The State of Immune Reactivity During the Treatment of Genital Herpes in Patients Who Have Undergone Covid-19

Relevance: Relapses of herpes simplex during the COVID-19 pandemic in patients with or without respiratory symptoms alarm us about the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 infection in these patients. Both the stress caused during the pandemic and the invasion of SARS-CoV-2 itself are generative elements of immunodeficiency in humans, a situation that can be used by the herpes virus to reactivate and infect the host (1).

Mild disease course of SARS-CoV-2 infections and mild side effects of vaccination in Pompe disease: a cohort description.

INTRODUCTION: Patients with Glycogen Storage Disease type II (GSDII), an inheritable metabolic myopathy also known as Pompe disease, are considered to be at risk for severe COVID-19 due to a reduced respiratory function and a tendency to be overweight. However, so far little is known about the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection and side effects of COVID-19 vaccinations in patients with GSDII. METHODS: 169 Dutch Pompe patients are followed at the Erasmus MC Rotterdam. During the COVID-19 pandemic patients were requested to directly inform their physicians about SARS-CoV-2 infection. Infected patients were interviewed regularly by telephone until their symptoms subsided. Furthermore, all patients eligible for vaccination on 16-7-2021 (≥ 17 years, n = 122) were asked to complete a questionnaire. RESULTS: To date, fifteen patients (8.9% of our cohort) reported a SARS-CoV-2 infection (classic infantile Pompe disease n = 5, late onset n = 10). No patients were admitted to hospital or needed intensivation of ventilatory support. All patients made a recovery within 19 days. 41.8% of patients filled in our questionnaire regarding vaccination, of whom 98% were vaccinated. Besides one case of perimyocarditis, only mild side effects were reported. CONCLUSION: Overall, patients with Pompe disease showed mild symptoms from infection with SARS-CoV-2. All patients made a full recovery. Side effects after vaccination were mostly mild.

Orphan disease: a Rare case of Malignant Osteopetrosis

Reports on clinical cases of orphan pathologies, as autosomal recessive type of infantile malignant osteopetrosis, have a great practical importance for scholars. Osteopetrosis may already manifest itself in utero. In early childhood, there is a classic triad of symptoms: increased bone density and fragility, severe anemia. Diagnostics and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at the age of up to 1 year can be cured and significantly increase life expectancy. Bone marrow transplantation is only treatment that has been proven to significantly alter course of autosomal recessive type of osteopetrosis. Inspide of successful transplantation may or-thopaedic, dental problems and their vision rarely significantly improves, however haemopoietic potential is restored and the long term prognosis is favourable. Herein we report a case of patient diagnosed with osteopetrosis and underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, with no prior determination type of mutation. Complexity of case: late diagnosis autosomal recessive type of osteopetrosis (at 3.1 years), despite characteristic early clinical manifestations, a protracted preparatory period associated with search for an unrelated donor and COVID-19 pandemic, for allogeneic-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation performed at the age of 4.3 years. In resulting, was engraftment of bone marrow transplant, with restoration hematopoietic func-tion, but with preserved neurological and physical disabilities in a form of psychomotor develop-ment retardation. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation led to restoration hematopoietic function of the graft in this case of late diagnosis osteopetrosis.

Modernization of mechatronic smart windows system to counteract the spread of COVID-19

In terms of COVID-19 pandemic, the mechatronic system, essentially a smart window, supplemented with devices for interception and disinfection of drops and capsules with viruses and bacteria, both outside and inside. This allows preventing the ingress of infected aerosols into the room along with streams of air rising along the buildings and spreading inside it in the presence of infected people along with turbulent jets of air. With widespread use, the system helps to reduce the spread of infection, transmitted mainly by airborne droplets. The hardware for controlling the window system is performed on a board from the Arduino MEGA 2560 R3 ATMEGA16U2 family, two control boards with ten relays and ten sensor modules. Control program for the window system control circuit is written in the LabVIEW graphical programming environment (National Instrument USA). © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.