Markers of prolonged hospitalisation in severe dengue.

BACKGROUND: Dengue is one of the most common diseases in the tropics and subtropics. Whilst mortality is a rare event when adequate supportive care can be provided, a large number of patients get hospitalised with dengue every year that places a heavy burden on local health systems. A better understanding of the support required at the time of hospitalisation is therefore of critical importance for healthcare planning, especially when resources are limited during major outbreaks. METHODS: Here we performed a retrospective analysis of clinical data from over 1500 individuals hospitalised with dengue in Vietnam between 2017 and 2019. Using a broad panel of potential biomarkers, we sought to evaluate robust predictors of prolonged hospitalisation periods. RESULTS: Our analyses revealed a lead-time bias, whereby early admission to hospital correlates with longer hospital stays - irrespective of disease severity. Importantly, taking into account the symptom duration prior to hospitalisation significantly affects observed associations between hospitalisation length and previously reported risk markers of prolonged stays, which themselves showed marked inter-annual variations. Once corrected for symptom duration, age, temperature at admission and elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio were found predictive of longer hospitalisation periods. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the time since dengue symptom onset is one of the most significant predictors for the length of hospital stays, independent of the assigned severity score. Pre-hospital symptom durations need to be accounted for to evaluate clinically relevant biomarkers of dengue hospitalisation trajectories.

Effect of high-concentration bleaching agents on dentin bonding: an in vitro study.

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of high-concentration hydrogen peroxide (HP) and carbamide peroxide (CP) bleaching solutions on the dentin-resin interface and the shear bond strength (SBS) of restorative materials. A total of 56 extracted human premolars were prepared with flat dentin windows and divided into groups according to the bleaching protocol: group A, bleached with 35% HP (n = 24); group B, bleached with 35% CP (n = 24); and group C, control, no bleaching (n = 8). Groups A and B were each divided into 3 subgroups according to the time of bonding: A0 or B0, bonded immediately after bleaching (n = 8); A1 or B1, bonded 1 week after bleaching (n = 8); and A2 or B2, bonded 2 weeks after bleaching (n = 8). The specimens in group C were bonded without prior bleaching. Scanning electron microscopic analysis was conducted to evaluate the length of the resin tags at the dentin-resin interface. For SBS testing, the specimens were loaded into a universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. The mean resin tag lengths of groups that were bonded immediately (A0 and B0) or after a 1-week delay (A1 and B1) were significantly shorter than that of group C (P < 0.001; Kruskal-Wallis test), but the differences between the 2-week delayed bonding groups (A2 and B2) and group C were not statistically significant. The SBS values of both the 35% HP and 35% CP groups increased significantly with delayed bonding time (P < 0.05; 1-way analysis of variance). When bonding was delayed until 2 weeks after bleaching, the mean SBSs of the bleaching and control groups were not significantly different (P > 0.05; Tukey test).

Sustained clonal hematopoiesis by HLA-lacking hematopoietic stem cells without driver mutations in aplastic anemia.

Clonal hematopoiesis by hematopoietic stem progenitor cells (HSPCs) that lack an HLA class I allele (HLA- HSPCs) is common in patients with acquired aplastic anemia (AA); however, it remains unknown whether the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) attack that allows for survival of HLA- HSPCs is directed at nonmutated HSPCs or HSPCs with somatic mutations or how escaped HLA- HSPC clones support sustained hematopoiesis. We investigated the presence of somatic mutations in HLA- granulocytes obtained from 15 AA patients in long-term remission (median, 13 years; range, 2-30 years). Targeted sequencing of HLA- granulocytes revealed somatic mutations (DNMT3A, n = 2; TET2, ZRSR2, and CBL, n = 1) in 3 elderly patients between 79 and 92 years of age, but not in 12 other patients aged 27 to 74 years (median, 51.5 years). The chronological and clonogenic analyses of the 3 cases revealed that ZRSR2 mutation in 1 case, which occurred in an HLA- HSPC with a DNMT3A mutation, was the only mutation associated with expansion of the HSPC clone. Whole-exome sequencing of the sorted HLA- granulocytes confirmed the absence of any driver mutations in 5 patients who had a particularly large loss of heterozygosity in chromosome 6p (6pLOH) clone size. Flow-fluorescence in situ hybridization analyses of sorted HLA+ and HLA- granulocytes showed no telomere attrition in HLA- granulocytes. The findings suggest that HLA- HSPC clones that escape CTL attack are essentially free from somatic mutations related to myeloid malignancies and are able to support long-term clonal hematopoiesis without developing driver mutations in AA patients unless HLA loss occurs in HSPCs with somatic mutations.

Distinct allelic expression patterns of imprinted IGF2 in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

The insulin-like growth factor 2 gene (IGF2) is an imprinting gene, which mediates cell growth and apoptosis. The loss of imprinting (LOI) of IGF2 has been associated with the development of cancer. In the present study, loss LOI of IGF2 in lung cancer was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in combination with DNA sequencing of samples collected by laser capture microdissection. The status of each sample was assigned as imprinting when PCR-RFLP revealed only one band or sequence with a single peak; otherwise, the case was classified as LOI. LOI was identified in eight out of 13 adenocarcinoma cases (62%), but was not detected in any of the nine squamous cell carcinoma cases (0%). These results suggest that IGF2 LOI is involved in the molecular pathogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma, but not squamous cell carcinoma, and that LOI may be detected through increased IGF2 expression levels.

The relationship between Agent Orange and prostate specific antigen: a comparison of a hotspot and a non-sprayed area in Vietnam.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore the impact of Agent Orange exposure for prostate cancer with a comparison of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels between a hotspot and a non-sprayed area. METHODS: The study was conducted in Phu Cat district (hotspot) and Kim Bang district (non-sprayed), with a total of 101 men in the hotspot and 97 men in the non-sprayed area older than 50 years of age. About 5 mL of whole blood and a health status questionnaire were collected from each subject in August 2009-2011. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects in the hotspot (68.0 years old) was significantly higher than that of those in the non-sprayed area (65.0 years old). No significant difference was found between the hotspot area (0.93 ng/mL) and the non-sprayed area (0.95 ng/mL) in terms of PSA levels. Likewise, this was not statistically significant after adjusting for age. The prevalence of high PSA levels (>3 ng/mL) did not differ significantly between the hotspot (14 men; 13.9 %) and non-sprayed area (9 men; 9.3 %). No significant difference was found between the hotspot area and the non-sprayed area in terms of occupation (farmer and others). In control subjects, no significant difference was found between the PSA levels in subjects exposed to Agent Orange and non-exposed subjects. Likewise, no significant difference was found between the PSA levels of combatants and civilians. CONCLUSION: The PSA levels were not significantly different between the hotspot and the non-sprayed area.