0000000000587684

AUTHOR

María Luisa Briones

The potential role of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in preventing respiratory complications in bacteraemic pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia.

Abstract Introduction Pneumococcal 13-valent vaccine (PCV-13) has a potential role in preventing bacteraemic pneumococcal pneumonia and its complications, but little is known about its ability to specifically prevent respiratory complications. Our aim were to analyse the pneumococcal serotypes associated with the development of respiratory complications and the potential role of PCV-13 in preventing respiratory complications in bacteraemic pneumococcal pneumonia. Material and methods We analysed demographic characteristics, comorbidities, antibiotic resistances and the outcomes of a cohort of 65 vaccine-naive bacteraemic pneumococcal pneumonias, stratified by the pneumococcal serotypes incl…

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A Phase I/II Dose-Escalation Multi-Center Study to Evaluate the Safety of Infusion of Natural Killer Cells or Memory T Cells As Adoptive Therapy in Coronavirus Pneumonia and/or Lymphopenia: (RELEASE NCT04578210)

Abstract Background: Adoptive cell immunotherapies for opportunistic virus in immunocompromised patients using haploidentical memory T cells have shown to be safe and effective. Since severe cases of COVID-19 present a dysregulated immune system with T cell lymphopenia and a hyper-inflammatory state we have proposed that a similar strategy could be proven to be efficient for COVID-19 patients. This is a study protocol of an open-label, multicenter, double-arm, randomized, dose-finding phase I/II clinical trial to evaluate the feasibility, safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the administration of a single dose of allogenic SARS-CoV-2 specific memory CD45RA - T cells and Natural Killer (NK)…

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Non-invasive management of an acute chest infection for a patient with ALS.

We describe a man diagnosed with non-bulbar amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who uses 24-h non-invasive ventilator at home, and assisted cough through the use of the mechanical insufflation-exsufflation (MAC) device (CoughAssist, J.H. Emerson). This was essential for the removal of bronchial secretions in order to provide successful non-invasive management (and indeed less suffering for the patient) during an acute respiratory tract infection with hypoxemia and failure of manually assisted cough.

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Circulating microRNAs can identify endotypes of community-acquired pneumonia

Background: The identification of the host processes dysregulated in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients, especially in those who develop severe complications could be crucial for future management of this disease. We aim to study microRNAs profiles to define different CAP endotypes regarding complications. Methods: An observational prospective study of consecutive hospitalized CAP cases was performed. Circulating microRNAs were analyzed using qRT-PCR. We study correlations and predictive value of miRNAs regarding severe sepsis and acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF: PaO2/FiO2 Results: We analyzed clinical data and blood samples from 169 CAP patients. The mean age was 66.9 ye…

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Performance of a Highly Sensitive Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Real-Time PCR Assay for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Low-Prevalence Setting: a Prospective Intervention Study

ABSTRACT The potential impact of routine real-time PCR testing of respiratory specimens from patients with presumptive tuberculosis in terms of diagnostic accuracy and time to tuberculosis treatment inception in low-prevalence settings remains largely unexplored. We conducted a prospective intervention cohort study. Respiratory specimens from 1,020 patients were examined by acid-fast bacillus smear microscopy, tested by a real-time Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex PCR assay (Abbott RealTi me MTB PCR), and cultured in mycobacterial media. Seventeen patients tested positive by PCR (5 were acid-fast bacillus smear positive and 12 acid-fast bacillus smear negative), and Mycobacterium tubercul…

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Assessment of Analysis of Urinary Pneumococcal Antigen by Immunochromatography for Etiologic Diagnosis of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Adults

ABSTRACT The limitations of conventional microbiologic methods (CMM) for etiologic diagnosis of community pneumococcal pneumonia have made faster diagnostic techniques necessary. Our aim was to evaluate the usefulness of the immunochromatography (ICT) technique for detecting urinary Streptococcus pneumoniae antigen in the etiologic diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonias (CAP). This was a prospective study on in-patients with CAP in a tertiary hospital conducted from October 2000 to March 2004. Apart from using CMM to reach an etiologic diagnosis, we determined pneumococcal antigen in concentrated urine by ICT. We also determined the urinary pneumococcal antigen (UPA) content in patients…

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Is it possible to predict which patients with mild pneumonias will develop hypoxemia?

SummaryUsually, mortality due to mild community-acquired pneumonias (CAP) (Pneumonia severity index (PSI) classes I–III) is low (<3%), but the appearance of hypoxemia significantly increases mortality. Our aim was to determine the clinical parameters associated with risk factors of developing hypoxemia in subjects with mild CAP (PSI I–III) and the clinical outcomes of the hypoxemic group.We analyzed clinical characteristics and the outcomes of patients with mild CAP and hypoxemia (PaO2/FiO2<300), in a prospective, multicenter cohort study of 1195 patients.Mild pneumonias (PSI I–III) were found in 645 cases (53.9%), of which 217 (33.6%) presented hypoxemia according to a PaO2/FiO2<300. Patie…

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