Late gadolinium enhancement following covid-19 infection does not predict outcome: a single-centre study

182 Figure 1Cardiovascular events in COVID-19 Survivors by LGE Status[Figure omitted. See PDF] 182 Figure 2All-cause mortality in COVID-19 Survivors by LGE Status[Figure omitted. See PDF]Conflict of InterestNone

The association between the elevated serum levels of cardiac Trop I and mortality in patients with and without pre-existing CAD in COVID-19 patients: A retrospective observational study

Background: COVID-19 has appeared as a pandemic and public health issue at a universal level. First documented as a respiratory disease, COVID-19 has been found to interrelate with and disturb the cardiovascular system causing myocardial injury and also cardiac dysfunction. Initial documentation of cardiac pathology can play a substantial role in dropping the death rate. This study emphasizes on the relationship between the serum levels of cardiac Trop I and prognosis in patients with and without pre-existing CAD in COVID-19 patients. Aims and Objectives: The first objective was to explore the association among the serum levels of cardiac Trop I and bad prognosis in patients with antiquity of CAD and without CAD. The secondary objective was to explore and understand whether increased Trop I is an appreciated prognostic indicator for COVID-19 patient antagonistic prognosis. Material(s) and Method(s): This was conducted as a retrospective observational study in which a whole of 45 patients admitted in COVID Hospital of Malabar Medical College and Research Center category C were studied. The medical record of the patients whose COVID-19 confirmation done by combined conclusions of reverse transcription PCR, symptoms, and chest X-ray was studies by the team. Result(s): Mean age of the study participants was 59.3 +/- 13.7. Every study participants had elevated Trop I levels with a median Trop I in study subjects being 397.9. There was a statistically significant elevation in Trop I levels in patients with CAD linked with non-CAD patients with a median IQR of 641.6 and P = 0.003 and there was a significant increase in Trop I levels in patients who expired related to patients who got discharged with a median IQR of 587.3 and P = 0.003. Conclusion(s): From this study, we accomplish that rise in cardiac troponin-I level is connected with elevated mortality in patients with COVID-19. Hence, it can be used as significant biomarker of disease evolution, hospitalization, and worse prognosis in COVID-19 patients.Copyright © 2023, Mr Bhawani Singh. All rights reserved.

Performance, Trust, or both? COVID-19 Diagnosis and Prognosis using Deep Ensemble Transfer Learning on X-ray Imagesg±

The COVID-19 pandemic still affects most parts of the world today. Despite a lot of research on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, a big challenge today is the limited number of expert radiologists who provide diagnosis and prognosis on X-Ray images. Thus, to make the diagnosis of COVID-19 accessible and quicker, several researchers have proposed deep-learning-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. While most of these proposed machine and deep learning models work in theory, they may not find acceptance among the medical community for clinical use due to weak statistical validation. For this article, radiologists' views were considered to understand the correlation between the theoretical findings and real-life observations. The article explores Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classification models to build a four-class viz. "COVID-19", "Lung Opacity", "Pneumonia", and "Normal"classifiers, which also provide the uncertainty measure associated with each class. The authors also employ various pre-processing techniques to enhance the X-Ray images for specific features. To address the issues of over-fitting while training, as well as to address the class imbalance problem in our dataset, we use Monte Carlo dropout and Focal Loss respectively. Finally, we provide a comparative analysis of the following classification models - ResNet-18, VGG-19, ResNet-152, MobileNet-V2, Inception-V3, and EfficientNet-V2, where we match the state-of-the-art results on the Open Benchmark Chest X-ray datasets, with a sensitivity of 0.9954, specificity of 0.9886, the precision of 0.9880, F1-score of 0.9851, accuracy of 0.9816, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9781 (ROC-AUC score). © 2022 ACM.

Iron deficiency anemia and COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a significant health and financial issue in the current century. Despite significant attempts to manage the illness, the transmission routes of the virus and its widespread genomic mutations have led to an increasing number of new infections and mortality rates. In the absence of specific treatment for this new virus, identifying and managing factors affecting the prognosis of the disease is one of the critical strategies to reduce disease mortality. Patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA), who account for an estimated half a billion people globally, are more prone to infections due to immune system disorders. Since they visit hospitals more frequently for follow-up care and diagnosis, they are more susceptible to becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2. Once infected with SARS-CoV-2, low hemoglobin (Hb) levels and compromised immune systems disrupt the restriction of infection in these individuals, ultimately leading to severe complications of COVID-19.

Invasive aspergillosis in patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units: results of a multicenter study.

Objective. To study risk factors, clinical and radiological features and effectiveness of the treatment of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in adult patients with COVID-19 (COVID-IA) in intensive care units (ICU). Materials and methods. A total of 60 patients with COVID-IA treated in ICU (median age 62 years, male - 58%) were included in this multicenter prospective study. The comparison group included 34 patients with COVID-IA outside the ICU (median age 62 years, male - 68%). ECMM/ISHAM 2020 criteria were used for diagnosis of CAPA, and EORTC/MSGERC 2020 criteria were used for evaluation of the treatment efficacy. A case-control study (one patient of the main group per two patients of the control group) was conducted to study risk factors for the development and features of CAPA. The control group included 120 adult COVID-19 patients without IA in the ICU, similar in demographic characteristics and background conditions. The median age of patients in the control group was 63 years, male - 67%. Results. 64% of patients with COVID-IA stayed in the ICU. Risk factors for the COVID-IA development in the ICU: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR = 3.538 [1.104-11.337], p = 0.02), and prolonged (> 10 days) lymphopenia (OR = 8.770 [4.177-18.415], p = 0.00001). The main location of COVID-IA in the ICU was lungs (98%). Typical clinical signs were fever (97%), cough (92%), severe respiratory failure (72%), ARDS (64%) and haemoptysis (23%). Typical CT features were areas of consolidation (97%), hydrothorax (63%), and foci of destruction (53%). The effective methods of laboratory diagnosis of COVID-IA were test for galactomannan in BAL (62%), culture (33%) and microscopy (22%) of BAL. The main causative agents of COVID-IA are A. fumigatus (61%), A. niger (26%) and A. flavus (4%). The overall 12-week survival rate of patients with COVID-IA in the ICU was 42%, negative predictive factors were severe respiratory failure (27.5% vs 81%, p = 0.003), ARDS (14% vs 69%, p = 0.001), mechanical ventilation (25% vs 60%, p = 0.01), and foci of destruction in the lung tissue on CT scan (23% vs 59%, p = 0.01). Conclusions. IA affects predominantly ICU patients with COVID-19 who have concomitant medical conditions, such as diabetes mellitus, hematological malignancies, cancer, and COPD. Risk factors for COVID-IA in ICU patients are prolonged lymphopenia and COPD. The majority of patients with COVID-IA have their lungs affected, but clinical signs of IA are non-specific (fever, cough, progressive respiratory failure). The overall 12-week survival in ICU patients with COVID-IA is low. Prognostic factors of poor outcome in adult ICU patients are severe respiratory failure, ARDS, mechanical ventilation as well as CT signs of lung tissue destruction.Copyright © 2022, Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

GENE ANALYSIS REVEALED THE USEFULNESS OF TRIPLE THERAPY WITH BARICITINIB, RITUXIMAB AND TACROLIMS FOR ANTI-MDA5 ANTIBODY POSITIVE DERMATOMYOSITIS (MDA5-DM)

BackgroundAnti-MDA5 antibody positive dermatomyositis (MDA5-DM) is characterized by high mortality due to rapid progressive ILD. MDA5 is a cytosolic protein and a family of RIG-I like receptor, which functions as a virus RNA sensor and induces the production of such as type-1 IFN. Although little is known about the pathogenesis of MDA5-DM, it is notable that the similarities were reported between COVID-19 infection and MDA5-DM. It may suggest that there is a common underlying autoinflammatory mechanism. We reported that in MDA5-DM, (1) RIG-I-like receptor signaling is enhanced and (2) antiviral responses such as type 1 IFN signaling are also enhanced as compare with anti-ARS-antibody positive DM, and (3) the key for survival is suppression of RIG-I-like and IFN signaling (EULAR2022, POS0390). We also found that a significant role for uncontrolled macrophage in the pathogenesis of ILD by our autopsy case. Recently, it has been reported that tacrolimus (TAC) and cyclophosphamide (CY) combination therapy (TC-Tx) has improved the prognosis of cases with early onset of the disease, but there are cases that cannot be saved. Therefore, we devised BRT therapy (BRT-Tx). The Tx combines baricitinib (BAR), which inhibits GM-CSF and IFN-mediated signaling and effectively suppresses uncontrolled macrophages, with rituximab (RTX) and TAC, which rapidly inhibits B and T cell interaction and ultimately prevents anti-MDA5 antibody production.ObjectivesTo determine the differences in gene expression between BRT and TC-Tx for MDA5-DM in peripheral blood.MethodsTotal of 6 MDA5-DM (TC: 3, BRT: 3) were included and all of them had multiple poor prognostic factors. Peripheral whole blood was collected at just before and 2-3 months after the treatment. RNA was extracted, and quantified using a next-generation sequencer. Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) were identified by pre vs. post treatment. Gene Ontology (GO), clustering and Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA) were performed to DEGs. As one BRT case was added since our last year's report, we also reanalyzed the surviving vs. fatal cases. The IFN signature was scored separately for Types 1, 2, and 3, and the changes between pre- and post-treatment were investigated.ResultsTwo of three cases with TC died during treatment, while all three cases on BRT recovered. The cluster analysis of the DEGs separated deaths from survivors, not by type of treatment. Comparing surviving and dead cases, GO analysis revealed that the immune system via immunoglobulins and B cells was significantly suppressed in surviving cases. GO analysis of DEGs in each therapeutic group showed that expression of B cell-related genes such as lymphocyte proliferation and B cell receptor signaling pathway were significantly suppressed in BRT-Tx. On the other hand, TC-Tx significantly suppressed such pathways as cell proliferation and cell surface receptor signaling, and was less specific for the target cells than BRT-Tx. The changes in IFN signature score after treatment showed an increase in type 2 and 3 IFN scores in all fatal cases and an increase in type 1 IFN score in one fatal case.ConclusionBRT-Tx significantly suppressed gene expression associated with B cells, while TC-Tx was characterized by low specificity of therapeutic targets and suppression of total cell proliferation. Comparison of surviving and dead cases revealed that the combination of RTX contributed to the success of treatment, as suppression of the immune system mediated by immunoglobulins and B cells is the key for survival. Analysis of the IFN signature revealed an increase in IFN score after treatment in fatal cases, indicating that the combination of BAR is beneficial. The superiority of BRT-Tx seems clear from the fact that all patients survived with BRT-Tx while only one/three patients survived with TC-Tx.REFERENCES:NIL.Acknowledgements:NIL.Disclosure of InterestsMoe Sakamoto: None declared, Yu Nakai: None declared, Yoshiharu Sato: None declared, Yoshinobu Koyama Speakers bureau: Abbvie, Asahikasei, Ayumi, BMS, Esai, Eli-Lilly, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Grant/research support from: Abbvie, GSK.

Liver biomarkers for prognosis in COVID-19

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2).Mortality attributable to COVID-19 remains considerably high, with case fatality rates as high as 8-11%. Early medical intervention in patients who are seriously and critically ill with COVID-19 reduces fatal outcomes. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers that could help clinicians determine which patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection are at a higher risk of developing the most adverse outcomes, which include intensive care unit (ICU) admission, invasive ventilation, and death. In COVID-19 patients experiencing the most severe form of the disease, tests of liver function are frequently abnormal and liver enzymes are found to be elevated. For this reason, we examine the most promising liver biomarkers for COVID-19 prognosis in an effort to help clinicians predict the risk of ARDS, ICU admission, and death at hospital admission. In patients meeting hospitalization criteria for COVID-19, serum albumin < 36 g/L is an independent risk factor for ICU admission, with an AUC of 0.989, whereas lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) values > 365 U/L accurately predict death with an AUC of 0.943.The clinical scores COVID-GRAM and SOFA that include measures of liver function such as albumin, LDH, and total bilirubin are also good predictors of pneumonia development, ICU admission, and death, with AUC values ranging from 0.88 to 0.978.Thus, serum albumin and LDH, together with clinical risk scores such as COVID-GRAM and SOFA, are the most accurate biomarkers in the prognosis of COVID-19.Copyright © 2021 Sociedad Medica del Hospital General de Mexico. Published by Permanyer.

A comprehensive overview on COVID-associated mucormycosis

In recent times, numerous reports of systemic fungal infections have been a major concern. The angioinvasive fungal infection, mucormycosis has surged in patients with COVID-19 due to various factors, mainly uncontrolled diabetes and inappropriate corticosteroid use. The prevalence of this acute and fatal fungal infection caused by Mucorales-related fungal species has been highest in the Indian population. COVID-associated mucormycosis (CAM) has a propensity for contiguous spread, and exhibits high morbidity as well as mortality. Unless promptly detected and treated, it is associated with a poor prognosis. A high index of suspicion, aggressive surgical debridement and use of systemic antifungal agents continue to be the standard of care for CAM. Moreover, there is an imperative need to address this public health issue by increasing public awareness and education. This article provides a comprehensive overview on the emergence of CAM during the pandemic, the current burden, pathophysiology, diagnostic interventions and management of CAM in Indian clinical practice.

TYPE I INTERFERON SCORE IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SEVERITY AND POOR PROGNOSIS IN ANTI-MDA5 ANTIBODY-POSITIVE DERMATOMYOSITIS PATIENTS

BackgroundAnti-MDA5 antibody-positive dermatomyositis (anti-MDA5+DM) is a rare autoimmune disease associated with a high mortality rate due to rapid-progressive interstitial lung disease (RP-ILD), particularly in East Asia[1]. MDA5, acts as a cytoplasmic sensor of viral RNA, thus activating antiviral responses including the type I interferon (IFN) signaling pathway[2]. The involvement of type 1 IFN in the pathogenesis of MDA5+DM has been proposed based on the significantly elevated expression of its downstream stimulated genes(ISG) in muscle, skin, lung, and peripheral blood[3;4]. Janus kinase inhibitor, which targets the IFN pathway, combined with glucocorticoid could improve the survival of early-stage MDA5+DM-ILD patients[5]. In clinical practice, there is still an urgent demand for sensitive biomarkers to facilitate clinical risk assessment and precise treatment.ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of interferon score, especially IFN-I score, in patients with anti-MDA5+DM.MethodsDifferent subtypes of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy, including anti-MDA5+DM(n=61), anti-MDA5-DM(n=20), antisynthetase syndrome(ASS,n=22),polymyositis(PM,n=6) and immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy(IMNM,n=9), and 58 healthy controls were enrolled.. A multiplex quantitative real-time PCR(RT-qPCR) assay using four TaqMan probes was utilized to evaluate two type I ISGs (IFI44, MX1, which are used for IFN-I score), one type II ISG (IRF1), and one housekeeping gene (HRPT1). Clinical features and disease activity index were compared between high and low IFN-I score groups in 61 anti-MDA5+DM patients. The association between laboratory findings and the predictive value of baseline IFN-I score level for mortality was analyzed.ResultsThe IFN scores were significantly higher in patients with anti-MDA5+DM than in HC (Figure 1A). The IFN-I score correlated positively with serum IFN α(r = 0.335, P =0.008), ferritin (r = 0.302, P = 0.018), and Myositis Disease Activity Assessment Visual Analogue Scale (MYOACT) score(r=0.426, P=0.001). Compared with patients with low IFN-I scores, patients with high IFN-I scores showed increased MYOACT score, CRP, AST, ferritin, and the percentages of plasma cells (PC%) but decreased lymphocyte count, natural killer cell count, and monocyte count. The 3-month survival rate was significantly lower in patients with IFN-I score > 4.9 than in those with IFN-I score ≤ 4.9(72.9% vs. 100%, P=0.044)(Figure 1B).ConclusionIFN score, especially IFN-I score, detected by multiplex RT-qPCR, can be a valuable biomarker for monitoring disease activity and predicting mortality in anti-MDA5+DM patients.References[1]I.E. Lundberg, M. Fujimoto, J. Vencovsky, R. Aggarwal, M. Holmqvist, L. Christopher-Stine, A.L. Mammen, and F.W. Miller, Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Nat Rev Dis Primers 7 (2021) 86.[2]G. Liu, J.H. Lee, Z.M. Parker, D. Acharya, J.J. Chiang, M. van Gent, W. Riedl, M.E. Davis-Gardner, E. Wies, C. Chiang, and M.U. Gack, ISG15-dependent activation of the sensor MDA5 is antagonized by the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease to evade host innate immunity. Nat Microbiol 6 (2021) 467-478.[3]G.M. Moneta, D. Pires Marafon, E. Marasco, S. Rosina, M. Verardo, C. Fiorillo, C. Minetti, L. Bracci-Laudiero, A. Ravelli, F. De Benedetti, and R. Nicolai, Muscle Expression of Type I and Type II Interferons Is Increased in Juvenile Dermatomyositis and Related to Clinical and Histologic Features. Arthritis Rheumatol 71 (2019) 1011-1021.[4]Y. Ye, Z. Chen, S. Jiang, F. Jia, T. Li, X. Lu, J. Xue, X. Lian, J. Ma, P. Hao, L. Lu, S. Ye, N. Shen, C. Bao, Q. Fu, and X. Zhang, Single-cell profiling reveals distinct adaptive immune hallmarks in MDA5+ dermatomyositis with therapeutic implications. Nat Commun 13 (2022) 6458.[5]Z. Chen, X. Wang, and S. Ye, Tofacitinib in Amyopathic Dermatomyositis–Associated Interstitial Lung Disease. New England Journal of Medicine 381 (2019) 291-293.AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81974251], and Shanghai Hospital Develop ent Center, Joint Research of New Advanced Technology Project [SHDC12018106]Disclosure of InterestsNone Declared.

Case Report of Succesful Multidisiplinary Treatment for Patient with Metastatic Lung Cancer and Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

Introduction: Croatian National Cancer Registry of Croatian Institute for Public Health reported that in year 2020 lung cancer was the second most common cancer site diagnosed in men with 16% and the third most common in women with 10% incidence among all cancer sites. Unfortunatelly lung cancer has the highest mortality in both men and women. Haematological malignancies had 7% share in all malignancies in both male and female cances cases. In 2020 190 newly diagnosed cases of lymphatic leukemia in men and 128 cases in women were reporeted, meaning 1.5 and 1.2% of all malignancies, respectively. Chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) is an advanced age disease and incidence increases with age. Impaired immunity, T and B cell dysfunction in CLL, chromosomal aberations, long-term immunosuppressive therapy and genetic factors can all cause secondary malignancies. Co- occurence of solid tumors and CLL is very rare. Although patiens with CLL have an increased risk of developing second primary malignancies including lung carcinoma, the data about their clinical outcomes are lacking. Parekh et al. retrospectively analyzed patients with simultaneous CLL and lung carcinoma over a 20-year period, and they found that ~2% of patients with CLL actually developed lung carcinoma. The authors claimed that up to 38% of patients will also develop a third neoplasm more likely of the skin (melanoma and basal cell carcinoma), larynx (laryngeal carcinoma) or colon. Currently there are no specific guidelines for concurrent CLL and non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) treatment. Usually, when the tumors are diagnosed simultaneously, treatment is based to target the most aggressive malignancy, as the clinical outcomes depend on the response of the tumor with the poorest prognosis. For this reason, a multidisciplinary approach is mandatory. Case report: A patient with history of coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was diagnosed in 2019 (at the age of 71) with B chronic lymphocytic leukemia with bulky tumor (inguinal lymph nodes 8x5 cm), stage B according to Binet, intermediate risk. He was treated with 6 cycles of chemoimmunotherapy (rituximab/cyclofosfamid/fludarabine). In 10/2019 remission was confirmed, but MSCT described tumor in the posterior segment of upper right lung lobe measuring 20x17 mm and bilateral metastases up to 11 mm. Bronchoscopy and biopsy were performed, and EGFR neg, ALK neg, ROS 1 neg, PD-L1>50% adenocarcinoma was confirmed. He was referred to Clinical Hospital Center Osijek where monotherapy with pembrolizumab in a standard dose of 200 mg intravenously was started in 01/2020. Partial remission was confirmed in October 2020. Immunotherapy was discontinued due to development of pneumonitis, dysphagia and severe weight loss (20kg), but without radiologically confirmed disease progression. At that time he was referred to our hospital for further treatment. Gastroscopy has shown erosive gastritis with active duodenal ulcus, Forrest III. Supportive therapy and proton pump inhibitor were introduced. After complete regression of pneumonitis, improvement of general condition and resolution of dysphagia, no signs of lung cancer progression were found and pembrolizumab was reintroduced in 12/2021. Hypothyroidism was diagnosed in 01/2021 and levothyroxine replacement ther apy was started. In 03/2021 he underwent surgical removal of basal cell carcinoma of skin on the right temporal region with lobe reconstruction. From 02/2021, when pembrolizumab was reintroduced, regression in tumor size was continously confirmed with complete recovery of general condition. He was hospitalized for COVID 19 infection in 09/2021, and due to complications pembrolizumab was discontinued till 11/2021. Lung cancer immunotherapy proceeded till 11/2022, when Multidisciplinary team decided to finish pembrolizumab because of CLL relapse. CLL was in remission till August 2022 when due to B symptoms, lymphcytosis, anemia and generalized lymphadenopathy, hematological workup including biopsy of cervical lymph node was performed and CLL/SLL relapse was confirmed. Initially chlorambucil was introduced, but disease was refractory. Based on cytogenetic test results (IGHV unmutated, negative TP53) and due to cardiovascular comorbidity (contraindication for BTK inhibitors) venetoclax and rituximab were started in 01/2023. After just 1 cycle of treatment normal blood count as well as regression of B symptoms and peripheral lymphadenopathy occured, indicating the probability of complete disease remission. In our patient with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma excellent disease control is achieved during 41 month of treatment in first line setting. Furthermore, relapsed/refractory CLL/SLL is currently in confirmed remission. Conclusion(s): Successful treatment of patients with multiple primary malignancies is based on multidisciplinarity, early recognition and management of side effects, treatment of comorbidities with the aim of prolonging life, controlling symptoms of disease and preserving quality of life.

Correlation of Diagnostic Yield with Laboratory Parameters and Histopathological Examination in Clinically Suspected Cases of Mucormycosis in Post-COVID-19 Patients: A SingleCenter Study in Ahmedabad, India

Background and objectives: Mucormycosis is a complication in post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in India. This study was done to evaluate the prognostic value of clinical, histopathologic findings, microbiological features, and biochemical parameters such as D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, and serum ferritin in post- COVID-19-patients with rhino-orbital mucormycosis. Methods: This retrospective observational study was carried out on biopsies taken from 50 post-COVID-19 patients suspected of mucormycosis. The biopsy specimens were processed and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid– schiff, and Wright-Giemsa. In addition, 10–20% potassium hydroxide wet mount and culture on sabouraud dextrose agar were performed to detect Mucor. The biochemical parameters were measured using ARCHITECT ci8200 chemistry analyzer. Results: Overall, 30 cases (60%) were positive for fungal elements, and growth of Mucor spp. was found in 28 cases (56%). In histopathology, 70% of cases (n=35) showed broad, aseptate, ribbon-like hyphae with wide-angled branching diagnostic of mucormycosis. There seemed to be a site-wise overlap between the nasal/maxillary sinus and rhinoorbital/rhino-cerebral variety. There was no difference between the patients in terms of gender. The most common risk factor was diabetes mellitus (observed in 80% of cases). In patients with invasive mucormycosis, inflammatory biomarkers such as serum ferritin, serum lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, and Ddimer were greater than the normal range, whereas procalcitonin was within the reference range. Conclusion: It can be concluded that raised metabolic markers, direct 10% KOH examination and histological features including angioinvasion as well as rhino-orbital and cerebral extension might assist doctors in diagnosis, progression, and survival rate. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Medical Laboratory Journal is the property of Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Deputy of Research & Technology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

COVID-19 Prognosis from Chest X-ray Images by using Deep Learning Approaches: A Next Generation Diagnostic Tool

Global public health is overwhelmed due to the ongoing Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19). As of October 2022, the causative virus SARS-CoV-2 and its multiple variants have infected more than 600 million confirmed cases and nearly 6.5 million fatalities globally. The main objective of this reported study is to understand the COVID-19 infection better from the chest X-ray (CXR) image database of COVID-19 cases from the dataset of CXR of normal, pneumonia and COVID-19 patients. Deep learning approaches like VGG-16 and LSTM models were used to classify images as normal, pneumonia and COVID-19 impacted by extracting the features. It has been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic peaks that large number of patients could not avail medical beds and were seen stranded outdoors. To address such health emergency situations with limited available bed and scarcity of expert physicians, computer-aided analysis could save precious lives through early screening and appropriate care. Such computer-based deep-learning strategy could help during future pandemics, especially when the available health resources and the need for preventive measures to take do not match the burden of a disease. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Pure & Applied Microbiology is the property of Dr. M. N. Khan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

We should be learning as much from failure as success

'You do not know what you will find, you may set out to find one thing and end up discovering something entirely different'-Alexander Fleming As the pace at which medicine is advancing continues to accelerate, haematologists will increasingly find themselves practising unfamiliar medicine and using novel treatments. Whilst most scientific breakthroughs hopefully lead to an overall improvement in quality of life and prognosis, it is imperative that enough attention is paid to the shortcomings of new treatments and adverse events. The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the cyclical nature of history and the need for healthcare professionals to utilise lessons learnt by our predecessors. Fleming and the discovery of penicillin highlights how mistakes in practice can sometimes lead to unexpected but useful revelations. The use of thalidomide as a treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum in the 1960s devastatingly lead to birth defects in thousands of people. Today, the repurposing of thalidomide, through lateral thinking and further study, has contributed to significant improvements in the prognosis of patients with Multiple Myeloma.1 Mortality following allogenic stem cell transplant continues to decrease overtime as knowledge surrounding complications and how to manage these improves, despite the fact that patients receiving stem cell transplants are becoming increasingly complex.2 These examples from history demonstrate the merit in studying adverse events and undesired outcomes. National reviews of patient health records indicate that errors currently occur in 10% of hospital admissions.3 With new treatments and more complex patients this will likely increase. It is estimated that voluntary reporting by healthcare professionals of such events only occurs 70% of the time.3 History should be used to guide essential changes in attitudes towards error reporting and help to create an ethos where 'failings' are more willingly recognised as a tool to guide improvement and innovation.

Could out-of-centre initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with mobile equipment improve outcome and prognosis in COVID-19 patients? A retrospective study from the ECMO centre Regensburg

Objectives: Besides in-centre ECMO care, the certificated ECMO centre of the University Hospital Regensburg (UKR) offers out-of-centre ECMO initiation with mobile equipment. During the pandemic situation, this treatment was especially meant for patients with critical cardiopulmonary failure in remote hospitals who present themselves as too unstable for interhospital transfer. We evaluated if treatment with outof-centre ECMO initiation could benefit patients;outcome, by comparing this group with a group of COVID-19 patients who received ECMO therapy at the UKR by in-hospital initiation. Method(s): Retrospective single-centre study including 169 patients who received ECMO due to COVID-19- induced cardiopulmonary failure between March 2020 till March 2022. Patients;population was separated into two groups according to the location of ECMO initiation, out-of-centre or in-centre, and into two subgroups by the used ECMO mode, venovenous (VV) or venoarterial (VA). We compared demographics, treatment duration, adverse events and patient;s outcome. The primary endpoint of the investigation was patients;survival to hospital discharge rate or death on ECMO or after ECMO explant. Result(s): Regarding the total study population, 98 (58.0%) of the 169 patients could be discharged from the UKR. Before initiation of ECMO therapy and with regard to complications during the course of intensive care, such as renal failure requiring dialysis or bleeding, there were no relevant differences between the two groups and subgroups. The out-of-centre group showed a significantly higher survival rate with 70 (63.6%) survivors out of 110 externally cannulated patients. Conclusion(s): In the study population, external ECMO cannulation was beneficial in terms of survival, although the reasons did not show significant differences between the groups. A possible approach for the good overall survival of the study groups in international comparison could be the existing centre expertise. (Figure Presented).

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax, pneumoperitoneum and soft tissue emphysema as complication in patients with COVID-19, series of cases.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax, pneumoperitoneum, and soft tissue emphysema have been recently described in several sources as possible complications in patients with severe COVID-19 and lung damage. This clinical case is dedicated to demonstrarte the development of these lesions in 3 male patients with comorbid conditions. The putative pathophysiological mechanism of these complications is air leakage due to extensive diffuse alveolar damage followed by rupture of the alveoli. All presented patients had a favorable outcome of the disease without lethal cases, their laboratory data and clinical dynamics were described. It should be noted that such conditions are not rare complications of COVID-19, and are observed mainly in male patients with severe form of the disease and the presence of comorbid conditions. Such complications are associated with long hospitalization and a severe prognosis. In some cases, with a mild course of the disease and positive dynamics in a decrease of the percentage of pulmonary lesions, the outcome is favorable, not requiring additional invasive interventions.Copyright © 2022 Medical Visualization. All rights reserved.

Biochemical mechanisms in the severe prognosis of pa- tients with diabetes mellitus infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus: literature review

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease characterised mainly by signs and symptoms derived from increased serum glucose or hyperglycemia. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected the entire world with reports of severe prognosis in diabetic patients infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and high hospital admissions in the intensive care unit (ICU) compared to non-diabetic patients. The objective of the bibliographic review was to evaluate and describe some of the biochemical mechanisms that lead to severe prognosis in patients with DM infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus through a systematic search for information in different databases. The results showed that the high ICU admission with a severe prognosis of diabetic patients infected by the virus was due to excessive inflammation that causes acute respiratory distress syndrome, cytokine storm, severe pneu-monia, impaired immunity, and hyperglycemia. The virus enters the cell mainly through the endocytic and non-endosomal pathway;the central cellular receptors involved in the mechanisms are insulin receptors (IR), glucose transporter type 2 (GLUT-2), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT-4), glucose converting enzyme angiotensin 2 (ACE2), and the serine transmembrane protease co-receptor 2 (TMPRSS2) essential for viral propagation. The increased susceptibility to devel-oping COVID-19 in diabetic patients is due to the overexpression of ACE2, and serious complications are increased at the microvascular and macrovascular levels, such as nephropathies, neuropathies, and cardiovascular diseases.

The role of hemostatic system and the importance of blood coagulation in COVID-19: a review study

Background and Aim: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disorder that can affect many body systems, including the hemostatic system. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of hemostatic system and the blood coagulation in COVID-19. Methods & Materials In this review study, the articles were searched using the keywords COVID-19, Respiratory infection, and Coagulopathy in Google Scholar, PubMed, Google Springer and Science Direct databases. Ethical Considerations: Ethical principles in writing this article were observed in accordance with the guidelines of the National Ethics Committee and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Results Many changes in the coagulation profile of infected patients were reported, including changes in the platelet count, fibrinogen/fibrin degradation product, D-Dimer, fibrinogen, prothrombin time, and activated partial thromboplastin time. With the increase in the number of patients with COVID-19, several studies found out the occurrence of thrombosis and coagulopathy in patients. Conclusion: Due to the increase in the occurrence of coagulation disorders in patients with COVID-19, the administration of anticoagulants is needed for their treatment;it can play an effective role in improving the prognosis of patients.

Genotype-phenotype correlations in five patients harboring SERPINA1 mutations and previously showing a severe COVID-19 infection

Background/Objectives: During COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential to detect patients potentially at risk of life-threatening complications, due to possible specific genetic mutations. The aim of our work is to show a practical application of genetic testing, allowing a diagnosis of alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency in cases with a severe clinical course during COVID-19 infection. Method(s): During hospitalization for COVID-19, we identified 5 patients (3 female, 2 males from two different families, age range 18-47 years) with a severe course of COVID-19 infection, requiring high pressure ventilation with high volume oxygen supply. Two months after discharge, those patients were reevaluated with respiratory function tests, biochemical tests, genetic counselling and genetic testing. A peripheral blood sampling for SERPINA1 genetic testing has been performed, using Sanger sequencing. Result(s): Two months after discharge, in all 5 patients respiratory function tests were consistent with a dysventilatory obstructive syndrome, in contrast with usual findings related to COVID-19 infection. Blood test still showed increase plasmatic transaminase concentration in 3 out of 5 patients, one having increased serum bilirubin as well. We performed SERPINA1 genetic testing showing homozygosity for SERPINA1 pathogenic mutations (c.193del and c.875C>T, respectively) in all 5 patients. Conclusion(s): These cases showed the importance of genetic testing for patients with unexplained severe COVID-19 infection. Genetic testing allowed the diagnosis of cases affected by alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency, associated with dysventilatory obstructive syndrome, that may worsen the short and long term prognosis of COVID-19.

Liver dysfunction as a respiratory prognostic factor in covid-19 patients.

Respiratory dysfunction is a main clinical symptom of COVID-19. Liver dysfunction is also frequently reported in patients with COVID-19 and considered to be related to a poor prognosis. However, the precise mechanisms behind these findings remain unclear. We investigated the clinical features and prognostic factors related to liver dysfunction in 26 COVID-19 pa-tients. The patients with liver dysfunction had markedly higher WBC, neutrophils, CRP, and frequency of oxygen administration and markedly lower PaO2/FIO2 ratios. The patients with liver dysfunction had longer mean hospital stays. In conclusion, liver dysfunction at hospital admission may be an important prognostic factor for respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19. We must administer intensive care to these patients earlier to inhibit severe disease progression.Copyright ©2021 The Japan Society of Hepatology.