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Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2022is a commensal fungus that asymptomatically colonizes the skin and mucosa of 60% of healthy individuals. Breaches in the cutaneous and mucosal barriers trigger... (Review)
Review
is a commensal fungus that asymptomatically colonizes the skin and mucosa of 60% of healthy individuals. Breaches in the cutaneous and mucosal barriers trigger candidiasis that ranges from asymptomatic candidemia and mucosal infections to fulminant sepsis with 70% mortality rates. Fungi influence at least several diseases, in part by mechanisms such as the production of pro-carcinogenic agents, molecular mimicking, and triggering of the inflammation cascade. These processes impact the interactions among human pathogenic and resident fungi, the bacteriome in various organs/tissues, and the host immune system, dictating the outcomes of invasive infections, metabolic diseases, and cancer. Although mechanistic investigations are at stages of infancy, recent studies have advanced our understanding of host-fungal interactions, their role in immune homeostasis, and their associated pathologies. This review summarizes the role of and other opportunistic fungi, specifically their association with various diseases, providing a glimpse at the recent developments and our current knowledge in the context of inflammatory-bowel disease (IBD), cancers, and COVID-19. Two of the most common human diseases where fungal interactions have been previously well-studied are cancer and IBD. Here we also discuss the emerging role of fungi in the ongoing and evolving pandemic of COVID-19, as it is relevant to current health affairs.
PubMed: 35215155
DOI: 10.3390/pathogens11020212 -
Epidemiology and Infection Sep 2022Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) asymptomatic cases are hard to identify, impeding transmissibility estimation. The value of COVID-19 transmissibility is worth...
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) asymptomatic cases are hard to identify, impeding transmissibility estimation. The value of COVID-19 transmissibility is worth further elucidation for key assumptions in further modelling studies. Through a population-based surveillance network, we collected data on 1342 confirmed cases with a 90-days follow-up for all asymptomatic cases. An age-stratified compartmental model containing contact information was built to estimate the transmissibility of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. The difference in transmissibility of a symptomatic and asymptomatic case depended on age and was most distinct for the middle-age groups. The asymptomatic cases had a 66.7% lower transmissibility rate than symptomatic cases, and 74.1% (95% CI 65.9-80.7) of all asymptomatic cases were missed in detection. The average proportion of asymptomatic cases was 28.2% (95% CI 23.0-34.6). Simulation demonstrated that the burden of asymptomatic transmission increased as the epidemic continued and could potentially dominate total transmission. The transmissibility of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases is high and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases play a significant role in outbreaks.
Topics: Humans; Middle Aged; Computer Simulation; COVID-19; Disease Outbreaks; Epidemics; SARS-CoV-2; Asymptomatic Infections
PubMed: 36263615
DOI: 10.1017/S0950268822001467 -
Annals of Translational Medicine Oct 2020Management of asymptomatic carotid disease continues to challenge medical practice and present evidence is often conflicting. Stroke is a significant burden in Public... (Review)
Review
Management of asymptomatic carotid disease continues to challenge medical practice and present evidence is often conflicting. Stroke is a significant burden in Public Health and 11% to 15% appear as first neurologic event associated with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Randomized trials provided support for Guidelines and Recommendations to intervene on asymptomatic stenosis, but at a known cost of a high number of unnecessary operations. Conflicting evidence from natural history studies and the widespread use of proper medical management including risk factors control, lowering-lipid drugs and strict control of arterial hypertension have reduced the incidence of strokes associated to asymptomatic carotid disease challenging established practice. Need to identify vulnerable lesions prone to develop thromboembolic brain events and also vulnerable patients at a higher risk of stroke is necessary and essential to further improve effectiveness of our interventions. After review of published literature on natural history of asymptomatic carotid stenosis, diagnostic methods to identify plaque vulnerability and present-day results of both endarterectomy and stenting, a strategy for management of asymptomatic carotid stenosis is suggested aiming to reduce unnecessary interventions and effectively contribute to stroke prevention.
PubMed: 33178811
DOI: 10.21037/atm-2020-cass-12 -
Children (Basel, Switzerland) Jul 2021Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common childhood rheumatic disease. The development of associated uveitis represents a significant risk for serious... (Review)
Review
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common childhood rheumatic disease. The development of associated uveitis represents a significant risk for serious complications, including permanent loss of vision. Initiation of early treatment is important for controlling JIA-uveitis, but the disease can appear asymptomatically, making frequent screening procedures necessary for patients at risk. As our understanding of pathogenic drivers is currently incomplete, it is difficult to assess which JIA patients are at risk of developing uveitis. Identification of specific risk factors for JIA-associated uveitis is an important field of research, and in this review, we highlight the genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic factors identified as potential uveitis risk factors in JIA, and discuss therapeutic strategies.
PubMed: 34438537
DOI: 10.3390/children8080646 -
Nature Medicine Oct 2023Despite enhanced infection prevention efforts, Clostridioides difficile remains the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections in the United States. Current...
Despite enhanced infection prevention efforts, Clostridioides difficile remains the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections in the United States. Current prevention strategies are limited by their failure to account for patients who carry C. difficile asymptomatically, who may act as hidden reservoirs transmitting infections to other patients. To improve the understanding of asymptomatic carriers' contribution to C. difficile spread, we conducted admission and daily longitudinal culture-based screening for C. difficile in a US-based intensive care unit over nine months and performed whole-genome sequencing on all recovered isolates. Despite a high burden of carriage, with 9.3% of admissions having toxigenic C. difficile detected in at least one sample, only 1% of patients culturing negative on admission to the unit acquired C. difficile via cross-transmission. While patients who carried toxigenic C. difficile on admission posed minimal risk to others, they themselves had a 24-times greater risk for developing a healthcare-onset C. difficile infection than noncarriers. Together, these findings suggest that current infection prevention practices can be effective in preventing nosocomial cross-transmission of C. difficile, and that decreasing C. difficile infections in hospitals further will require interventions targeting the transition from asymptomatic carriage to infection.
Topics: Humans; United States; Clostridioides difficile; Clostridioides; Clostridium Infections; Genomics; Intensive Care Units
PubMed: 37723252
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02549-4 -
Current Opinion in Microbiology Feb 2023Infections caused by the Candida species of human fungal pathogens are a significant medical problem because they can disseminate to nearly every organ of the body. In... (Review)
Review
Infections caused by the Candida species of human fungal pathogens are a significant medical problem because they can disseminate to nearly every organ of the body. In addition, there are only a few classes of antifungal drugs available to treat patients with invasive fungal infections. Candida infections that are associated with biofilms can withstand much higher concentrations of antifungal drugs compared with infections caused by planktonic cells, thus making biofilm infections particularly challenging to treat. Candida albicans is among the most prevalent fungal species of the human microbiota, asymptomatically colonizing several niches of the body, including the gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary tract, mouth, and skin. Immunocompromised health conditions, dysbiosis of the microbiota, or environmental changes, however, can lead to C. albicans overgrowth, causing infections that range from superficial mucosal infections to severe hematogenously disseminated infections. Here, we review the current knowledge of antifungal drug-resistance mechanisms occurring in Candida biofilms.
Topics: Humans; Candida; Antifungal Agents; Candida albicans; Candidiasis; Biofilms; Microbial Sensitivity Tests
PubMed: 36436326
DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2022.102237 -
Frontiers in Bioengineering and... 2022Lignin, one of the essential components of lignocellulosic biomass, comprises an abundant renewable aromatic resource on the planet earth. Although 15%--40% of... (Review)
Review
Lignin, one of the essential components of lignocellulosic biomass, comprises an abundant renewable aromatic resource on the planet earth. Although 15%--40% of lignocellulose pertains to lignin, its annual valorization rate is less than 2% which raises the concern to harness and/or develop effective technologies for its valorization. The basic hindrance lies in the structural heterogeneity, complexity, and stability of lignin that collectively makes it difficult to depolymerize and yield common products. Recently, microbial delignification, an eco-friendly and cheaper technique, has attracted the attention due to the diverse metabolisms of microbes that can channelize multiple lignin-based products into specific target compounds. Also, endophytes, a fascinating group of microbes residing asymptomatically within the plant tissues, exhibit marvellous lignin deconstruction potential. Apart from novel sources for potent and stable ligninases, endophytes share immense ability of depolymerizing lignin into desired valuable products. Despite their efficacy, ligninolytic studies on endophytes are meagre with incomplete understanding of the pathways involved at the molecular level. In the recent years, improvement of thermochemical methods has received much attention, however, we lagged in exploring the novel microbial groups for their delignification efficiency and optimization of this ability. This review summarizes the currently available knowledge about endophytic delignification potential with special emphasis on underlying mechanism of biological funnelling for the production of valuable products. It also highlights the recent advancements in developing the most intriguing methods to depolymerize lignin. Comparative account of thermochemical and biological techniques is accentuated with special emphasis on biological/microbial degradation. Exploring potent biological agents for delignification and focussing on the basic challenges in enhancing lignin valorization and overcoming them could make this renewable resource a promising tool to accomplish Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) which are supposed to be achieved by 2030.
PubMed: 35928943
DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.895414 -
Journal of the American Veterinary... Nov 2022The term asymptomatic and its antonyms symptomatic and symptom apply exclusively to humans. However, veterinarians commonly use these terms instead of subclinical and...
OBJECTIVE
The term asymptomatic and its antonyms symptomatic and symptom apply exclusively to humans. However, veterinarians commonly use these terms instead of subclinical and clinical. We examined the use of these terms to determine how, by whom, and in what context they are used.
SAMPLE
Veterinary articles on PubMed.
PROCEDURES
We searched PubMed for the terms asymptomatic, subclinical, and symptomatic within the title and abstract or as MeSH terms, restricting the search to veterinary (nonhuman) species, and downloaded and categorized each article based on species, topic, field of study, and presumed primary language of the authors. We noted whether the term appeared in the title or abstract or as a MeSH term and described the frequencies of use of these terms within each category.
RESULTS
The term asymptomatic appeared in 2,248 entries, mostly in the title or abstract. The term symptomatic appeared in 956 entries, also mostly in the title or abstract. Non-English-speaking authors used asymptomatic but not symptomatic relatively more frequently in the past decade. Certain fields of study, or disease specialties, used the terms more frequently; conversely, other fields of study, or specific journals, avoided the terms.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Authors of articles about animals use the term asymptomatic interchangeably with subclinical and symptomatic interchangeably with clinical. Distinct language cultures appear to exist within different veterinary fields. However, no ambiguity appears to exist with the use of these terms. Therefore, asymptomatic is the same as subclinical and symptomatic is the same as clinical in the veterinary lexicon. Both terms should be equally acceptable.
Topics: Animals; Asymptomatic Diseases; Veterinary Medicine; Bibliometrics
PubMed: 36434765
DOI: 10.2460/javma.22.10.0439 -
The Journal of Pathology Jul 2021Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) develops silently and asymptomatically and is a major cause of mortality. TAA prevalence is greatly underestimated, it is usually... (Review)
Review
Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) develops silently and asymptomatically and is a major cause of mortality. TAA prevalence is greatly underestimated, it is usually diagnosed incidentally, and its treatment consists mainly of prophylactic surgery based on the aortic diameter. The lack of effective drugs and biological markers to identify and stratify TAAs by risk before visible symptoms results from scant knowledge of its pathophysiological mechanisms. Here we integrate the structural impairment affecting non-syndromic non-familial TAA with the main cellular and molecular changes described so far and consider how these changes are interconnected through specific pathways. The ultimate goal is to define much-needed novel markers of TAA, and so the potential of previously identified molecules to aid in early diagnosis/prognosis is also discussed. © 2021 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Topics: Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic; Humans
PubMed: 33885146
DOI: 10.1002/path.5683 -
Scientific Reports Jun 2023Asymptomatic Plasmodium infection raises a problem for the persistent transmission of malaria in low-endemic areas such as Asia. This systematic review was undertaken to... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Asymptomatic Plasmodium infection raises a problem for the persistent transmission of malaria in low-endemic areas such as Asia. This systematic review was undertaken to estimate the prevalence and proportion of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection in Asia. The systematic review was registered at PROSPERO (ID: CRD42022373664). The research followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. A comprehensive search of five databases, Ovid, Scopus, MEDLINE, PubMed, and Embase, was conducted to identify studies of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection in Asian countries. The pooled prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection, the pooled proportion of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection among all parasitised individuals, and the associated 95% confidence intervals were estimated using a random-effects model. A total of 916 articles were retrieved, and 87 articles that met the criteria were included in the systematic review. The pooled prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection among enrolled participants in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Western Asia was 5.8%, 9.4%, and 8.4%, respectively. The pooled proportion of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection among all parasitised individuals in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Western Asia was 89.3%, 87.2%, and 64.8%, respectively. There was a low prevalence of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection, but there was a high proportion of asymptomatic Plasmodium infection per all parasitised individuals in different parts of Asia. These results may support and facilitate elimination and control programs for asymptomatic Plasmodium infection in Asia.
Topics: Humans; Malaria, Falciparum; Prevalence; Malaria; Plasmodium; Asia; Asymptomatic Infections
PubMed: 37369862
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37439-9