Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases最新文献

{"title":"The Prion Basis of Progressive Neurodegenerative Disorders.","authors":"Tvisha Joshi,&nbsp;Nidhi Ahuja","doi":"10.1155/2023/6687264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/6687264","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The discovery of proteinaceous infectious agents by Prusiner in 1982 was sensational. All previously known pathogens contained nucleic acids, the code of life, that enabled them to reproduce. In contrast, the proteinaceous agents of disease, called prion proteins (PrP), lacked nucleic acids and propagated by binding to the functional, endogenous form of cellular prion protein (referred to as PrP^C) and altering its conformation to produce the infectious disease-causing misfolded protein (referred to as PrP^Sc). The accumulation and aggregation of these infectious prion proteins within the brain cause destruction of neural tissue and lead to fatal spongiform encephalopathies. In this review, we present the molecular pathology of prion-based diseases. These insights are of particular importance since the principles of prion pathogenesis apply to other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Collectively, the global prevalence of these diseases is rapidly increasing while effective therapies against them are still lacking. Thus, the need to understand their etiology and pathogenesis is urgent, and it holds profound implications for societal health.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":"2023 ","pages":"6687264"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9943612/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10762336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Estimation of Prevalence of Hospital-Acquired Blood Infections among Patients Admitted at a Tertiary Hospital in Oman over a Period of Five Years: A Cross-Sectional Study.","authors":"Marah El-Beeli,&nbsp;Yahya Al-Farsi,&nbsp;Abdullah Balkhair,&nbsp;Zakariya Al-Muharrmi,&nbsp;Mansoor Al-Jabri,&nbsp;Samir Al-Adawi","doi":"10.1155/2023/5853779","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/5853779","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Data from developed/developed countries have shown that hospital-acquired blood infections (HA-BSIs) are one of the most severe nosocomial infections and constitute 20%-60% of hospitalization-related deaths. Despite the high morbidity and mortality rates and the enormous burden of health care costs associated with HA-BSIs, to our knowledge, there are few published reports on HA-BSI prevalence estimates in Arab countries, including Oman.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aims to explore the HA-BSI prevalence estimates over selected sociodemographic characteristics among admitted patients at a tertiary hospital in Oman over five years of follow-up. The regional variations in Oman were also examined in this study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This hospital-based cross-sectional study reviewed reports of hospital admissions over 5 years of retrospective follow-ups at a tertiary hospital in Oman. HA-BSI prevalence estimates were calculated over age, gender, governorate, and follow-up time.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 1,246 HA-BSI cases were enumerated among a total of 139,683 admissions, yielding an overall HA-BSI prevalence estimate of 8.9 cases per 1000 admissions (95% CI: 8.4, 9.4). HA-BSI prevalence was higher among males compared to females (9.3 vs. 8.5). HA-BSI prevalence started as relatively high in the group aged 15 years or less (10.0; 95% CI 9.0, 11.2) and then declined as age increased from 36 to 45 years (7.0; 95% CI 5.9, 8.3) when it started to increase steadily with increasing age in the group aged 76 or more (9.9; 95% CI 8.1, 12.1). The governorate-specific estimate of HA-BSI prevalence was the highest among admitted patients who resided in Dhofar governorate, while the lowest estimate was reported from the Buraimi governorate (5.3).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The study provides supportive evidence for a steady increase in HA-BSI prevalence over age categories and years of follow-up. The study calls for the timely formulation and adoption of national HA-BSI screening and management programs centered on surveillance systems based on real-time analytics and machine learning.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":"2023 ","pages":"5853779"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10185416/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9480085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Economic Burden of Infective Endocarditis due to Injection Drug Use in Australia: A Single Centre Study-University Hospital Geelong, Barwon Health, Victoria.","authors":"Ohide Otome, Alexander Wright, Vanika Gunjaca, Steve Bowe, Eugene Athan","doi":"10.1155/2022/6484960","DOIUrl":"10.1155/2022/6484960","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Injection drug use (IDU) is a well-recognized risk factor for infective endocarditis (IE). Associated complications from IDU result in significant morbidity and mortality with substantial cost implications. The aim of this study was to determine the cost burden associated with the management of IE due to IDU (IE-IDU).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used data collected prospectively on patients with a diagnosis of IE-IDU as part of the international collaboration on endocarditis (ICE). The cost of medical treatment was estimated based on diagnosis-related groups (DRG) and weighted inlier equivalent separation (WIES).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were 23 episodes from 21 patients in 12 years (2002 to 2014). The costing was done for 22 episodes due to data missing on 1 patient. The median age was 39 years. The gender distribution was equal. Heroin (71%) and methamphetamine (33%) were the most frequently used. 74% (17/23) required intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The median ICU length of stay (LOS) was 4 days (IQR (Interquartile range); 2 to 40 days) whilst median total hospital LOS was 40 days (IQR; 1 to 119 days). Twelve patients (52%) underwent valve replacement surgery. Mortality was 13% (3/23). The total medical cost for the 22 episodes is estimated at $1,628,359 Australian dollars (AUD). The median cost per episode was a median cost of $ 61363 AUD (IQR: $2806 to $266,357 AUD). We did not account for lost productivity and collateral costs attributed to concurrent morbidity.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Within the limitations of this small retrospective study, we report that the management of infective endocarditis caused by injection drug use can be associated with significant financial cost.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":"2022 ","pages":"6484960"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9788891/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10805554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Presence of Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies and Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: A Case-Control Study among Sudanese Patients.","authors":"Mohammed Shams Aldeen, Musa Logman Masaad, Ayman Azhary, Abdulomez Suliman, Mohammed Ahmed Alziber, Motasim MohammedAhmed, Farag Alla Mohamed Aman, Salahaldeen Ismail, Nadir Abuzeid, Abdualmoniem O Musa, Samuel Tekle Mengistu, Mohammed Elfatih Hamida","doi":"10.1155/2022/6511198","DOIUrl":"10.1155/2022/6511198","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Patients infected with COVID-19 are at an increased risk for thrombosis, suggesting a possible role of COVID-19 in the induction of coagulopathy. This study aimed to investigate the presence of prothrombotic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) and antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) in the course of COVID-19 infection and to correlate these markers with severity and fatality, suggesting that COVID-19-induced autoimmune thrombosis is a possible axis in the inflammatory circuit of this infection. To investigate this, we conducted a case-control study which included patients with a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test of COVID-19 and a control group with negative COVID-19 PCR and antibody (IgG-IgM and IgA nucleoprotein) ELISA results. An indirect immunofluorescence assay using granulocyte biochips (Aesku slides from AESKU DIAGNOSTICS, Germany) was used to detect ANCA (IgG), as well as multiplex ELISA for the detection of antiphospholipid antibodies for all patients with COVID-19 and for the control group. The results revealed the detection of antiphospholipid antibodies (IgG) in one patient out of the 45 patients in the case group. 1/45(2.2%) and 7/45(15.6%) tested positive for ANCA. Five were men and two were females, with one case revealed to be positive for both aPL and ANCA. A cytoplasmic reaction on the eosinophil granulocytes was observed in 2 cases; both were positive for ANCA. Other markers (CRP, APTT, PT, INR, ESR, and neutrophil and lymphocyte counts) were included in the study, along with demographic data. No aPL or ANCA reactions were detected for any of the control groups. These findings suggest that aPL and ANCA may be induced during the course of inflammation in COVID-19 and possibly contribute to the disease's severity and mortality.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":"2022 ","pages":"6511198"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9780010/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10440353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"COVID-19 Data Analytics Using Extended Convolutional Technique.","authors":"Anand Kumar Gupta,&nbsp;Asadi Srinivasulu,&nbsp;Olutayo Oyeyemi Oyerinde,&nbsp;Giovanni Pau,&nbsp;C V Ravikumar","doi":"10.1155/2022/4578838","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4578838","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The healthcare system, lifestyle, industrial growth, economy, and livelihood of human beings worldwide were affected due to the triggered global pandemic by the COVID-19 virus that originated and was first reported in Wuhan city, Republic Country of China. COVID cases are difficult to predict and detect in their early stages, and their spread and mortality are uncontrollable. The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is still the first and foremost diagnostical methodology accepted worldwide; hence, it creates a scope of new diagnostic tools and techniques of detection approach which can produce effective and faster results compared with its predecessor. Innovational through current studies that complement the existence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to findings in the thorax (chest) X-ray imaging, the projected research's method makes use of present deep learning (DL) models with the integration of various frameworks such as GoogleNet, U-Net, and ResNet50 to novel method those X-ray images and categorize patients as the corona positive (COVID + ve) or the corona negative (COVID -ve). The anticipated technique entails the pretreatment phase through dissection of the lung, getting rid of the environment which does now no longer provide applicable facts and can provide influenced consequences; then after this, the preliminary degree comes up with the category version educated below the switch mastering system; and in conclusion, consequences are evaluated and interpreted through warmth maps visualization. The proposed research method completed a detection accuracy of COVID-19 at around 99%.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":" ","pages":"4578838"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9663236/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40469088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Morphological and Molecular Descriptions of <i>Macracanthorhynchus ingens</i> (Acanthocephala: Oligacanthorhynchidae) Collected from Hedgehogs in Iran.","authors":"Mohsen Najjari,&nbsp;Amir Tavakoli Kareshk,&nbsp;Mohammad Darvishi,&nbsp;Gholamreza Barzegar,&nbsp;Majid Dusti,&nbsp;Mohammad Hasan Namaei,&nbsp;Ebrahim Shafaie,&nbsp;Rahmat Solgi","doi":"10.1155/2022/8418752","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8418752","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aim: </strong>Limited data exist on acanthocephalan infections of hedgehogs in the world. Our objective was to investigate the prevalence and distribution of <i>Macracanthorhynchus ingens</i> infection in hedgehogs between August 2021 and March 2022 (<i>n</i> = 30) in the east of Iran.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>At first, infection with <i>M. ingens</i> was diagnosed based on morphologic features of the adults such as body length, proboscis, and hooks. Spindle-shaped eggs (mean length, 99.1 microns; mean width, 60.1 microns) were obtained from the body cavity of gravid female specimens.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The molecular analysis based on 18S rDNA and COX 1 genes confirmed the morphological identification of isolated <i>M. ingens</i>. The prevalence of <i>M. ingens</i> in our sample was 13.3% with 1-10 worms per infected host.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>In this study, we identify <i>M. ingens</i> as zoonotic species in hedgehog carcasses for the first time that passed eggs and adult worms, indicating parasite maturation and reproduction. There are a few studies on acanthocephalans in Iran. Therefore, more comparative studies are needed to determine the status of these species.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":" ","pages":"8418752"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9616670/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40459006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards COVID-19 among Mothers in Dessie Town, Northeast Ethiopia, 2020.","authors":"Debrnesh Goshiye,&nbsp;Zinet Abegaz,&nbsp;Sisay Gedamu","doi":"10.1155/2022/4377460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4377460","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease causing a catastrophic effect, and many of us are worried to find a new normal. Many burdens are occurring in households, predominantly to women and mothers. Women worldwide are naive on COVID-19 symptoms, transmission, and prevention measures and worried on being exposed to coronavirus. The study aimed to assess the mother's knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 22 to August 7, 2020, in Dessie town, Ethiopia. A total of 634 mothers were included in the study. Multistage cluster sampling was used to take the proper sample. An interviewer-administered pretested structured questionnaire was used. Data were entered into EpiData, version 3.1, and analyzed by using SPSS, version 23. Both binary and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to find factors associated with dependent variables. The mean score was used to grade the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19.</p><p><strong>Result: </strong>A total of 610 mothers participated in this study, making that a 96.2% response rate. More than half of the respondents 319 (50.3%) were in the age of 28-38 years. About 438 (71.8%) attended grades 1-12. About 531 (87.5%) were married, and most respondents 399 (65.4%) were housewives. The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and practice were 15.36 (SD = 3.059), 6.4 (1.779), and 7.38 (3.068), respectively. Moreover, about 442 (72.5%), 354 (58%), and 338 (55.4%) of the respondents had good knowledge, a favorable attitude, and good practice on COVID-19, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Almost three-fourths of the mothers had good knowledge of COVID-19. However, more than two-fifths of the participants had an unfavorable attitude and poor practice on COVID-19 preventive measures, which may put a high risk of infection that could worsen maternal morbidity and mortality during this pandemic. Therefore, health education programs for mobilizing and improving COVID-19-related knowledge, attitude, and practice are urgently needed, especially for those mothers who have low access to information due to home duty.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":" ","pages":"4377460"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9605845/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40459004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Healthcare Workers and Nonhealthcare Workers Pro-Vaccination Attitude and Its Associated Factors towards COVID-19 Vaccine Globally: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.","authors":"Addisu Dabi Wake","doi":"10.1155/2022/2443785","DOIUrl":"10.1155/2022/2443785","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Introduction: &lt;/strong&gt;Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has not been managed and controlled globally. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to determine the global pro-vaccination attitude and associated factors towards COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers (HCWs) and nonhealthcare workers (non-HCWs).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods: &lt;/strong&gt;Different databases such as PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were used. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) 2020 flowchart diagram and PRISMA checklist were used for study screening, selection, and inclusion into this systematic review and meta-analysis. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) quality assessment criteria for cross-sectional studies were used to assess the included articles.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;A total of 51 studies were included into this systematic review and meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that the global pooled prevalence of pro-vaccination attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine among both HCWs and non-HCWs was 61.30% (95%CI: 56.12, 66.47, &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 99.8%: &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;=0.000). Subgroup analysis showed that the global pooled prevalence of pro-vaccination attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine was the lowest (59.77%, 95%CI (51.56, 67.98); &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 99.6%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;=0.000) among the HCWs participants and the highest (62.53%, 95%CI (55.39, 69.67); &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 99.8%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;=0.000) among the non-HCWs participants and the lowest (54.31%, 95%CI (43, 65.63); &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 99.5%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;=0.000) for sample size &lt;700 and the highest (66.49%, 95%CI (60.01, 72.98); &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 99.8%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;=0.000) for sample size &gt;700; the lowest (60.70%, 95%CI (54.08, 67.44); &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 93.0%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;=0.000) for studies published in 2020 year and the highest (61.31%, 95%CI (55.93, 66.70); &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 99.8%, &lt;i&gt;p&lt;/i&gt;=0.000) for the studies published after 2020 years. From this systematic review, factors significantly associated with pro-vaccination attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine among HCWs were such as age, gender, race, work experience, home location, having no fear of injections, being a non-smoker, profession, presence of chronic illnesses, allergies, confidence in pharmaceutical companies, history of taking influenza vaccine, vaccine recommendation, perceived risk of new vaccines, perceived utility of vaccine, receiving a seasonal flu vaccination in the last 5 years, working in a private hospital, a high perceived pandemic risk index, low vaccine harm index, high pro-socialness index, being in close contact with a high-risk group, knowledge about the virus, confidence in and expectations about personal protective equipment, and behaviors. The level of positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine among non-HCWs ranged from 21.40% to 91.99%. Factors associated with the attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine among non-HCWs were such as age, gender, e","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":" ","pages":"2443785"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9576430/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40644957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence and Risk Factors of Superficial Fungal Infection among Patients Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central Nepal.","authors":"Vidya Laxmi Jaishi,&nbsp;Ranjana Parajuli,&nbsp;Pragyan Dahal,&nbsp;Roshani Maharjan","doi":"10.1155/2022/3088681","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3088681","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fungal infections of hair, nail, and skin are common worldwide and tend to increase. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of dermatomycoses, estimate the efficiency of rapid potassium hydroxide (KOH) wet-mount, and observe the hygienic status and the predisposing risk factors. Altogether 115 samples (nail = 77, skin = 30, and hair = 8) were obtained in a duration of December 2019 to June 2020 at Grande International Hospital, Nepal. The samples were examined by KOH wet-mount microscopy and further processed for culture. The dermatophyte test medium (DTM) was used to isolate dermatophytes separately. The fungal colonies obtained in SDA, SDA with cycloheximide/chloramphenicol and dermatophyte medium were subjected to lactophenol cotton blue (LPCB) reagent to study fungal morphology. The yeast colonies grown on SDA were subjected to Gram staining, germ-tube tests, and biochemical tests for identification. CHROMagar was used to distinguish different <i>Candida</i> species based on its pigment production in the medium. Various factors (age, sex, occupation, and hygiene condition) were analyzed which were associated with mycological infection. Out of 115 samples, the presence of fungal elements was detected in 20 samples by KOH. Nondermatophyte molds were the most isolated fungus in nails, skin, and hair, followed by yeast and dermatophytes, respectively. Dermatomycosis molds were the most common causative agents with 22 (14.7%) cases, followed by yeasts with 6 (5.21%) cases. <i>Candida albicans</i> was isolated from 5 (4.3%) cases, whereas <i>Rhodotorula species</i> accounted for a single (0.8%) case. Dermatophytes were isolated from 5 (4.3%) cases. Among them, <i>n</i> = 4(3.4%) cases revealed <i>Trichophyton rubrum</i> and <i>Trichophyton mentagrophytes</i> was isolated from single (0.8%) case. The most isolated nondermatophyte mold that follows criteria as a pathogen in our study was <i>Cladosporium species</i> 6 (25%) out of 27 total fungal isolates. Poor hygiene and sweating were found to be statistically significant (<i>P</i> < 0.05) in fungal cases detected by both KOH and culture. Dermatophytes and nondermatophyte fungi were emerging as important causes of fungal infection. Both direct microscopy and culture followed by LPCB together were vital tools for the diagnosis of fungal infections.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":" ","pages":"3088681"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9553492/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33515124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"COVID-19 Whole-Genome Resequencing with Redundant Tiling PCR and Subtract-Based Amplicon Normalization Successfully Characterized SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Clinical Specimens.","authors":"Tatsuki Sugi,&nbsp;Mizanur Rahman,&nbsp;Rummana Rahim,&nbsp;Abu Hasan,&nbsp;Naoko Kawai,&nbsp;Kyoko Hayashida,&nbsp;Junya Yamagishi","doi":"10.1155/2022/2109641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2109641","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With an increasing number of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequences gathered worldwide, we recognize that deletion mutants and nucleotide substitutions that may affect whole-genome sequencing are accumulating. Here, we propose an additional strategy for tiling PCR for whole-genome resequencing, which can make the pipeline robust for mutations at the primer annealing site by a redundant amplicon scheme. We further demonstrated that subtracting overrepresented amplicons from the multiplex PCR products reduced the bias of the next-generation sequencing (NGS) library, resulting in decreasing required sequencing reads per sample. We applied this sequencing strategy to clinical specimens collected in Bangladesh. More than 80% out of the 304 samples were successfully sequenced. Less than 5% were ambiguous nucleotides, and several known variants were detected. With the additional strategies presented here, we believe that whole-genome resequencing of SARS-CoV-2 from clinical samples can be optimized.</p>","PeriodicalId":39128,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases","volume":" ","pages":"2109641"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9534710/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33497743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}