Successful Therapy in Cases Series of Systemic Autoinflammatory Disease and Literature Review

Objectives: Systemic autoinflammatory disease (SAID) is a rare systemic auto-inflammatory and progressive disorders. There have been some reports with various therapies in SAID patients. The objective of this study is to describe the chareatercis of four cases of NAIDs benefiting from JAK 1/2 inhibitor baricitinib.Methods: We reported the four cases with SAID including two cases of Blau syndrome, one case of FMF and one case of FCAS3 syndrome. These four different patients were either resistant to currently available therapies or biologics were unaccessible during COVID-19 pandemic. We also conducted a systematic literature review about the current therapies of SAID.Results: Although genetically and phenotypically different, four cases of SAID that were treated with single use baricitinib 4 mg per day achieved improvement over eight weeks. We further identified 132 manuscripts providing more than 100 cases of SAID. Among these patients, 24 underwent biological treatments and 22 of them recovered. In these 132 manuscripts, 2 underwent JAK 1/3 inhibitor tofacitinib treatment and recovered fully.Conclusions: Case series study on the use of Jak inhibitor agents have yielded positive results in our study. For SAID patients baricitinib may be a better choice compared to injection biological treatments.

Use of Biological Treatments in Elderly Patients with Skin Psoriasis in the Real World

Biological drugs have prompted a revolution in the treatment of patients with psoriasis because of their favourable efficacy/risk profile. The aims of our study are to determine whether there is any difference in the pattern of use of biological treatments for older (65+ years) and younger patients diagnosed with plaque psoriasis by the Dermatology Service of the Hospital Universitario de Asturias (HUCA), to understand the survival of these drugs, and to identify the factors that predict the discontinuation of treatments. We report a retrospective observational hospital-based study of 300 patients registered at HUCA’s Dermatology Service who were receiving one of the following biological treatments for psoriasis on 30 November 2020: adalimumab, ustekinumab, secukinumab, or ixekizumab. The age groups were compared using Student’s t-test for quantitative variables and the chi-squared test for qualitative variables. We used the Kaplan–Meier estimator to estimate the survival function and the log-rank test to measure differences. No statistically significant differences in the frequency of use were noted between the younger and older groups, for any of the drugs studied. Survival on a drug regime, globally and individually, was similar in the two age groups. Factors predicting lower overall survival were being female, obesity, and having undergone previous biological treatment. The first three factors were influential in the under-65-year-old group, while arthritis was a significant factor for the older group.

The wettability of electron spun membranes by synovial fluid

Aseptic loosening due to periprosthetic osteolysis has been accepted as one of the leading causes of revision procedures in patients with previous joint arthroplasty. Recently, several strategies for suppression of osteolysis were proposed, mostly based on biological treatment such as mitigation of chronic inflammatory reactions. However, these biological treatments do not stop the debris migration but only reduce the inflammatory reaction. To address this shortcoming, we propose the concept of ultrahigh molecular weighted polyethylene particles filtration storage by electrospun membranes. Firstly, the surface tension of synovial fluid (SF) is obtained by use of a pendant droplet. Secondly, the contact angle of the electrospun membranes wetted by two different liquids is measured to obtain the free surface energy using of the Owens–Wendt model. Additionally, the wettability of electrospun membranes by SF as a function of technology parameters is studied.

Influence of humic substances on the landfill leachate biodegradability with a focus on temporal seasonality

The high resilience to biological treatments from the landfill leachate is generally associated with the presence of humic substances (HS). The brown color characteristic of this effluent is also related to these substances. Landfill leachate with low biodegradability can make biological treatments unfeasible, which can drive up the cost for the treatment of large leachate volumes. In this context, this research aimed to characterize the leachate in different seasonal periods, and verify the influence of HS species on the biodegradability of the effluent to assist in the selection of adequate treatment techniques. The HS quantification was performed using the modified Lowry method and speciation through fractionation according to the molar masses of the HS species. The tropical regions can be the precursor for the rapid stabilization of biodegradable organic matter. The warmer climate contributed to a reduced BOD/COD ratio (0.03) and the predominance of compounds of lower mass (e.g.: fluvic acids). The tests showed an HS concentration of 26.9% of the total COD in the raw leachate in the rainy season, which increased to 37.3% in the dry season. Approximately 70% of HS species refer to fulvic acids, a fraction identified as having the highest biologic treatment resilience.

Eosinophils as Drivers of Severe Eosinophilic Asthma: Endotypes or Plasticity?

Asthma is now recognized as a heterogeneous disease, encompassing different phenotypes driven by distinct pathophysiological mechanisms called endotypes. Common phenotypes of asthma, referred to as eosinophilic asthma, are characterized by the presence of eosinophilia. Eosinophils are usually considered invariant, terminally differentiated effector cells and have become a primary therapeutic target in severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA) and other eosinophil-associated diseases (EADs). Biological treatments that target eosinophils reveal an unexpectedly complex role of eosinophils in asthma, including in SEA, suggesting that “not all eosinophils are equal”. In this review, we address our current understanding of the role of eosinophils in asthma with regard to asthma phenotypes and endotypes. We further address the possibility that different SEA phenotypes may involve differences in eosinophil biology. We discuss how these differences could arise through eosinophil “endotyping”, viz. adaptations of eosinophil function imprinted during their development, or through tissue-induced plasticity, viz. local adaptations of eosinophil function through interaction with their lung tissue niches. In doing so, we also discuss opportunities, technical challenges, and open questions that, if addressed, might provide considerable benefits in guiding the choice of the most efficient precision therapies of SEA and, by extension, other EADs.

Effect of Selected Trichoderma Strains and Metabolites on Olive Drupes

Beneficial fungal strains of the genus Trichoderma are used as biofungicides and plant growth promoters. Trichoderma strains promote the activation of plant defense mechanisms of action, including the production of phenolic metabolites. In this work, we analyzed the effects of selected Trichoderma strains (T. asperellum KV906, T. virens GV41, and T. harzianum strains TH1, M10, and T22) and their metabolites (harzianic acid and 6-pentyl-α-pyrone) on drupes of young olive trees (4-year-old) cv. Carolea. This study used the untargeted analysis of drupe metabolome, carried out by LC–MS Q-TOF, to evaluate the phenolics profiles and target metabolomics approach to detect oleuropein and luteolin. The untargeted approach showed significant differences in the number and type of phenolic compounds in olive drupes after Trichoderma applications (by root dipping and drench soil irrigation method) compared to control. The levels of oleuropein (secoiridoid) and luteolin (flavonoid) varied according to the strain or metabolite applied, and in some cases, were less abundant in treated plants than in the control. In general, flavonoids’ levels were influenced more than secoiridoid production. The dissimilar aptitudes of the biological treatments could depend on the selective competence to cooperate with the enzymes involved in producing the secondary metabolites to defend plants by environmental stresses. Our results suggest that using selected fungi of the genus Trichoderma and their metabolites could contribute to selecting the nutraceutical properties of the olive drupe. The use of the metabolites would bring further advantages linked to the dosage in culture and storage.