Search

Indwelling silicone valves called voice prostheses (VPs) are the gold standard for speech rehabilitation in patients with laryngeal cancer following total laryngectomy. Reported VP lifespans amongst these patients are highly variable but when devices fail patients experience loss of voice and an increase risk of chest infection. Early failure of VP is a current clinical concern that is associated with regular hospital visits, reduced quality of life and associated medical cost. Poly-microbial biofilms comprised of both bacterial and fungal microorganisms readily colonize VPs and are linked to loss of device performance and its early failure in addition to providing a reservoir for potential infection. Our detailed analysis of poly-microbial biofilm composition on 159 early failing VPs from 48 total laryngectomy patients confirmed Candida albicans as the predominant fungal species and Staphylococcus aureus as the most common bacterial colonizer within our patient cohort. Using a combination of microbiological analysis, patient data and a high-throughput antifungal test assay mimicking in vivo conditions we established an evidence based precision antifungal treatment approach to VP management. Our approach has allowed us to implement a personalized VP management pathway, which increases device in situ lifespan by an average of 270%. Our study represents a significant step forward in both our understanding of the cause of VP failure and a new effective treatment pathway that offers tangible benefit to patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cohort of 148 Cameroonian children infected with Schistosoma haematobium was followed before praziquantel therapy and 1,2,3,5, and 12 months thereafter. Egg output, the reagent strip index (RSI, a pathological marker), and circulating anodic antigen (CAA) and circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) in serum and urine were quantified. At enrollment, the median level of egg output was 365/10 mL of urine; 97% of children had a positive RSI; CAA was detected in serum from 76% of children and in urine from 64%; and CCA was detected in serum from 55% of children and in urine from 87%. Two months after chemotherapy, egg output and RSI had decreased significantly; reinfection later developed in parallel with increases in the serum and urine concentrations of CAA and the urine concentrations of CCA. The measurement of CAA and CCA is useful for diagnosis, evaluation of disease severity, and follow-up of chemotherapy in individuals infected with S. haematobium. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, next generation sequencing (NGS) technology has been widely used for the discovery of novel human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes, variant characterization and genotyping. Here, we compared the analytical performance of NGS with a commercial PCR-based assay (Anyplex II HPV28) in cervical samples of 744 women. Overall, HPV positivity was 50.2% by the Anyplex and 45.5% by the NGS. With the NGS, we detected 25 genotypes covered by Anyplex and 41 additional genotypes. Agreement between the two methods for HPV positivity was 80.8% (kappa = 0.616) and 84.8% (kappa = 0.652) for 28 HPV genotypes and 14 high-risk genotypes, respectively. We recovered and characterized 243 complete HPV genomes from 153 samples spanning 40 different genotypes. According to phylogenetic analysis and pairwise distance, we identified novel lineages and sublineages of four high-risk and 16 low-risk genotypes. In total, 17 novel lineages and 14 novel sublineages were proposed, including novel lineages of HPV45, HPV52, HPV66 and a novel sublineage of HPV59. Our study provides important genomic insights on HPV types and lineages, where few complete genomes were publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]