Sandbergalexandersen8115

Quantification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA (viral load) is the most widely used marker to diagnose and confirm active HCV infection. The HCV core antigen forms part of the internal structure of the virus and, like HCV RNA, its detection also indicates viral replication and presents certain advantages over viral load testing such as its lower cost, the greater stability of the target, the possibility of working with the same primary tube as that used for HCV serology, and the rapidity of obtaining results, since there is no need to work in batches, unlike the situation with most viral load platforms. Although the core antigen has lower analytical sensitivity than HCV RNA for the detection of low viremia levels, several studies and guidelines have already shown their utility in the identification of patients with active HCV infection. This article summarises current platforms for viral load determination, including point-of-care systems, and also reviews the indications attributed to this marker by the main HCV treatment guidelines. The article also reviews the characteristics of HCV core antigen, the available platforms for its determination, its correlation with viral load determination, and the indications for this marker in the distinct guidelines. L.U.Hafnia alvei is a Gram-negative facultatively anaerobic bacillus that constitutes part of the human gut flora. Until recently, H. alvei strains could be mistakenly identified by conventional methods, miniaturisation or automatic systems as members of the Serratia, Escherichia, Citrobacter, Yokenella, Obesumbacterium or Salmonella genera. Consequently, molecular techniques were required for their definitive identification in the clinical laboratory. In addition, a new Hafnia species, H. paralvei, has recently appeared, which undoubtedly includes many of the strains reported in the literature as H. alvei. Alrhough H. alvei isolation from human clinical specimens remains uncommon, the development of drug resistance due to this species is emerging and it is likely that this organism will gain increasing importance in the future. Moreover, although H. alvei shares some virulence mechanisms with other Gram-negative enteropathogens, little is known about the factors that contribute to its pathogenesis in humans. The present article reviews the current identification methods, antimicrobial resistance and virulence factors of this bacterium. L.U.BACKGROUND The COMBO drug-eluting stent combines sirolimus-elution from a biodegradable polymer with an anti-CD34+ antibody coating for early endothelialization. OBJECTIVE We investigated for geographical differences in outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with the COMBO stent among Asians and Europeans. METHODS The COMBO Collaboration is a pooled patient-level analysis of the MASCOT and REMEDEE registries of all-comers undergoing attempted COMBO stent PCI. The primary outcome was 1-year target lesion failure (TLF), composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction (TV-MI) and target lesion revascularization (TLR). RESULTS This study included 604 Asians (17.9%) and 2775 Europeans (82.1%). selleck chemical Asians were younger and included fewer females, with a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus but lower prevalence of other comorbidities than Europeans. Asians had a higher prevalence of ACC/AHA C type lesions and received longer stent lengths. More Asians than Europeans were discharged on clopidogrel (86.5% vs 62.8%) rather than potent P2Y12 inhibitors. One-year TLF occurred in 4.0% Asians and 4.1% of Europeans, p = 0.93. The incidence of cardiac death was higher in Asians (2.8% vs. 1.3%, p = 0.007) with similar rates of TV-MI (1.5% vs. 1.2%, p = 0.54) and definite stent thrombosis (0.3% vs. 0.5%, p = 0.84) and lower incidence of TLR than Europeans (1.0% vs. 2.5%, p = 0.025). After adjustment, differences for cardiac death and TLR were no longer significant. CONCLUSIONS In the COMBO collaboration, although 1-year TLF was similar regardless of geography, Asians experienced higher rates of cardiac death and lower TLR than Europeans, while incidence of TV-MI and ST was similar in both regions. Adjusted differences did not reach statistical significance. CLINICALTRIAL. GOV IDENTIFIER-NUMBERS NCT01874002 (REMEDEE Registry), NCT02183454 (MASCOT registry). BACKGROUND In most scenarios from low/middle income countries, pharmacological approach for ST elevation Myocardial Infarction is still use. In these setting and increase proportion of elderly patients is awaited. So it is also expected to have older patients with suboptimal treatment and risk stratification. OBJECTIVE To investigate the impact of the body mass index (BMI) on in-hospital outcomes in a cohort of elderly (≥80 years) patients, from a center without coronary intervention. METHODS Patient's ≥80 years of age admitted to our institution between June 2014 and May 2019 with STEMI, were divided according BMI tertiles (BMI tertile 1 ≪22.36 kg/m2, BMI tertile2 22.36-25.71 kg/m2, and BMI tertile 3 ≫25.71 kg/m2). The primary endpoint was all-cause in-hospital mortality RESULTS Out of 118 patients, 41 (34.74%) were women. Median age was 84.4 ± 3.5 years and median BMI 24.1 ± 3.7 kg/m2. Women had a higher BMI than men (24.4 ± 4.0 vs 24.0 ± 3.6; p 0.535). All-cause mortality was 33.3%, 2.5%, and 15% for lower, middle, and higher BMI tertiles (p=0.002). To belong to BMI tertile 1 was associated with an increased all-cause mortality (OR 5.15, 95% CI 1.84-14.28, p = 0.001); and in patients without administration of streptokinase (OR 9.52, 95% CI 2.34-38.45, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION This study reports association between lower BMI values and increased mortality in elderly patients with and without pharmacological reperfusion with streptokinase. V.G-quadruplexes are non-canonical nucleic acid structures formed by guanine-rich DNA or RNA sequences. In recent decades, an increasing number of evidences have suggested that G-quadruplexes are associated with a wide range of biological events. Therefore, to further study the function and distribution of G-quadruplexes, developing new probes is an essential part of G-quadruplexes research. In the review, several examples of chemical fluorescent probes for G-quadruplexes developed in recent years are highlighted. These probes are promising tools for future G-quadruplex studies, which display outstanding selectivity and capability of cell imaging.