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Pitts posted an update 1 year, 4 months ago
38, 95% confidence interval 1.354-4.21). Early PCR test after symptom onset, strengthening of PCR test capacity, and investigations to study impact of high proportion of LDD in cases without known exposure might be necessary.Purpose To identify the interrelations among determinants of multidimensional frailty, physical frailty, and their individual components. ML348 Methods A group of 1024 community-dwelling people older than 65 years completed questionnaires regarding multidimensional frailty (Tilburg Frailty Indicator, TFI) and physical frailty (FRAIL scale), and common frailty risk factors. Results Multidimensional frailty was recognized in 559 subjects (54.6%) and determined by 13 factors (R2 = 0.21 in logistic regression). After incorporating TFI components to the models, the majority of previous risk factors became non-essential, and the frailty deficits mainly determined each other with R2 ranging between 0.07-0.67. Physical frailty and non-robust status (i.e., either physical frailty or pre-frailty) were recognized in 64 (6.3%) and 542 (52.9%) participants, and were determined by 5 factors (R2 = 0.33) and 11 factors (R2 = 0.34), respectively. Associations between the frailty deficits were detected within and between different dimensions (i.e., physical, psychological and social); the physical domain was mainly related to the psychological one which in turn was additionally associated with the social one. Conclusion Frailty is the accumulation of deficits and is determined by factors other than the determinants of the individual deficits. The associations between deficits coming from various dimensions of human functioning presumably amplify their effects and accelerate frailty development.Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumor with median survival of 12 months and limited effective treatments. The scope of this study was to study the relationship between blood DNA methylation (DNAm) and overall survival (OS) aiming at a noninvasive prognostic test. We investigated a cohort of 159 incident asbestos exposed MPM cases enrolled in an Italian area with high incidence of mesothelioma. Considering 12 months as a cut-off for OS, epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) revealed statistically significant (p value = 7.7 × 10-9) OS-related differential methylation of a single-CpG (cg03546163), located in the 5’UTR region of the FKBP5 gene. This is an independent marker of prognosis in MPM patients with a better performance than traditional inflammation-based scores such as lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR). Cases with DNAm less then 0.45 at the cg03546163 had significantly poor survival compared with those showing DNAm ≥ 0.45 (mean 243 versus 534 days; p value less then 0.001). Epigenetic changes at the FKBP5 gene were robustly associated with OS in MPM cases. Our results showed that blood DNA methylation levels could be promising and dynamic prognostic biomarkers in MPM.The paper presents the study results of laser processing of precoat applied on C30 steel. The precoat consisted of powder mixtures with a binder in the form of water glass. Tungsten powder, chromium, and tungsten carbide (WC) were used to produce the precoat. The laser processing was carried out using a YbYAG disc laser with a rated power of 1 kW. Constant producing parameters (power of laser beam, 600 W; laser beam scanning rate, 400 mm/min) were applied. Chemical composition of the precoat was a variable parameter in coating production. A mixture consisting of 50% W and 50% Cr as a metal matrix was prepared. Subsequently, WC particles in weight ratios of 25%, 50%, and 75% were added to matrix. As a result, W-Cr metal matrix composite coatings reinforced with WC particles were formed. This study focused on investigation of microstructure, microhardness, phase, and chemical composition as well as corrosion and wear resistance, of the newly formed W-Cr/WC coatings. An instrumented nanoindentation test was also used in this study. As a result of laser beam action, the newly formed coatings had an interesting microstructure and good properties which were improved in comparison to substrate material. It is anticipated that the resulting coatings, depending on the treatment parameters (e.g., W-Cr/WC powder mixture) used, can be successfully applied to metal forming or foundry tools.Strategies to detect SARS-CoV-2 are increasingly being developed. Among them, serological methods have been developed. Nevertheless, although these may present an interesting clinical performance, they are often directed against only one antigen. This study aims at evaluating the clinical performance of an innovative multiplex immunoassay (i.e., CoViDiag assay) detecting simultaneously the presence of antibodies directed against N, S1, S2, RBD and NTD antigens. Sensitivity was evaluated in 135 samples obtained from 94 rRT-PCR confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Non-SARS-CoV-2 sera (n = 132) collected before the COVID-19 pandemic with potential cross-reactions to the SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay were included in the specificity analysis. The antibody signature was also studied in hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients. The specificity of the CoViDiag assay was excellent for all antibodies (99.2 to 100%) using adapted cut-offs. None of the false positive samples were positive for more than one antibody. The sensitivity obtained from samples collected 14 days since symptom onset varied from 92.0 to 100.0% depending on the antibody considered. Among samples collected more than 14 days after symptom onset, 12.8, 66.3, 3.5, 9.3, 5.8 and 2.3% were positive for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 or 0 antibodies, respectively. A trend toward higher antibody titers was observed in hospitalized patient in the early days since symptom onset. However, no significant difference was observed compared to non-hospitalized patients after 14 days since symptom onset. The clinical performance of the CoViDiag 5 IgG assay is sufficient to recommend its use for the detection and the characterization of the antibody signature following SARS-CoV-2 infection. The combination of several antigens in the same test improves the overall specificity and sensitivity of the test. Further research is needed to investigate whether this strategy may be of interest to identify severe disease outcome in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.