Analysis of blood type for SARS-CoV-2 and correlation for disease acquisition in various sociodemographic groups including women of childbearing age.

BACKGROUND: Multiple studies have occurred to determine if a patient's blood type, Rhesus factor (Rh), and sociodemographic attributes contribute to contracting SARS-CoV-2. True association remains unknown. METHODS: Inclusion criteria included in-patients who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 with blood type assessed. Study endpoints combined ABO, Rh and all-cause inpatient mortality (ACIM) with testing positivity. Pregnancy status was one of several secondary endpoints evaluated. A logistic regression analysis was used to estimate association. RESULTS: Of the 27,662 patients who met inclusion criteria, Type A blood was associated with increased positivity [1.01 (1.0-1.21), P = .03]. Type B [1.10 (0.99-1.23), P = .08] and AB [0.98 (0.81-1.19), P = .84] showed no association. When evaluating ACIM, type A [1.18 (0.91-1.52), P = .22], B [1.13 (0.82- 1.56), P = .480], and AB [1.06 (0.62-1.81), P = .839] were not associated with increased mortality. The female subgroup was less likely to test positive [0.88 (0.82-0.986), P = .002]. Black patients demonstrated a higher likelihood of positivity when compared to White [1.96 (1.79-2.14), P < .001]. Non-pregnant women exhibited a 2.5 times greater likelihood of testing positive [2.49 (2.04-3.04), P < .001]. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms results of previous research which showed SARS-Co-V-2 positivity related to blood type. It also confirms more recent research demonstrating inequities related to acquisition of SARS-CoV-2 for certain sociodemographic groups. Larger studies are warranted to confirm and further explore novel pregnancy findings.

Self-Reported Disability in Persons With HIV-Related Neuropathy Is Mediated by Pain Interference and Depression.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare disability in people with HIV and peripheral neuropathy with those without neuropathy and explore how neuropathy and other relevant factors are associated with disability. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, participants completed the Brief pain inventory, Beck Depression Inventory II, World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0), and a health and demographic questionnaire. Additional data were extracted from the medical record. A raw score of ≥1 on the Subjective Peripheral Neuropathy Screen questions about lower extremity numbness or paresthesia was used to identify peripheral neuropathy. Predictors of disability (as determined by association with World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 scores) were evaluated bivariately and in a multivariable model. Path modeling was used to identify a parsimonious model to elucidate the mediated effects of peripheral neuropathy on disability. RESULTS: Participants with peripheral neuropathy had more depression symptoms, more pain (severity and interference), and higher disability scores compared with participants without neuropathy. The relationship between neuropathy and disability was mediated by pain interference and depression (standardized root mean residual = .056). CONCLUSION: In this sample of people with HIV, those with lower extremity peripheral neuropathy reported more severe disability, worse pain, and more depression symptoms than those without neuropathy. The relationship between peripheral neuropathy and disability may be mediated though pain interference and depression. IMPACT: Distal sensory polyneuropathy is a common comorbidity experienced by people living with HIV and frequently causes pain. This study can help providers direct care toward lessening disability experienced among people with HIV and peripheral neuropathy by targeting interventions for treatment of pain and depression. LAY SUMMARY: People living with HIV may experience disabling painful neuropathy. Treatment for pain and depression may help reduce the disability associated with painful neuropathy.

Functional Limitations and Disability in Persons Living with HIV in South Africa and United States: Similarities and Differences.

Persons living with HIV (PLHIV) may experience disability. We compared disability among PLHIV in the United States and South Africa and investigated associations with health and demographic characteristics. Secondary analysis of cross-sectional data using medical records and questionnaires including the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DAS) 2.0 12-item version (range: 0-36, with higher scores indicative of more severe disability). Between-country differences for the presence of disability were assessed with logistic regression and differences in severity using multiple regression. Eighty-six percent of US participants reported disability, compared to 51.3% in South Africa. The mean WHO-DAS score was higher in the United States (12.09 ± 6.96) compared to South Africa (8.3 ± 6.27). Participants with muscle pain, depression, or more years since HIV diagnosis were more likely to report disability. Being female or depressed was associated with more severity. Being adherent to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and employed were associated with less severity. Because muscle pain and depression were predictive factors for disability, treatment of those problems may help mitigate disability in PLHIV.

Cross-reactivity between cockroach and ladybug using the radioallergosorbent test.

BACKGROUND: Home infestations from Harmonia axyridis (ladybug) occur throughout the United States. IgE-mediated sensitization with allergic disease has been reported. The prevalence of ladybug sensitization has been studied by questionnaire and allergy testing in patients diagnosed as having allergic disease. Cross-reactivity with cockroach exists. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of ladybug specific IgE in the general population by specific IgE immunoassay and to examine cross-reactivity to cockroach. METHODS: An experimental solid phase for use in immunoassay was prepared using a ladybug extract, and performance characteristics were determined. Serum samples from 100 adult blood bank donors were tested using the ladybug specific IgE immunoassay. Known ladybug IgE-positive serum samples obtained from symptomatic patients were used to study crossreactivity with German cockroach by specific IgE immunoassay inhibition. RESULTS: The mean background response of the assay solid phase was 51 fluorescent units with an analytical cutoff of 59 fluorescent units. It was estimated that a response of 88 fluorescent units corresponds to a specific IgE concentration of 0.1 kUa/L. The extinction dilution curve was linear to 0.1 kUa/L. The assay cutoff was set at 0.1 kUa/L. Of the 100 blood donor serum samples, 10 were positive for ladybug specific IgE. Inhibition assays revealed partial cross-reactivity with German cockroach. CONCLUSION: Although an immunoassay solid phase prepared with ladybug whole body extract will identify persons in a general population sensitized to epitopes found in the extract, clinicians performing allergy testing using whole body ladybug extract should be aware that a positive result may or may not indicate that exposure to actual ladybug allergens is causing sensitization.

Three-class antiretroviral resistance in a patient with acute HIV-1 infection.

Antiretroviral resistance in treatment-naïve patients with HIV-1 infection is on the rise in both resource-rich and resource-poor countries. We report a case of three-class primary antiretroviral resistance detected by a genotypic assay in a 19-year-old woman with acute HIV-1 infection. Her risk factor for HIV acquisition was unprotected sexual intercourse with a HIV-positive man. At diagnosis, her HIV-1 RNA level was 730,376 copies per milliliter, and 2 weeks later her CD4+ cell count was 465 cells/mm(3). The patient's antiretroviral therapy was chosen based on the genotype of the source patient. Subsequent analysis of our patient's virus revealed an identical genotype to that of the source patient. The patient tolerated therapy well and continues to be virologically suppressed after 1 year of therapy. Her current CD4+ cell count is 537 cells/mm(3) and HIV-1 RNA is less than 400 copies per milliliter. This case supports the current recommendations from several HIV therapy guidelines to perform resistance testing in patients with acute HIV-1 infection.

Relationship between extremely low total serum IgE levels and rhinosinusitis.

BACKGROUND: The few studies examining clinical manifestations in adults with serum IgE levels less than 2.0 IU/mL provide conflicting information. OBJECTIVE: To examine self-reported respiratory disease in women with total serum IgE levels less than 2.0 IU/mL to further elucidate previous reports of an association between IgE deficiency and chronic rhinosinusitis. METHODS: In a geographically based cohort of 626 pregnant women, total serum IgE levels were measured using a standard assay with a lower limit of detection of 2.0 IU/mL. Sera with IgE levels less than 2.0 IU/mL were assayed again using a low IgE protocol with a detection limit of 0.02 IU/mL. RESULTS: Twenty-one individuals (3.4%) were found to have IgE levels less than 2.0 IU/mL. On repeated assay, 20 of these individuals with available clinical data were found to have detectable IgE levels ranging from 0.5 to 2.1 IU/mL (geometric mean, 1.2 IU/mL). None of these individuals with low IgE levels had physician-diagnosed sinusitis compared with 19.3% (113/585) of those with IgE levels of 2.0 IU/mL or greater (P = .03). Physician-diagnosed asthma was also less prevalent (1/19, 5.3%) in the low IgE group compared with 20.6% in those with higher IgE levels, but this was not significant (P = .14). The low IgE group reported a higher prevalence of hay fever symptoms than the remaining cohort (31.6% vs 24.4%; P = .43) but had less physician-diagnosed hay fever (5.3% vs 15.8%; P = .34). CONCLUSIONS: Low serum IgE levels were relatively common in these pregnant women. In contrast to previous studies, a low IgE level was not associated with chronic rhinosinusitis.

Ultra stable all-fiber telecom-band entangled photon-pair source for turnkey quantum communication applications.

We demonstrate a novel alignment-free all-fiber source for generating telecom-band polarization-entangled photon pairs. Polarization entanglement is created by injecting two relatively delayed, orthogonally polarized pump pulses into a piece of dispersion-shifted fiber, where each one independently engages in four-photon scattering, and then removing any distinguishability between the correlated photon-pairs produced by each pulse at the fiber output. Our scheme uses a Michelson-interferometer configuration with Faraday mirrors to achieve practically desirable features such as ultra-stable performance and turnkey operation. Up to 91.7% two-photon-interference visibility is observed without subtracting the accidental coincidences that arise from background photons while operating the source at room temperature.

Potential clindamycin resistance in clindamycin-susceptible, erythromycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: report of a clinical failure.

The erm gene product confers clindamycin resistance on Staphylococcus aureus. We report a clindamycin clinical failure where resistance developed on therapy in a D-test-positive strain. D tests of 91 clindamycin-susceptible, erythromycin-resistant S. aureus isolates showed that 68% of methicillin-susceptible and 12.3% of methicillin-resistant S. aureus strains were D-test positive.

Cladophialophora bantiana brain abscess in a solid-organ transplant recipient: case report and review of the literature.

Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis caused by Cladophialophora bantiana is a rare disease. We describe a heart and bilateral lung transplant recipient who was unsuccessfully treated for a C. bantiana brain abscess. This report compares the present case to those of other solid-organ transplant recipients with the same infection and to those of patients who did not receive transplants.