Distribution of HLA allele frequencies in patients with cystic and alveolar echinococcosis in Latvia

Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Sniedze Laivacuma et al., published by Sciendo 2019.The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between HLA Class II alleles in two groups of patients in Latvia: patients with cystic and alveolar echinococcosis. The study included 37 patients from the Rīga East Clinical University Hospital with echinococcosis (29 patients with cystic echinococcosis and eight patients with alveolar echinococcosis) and 100 healthy control persons without echinococcosis. HLA Class II allele genotyping was performed using Real-time polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer (RT-PCR-SSP). The odds ratios (OR), with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), were calculated using statistical analysis performed with IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0, to evaluate the risk of developing the disease in an individual having a particular HLA genotype. In the case of cystic echinococcosis a more severe course of a disease can be anticipated in the presence of HLA-DRB1 alleles ∗17:01 and ∗07:01, -DQB1 ∗03:02, and ∗03:01, -DQA1∗04:01 and haplotypes HLA-DRB1∗04:01/-DQB1∗03:01/ -DQA1∗03:01, HLADRB1∗11:01/ -DQB1∗03:01 /-DQA1∗05:01. However, in the group with alveolar echinococcosis it was associated with the HLA-DRB1 alleles ∗17:01 and ∗07:01, -DQB1 ∗05:01 and haplotypes HLA- DRB1∗17:01/-DQB1∗02:01-2/-DQA1∗01:01, HLA-DRB1∗11:01/ -DQB1∗03:01/-DQA1∗01:03 and HLA-DRB1∗11:01/-DQB1∗03:01/-DQA1∗03:01. HLADRB1∗15:01/-DQÂ1∗06:02-8/-DQA1∗05:01 and HLA-DRB1∗13:01/-DQB1∗02:01-2/-DQA1∗05:01 haplotypes were protective in all patient groups. The limitations of this exploratory study indicate that a broader study needs to be conducted for revealing specific risk and protective HLA Class II haplotypes for patients with cystic and alveolar echinococcosis in Latvia.publishersversionPeer reviewe

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

Difference in markers of microbial translocation and cell apoptosis in HIV monoinfected and HIV/HCV coinfected patients

Funding Information: The authors thank Valentina Sondore, MD. This study was supported by National Research Programme “Biomedicine for Public Health” (BIOMEDICINE) and by corporation “Latvijas Gâze”. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Monta Madelane et al., published by Sciendo 2019.Immune activation in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is driven by microbial translocation and in HIV patients is one of the contributors to faster progression of liver disease along with increased cell apoptosis. The aim of the study was to compare microbial translocation and apoptosis markers in HIV monoinfected and HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfected patients, depending on HIV immune status and antiretroviral treatment (ART). We analysed data for 78 HIV monoinfected and 105 HIV/HCV coinfected patients from the Rīga East University Hospital. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), endotoxin core antibodies (EndoCAb), cytokeratin 18 (CK18) and cyto-chrome c (Cyt-c) levels were measured. No significant difference in LPS, EndoCAb, Cyt-c levels between HIV and HIV/HCV patients was found. The CK18 level was higher in the HIV/HCV group. Correlation between CD4+ cell count and EndoCAb antibodies was found in HCV positive patients. There was a significant effect of ART on markers for EndoCAb IgA and EndoCAb IgM antibodies in the HIV monoinfected group. Correlation between CD4+ cell count and EndoCAb antibodies and LPS was found in HIV/HCV patients on ART. Coinfection with HCV can lead to more pronounced response in EndoCAb antibody production and higher levels of cell apoptosis markers, despite similar LPS levels. ART has a positive effect on immune activation.publishersversionPeer reviewe