known to most of the population. This is important in view of the high prevalence of NAFLD. The aim of this study is to evaluate the curative effect of fractionated by ultrafiltration red beetroot juice in rats with food-induced liver steatosis. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.254107

Association of non-invasive markers of liver fibrosis with HCV coinfection and antiretroviral therapy in patients with HIV

Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Oksana Koļesova et al., published by Sciendo 2019. Copyright: Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.The aim of this study was to assess the main effects and interaction between viral hepatitis C (HCV) coinfection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) by using a nonparametric ANOVA on direct and indirect markers of liver fibrosis in HIV-infected patients. The sample included 178 HIV patients aged from 23 to 65 (36% females). The following parameters were determined in blood of patients: hyaluronic acid, pro-matrix metalloproteinase-1, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and platelet count. The FIB-4 index was also calculated. The nonparametric ANOVA revealed no significant interaction between HCV coinfection and ART. This provides evidence for an independent contribution of each factor on promotion of the pathology. The results also demonstrated that the direct and indirect indicators of liver fibrosis are associated differently with the studied factors. Therefore, a combination of markers should be used for monitoring of liver fibrosis in HIV-infected patients.Peer reviewe

HLA Class II-DRB,-DQA and-DQB genotypes in peripheral blood shows shifts during the course of sepsis

Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Linda BÄra et al. published by Sciendo. Copyright: Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Undeniably, sepsis is still a profoundly damaging and life-threatening condition for many individuals. With multiple changes in sepsis patients it is difficult to precisely classify an individual's response in sepsis as proinflammatory or immunosuppressed. The aim of this study was to investigate genetically determined predisposition to developed sepsis by analysis of distribution of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II genes. Samples from patients with sepsis were collected at Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, Latvia, in an intensive care unit between October 2016 and May 2017. The study group included 62 patients with sepsis, who were genotyped for HLA-DR; DQ using real time polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer (RT PCR-SSP). As a control group, data of 100 individuals were taken from the genetic bank of RSU Joint Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Immunogenetics. The summarised results showed that the frequency of alleles DRB1∗04:01 (OR = 5.54; 95% CI = 1.88-16.29); DRB1∗07:01 (OR = 19.03; 95% CI = 2/37-152.82); DQA1∗05:01 (OR = 14.17; 95% CI = 5.67-35.4); and DQB1∗02:01 (OR = 50.00; 95% CI = 2.90-861.81) were significantly increased in patients with sepsis compared to the control group patients. The frequency of DRB1∗16:01 (OR = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.04-0.59); DRB1∗17:01 (OR = 0.04; 95% CI = 0.00-0.69); DQA1∗01:01 (OR = 0.04; 95% CI = 0.00-0.31); DQA1∗01:02 (OR = 0.03; 95% CI = 0.00-0.23); DQB1∗02:02 (OR = 0.12; 95% CI = 0.03-0.42) alleles was lower in sepsis patients than in control subjects. The most frequent HLA-DRB1/DQA1/DQB1 haplotypes that was significantly increased in patients with sepsis were: DRB1∗01:01/DQA1∗05:01/DQB1∗03:01 (OR = 12.6; 95% CI = 1.51-105.0; p < 0.003). Sepsis patients with pneumonia and alleles and DRB1 04:01; 07:01, DQB1 02:01 had the highest mortality rate. Undoubtedly, our preliminary data showed that development of sepsis can be associated with alleles and haplotypes of HLA class II genes. For more precise conclusion the research should be continued to include a larger patient group.Peer reviewe