To assess post-discharge persistent symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients hospitalized in a COVID-19 ward unit more than 100 days after their admission.
All eligible ...patients were contacted by phone by trained physicians and were asked to answer to a dedicated questionnaire. Patients managed in hospital ward without needing intensive care were compared with those who were transferred in intensive care units (ICU).
We included 120 patients after a mean (±SD) of 110.9 (±11.1) days following admission. The most frequently reported persistent symptoms were fatigue (55%), dyspnoea (42%), loss of memory (34%), concentration and sleep disorders (28% and 30.8%, respectively). Comparisons between ward- and ICU patients led to no statistically significant differences regarding those symptoms. In both group, EQ-5D (mobility, self-care, pain, anxiety or depression, usual activity) was altered with a slight difference in pain in the ICU group.
Most patients requiring hospitalization for COVID-19 still have persistent symptoms. While there were few differences between HRQoL between ward and ICU patients, our findings must be confirmed in larger cohorts, including more severe patients.
Primary liver cancer is the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death. Advances in sequencing technology are opening genomics to widespread application for ...diagnosis and research. The poor prognosis of advanced HCC warrants a personalized approach. The objective was to assess the value of genotyping for risk stratification and prognostication of HCC. We performed a systematic review of manuscripts published on MEDLINE from 1 January 2009 to 1 January 2022, addressing the value of genotyping for HCC risk stratification and prognostication. Publication information for each has been collected using a standardized data extraction form. Twenty‐five articles were analysed. This study showed that various genomics approaches (i.e., NGS, SNP, CASP or polymorphisms in circadian genes' association) provided predictive and prognostic information, such as disease control rate, median progression‐free survival, and shorter median overall survival. Genotyping, which advances in understanding the molecular origin, could be a solution to predict prognosis or treatment response in patients with HCC.
The efficacy of vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has now been well established in phase III clinical trials. However, clinical studies based on real-world data remain critical to ...assess vaccines effectiveness (VE), especially in specific populations and against variants of concern (VOC). This review presents the principles and methods of VE studies and the main available results on VE of COVID-19 vaccines at the time of Omicron circulation. References for this narrative review were identified through searches of PubMed database up to 13 September 2022. The results of phase III clinical trials have been globally confirmed by VE in real-life studies, including in the elderly. Emergence of VOC Omicron emphasized the importance of booster doses to maintain a high level of protection against severe forms. There are still numerous challenges regarding booster(s) and duration of immunity, particularly in specific subpopulations, and regarding the need for adapted vaccines.
Primary liver cancer is the sixth most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death. Advances in phenomenal imaging are paving the way for application in diagnosis and ...research. The poor prognosis of advanced HCC warrants a personalized approach. The objective was to assess the value of imaging phenomics for risk stratification and prognostication of HCC.
We performed a meta-analysis of manuscripts published to January 2023 on MEDLINE addressing the value of imaging phenomics for HCC risk stratification and prognostication. Publication information for each were collected using a standardized data extraction form.
Twenty-seven articles were analyzed. Our study shows the importance of imaging phenomics in HCC MVI prediction. When the training and validation datasets were analyzed separately by the random-effects model, in the training datasets, radiomics had good MVI prediction (AUC of 0.81 (95% CI 0.76-0.86)). Similar results were found in the validation datasets (AUC of 0.79 (95% CI 0.72-0.85)). Using the fixed effects model, the mean AUC of all datasets was 0.80 (95% CI 0.76-0.84).
Imaging phenomics is an effective solution to predict microvascular invasion risk, prognosis, and treatment response in patients with HCC.
Definitions of resistance in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) have been updated. Pre-XDR TB, defined as MDR TB with additional resistance ...to fluoroquinolones, and XDR TB, with additional resistance to bedaquiline or linezolid, are frequently associated with treatment failure and toxicity. We retrospectively determined the effects of pre-XDR/XDR TB resistance on outcomes and safety of MDR TB treatment in France. The study included 298 patients treated for MDR TB at 3 reference centers during 2006-2019. Of those, 205 (68.8%) cases were fluoroquinolone-susceptible MDR TB and 93 (31.2%) were pre-XDR/XDR TB. Compared with fluoroquinolone-susceptible MDR TB, pre-XDR/XDR TB was associated with more cavitary lung lesions and bilateral disease and required longer treatment. Overall, 202 patients (67.8%) had favorable treatment outcomes, with no significant difference between pre-XDR/XDR TB (67.7%) and fluoroquinolone-susceptible MDR TB (67.8%; p = 0.99). Pre-XDR/XDR TB was not associated with higher risk for serious adverse events.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Preventing the progression of a drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) infection to disease is an important pillar of the DR-TB elimination strategy. International guidelines have recently proposed ...fluoroquinolones for tuberculosis preventive therapy (TPT) in DR-TB contacts, although the available evidence is low quality. The pooled data from small observational studies suggest that a fluoroquinolone-based TPT is safe, effective and cost-effective as a preventive treatment in DR-TB contacts. Three clinical trials are currently ongoing to generate higher quality evidence on the efficacy of levofloxacin and delamanid as a DR-TB preventive therapy. Additional evidence is also needed, regarding TPT treatment in fluoroquinolone-resistant-TB contacts, patient and health care worker perceptions on DR-TB preventive therapy for contacts, and the service delivery models to increase DR-TPT access. This state-of-the-art review presents the current literature on TPT for contacts of DR-TB cases, focusing on the available evidence and international guidelines.
Infections are well known complications of some targeted drugs used to treat solid organ cancer and hematological malignancies. Furthermore, Individual patient risk factors are associated with ...underlying pathologies, concomitant immunosuppressive treatment, prior treatment and use of anti-infective prophylaxis. Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are frequent among patients treated with new targeted drugs.
In this narrative review, we present the current state of knowledge concerning the infectious complications occurring in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors, antiapoptotic protein BCL-2 inhibitors, Janus kinase inhibitors or CAR-T cell infusion.
We searched for studies treating infectious complications of ICIs, BTK inhibitors, PI3K inhibitors, antiapoptotic protein BCL-2 inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapy. We included randomized, observational studies and case reports.
Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are frequent among patients treated with new targeted drugs. Treatment of irAEs with corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive agents can lead to opportunistic infections. Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors are associated with higher rate of infections, including invasive fungal infections.
Infections, particularly fungal ones, are common in patients treated with BTK inhibitors even though most of the complications occurring among patients treated by ICIs or CART-cells infusion are associated with the treatment of side effects related to the use of these new treatments. The diagnosis of these infectious complications can be difficult and may require extensive investigations.
Background:
There are limited data comparing the efficacy and safety of raltegravir and dolutegravir to that of efavirenz in HIV-1/tuberculosis (TB) coinfected patients.
Methods:
We conducted a ...10-year retrospective study in 4 centers in France. We included all HIV-1/tuberculosis coinfected patients starting antiretroviral therapy with a rifampicin-based regimen, with a plasma HIV RNA level (VL) > 1000 copies/mL. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with virological success that is, with VL <50 copies/mL at W48 using an Intention-To-Treat analysis, using last-observation-carried-forward to impute missing data. We also assessed antiretroviral therapy safety, analyzing treatment discontinuation for adverse events.
Results:
Between 2010 and 2020, 117 patients were included. Thirty-nine (33.3%) were treated with raltegravir and 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), 19 (16.2%) with dolutegravir (and 2 NRTIs) and 59 (50.4%) with efavirenz (and 2 NRTIs). At W48, the primary endpoint was achieved in 24 patients (61.5%) in the raltegravir group, in 12 (63.2%) in the dolutegravir group, and in 41 (69.5%) in the efavirenz group using an Intention-To-Treat analysis (
P
= 0.68). Emergence of drug resistance in patients with virological failure, defined as a VL >50 copies/mL, was observed in 3 patients with efavirenz and one patient with raltegravir. Rate of treatment discontinuation for drug-related adverse events was 10.3%, 10.6%, 16.9% for raltegravir, dolutegravir and efavirenz respectively (
P
= 0.67).
Conclusions:
In this retrospective cohort study, raltegravir and dolutegravir yielded similar efficacy and safety results to efavirenz for the treatment of HIV-1/TB coinfected patients.
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of mortality in people living with HIV (PLHIV) and contributes to up to a third of deaths in this population. The World Health Organization guidelines ...aim to target early detection and treatment of TB among PLHIV, particularly in high-prevalence and low-resource settings. Prevention plays a key role in the fight against TB among PLHIV. This review explores TB screening tools available for PLHIV, including symptom-based screening, chest radiography, tuberculin skin tests, interferon gamma release assays, and serum biomarkers. We then review TB Preventive Treatment (TPT), shown to reduce the progression to active TB and mortality among PLHIV, and available TPT regimens. Last, we highlight policy-practice gaps and barriers to implementation as well as ongoing research needs to lower the burden of TB and HIV coinfection through preventive activities, innovative diagnostic tests, and cost-effectiveness studies.
Vaccines are critical cost-effective tools to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, the emergence of variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ...(SARS-CoV-2) may threaten the global impact of mass vaccination campaigns.
The objective of this study was to provide an up-to-date comparative analysis of the characteristics, adverse events, efficacy, effectiveness and impact of the variants of concern for 19 COVID-19 vaccines.
References for this review were identified through searches of PubMed, Google Scholar, BioRxiv, MedRxiv, regulatory drug agencies and pharmaceutical companies' websites up to 22nd September 2021.
Overall, all COVID-19 vaccines had a high efficacy against the original strain and the variants of concern, and were well tolerated. BNT162b2, mRNA-1273 and Sputnik V after two doses had the highest efficacy (>90%) in preventing symptomatic cases in phase III trials. mRNA vaccines, AZD1222, and CoronaVac were effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and severe infections against Alpha, Beta, Gamma or Delta variants. Regarding observational real-life data, full immunization with mRNA vaccines and AZD1222 seems to effectively prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection against the original strain and Alpha and Beta variants but with reduced effectiveness against the Delta strain. A decline in infection protection was observed at 6 months for BNT162b2 and AZD1222. Serious adverse event rates were rare for mRNA vaccines—anaphylaxis 2.5–4.7 cases per million doses, myocarditis 3.5 cases per million doses—and were similarly rare for all other vaccines. Prices for the different vaccines varied from $2.15 to $29.75 per dose.
All vaccines appear to be safe and effective tools to prevent severe COVID-19, hospitalization, and death against all variants of concern, but the quality of evidence greatly varies depending on the vaccines considered. Questions remain regarding a booster dose and waning immunity, the duration of immunity, and heterologous vaccination. The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risks, despite rare serious adverse effects.
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