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CT is thought to play a key role in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnostic workup. The possibility of comparing data across different settings depends on the systematic and reproducible manner in which the scans are analyzed and reported. The COVID-19 Reporting and Data System (CO-RADS) and the corresponding CT severity score (CTSS) introduced by the Radiological Society of the Netherlands (NVvR) attempt to do so. However, this system has not been externally validated.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) can lead to systemic coagulation activation and thrombotic complications.

The intestinal microbiome plays a versatile role in the etiology of arterial thrombosis. In venous thrombosis, driven chiefly by plasma coagulation, no such role has yet been established. We hypothesized that the intestinal microbiome composition affects coagulation in humans.

Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) contributes to the anti-atherogenic effects of HDL. Patients with the orphan disease, familial hypoalphalipoproteinemia (FHA), are characterized by decreased tissue cholesterol removal and an increased atherogenic burden. We performed an open-label uncontrolled proof-of-concept study to evaluate the effect of infusions with a human apoA-I-containing HDL-mimetic particle (CER-001) on RCT and the arterial vessel wall in FHA. Subjects received 20 infusions of CER-001 (8 mg/kg) during 6 months. Efficacy was assessed by measuring (apo)lipoproteins, plasma-mediated cellular cholesterol efflux, fecal sterol excretion (FSE), and carotid artery wall dimension by MRI and artery wall inflammation by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography scans. We included seven FHA patients: HDL-cholesterol (HDL-c), 13.8 [1.8–29.1] mg/dl; apoA-I, 28.7 [7.9–59.1] mg/dl. Following nine infusions in 1 month, apoA-I and HDL-c increased directly after infusion by 27.0 and 16.1 mg/dl (P= 0.018). CER-001 induced a 44% relative increase (P= 0.018) in in vitro cellular cholesterol efflux with a trend toward increased FSE (P= 0.068). After nine infusions of CER-001, carotid mean vessel wall area decreased compared with baseline from 25.0 to 22.8 mm2(P= 0.043) and target-to-background ratio from 2.04 to 1.81 (P= 0.046). In FHA-subjects, CER-001 stimulates cholesterol mobilization and reduces artery wall dimension and inflammation, supporting further evaluation of CER-001 in FHA patients.

Recent animal studies have shown a mechanistic link between the pro-atherosclerotic metabolite trimethylamine-Noxide (TMAO), derived from gut microbiota driven catabolism of dietary choline and carnitine, and atherosclerotic plaque formation, a finding which was substantiated in humans with cardiovascular disease (Hazen, Nature Medicine, 2013).

Inflammation of visceral fat is a key regulator in the development of insulin resistance and subsequent type 2 diabetes, yet the pathophysiological trigger for this chronic inflammation remains poorly understood.

Recent data in animal models reveal that obesity is associated with substantial changes in composition and metabolic function of gut microbiota.