Platelet function tests are suggested to assess platelet reactivity before cardiac and major non-cardiac surgery. Different point-of-care platelet function tests are available. Among these, electric impedance platelet aggregometry (EIPA) (Multiplate®, MP) is one of the most widely used techniques. Recently, a new EIPA system (Rotem Platelet®, RP) was released. This is a comparative study of platelet function measured with MP and RP. Fifty cardiac surgery patients were admitted to this study. All the patients received a preoperative platelet function test with both the MP and the RP; for each technology, two tests were performed: the ADPtest (investigating P2Y12 receptor platelet reactivity) and the TRAPtest (investigating the thrombin-dependent platelet reactivity). ADP-based platelet reactivity values demonstrated a significant (p = 0.019) correlation between the MP and the RP; and a marginally significant (p = 0.042) correlation for TRAP-based tests. The Bland-Altman analysis of the ADPtest demonstrated a positive bias of 5.94 units (MP > RP) and a percentage error of 88%. For the TRAPtest, there was a positive bias of 12 units (MP > RP) and a percentage error of 89%. In patients who were preoperatively treated with P2Y12 receptor inhibitors, only the MP ADPtest was positively associated with the days from drug discontinuation (p = 0.003). Platelet function assessment with RP greatly differs from the equivalent MP measure, and no correction value can be applied due to the low level of precision. This applies both to ADPtest and TRAPtest. The MP ADPtest is more reliable for platelet reactivity after discontinuation of P2Y12 receptor inhibitors.

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Understanding the host viral interaction at the nasal mucosa, the primary site of SARSCoV2 infection, may provide important insights into COVID19 pathogenesis. Here, we studied nasal and systemic immune parameters in comprehensively characterised patients hospitalised with suspected or confirmed COVID19, and healthy community controls. PCR confirmed COVID19 participants were more likely to receive dexamethasone and a betalactam antibiotic, and more likely to survive to hospital discharge than PCR negative/IgG+ and PCR negative/IgG- participants. PCR negative/IgG+ participants exhibited a nasal and systemic cytokine signature analogous to PCR confirmed COVID19 participants, but had an increased propensity for Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation. The nasal immune signature in PCR negative/IgG+ and PCR confirmed COVID19 participants was distinct and predominated by chemokines and neutrophils. These findings demonstrate that severe COVID19 is associated with inflammatory chemokine and neutrophil predominance in the nasal mucosa, and that PCR negative/IgG+ individuals with high COVID19 clinical suspicion have inflammatory profiles analogous to PCR confirmed disease.

Narcolepsy is a rare sleeping disorder that gives sleep onset rapid eye movement periods and excessive daytime sleepiness. It is divided into two subgroups, narcolepsy type 1 where there also is orexin deficiency and cataplexy and narcolepsy type 2 that lack these features. Narcolepsy type 1 is assumed to be an autoimmune disease with destruction of orexinproducing cells. The pathology behind is unclear. There is a strong association to a class II HLA allele, HLADQB1*06:02 and the H1N1-virus and streptococcal infections has also been associated with narcolepsy. The severity of narcolepsy differs between patients from those who can manage their disease without medication to those who has a severe impact on their everyday life. There is a diagnostic delay between the onset of symptoms and time for diagnosis that in some cases can be more than a decade. The global mean prevalence is 30 per 100 000 inhabitants. The incidence in children in northern Europe has risen since 2010. An early study of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A pandemic indicated a high mortality and prompted efforts to rapidly come up with a vaccine. One of these was Pandemrix that was the most widely used in Europe and 61 % of the inhabitants in Sweden was vaccinated. Studies have shown an increased incidence of narcolepsy type 1 in European countries that had used Pandemrix, but no increased risk was seen in countries that had used other vaccines than Pandemrix.

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