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In the recent mpox outbreak, people living with HIV (PLWH) were at high risk both for contracting infection and for suffering a more severe disease course. We studied cellular and humoral immune responses elicited by mpox infection (n = 5; n = 3 PLWH) or smallpox vaccination (n = 17; all PLWH) in a cohort of men who have sex with men. All PLWH were successfully treated, with stable CD4 counts and undetectable HIV viral loads. 11/17 vaccinated individuals had received childhood smallpox vaccination. In this group of individuals, both two-dose MVA-vaccination and natural infection evoked mpox-specific immune responses mediated by B cells as well as CD4 and CD8 T cells. This study improves our understanding of smallpox vaccination mediated cross-reactivity to other orthopox viruses, and the long-lasting durability of childhood smallpox vaccination mediated immune responses including in PLWH.
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BACKGROUND: Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are key organizers of tissue immune responses and regulate tissue development, repair, and pathology. Persistent clinical sequelae beyond 12 weeks following acute COVID-19 disease, named post-COVID syndrome (PCS), are increasingly recognized in convalescent individuals. ILCs have been associated with the severity of COVID-19 symptoms but their role in the development of PCS remains poorly defined. METHODS AND RESULTS: Here, we used multiparametric immune phenotyping, finding expanded circulating ILC precursors (ILCPs) and concurrent decreased group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) in PCS patients compared to well-matched convalescent control groups at > 3 months after infection or healthy controls. Patients with PCS showed elevated expression of chemokines and cytokines associated with trafficking of immune cells (CCL19/MIP-3b, FLT3-ligand), endothelial inflammation and repair (CXCL1, EGF, RANTES, IL-1RA, PDGF-AA). CONCLUSION: These results define immunological parameters associated with PCS and might help find biomarkers and disease-relevant therapeutic strategies.
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The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The surnames of all authors have been interchanged. The corrected author names are given below.
RESUMO
Recent epidemiological studies indicate that about one-third of the general population suffers from a more or less disabling height intolerance, with a relevant impact on quality of life in many of them. Acrophobia, the most severe form of visual height intolerance, has a life-time prevalence of around 5%. Although it is commonly believed that fear of heights should continuously aggravate with increasing elevation, this issue has not been systematically investigated yet. Here, we examined this topic using immersive virtual reality, an established tool in therapy for fear of heights, that allows to flexibly manipulate height stimuli. In a comprehensive cohort (including insusceptible subjects as well as subjects with height intolerance up to acrophobia) height intolerance severity was graded by an established metric scale (vHISS). Participants were randomly exposed to different virtual elevations using a head-mounted display. Behavioral responses to virtual height exposure were analogous to exposure in vivo. Participants exhibited increased anxiety and musculoskeletal stiffening with enhanced high-frequency body sway, to an extend that corresponded to the individual subjective height intolerance rating. For all behavioral responses, we observed a saturation above a certain altitude. Body sway and musculoskeletal stiffening became maximal at 20 m above ground, whereas anxiety saturated above 40 m. These results suggest that fear of heights is characterized by a nonlinear stimulus-response relationship and a dissociation between visual-height-induced bodily and emotional reactions.
