eLife. 2020 2020;9:e55615
Authors: Shubhanshi Trivedi, Daniel Labuz, Cole P Anderson, Claudia V Araujo, Antoinette Blair, Elizabeth A Middleton, Owen Jensen, Alexander Tran, Matthew A Mulvey, Robert A Campbell, J Scott Hale, Matthew T Rondina, Daniel T Leun
Abstract
Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection and a leading cause of death. Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are innate-like T cells enriched in mucosal tissues that recognize bacterial ligands. We investigated MAIT cells during clinical and experimental sepsis, and their contribution to host responses. In experimental sepsis, MAIT-deficient mice had significantly increased mortality and bacterial load, and reduced tissue-specific cytokine responses. MAIT cells of WT mice expressed lower levels of IFN-γ and IL-17a during sepsis compared to sham surgery, changes not seen in non-MAIT T cells. MAIT cells of patients at sepsis presentation were significantly reduced in frequency compared to healthy donors, and were more activated, with decreased IFN-γ production, compared to both healthy donors and paired 90-day samples. Our data suggest that MAIT cells are highly activated and become dysfunctional during clinical sepsis, and contribute to tissue-specific cytokine responses that are protective against mortality during experimental sepsis.
Acta Haematol. 2021 Jan 07;:1-7
Authors: Pomicter AD, Clair PM, Yan D, Heaton WL, Eiring AM, Anderson MB, Richards SM, Gililland J, O'Hare T, Deininger MW
Abstract
Normal human bone marrow cells are critical for studies of hematopoiesis and as controls to assess toxicity. As cells from commercial vendors are expensive, many laboratories resort to cancer-free bone marrow specimens obtained during staging or to umbilical cord blood cells, which may be abnormal or reflect a much younger age group compared to the disease samples under study. We piloted the use of femoral heads as an alternative and inexpensive source of normal bone marrow. Femoral heads were obtained from 21 successive patients undergoing elective hip arthroplasty. Mononuclear cells (MNCs) were purified with Ficoll, and CD3+, CD14+, and CD34+ cells were purified with antibody-coated microbeads. The median yield of MNCs was 8.95 × 107 (range, 1.62 × 105-2.52 × 108), and the median yield of CD34+ cells was 1.40 × 106 (range, 3.60 × 105-9.90 × 106). Results of downstream applications including qRT-PCR, colony-forming assays, and ex vivo proliferation analysis were of high quality and comparable to those obtained with standard bone marrow aspirates. We conclude that femoral heads currently discarded as medical waste are a cost-efficient source of bone marrow cells for research use.
PMID: 33412552 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020 Dec;7(12):ofaa543
Authors: Worby CJ, Earl AM, Turbett SE, Becker M, Rao SR, Oliver E, Taylor Walker A, Walters M, Kelly P, Leung DT, Knouse M, Hagmann SHF, Ryan ET, LaRocque RC
Abstract
We performed prospective screening of stool for multidrug-resistant organisms from 608 US international travelers and identified an acquisition rate of 38% following travel. Carriage rates remained significantly elevated for at least 6 months post-travel. Travel-related diarrhea was a risk factor for acquisition, as well as for long-term carriage upon return.
PMID: 33409326 [PubMed]
Clin Infect Dis. 2020 06 10;70(12):2715-2718
Authors: Fritz SA, Shapiro DJ, Hersh AL
Abstract
Nationally representative data from 2000-2015 demonstrated a rise in the incidence of outpatient visits for skin infections, peaking in 2010-2013, followed by a plateau. While cephalexin was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic at the beginning, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was most frequently prescribed by the end of the study period.
PMID: 31605485 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
