ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 disturbs the normal immune responses causing an uncontrolled inflammatory response in patients with severe COVID-19. The pattern of the immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 in individuals may fluctuate. Some have a virus-dependent protective immune response resulting in asymptomatic or mild disease with elimination of the virus within 7-10 days after onset of infection. Others develop virus non-dependent uncontrolled hyper-inflammation in the later period, leading to severe disease with cytokine storm, acute respiratory distress syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation and multi-organ failure. MethodsThe serum of 72 patients was investigated for titers of 15 cytokines and chemokines using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits in the serum of peripheral blood samples. The means of groups were compared using ANOVA followed by Tukey multiple post hoc comparisons if the ANOVA p-value was <0.05. ResultsPatients with pulmonary infiltrates on CT demonstrated a lower percentage of eosinophils (1.38{+/-}1.46%) and elevated level of serum CRP (8.57{+/-}19.10 mg/dL) compared to patients without pulmonary infiltrates (2.52{+/-}1.47% and 1.96{+/-}3.02 mg/dL respectively; p<0.05). ROC analysis for patients aged [≥]35 years showed patients with mild disease (n=3) had a significantly higher titer of IL-1{beta} and MCP-1 (AUC, 0.958 and 0.917 respectively, p<0.05) compared to patients with moderate disease (n=7).
ABSTRACT
Introduction@#Endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) have a role in the maintenance and promotion of vascular repair and are negatively correlated with coronary atherosclerosis. @*Goal@#To culture of EPC-CFUs during coronary atherosclerosis, evaluate endothelial nitric oxide synthetase (eNOS) enzyme levels in the culture.@*Materials and Methods@#The 10 ml blood was drawn from the peripheral vein of 12 man patients that stable angina 4, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) 4 and healthy people 4. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll density-gradient centrifugation and EPC-CFUs was assayed after two platings and a 6 day culture on fibronectin coated, 72 well plates, as described. eNOS enzyme titers were determined by ELISA according to the protocol in the cells culture.@*Results@#The people were 52±2.12 years. The number of EPC-CFUs increases with accordance of patients with stable angina, AMI, healthy people with the statistical significance (F=17.3, p<0.001): stable angina (2.6±0.47 colony/well), AMI (6.7±0.81 colony/well), healthy people (10.5±1.34 colony/well). Furthermore, ANOVA test of eNOS enzyme levels in patients with stable angina (5.2±0.61 pg/ml), AMI (8.7±1.49 pg/ml) and healthy people (13.7±2.48 pg/ml). The significant difference (F=6.2, p=0.003) was observed among the three groups. The number of EPC-CFUs had direct significantly correlation (r=0.621, p<0.001) with the eNOS enzyme levels of this culture.@*Conclusion@#Number of EPC-CFUs and eNOS enzyme levels decrease at patient with stable angina, indicate more than endothelial dysfunction.@*Ethical approval@#The ethics committee of Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences (ID: 6/3/201506, approved on Jan 01, 2015)
ABSTRACT
In Mongolia, diagnostic tests for the detection of the sexually transmitted mycoplasmas, ureaplasmas, Herpes simplex virus (HSV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are currently not routinely used in clinical settings and the frequency of these STIs are enigmatic. The prevalence of these STI pathogens were prospectively evaluated among 200 Mongolian pregnant women and their newborns and correlated with pregnancy outcome. TaqMan PCRs were used to detect bacterial and viral STI pathogens in pre-birth vaginal swabs of the pregnant women and in oral swabs of their newborns. A standardized questionnaire concerning former and present pregnancies was developed and linear regression analysis was used to correlate pathogen detection with pregnancy outcome. Ureaplasmas were the most prevalent of the tested pathogens (positive in 90.5% positive women and 47.5% newborns), followed by mycoplasmas (32.5% and 7.5%), chlamydia (14.5% and 7.5%), trichomonas (8.5% and 4.0%) and gonococcus (0.5% and 0%). CMV was found in 46.5% of the pregnant women and in 10.5% of their newborns, whereas HSV-2 was detected in only two mothers. Multiple regression analyses indicate that colonization of the mothers with U. urealyticum, M. hominis, T. vaginalis or CMV is associated with transmission to newborns and that transmission of M. hominis or CMV from Mongolian pregnant women to offspring is associated with reduced neonatal length and gestational age. Thus, diagnostic tests for their detection should be implemented in the clinical settings in Mongolia.
