Corrigendum: Brief research report: impact of vaccination on antibody responses and mortality from severe COVID-19.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1325243.].

Brief research report: impact of vaccination on antibody responses and mortality from severe COVID-19.

Introduction: While it is established that vaccination reduces risk of hospitalization, there is conflicting data on whether it improves outcome among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This study evaluated clinical outcomes and antibody (Ab) responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection/vaccines in patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF) and various comorbidities. Methods: In this single-center study, 152 adult patients were admitted to Ohio State University hospital with ARF (05/2020 - 11/2022) including 112 COVID-19-positive and 40 COVID-19-negative patients. Of the COVID-19 positive patients, 23 were vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2 (Vax), and 89 were not (NVax). Of the NVax COVID-19 patients, 46 were admitted before and 43 after SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were approved. SARS-CoV-2 Ab levels were measured/analyzed based on various demographic and clinical parameters of COVID-19 patients. Additionally, total IgG4 Ab concentrations were compared between the Vax and NVax patients. Results: While mortality rates were 36% (n=25) and 27% (n=15) for non-COVID-19 NVax and Vax patients, respectively, in COVID-19 patients mortality rates were 37% (NVax, n=89) and 70% (Vax, n=23). Among COVID-19 patients, mortality rate was significantly higher among Vax vs. NVax patients (p=0.002). The Charlson's Comorbidity Index score (CCI) was also significantly higher among Vax vs. NVax COVID-19 patients. However, the mortality risk remained significantly higher (p=0.02) when we compared COVID-19 Vax vs. NVax patients with similar CCI score, suggesting that additional factors may increase risk of mortality. Higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 Abs were noted among survivors, suggestive of their protective role. We observed a trend for increased total IgG4 Ab, which promotes immune tolerance, in the Vax vs. NVax patients in week 3. Conclusion: Although our cohort size is small, our results suggest that vaccination status of hospital-admitted COVID-19 patients may not be instructive in determining mortality risk. This may reflect that within the general population, those individuals at highest risk for COVID-19 mortality/immune failure are likely to be vaccinated. Importantly, the value of vaccination may be in preventing hospitalization as opposed to stratifying outcome among hospitalized patients, although our data do not address this possibility. Additional research to identify factors predictive of aberrant immunogenic responses to vaccination is warranted.

RNA-Sequencing based analysis of bovine endometrium during the maternal recognition of pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Maternal recognition is the crucial step for establishing pregnancy in cattle. This study aims to identify endometrial genes and biological pathways involved in the maternal recognition of pregnancy. Caruncular endometrial tissues were collected from Day 15-17 of gestation (pregnant), non-pregnant (absence of conceptus), and cyclic (non-bred) heifers. RESULTS: Total RNAs were isolated from the caruncular endometrial tissues of pregnant, non-pregnant, and cyclic heifers, and were subjected to high-throughput RNA-sequencing. The genes with at least two-fold change and Benjamini and Hochberg p-value ≤ 0.05 were considered differentially expressed genes and further confirmed with quantitative real-time PCR. A total of 107 genes (pregnant vs cyclic) and 98 genes (pregnant vs non-pregnant) were differentially expressed in the pregnant endometrium. The most highly up-regulated genes in the pregnant endometrium were MRS2, CST6, FOS, VLDLR, ISG15, IFI6, MX2, C15H11ORF34, EIF3M, PRSS22, MS4A8, and TINAGL1. Interferon signaling, immune response, nutrient transporter, synthesis, and secretion of proteins are crucial pathways during the maternal recognition of pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that the presence of conceptus at Day 15-17 of gestation affects the endometrial gene expression related to endometrial remodeling, immune response, nutrients and ion transporters, and relevant signaling pathways in the caruncular region of bovine endometrium during the maternal recognition of pregnancy.

Histopathological Review of Diagnostic Categories of the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology - An Institutional Experience of 5 Years.

CONTEXT: Fine needle aspiration (FNA) plays a crucial role in the evaluation of patients with thyroid lesions. The Bethesda system for reporting thyroid cytopathology (TBSRTC) was designed with a mission to standardize the process of diagnosis and management of thyroid lesions by FNA cytology (FNAC). AIM: We aim to see the benefits of adopting TBSRTC, seek the cytological pitfalls in the diagnosis of thyroid FNAC, and identify the spectrum of thyroid lesions in our setup. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This is a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted from June 2009 to June 2014 of all thyroid FNACs with available histopathology reports. Cases were designated a specific diagnostic category according to TBSRTC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 109 cases were included in the study. Sixty-eight cases had been reported without using TBSRTC and were reviewed and reclassified according to TBSRTC seeking the common reasons for interpretative errors. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 11.5. RESULTS: In both pre- and post-TBSRTC era, benign neoplasms constituted the major bulk. After the use of TBSRTC, there was increased ability to look for follicular neoplasms, improvement in making definitive diagnosis of the cases, decline in the suspicious category, and an improvement in diagnostic accuracy, and we were in line with the implied risk outlined by TBSRTC in most of the cases except the nondiagnostic or unsatisfactory category. CONCLUSION: Application of TBSRTC results in uniformity in reporting among pathologists and better interdisciplinary communication and patient management.

Congenital Pulmonary Airway Malformation in an Adult Male: A Case Report with Literature Review.

Congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM) is a rare cystic lung lesion formed as a result of anomalous development of airways in fetal life. Majority of the cases are recognized in neonates and infants with respiratory distress with very few presenting later in adult life. A 24-year-old male with history of three separate episodes of pneumonia in the last 6 months presented with left sided pleuritic chest pain for 4 days. He was tachycardic and tachypneic at presentation. White blood count was 14 × 10(9)/L. Chest X-ray showed left lower lobe opacity. CT angiogram of thorax showed a well-defined area of low attenuation in the left lower lobe with dedicated pulmonary arterial and venous drainage and resolving infection, suggesting CPAM. He underwent left lower lobe lobectomy. Histopathology confirmed type 2 CPAM. CPAM is a rare congenital anatomic abnormality that can present with recurrent infections in adults. As a number of cases remain asymptomatic and symptomatic cases are often missed, prevalence of CPAM might be higher than currently reported.