[Preliminary experience with O.P.A.T. (Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial-drug therapy) in infective endocarditis]. / Esperienze preliminari di trattamento delle endocarditi infettive in OPAT.

The authors evaluated the efficacy and safety of an OPAT program in a small group of patients affected by infective endocarditis. Three patients were considered eligible for the treatment; i.e. they had a stable hemodynamic balance and no embolic events. Streptococcus spp. grew in blood cultures of two patients, while blood cultures were negative in the third patient. Long-acting antibiotics were used and all patients recovered from the infection without adverse events. The treatment was efficacious and safe. This preliminary experience suggests that OPAT programs can be promoted in infective endocarditis with advantage. Strictness and caution are necessary in screening and monitoring patients.

HLA-A*8001 is a member of a newly discovered ancient family of HLA-A alleles.

A member of a new HLA-A locus family, HLA-A*8001, has been characterized from 3 African-American individuals expressing a unique HLA-A serologic specificity. The HLA-A*8001 sequence is most closely related to alleles of the HLA-A1/3/11 family, although it also contains residues characteristic of the HLA-A2/28, -A9, -A10, and -A19 families. More importantly, the HLA-A*8001 sequence contains four unique nonsynonymous (amino acid replacing) nucleotide substitutions absent from all other primate A locus alleles. In addition, five other nucleotide substitutions, four nonsynonymous and one synonymous (silent), observed only in non-human primate A locus alleles were found. Neighbor-joining tree analysis of HLA-A*8001 supports the notion that the HLA-A*8001 allele is a member of a new HLA-A locus family which was derived from the ancestral A3 lineage but diverged early in the evolution of the HLA-A locus.