Volume 223, Issue 6, 15 March 2021

Platelets and neutrophils are activated in patients with coronavirus disease 2019. Increased neutrophil extracellular trap biomarkers are particularly associated with venous thromboembolism thrombotic events and may help predict clinical worsening and venous thromboembolism and guide low-molecular-weight heparin treatment.

This observational study quantified the degree of elevated risk of coronavirus disease 2019–associated deaths and hospitalizations among elderly Medicare beneficiaries who were older, male, of lower socioeconomic status, or immunocompromised or who had comorbid conditions. Risk was also substantially higher among nursing home residents and those with end-stage renal disease.

Immunoglobulin (Ig) M, IgG1, and IgA1 antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike glycoprotein and its receptor-binding domain are present in plasma from patients with convalescent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). IgG, IgM, and IgA contribute to virus neutralization, providing the basis for optimal selection of convalescent plasma for COVID-19 treatment.

A serial cross-sectional serosurvey among primary and secondary care patients in Glasgow, Scotland, shows low seroprevalence during the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and identifies age, sex and care type as factors associated with increased probability of infection.

The prevalence of genetic polymorphisms associated with antimalarial drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum collected from 16 sites across Uganda was studied. Most concerning was increasing prevalence of mutations associated with resistance to antifolates and artemisinins.

Using school-based serological surveys as a gold standard for transmission intensity a low-transmission area of Madagascar, annual parasite incidence from routine health facility malaria data performed reasonably well at identifying higher-transmission communes, but sensitivity declined at lower transmission levels.

Plasmodium ovale is present and broadly distributed throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) at an estimated prevalence of 0.8%. Both species, P. ovale wallikeri and P. ovale curtisi, were identified as occurring throughout the DRC.

The transmission model of HIV, gonorrhea, and chlamydia among men who have sex with men in the Atlanta area demonstrates the impact of changes to sexual behavior and disruptions to HIV/STI clinical services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alcohol use is prevalent among persons with HIV and is associated with T-cell late differentiation. Intestinal dysbiosis accompanies alcohol use. A relative intestinal bloom in members of the bacterial Prevotellaceae family may underlie alcohol-associated CD8⁺ T-cell senescence.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence factor HlyA inactivates AKT/ACLY signaling pathways, which decreased acetyl-CoA level, leading to reduced H3K9 histone acetylation and the expression of proinflammatory genes. These effects were reversed by exogenous acetate.

This study applied a tailored transcriptomics workflow to exploit nasal wash samples from HRSV-positive hospitalized children. The transcriptional immune signature appears as a direct reflection of HRSV pathogenesis and highlights putative biomarkers of interest.

The novel multivalent RSV vaccine MVA-BN-RSV, based on the MVA-BN vector, induces a broad antibody and cellular immune response in older adults that persists at least 6 months and can be boosted at 12 months, without significant safety findings.

Older donor age is independently associated with cytomegalovirus viremia and earlier onset of viremia in high-risk donor-positive recipient-negative liver transplant recipients.

Common human coronaviruses were less frequent than influenza in children and adults hospitalized with acute respiratory infections but generated significant morbidity. Length of stay, intensive care unit admissions, and case-fatality ratio were comparable for both types of monoinfection.

This retrospective study examines the viral load kinetics and the correlation between disease outcome and other epidemiological parameters among 185 patients hospitalized with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection during the 2015 MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea.

Pad2  ^−/− mice exhibited improved survival, attenuated lung injury, and enhanced bacterial clearance during Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia-induced sepsis. The protective effects are probably associated with the regulatory effects of PAD2 on caspase-1-dependent pyroptosis.

Experimental transmission in pig cellular prion protein (PrP^C) transgenic mice and in vitro protein misfolding cyclic amplification propagation assay results showed that pig-PrP^C is resistant to all tested prion strains except classic bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and it may constitute a paradigm of low susceptibility to prion strain diversity.