The risk of transfusion‐transmitted infection (TTI) for severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a concern because person‐to‐person transmission resulting from contact with ...SFTSV‐contaminated blood has been reported. To obtain information regarding the risk of TTI‐SFTSV, antibody testing was performed for blood samples donated in an severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome‐endemic area in Japan. No antibody‐positive samples were detected among 3990 samples. This finding suggested that there were few cases of SFTSV infection among donors and that the risk of TTI‐SFTSV was also estimated low in Japan.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a tickborne virus in the Bunyaviridae family. This virus has recently been found in China, Japan and Korea. The risk of ...transfusion‐transmitted SFTSV infection (TTI‐SFTSV) is a concern because person‐to‐person transmission resulting from contact with SFTSV‐contaminated blood has been reported. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of the Mirasol pathogen reduction technology (PRT) system for inactivating SFTSV in vitro. The Mirasol PRT system achieved a > 4·11 log10 reduction value (LRV) for SFTSV. In conclusion, we showed that the Mirasol PRT system could potentially be used to reduce the risk of TTI‐SFTSV.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an important pathogen in healthcare-associated infections. S. maltophilia may contain Smqnr, a quinolone resistance gene encoding the pentapeptide repeat protein, ...which confers low-level quinolone resistance upon expression in a heterologous host. We investigated the prevalence of Smqnr and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) determinants in S. maltophilia isolates from Japan. A total of 181 consecutive and nonduplicate clinical isolates of S. maltophilia were collected from four areas of Japan. The antimicrobial susceptibility profiles for these strains were determined. PCR was conducted for Smqnr and PMQR genes, including qnrA, qnrB, qnrC, qnrS, aac(6′)-Ib and qepA. PCR products for Smqnr and aac(6′)-Ib were sequenced. For the S. maltophilia isolates containing Smqnr, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was performed using XbaI. Resistance rates to ceftazidime, levofloxacin, trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol and minocycline were 67.4%, 6.1%, 17.7%, 8.8% and 0%, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration required to inhibit the growth of 50% and 90% of organisms were 0.5 and 2 mg/L for moxifloxacin but 1 and 4 mg/L for levofloxacin, respectively. Smqnr was detected in 104 of the 181 S. maltophilia isolates (57.5%), and the most frequent was Smqnr6, followed by Smqnr8 and Smqnr11. Eleven novel variants from Smqnr48 to Smqnr58 were detected. The 24 Smqnr-containing S. maltophilia isolates were typed by PFGE and divided into 21 unique types. Nine S. maltophilia isolates (5.0%) carried aac(6′)-Ib-cr. No qnr or qepA genes were detected. This study describes a high prevalence of Smqnr and novel variants of Smqnr among S. maltophilia from Japan. Continuous antimicrobial surveillance and further molecular epidemiological studies on quinolone resistance in S. maltophilia are needed.
Abstract
Background
Cardiotoxicity due to cancer therapy has been emerging as an important issue along with the improvement in prognosis of breast cancer patients. Although the usefulness of global ...longitudinal strain and biomarker analysis was previously reported separately, there are few studies based on systematic evaluation of cardiotoxicity. Furthermore, large prospective cohort studies regarding cardiotoxicity and its prediction in breast cancer patients were also limited.
Purpose
Multicenter prospective study was performed to reveal the current characteristics of cardiotoxicity and develop a robust prediction model for cardiotoxicity using systematic evaluation of cardiac function.
Methods and results
Breast cancer patients who were scheduled for neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant chemotherapy were prospectively screened at the 25 participating institutions from August 2017 and March 2020. As a study protocol, follow-up visits were planned every 3 months from pre-treatment to 12 months after chemotherapy (median follow-up of 366 days). To evaluate their cardiac function, echocardiography, high-sensitive cardiac troponin, natriuretic peptide, and 12-lead ECG were acquired at every follow-up visit. cardiotoxicity was defined as a reduction in LVEF >10% point from baseline and to a value <53% in LVEF.
Results
542 chemotherapy-naïve patients were included for analysis from 25 institutions. cardiotoxicity developed in 46 (8.5%) during follow-up period. The HEART2 score based on pre-treatment data (model A) was composed of 6 variables including heart rate >64 bpm, LV end-systolic volume index >36.0 mL/m2, treatment with anthracycline, with radiation, with trastuzumab, and TAPSE <26 mm. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed acceptable accuracy (an area under curve (AUC) 0.74 95%confidence interval 0.66-0.81, P<0.01). Furthermore, the ROC curve of the HEART2 score adding variables of 3 months after chemotherapy (model B) (difference in heart rate from pre-treatment, LV end-systolic volume index >42.0 mL/m2) showed a greater AUC than the model based on only pre-treatment data (AUC 0.81 95%confidence interval 0.73-0.90, P<0.01). No patient with low-risk group in the HEART2 score based on variables of pre-treatment and 3 months after chemotherapy developed cardiotoxicity, while 28.1% developed cardiotoxicity in patients with high-risk group in both models.
Conclusions
CHECK HEART-BC study revealed current clinical characteristics of cardiotoxicity and developed the HEART2 score which showed good accuracy and consistency. The HEART2 score can provide an efficient and effective strategy for early detection of cardiotoxicity.The HEART2 scoreThe combination of model A and B
The Mechanism of Axl-Mediated Ebola Virus Infection Shimojima, Masayuki; Ikeda, Yasuhiro; Kawaoka, Yoshihiro
The Journal of infectious diseases,
11/2007, Letnik:
196, Številka:
Supplement-2
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We previously reported that expression of the receptor-type tyrosine kinase Axl, which regulates cell survival and activation, enhances both pseudotype and live Ebola virus (EBOV) infection. To ...clarify the mechanistic basis of this enhancement, we created a series of Axl mutants and identified amino acids/domains necessary for this function, by using a pseudotype virus carrying the EBOV glycoprotein (GP). Analyses of the Axl mutants showed the importance of extracellular and intracellular regions for Axl functions, including ligand binding and signal transduction, in EBOV GP-mediated infection. These data suggest that EBOV uses the physiological functions of Axl to enter cells.
Abstract
Some patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) experienced sudden death because of sudden symptom deterioration. Thus, an alarm system that could detect early signs of COVID-19 ...exacerbation beforehand, to prevent serious illness or death of patients while receiving outpatient treatment at home or in hotels is necessary. Here, we tested whether estimated oxygen variations (EOV), a relative physiological scale that represents users' blood oxygen saturation level during sleep measured by Fitbit, predicted COVID-19 symptom exacerbation. Study period was from August to November 2020. We enrolled 23 COVID-19 patients diagnosed by SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction-positive (mean age ± standard deviation, 50.9±20 years; 70% female), let each patient wore the Fitbit for 30 days; COVID-19 symptoms were exacerbated in 6 (26%). High EOV signal (a patient's oxygen level exhibits significant dip and recovery within the index period) had 80% sensitivity before symptom exacerbations, whereas resting heart rate signal only had 50% sensitivity. Coincidental obstructive sleep apnea syndrome confirmed by polysomnography was detected in a patient by consistently high EOV signals. This pilot study successfully detected early COVID-19 symptoms exacerbation by measuring EOV and may help to identify early signs of COVID-19 exacerbation.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: Private company. Main funding source(s): The investigational device used in this study, Fitbit Charge 3, was provided by Fitbit Japan. Summary of high EOV signals and eventsThe clinical course of COVID-19
Monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) synthase (UDPgalactose: 1,2-diacylglycerol 3-beta-D-galactosyltransferase; EC 2.4.1.46) catalyzes formation of MGDG, a major structural lipid of chloroplast. We ...cloned a cDNA for the synthase from cucumber cDNA library. The full-length cDNA clone was 2142 bp, and it contains a 1575-bp open reading frame encoding 525 aa. The open reading frame consists of the regions for a mature protein (422 aa; Mr of 46,552) and transit peptide to chloroplast (103 aa). Although the molecular weight of mature protein region matched that purified from cucumber cotyledons, it was quite different from those purified from spinach (approximately 20 kDa) reported by other groups. The mature region of the protein was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase. The expression in E. coli showed that the protein catalyzed MGDG synthesis very efficiently. Therefore, we concluded that the cDNA encodes MGDG synthase in cucumber. In addition, the deduced amino acid sequence of the MGDG synthase cDNA showed homology with MurG of Bacillus subtilis and E. coli, which encode a glycosyltransferase catalyzing the last step of peptidoglycan synthesis in bacteria. This sequence homology implies that the machinery of chloroplast membrane biosynthesis is evolutionarily derived from that of cell wall biosynthesis in bacteria. This is consistent with the endosymbiotic hypothesis of chloroplast formation.
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