Sunbathing,a possible risk factor of murine typhus infection in Greece

BackgroundThere are few studies about the presence of murine typhus in Greece. Our objective was to conduct a large scale retrospective investigation to determine the clinical and epidemiological features of patients diagnosed with murine typhus in Greece.Methodology/Principal findingsFrom 2012 to 2019 serum samples from hospitalized patients and outpatients throughout Greece suspected for murine typhus infection were tested by immunofluorescence assay for Rickettsia typhi. Immunofluorescence positive samples obtained since 2016 were also tested by qPCR targeting R. typhi. Clinical and epidemiological data were retrospectively collected for the patients with confirmed murine typhus. Overall, we tested 5,365 different patients and, in total, 174 patients from all geographic regions of Greece were diagnosed with murine typhus. The most frequently reported sign or symptom was fever (89%), followed by headache (84%) and rash (81%). The classical triad of fever, headache, and rash was present in 72% of patients during their illness. Severe infections with complications including acute renal failure or septic shock were not recorded. The majority of cases (81%) occurred during May–October and peaked in June and September. Most of patients (81%) infected in Athens, recalled that their only activity the last weeks before symptoms onset was swimming on the beach and 59% of them also reported an insect bite while sunbathing.Conclusions/SignificanceOur results may reflect the reemergence of murine typhus in Greece and we highlight the importance of awareness of this difficult-to-recognize undifferentiated febrile illness.     

RNAi-mediated knockdown of α-enolase increases the sensitivity of tumor cells to antitubulin chemotherapeutics

The over-expression of α-enolase was demonstrated in several cancers, including lung, brain, breast, colon and prostate. In this report, we investigated the effects of α-enolase knockdown on the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. RNAi-mediated knockdown of α-enolase in A549 and H460 lung, MCF7 breast and CaOV3 ovarian cancer cells caused a significant increase in the sensitivity of these cells to antitubulin chemotherapeutics (e.g., vincristine and taxol), but not to doxorubicin, etoposide or cisplatinum. This is the first demonstration showing the effects of α-enolase expression on the sensitivity of tumor cells to clinically relevant chemotherapeutics.     

Beyond Global Warming Potential: A Comparative Application of Climate Impact Metrics for the Life Cycle Assessment of Coal and Natural Gas Based Electricity

In the ongoing debate about the climate benefits of fuel switching from coal to natural gas for power generation, the metrics used to model climate impacts may be important. In this article, we evaluate the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of coal and natural gas used in new, advanced power plants using a broad set of available climate metrics in order to test for the robustness of results. Climate metrics included in the article are global warming potential, global temperature change potential, technology warming potential, and cumulative radiative forcing. We also used the Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse‐gas Induced Climate Change (MAGICC) climate‐change model to validate the results. We find that all climate metrics suggest a natural gas combined cycle plant offers life cycle climate benefits over 100 years compared to a pulverized coal plant, even if the life cycle methane leakage rate for natural gas reaches 5%. Over shorter time frames (i.e., 20 years), plants using natural gas with a 4% leakage rate have similar climate impacts as those using coal, but are no worse than coal. If carbon capture and sequestration becomes available for both types of power plants, natural gas still offers climate benefits over coal as long as the life cycle methane leakage rate remains below 2%. These results are consistent across climate metrics and the MAGICC model over a 100‐year time frame. Although it is not clear whether any of these metrics are better than the others, the choice of metric can inform decisions based on different societal values. For example, whereas annual temperature change reported may be a more relevant metric to evaluate the human health effects of increased heat, the cumulative temperature change may be more relevant to evaluate climate impacts, such as sea‐level rise, that will result from the cumulative warming.     

Multimodal analgesia protocol for pain management after total knee arthroplasty: comparison of three different regional analgesic techniques

Objectives:To evaluate three different analgesic techniques, continuous epidural analgesia (EA), continuous intra-articular (IA) infusion analgesia and continuous femoral nerve block (FNB) in postoperative pain management, length of hospital stay (LOS), and time of patient mobilization after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).Methods:Seventy-two patients undergoing TKA were randomly allocated into three groups according to the analgesic technique used for postoperative pain management. Group EA patients received epidural analgesia (control group), group IA received intra-articular infusion and group FNB received femoral nerve block.Results:Upon analyzing the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) scores at rest, at passive and active movement, up to 3 days postoperatively, we observed no statistically significant differences at any time point among the three groups. Similarly, no association among these analgesic techniques (EA, IA, FNB) was revealed regarding LOS. However, significant differences emerged concerning the time of mobilization. Patients who received IA achieved earlier mobilization compared to FNB and EA.Conclusions:Both IA and FNB generate similar analgesic effect with EA for postoperative pain management after TKA. However, IA appears to be significantly more effective in early mobilization compared to EA and FNB. Finally, no clinically important differences could be detected regarding LOS among the techniques studied.     

The preload of individual myocardial fibers

The preload of the indiviuual myocardial fibers of the left ventricle, that is, the stress exerted upon the myocardial fibers at end-diastole, is calculated by means of a set of equations. The development of the equations was based on anatomical data referring to the shape of the left ventricle and the orientation of the myocardial fibers, as well as some assumptions of minor importance. Numerical solution of the equations shows that in general, the preload increases as one advances from the apex to the equator of the left ventricle and then it decreases as one advances toward the base. The preload also changes as one advances from the epicardium to the endocardium in such a way that one can distinguish three zones: one outer, or epicardial, with low preloads, one middle with high preloads and one inner, or endocardial, with low preloads. The physiological significance of the findings as well as the validity of the assumptions on which the theory was based are discussed.     

Raman spectroscopy of blood and urine liquid biopsies for ovarian cancer diagnosis: identification of chemotherapy effects

Blood plasma and serum Raman spectroscopy for ovarian cancer diagnosis has been applied in pilot studies, with promising results. Herein, a comparative analysis of these biofluids, with a novel assessment of urine, was conducted by Raman spectroscopy application in a large patient cohort. Spectra were obtained through samples measurements from 116 ovarian cancer patients and 307 controls. Principal component analysis identified significant spectral differences between cancers without previous treatment (n = 71) and following neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), (n = 45). Application of five classification algorithms achieved up to 73% sensitivity for plasma, high specificities and accuracies for both blood biofluids, and lower performance for urine. A drop in sensitivities for the NACT group in plasma and serum, with an opposite trend in urine, suggest that Raman spectroscopy could identify chemotherapy-related changes. This study confirms that biofluids' Raman spectroscopy can contribute in ovarian cancer's diagnostic work-up and demonstrates its potential in monitoring treatment response.     

Proinflammatory Markers,Insulin Sensitivity,and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Treated HIV Infection

Treated HIV infection and HIV‐lipoatrophy increases risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Circulating inflammatory molecules may, in part, explain this increased risk. This study examined circulating inflammatory molecules in treated HIV infection in relation to insulin sensitivity, lipids total body, and intramyocellular fat, compared to insulin‐resistant obesity (an index group at high risk of diabetes). Detailed metabolic phenotypes were measured in 20 treated HIV‐infected men (with and without subcutaneous lipoatrophy) vs. 26 insulin‐resistant obese men (IR‐O, n = 26), including inflammatory molecules, insulin sensitivity, total body fat (TBF), visceral fat (visceral adipose tissue (VAT)), and intramyocellular lipid (IMCL). C‐reactive protein (CRP) levels in treated HIV were similar to those in IR‐O, despite lower TBF and greater insulin sensitivity in treated HIV. In HIV‐lipoatrophy, CRP was higher than that found in IR‐O. Adiponectin was similar between treated HIV and IR‐O, but significantly lower in those with HIV‐lipoatrophy. In treated HIV, subjects with higher CRP had significantly higher total cholesterol, VAT, and IMCL. In treated HIV, subjects with lower adiponectin had significantly lower HDL and higher triglycerides, glucose, VAT, and IMCL. In conclusion, a proinflammatory milieu equivalent to that of insulin‐resistant obesity characterizes lean men with treated HIV infection, worse in those with subcutaneous lipoatrophy. These factors may contribute to the accelerated diabetogenesis and cardiac risk observed in treated HIV infection.     

Rapid identification of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmo trutta</Emphasis> lineages by multiplex PCR utilizing primers tailored to discriminate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the mitochondrial control region

Analyses of the mtDNA control region sequence variation of the brown trout Salmo trutta through its distribution range have demonstrated five distinct phylogenetic lineages. In this work we report the design and implementation of a rapid and accurate molecular diagnostic procedure which allows the assignment of all major phylogenetic lineages. Our method relies on multiplex PCR that discriminates diagnostic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) characteristic of each lineage. The method is straightforward and easy to set up, involves a single reaction, yields data easy to interpret and does not pose significant risk for false positive/negative lineage assignment of a given individual. Panagotis K. Apostolou and Andreas Georgiadis contributed equally to this work.