Medical Bulletin 21/November/2022

Sepsis is the body's extreme response to an infection. It is a life-threatening medical emergency. Sepsis happens when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body.

A team of researchers designed a device to non-invasively measure cervical nerve activity in humans, a new tool that they say could potentially inform and improve treatments for patients with sepsis, a life-threatening response to infection, and mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The device is described in the latest issue of Scientific Reports.

Reference:

Bu, Y., Kurniawan, J.F., Prince, J. et al. A flexible adhesive surface electrode array capable of cervical electroneurography during a sequential autonomic stress challenge. Scientific Reports, 19467 (2022), DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-21817-w.

First study of monkeypox infection in Transgender women

An international collaboration of clinicians, has published the first case study series of monkeypox infection during the 2022 outbreak in cis gender (cis) and transgender (trans) women and non-binary individuals assigned as female at birth.

The case series, published in The Lancet, provides much needed insight into risk factors, routes of transmission and other clinical features of monkeypox infection. So far, these groups have been underrepresented in research and little is known about how the disease affects women. These data will help to guide the international response to the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.

Reference:

John P Thornhill, MBBCh PhD, Romain Palich, MD PhD, Prof Jade Ghosn, MD PhD Prof Sharon Walmsley, MD MSc Davide Moschese, MD Claudia P Cortes, MD et al, Human monkeypox virus infection in women and non-binary individuals during the 2022 outbreaks: a global case series, The Lancet, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)02187-0

Myocarditis in cancer patients is driven by specific immune cells

Myocarditis is an inflammatory process of the myocardium. In most of the developed countries, viral infections are most frequently the cause of myocarditis. While in developing countries, rheumatic carditis, Chagas disease, and complications related to advanced HIV/AIDS also provide important causes of myocarditis. Other causes include toxic myocarditis, which is related to drugs that may cause an insidious form of the disease.

In a new study, researchers from UC San Francisco and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified specific immune cells that drive deadly heart inflammation in a small fraction of patients treated with powerful cancer immunotherapy drugs.

Reference:

Axelrod, M.L., Meijers, W.C., Screever, E.M. et al, T cells specific for α-myosin drive immunotherapy-related myocarditis, Nature (2022), DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05432-3.