Respiratory Tract Diseases Commons^™

Pulmonary Inflammation And Injury Triggered By Spine Surgery In Recovered Covid-19 Patients Demand Consideration, Luciano Rodrigo Lopes, Silvana Kertzer Kasinski

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Why Should People Use Face Masks In The Time Of Covid? The Jri Position, Jose Bordon, Alex Glynn, Forest W. Arnold

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

No Difference In Clinical Outcomes For African American And White Patients Hospitalized With Sars-Cov-2 Pneumonia In Louisville, Kentucky, Julio A. Ramirez, Stephen P. Furmanek, Thomas Chandler, Stephen S. Hanson, Dawn Balcom, Subathra Marimuthu, Sathya Krishnasamy, Jose Bordon, Rodrigo Cavallazzi, Amr Aboelnasr, Mahder A. Tella, William A. Mattingly, Ashley M. Wilde, Daisy Sangroula, Demetra Antimisiaris, Donghoon Chung, Guillermo Cabral, Gabino R Fernandez-Botran, Jiapeng Huang, Martin Gnoni, Ozan Akca, Paul Schulz, Phillip F. Bressoud, Priya Krishnan, Sally Suliman, William P. Mckinney, Bryan Moffett, Leslie A Wolf, Mark Burns, Alex Glynn, Ruth Carrico, Forest W. Arnold

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Current literature indicates that African American individuals are at increased risk of becoming infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and suffer higher SARS-CoV-2-related mortality rates. However, there is a lack of consensus as to how the clinical outcomes of African American patients differ from those of other groups. The objective of this study was to define the clinical outcomes of African American and White hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in Louisville, Kentucky.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 CAP at eight hospitals in Louisville, Kentucky. Severity of CAP at time of hospitalization …

Facial Mask Use And Covid-19 Protection Measures In Jefferson County, Kentucky: Results From An Observational Survey, November 5−11, 2020, Seyed M. Karimi, Sonali S. Salunkhe, Kelsey B. White, Sahal A. Alzahrani, Bert Little, William P. Mckinney, Natalie Dupre, Riten Mitra, Yuting Chen, Martha M Popescu, Emily R. Adkins, Julia A. Barclay, Emmanuel Ezekekwu, Caleb.He X. He, Dylan M Hurst, Aravindreddy Kothagadi, Shaminul H. Shakib, Devin N. Swinney, David A. Johnson, Rebecca Hollenbach, Sarah Moyer

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: The transmission of respiratory infectious diseases such as COVID-19 can significantly decrease by mask-wearing. However, accurate information about the extent and proper use of the facial mask is scarce. This study’s main objective was to observe and analyze mask-wearing behavior and the level of COVID-19 protection measures in indoor public areas (PAs) of Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Methods: For conducting the observational survey study, targets were indoor PAs, and zip codes were defined as surveying clusters. The number of selected PAs in each zip code was proportional to the population and the total number of PAs in that zip code. …

H1n1 Influenza Virus (Swine Flu): A Comprehensive Insight Into Escalating Catch-22 Scenarios, Muhammad Shahzaib, Ehsan Ul Haq

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Viruses have always been a major cause of various disastrous pandemics in mankind’s history. H1N1 became a threat when its original strain was first discovered back in the swine flu pandemic of 2009. It became highly catastrophic on a large scale because none of the therapeutic interventions and methodologies that were already present at the time were effective against the virus.

Methods: A vast amount of literature and research is available regarding H1N1 influenza from different reputable sources online. The data were gathered with the contrasting and relative situations of 1918 and 2009 pandemics in mind. The overall extracted …

Lack Of Association Of The Abo Blood Group With Covid-19 Risk And Severity In Hospitalized Patients In Louisville, Ky, Rafael Fernandez-Botran, Meredith Cahill, Raghava S. Ambadapoodi, Evelyn Exposito Gonzalez, Stephen P. Furmanek, Ruth Carrico, Jose Bordon, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: The potential association of the ABO blood group with the risk of COVID-19 and its severity has attracted a lot of interest since the start of the pandemic. While a number of studies have reported an increased risk associated with blood type A and a reduced risk with type O, other studies have did not found a significant effect. This study aimed to define the prevalence of different ABO blood groups in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the Louisville, KY area and to investigate whether an association exists between the blood group and disease severity.

Methods: This was a retrospective …

Epidemiology And Outcomes Of Hospitalized Adults With Sars-Cov-2 Community-Acquired Pneumonia In Louisville, Kentucky, Julio A. Ramirez, T'Shura Ali, Thomas Chandler, Stephen P. Furmanek, Daniya Sheikh, Vidyulata Salunkhe, Steven Gootee, Mohammad Tahboub, William A. Mattingly, Demetra Antimisiaris, Jiapeng Huang, Jose Bordon, Rodrigo Cavallazzi, Paul Schulz, William P. Mckinney, Dawn Balcom, Mark Burns, Ruth Carrico, Forest W. Arnold, Cerid Covid-19 Study Group

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: During the ongoing pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), SARS-CoV-2 community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been the primary cause of hospitalization. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of 1,013 patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 CAP from September 2020 through March 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of 1,013 patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 CAP at eight of the adult hospitals in the city of Louisville from September 2020 through March 2021. Patients with 1) a positive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2, 2) fever, cough, or …

Gastrointestinal Symptoms In Patients With Covid-19, Mohammed Abbas, Rafik Elbeblawy, Islam Gadelmoula, Suvarna Rekha, Bettina Sinanova, Jose Bordon

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Though coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is predominantly a respiratory illness, a growing number of studies reported gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms among these patients. We examined the incidence of GI symptoms in patients with COVID-19 and GI symptoms as the initial presentation of the disease.

Methods: We examined peer-reviewed studies in English of patients with COVID-19 that reported GI symptoms. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar for articles published up to June 30, 2020, by using the keywords ``COVID-19,'' ``Coronavirus,'' ``severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,'', ``SARS-CoV-2,'' ``gastrointestinal tract,'' ``gastrointestinal diseases,'' and ``gastrointestinal symptoms and signs.'' Studies with fewer than 30 …

Covid-19 Detection From Chest X-Ray Images Using Cnns Models: Further Evidence From Deep Transfer Learning, Mohamed Samir Boudrioua

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: The early automatic diagnosis of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease could be very helpful to reduce its spread around the world. In this study, we revisit the identification of COVID-19 from chest X-ray images using deep learning.

Methods: We collected a relatively large COVID-19 dataset—compared with previous studies—containing 309 real COVID-19 chest X-ray images. We also prepared 2,000 chest X-ray images of pneumonia cases and 1,000 images of healthy controls. Deep transfer learning was used to detect abnormalities in our image dataset. We fine-tuned three, pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN) models on a training dataset: DenseNet 121, NASNetLarge, and …

Outcomes Of Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia With Liver Disease Or Cirrhosis., Bibodh Jung Karki, Sravan K. Ponnekanti, Vidyulata Salunkhe, Nishita Tripathi, Mahder A. Tella, Stephen P. Furmanek, Forest W. Arnold

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Liver disease and cirrhosis are common causes of mortality worldwide. Community-acquired pneumonia is recognized as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in this population of adults. There is a lack of data regarding outcomes or prognosis in patients with liver dysfunction who develop CAP. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics, incidence, and outcomes of hospitalized patients with CAP and liver disease.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the University of Louisville Pneumonia Study, which was a prospective population-based cohort study of adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia. All patients were divided into three …

How Immune T-Cell Augmentation Can Help Prevent Covid-19: A Possible Nutritional Solution Using Ketogenic Lifestyle, Ravi K. Kamepalli Md,Fidsa,Cwsp

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Developments For The Treatment Of Invasive Infections Due To Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii, David Laurent, Richard Drew, Dustin Wilson

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Acinetobacter baumannii is a significant pathogen in healthcare settings (specifically prominent in healthcare- and ventilator-associated pneumonia) due primarily to its virulence and resistance to a wide variety of antimicrobial drug classes, including carbapenems (CRAB). Existing therapies (notably polymyxins, minocycline, tigecycline, amikacin, and sulbactam) often result in suboptimal tissue concentrations, high rates of toxicity, and increasing rates of resistance. Although utilizing combinations of antibiotics (specifically those containing colistin) have been employed, results have been mixed, and control trials are lacking. Eravacycline is a novel tetracycline with an improved pharmacokinetic profile and more potent activity against A. baumannii relative to tigecycline. Cefiderocol …

The Association Of Qsofa, Sofa, And Sirs With Mortality In Emergency Department Pneumonia, Ian D. Mecham, Nathan C. Dean, Emily L. Wilson, Al R. Jephson, Michael J. Lanpsa

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Objective: To determine the association between 30-day mortality with Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), and quick SOFA (qSOFA) in emergency department patients with pneumonia. Secondary outcomes included the association of sepsis scores with hospital admission and direct ICU admission.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a pneumonia population conducted in the emergency department of 3 tertiary care medical centers and 4 community hospitals. Adult immunocompetent patients diagnosed with pneumonia were included from 3 twelve-month periods spanning December 2009 to October 2015. We generated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values for …

Analysis Of The Local And Systemic Cytokine Response Profiles In Patients With Community-Acquired Pneumonia. Relationship With Disease Severity And Outcomes., Rafael Fernandez-Botran, Timothy Lee Wiemken, Robert R. Kelley, Paula Peyrani, Jose Bordon, Rodrigo Cavallazzi, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

The goals of this study were to investigate the relationship of systemic and local cytokine responses with time to clinical stability (TCS) in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and to develop a model to integrate multiple cytokine data into “cytokine response profiles” based on local vs. systemic and pro- vs. anti-inflammatory cytokine patterns in order to better understand their relationships with measures of CAP severity and outcomes. Forty hospitalized patients enrolled through the Community Acquired Pneumonia Inflammatory Study Group (CAPISG) were analyzed. Based on the ranked distribution of the levels of eight different pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines (IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8, …

Using Cluster Analysis Of Cytokines To Identify Patterns Of Inflammation In Hospitalized Patients With Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Pilot Study, Timothy L. Wiemken, Robert R. Kelley, Rafael Fernandez-Botran, William A. Mattingly, Forest W. Arnold, Stephen P. Furmanek, Marcos I. Restrepo, James D. Chalmers, Paula Peyrani, Rodrigo Cavallazzi, Jose Bordon, Stefano Aliberti, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Purpose: Patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are believed to have an exaggerated inflammatory response to bacterial infection. Therapies aiming to modulate the inflammatory response have been largely unsuccessful, perhaps reflecting that CAP is a heterogeneous disorder that cannot be modulated by a single anti-inflammatory approach. We hypothesize that the host inflammatory response to pneumonia may be characterized by distinct cytokine patterns, which can be harnessed for personalized therapies.

Methods: Here, we use hierarchical cluster analysis of cytokines to examine if patterns of inflammatory response in 13 hospitalized patients with CAP can be defined. This was a secondary data analysis …

Neutrophil Function In Elderly Patients Hospitalized With Community- Acquired Pneumonia, Jorge Perez San Juan, Lisandra Rodriguez Hernandez, Timothy L. Wiemken, Robert R. Kelley, Rafael Fernandez-Botran, Martin Gnoni, Paula Peyrani, Madhavi J. Rane, Forest W. Arnold, Julio A. Ramirez, Silvia Uriarte, Jose Bordon

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: Advanced age is associated with immunosenescence as well as increased risk for poor outcomes during episodes of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Data on neutrophil function in hospitalized elderly patients with CAP is lacking. In this study we compared neutrophil function in elderly and non-elderly hospitalized patients with CAP.

Methods: Prospective study of healthy controls (HC) and patients hospitalized with CAP nonelderly (NE-CAP) and elderly (E-CAP). Blood samples were obtained on the day of hospitalization. The following neutrophil functional assays were performed: degranulation of secretory vesicles (CD35), degranulation of specific granules (CD66b), phagocytosis, and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) …