Combined Intravitreal and Systemic Antibiotic Therapy in a Patient with Syphilitic Uveitis

Purpose: To report the novel use of combined intravitreal and systemic antibiotic therapy in a patient with syphilitic panuveitis and discuss the management of ocular syphilis.

Methods: Case report

Results: A 45-year old heterosexual male with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) presented with 1 month of blurry vision in both eyes. Clinical examination revealed a bilateral panuveitis. The patient denied history of genital lesions or rash, but did complain of difficulty hearing bilaterally. Treponemal EIA was positive, the RPR titer greater than 1:512 dilution, and CSF VDRL 1:4. A diagnosis of neurosyphilis and ocular syphilis was made based on the clinical and laboratory findings. The patient was admitted for systemic intravenous antibiotic therapy, but was noted to have a penicillin allergy. Intravitreal ceftazidime was promptly administered bilaterally to achieve treponemacidal levels of antibiotic therapy. After penicillin desensitization protocol, the patient received 14 days of intravenous penicillin with clinical resolution.

Conclusions: There are increasing reports of ocular syphilis in the United States and delay in diagnosis and management can lead to severe visual impairment and blindness. We report the first case of adjunct intravitreal antibiotic therapy in a penicillin allergic patient. As ocular syphilis is a form of bacterial endophthalmitis, combination intravitreal and systemic antibiotics may be considered.     

疱疹病毒治疗性疫苗研究进展

疱疹病毒感染极为普遍,可表现为原发性、潜伏性或复发性感染,几乎能在所有的动物中建立潜伏感染,且潜伏感染期间病毒保持休眠状态,宿主不表现出任何临床症状,机体在受到一些应激后,潜伏的病毒被重新激活,使机体引起复发性感染。目前预防性疫苗免疫接种仍是预防疱疹病毒感染和控制其相应疾病流行的有效手段,然而免疫接种后机体免疫系统虽能够控制感染,但却未能防止机体发生复发性感染并不能提供全面的保护。治疗性疫苗能清除潜伏感染或阻止复发性感染,可以有效地控制此类疾病的复发。因此,接种治疗性疫苗是未来防控和净化疱疹病毒的一种可行策略。本文针对在研的疱疹病毒HSV、EBV治疗性疫苗的研究进展进行综述,旨在为其余疱疹病毒治疗性疫苗的研发拓展思路。     

约束隐结构研究冠心病痰湿证的定量化辨证规则＊

目前在中医界已发布的冠心病痰湿证辨证标准是以主症、次症形式定性地给出，存在主观性较强的问题。本文引入约束隐结构分析，该方法将主症、次症的语义作为约束条件加入隐结构分析过程，得到含有主症、次症语义约束的定量化中医证候辨证规则。使用该方法对冠心病痰湿证患者556条无标签数据的分析，得到其约束隐结构模型，最后建立定量化痰湿证辨证规则，舌胖边有齿痕（3.16）、苔腻（3.12）、苔白滑（4.72）、胸闷（1.73）、脉濡或滑（6.04）；次症：肢体困重（0.48）、口黏（0.63）、体胖（0.49）、大便粘滞（1.38）、脘腹痞满（0.97）、面色晦浊（0.79）、嗜睡（1.18）、纳差（1.07）。与经典隐结构模型得到规则和中医界已发布的定性化辨证规则相比，约束隐结构得到的规则客观性强，具有可重复性。在证候类大小、规则的量化合理度上较好地反映了主症、次症的特点，得到的规则切合中医实际，为冠心病痰湿证辨证标准的定量化研究提供帮助和参考。     

Syphilis: Understanding Traditional and Reverse Screening Algorithms

Interpreting syphilis screening tests can be a challenge for health care providers. Clinical laboratories primarily use the reverse algorithm to screen for syphilis; however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the traditional algorithm. Both algorithms require the interpretation of 2 different serologic assays for screening and confirmation. Serologic testing used in both algorithms is reviewed for nurse practitioners to correctly interpret test results to establish a timely diagnosis and provide stage-appropriate treatment.     

Syphilis in pregnancy

The incidence of syphilis is rising in the UK and more cases of syphilis in pregnancy are being reported. Mother to child transmission of syphilis can result in adverse pregnancy outcomes including miscarriage, still birth, neonatal death, low birthweight, preterm birth and congenital anomalies. These adverse outcomes can be prevented by early diagnosis and prompt treatment of syphilis in pregnancy. This article provides an overview of the condition and focuses on the management during pregnancy.     

Factor analysis for survival time prediction with informative censoring and diverse covariates

Fulfilling the promise of precision medicine requires accurately and precisely classifying disease states. For cancer, this includes prediction of survival time from a surfeit of covariates. Such data presents an opportunity for improved prediction, but also a challenge due to high dimensionality. Furthermore, disease populations can be heterogeneous. Integrative modeling is sensible, as the underlying hypothesis is that joint analysis of multiple covariates provides greater explanatory power than separate analyses. We propose an integrative latent variable model that combines factor analysis for various data types and an exponential proportional hazards (EPH) model for continuous survival time with informative censoring. The factor and EPH models are connected through low-dimensional latent variables that can be interpreted and visualized to identify subpopulations. We use this model to predict survival time. We demonstrate this model's utility in simulation and on four Cancer Genome Atlas datasets: diffuse lower-grade glioma, glioblastoma multiforme, lung adenocarcinoma, and lung squamous cell carcinoma. These datasets have small sample sizes, high-dimensional diverse covariates, and high censorship rates. We compare the predictions from our model to three alternative models. Our model outperforms in simulation and is competitive on real datasets. Furthermore, the low-dimensional visualization for diffuse lower-grade glioma displays known subpopulations.     

Sífilis ocular imitando una retinopatía oculta externa zonal aguda (AZOOR)

Ocular syphilis can simulate various ophthalmic pathologies with multiple possible ophthalmic findings. Timely treatment of these patients can minimize visual damage, but its diagnosis is often a challenge for the ophthalmologist.We review a case report of a 45-year-old man with a rare and atypical clinical presentation of ocular syphilis, its clinical and imaging characteristics, its diagnosis, treatment and evolution. The patient presented with bilateral painless loss of vision, photopsia and peripheral scotomas with about 1 week evolution. There were no signs of ocular inflammation. The complementary ophthalmic study revealed an acute zonal occult outer retinopathy-like (“AZOOR-like”) presentation.Ocular syphilis does not always present with ocular inflammation and its presentation as “AZOOR-like” is very rare. So, we should always maintain a high index of suspicion for this condition, as early diagnosis and treatment are essential for a better prognosis.