Comparison of the clinical features of HIV-positive and HIV-negative hosts infected with Talaromyces marneffei: A multicenter, retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES: Talaromyces marneffei is an emerging pathogen, and the number of infections in HIV-negative individuals is rapidly increasing. Nevertheless, there is no sufficient comprehensive report on this issue, and awareness needs to be raised among clinicians. METHODS: We analyzed the differences in the clinical data of patients who are HIV-negative and HIV-positive with Talaromyces marneffei infection (TMI) from 2018 to 2022. RESULTS: A total of 848 patients were included, among whom 104 were HIV-negative. The obvious differences between the HIV-positive and HIV-negative groups were as follows: (i) the patients who are HIV-negative were older and more likely to exhibit cough and rash, (ii) the time in days from symptom onset to diagnosis among patients who are HIV-negative was longer, (iii) the laboratory findings and radiological presentations seemed more severe in patients who are HIV-negative, (iv) differences were observed regarding the underlying conditions and co-infection pathogens, and correlation analysis showed that correlations existed for many indicators, (v) and persistent infection was more likely to occur in patients who are HIV-negative. CONCLUSION: TMI in patients who are HIV-negative differs from that in patients who are HIV-positive in many aspects, and more investigations are needed. Clinicians should be more aware of TMI in patients who are HIV-negative.

Sonochemical synthesis and characterization of new nanostructures cobalt(II) metal-organic complexes derived from the azo-coupling reaction of 4-amino benzoic acid with anthranilic acid, salicylaldehyde and 2-naphtol.

Nanostructures of three new cobalt(II) complexes, (CoL1)·0.5DMF·1.5MeOH (1), [H2L1=5-(4-Carboxy phenyl azo) anthranilic acid], (Co(L2)2)·1.5MeOH (2), [HL2=5-(4-Carboxy phenyl azo) salicylaldehyde] and (Co(L3)2)·0.5DMF·0.5MeOH (3), [HL3=1-(4-Carboxy phenyl azo) 2-naphtol], have been synthesized by the reaction of H2L1, HL2 and HL3 with Co(OAc)2·4H2O through sonochemical process. Calcination of the nano-sized compounds 1-3 yield Co3O4 nanoparticles at 450°C under air atmosphere. These nanostructures were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Thermal stability of compounds 1-3 was studied by thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermal analyses (DTA).