Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that has spread to over 100 countries. Dengue fever is caused by dengue virus (DENV), which belongs to the Flavivirus genus of the family Flaviviridae. DENV comprises 4 serotypes (DENV-1 to DENV-4), and each serotype is divided into distinct genotypes. Thailand is an endemic area where all 4 serotypes of DENV co-circulate. To understand the current genotype distribution of DENVs in Thailand, we enrolled 100 cases of fever with dengue-like symptoms at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute during 2016–2017. Among them, 37 cases were shown to be dengue-positive by real-time PCR. We were able to isolate DENVs from 21 cases, including 1 DENV-1, 8 DENV-2, 4 DENV-3, and 8 DENV-4. To investigate the divergence of the viruses, RNA was extracted from isolated DENVs and viral near-whole genome sequences were determined. Phylogenetic analysis of the obtained viral sequences revealed that DENV-2 genotype Cosmopolitan was co-circulating with DENV-2 genotype Asian-I, the previously predominating genotype in Thailand. Furthermore, DENV-3 genotype III was found instead of DENV-3 genotype II. The DENV-2 Cosmopolitan and DENV-3 genotype III found in Thailand were closely related to the respective strains found in nearby countries. These results indicated that DENVs in Thailand have increased in genotypic diversity, and suggested that the DENV genotypic shift observed in other Asian countries also might be taking place in Thailand.

The MiIII (Gp.Mur) phenotype is rare among Caucasians but has a much higher incidence among some Oriental populations. In Taiwan the population is relatively heterogenous and, as expected, the incidence of the MiIII phenotype was found to vary markedly among the different ethnic groups. The highest frequencies of the MiIII phenotype were found among some of the indigenous groups, namely the Ami, Yami and Puyuma groups, being 88.4%, 34.3% and 21.2%, respectively, which are also the highest frequencies among any population group reported so far. Antibody screening cells and antibody identification panels containing the MiIII phenotype can obviously be obtained very easily from Ami blood donors and compatible blood for patients with anti-"Mia' can most easily be obtained from Chinese blood donors, except those living on the east coast.

ABSTRACT. Objective. Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute febrile vasculitic syndrome in children. CD40 ligand (CD40L) has been implicated in certain types of vasculitis. We proposed that CD40L expression might be correlated with coronary artery lesions in KD.Methods. Blood samples were collected from 43 patients with KD before intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment and 3 days afterward. Forty-three agematched febrile children with various diseases were studied in parallel as controls. CD40L expression on Tcells and platelets were detected by flow cytometry, and soluble CD40L (sCD40L) levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results. We found that CD40L expression on CD4 ؉ T-cells was significantly higher in patients with KD than in the febrile control (FC) group (28.69 ؎ 1.17% vs 4.37 ؎ 0.36%). CD40L expression decreased significantly 3 days after IVIG administration (28.69 ؎ 1.17% vs 13.53 ؎ 0.55%). CD40L expression on platelets from patients with KD was also significantly higher than in the FC group (8.20 ؎ 0.41% vs 1.26 ؎ 0.12%) and decreased after IVIG therapy. sCD40L levels were also significantly higher in KD patients with those of FC (9.69 ؎ 0.45 ng/mL vs 2.25 ؎ 0.19 ng/mL) but were not affected by IVIG treatment 3 days afterward (9.69 ؎ 0.45 ng/mL vs 9.03 ؎ 0.32 ng/mL). More interesting, we found that in KD patients, CD40L expression on CD4 ؉ T-cells and platelets but not on CD8 ؉ T-cells or sCD40L was correlated with the occurrence of coronary artery lesions.Conclusions. CD40L might play a role in the immunopathogenesis of KD. IVIG therapy might downregulate CD40L expression, resulting in decrease of CD40L-mediated vascular damage in KD. This implicates that modulation of CD40L expression may benefit to treat KD vasculitis. Pediatrics 2003;111:e140 -e147. URL: http://www. pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/111/2/e140; Kawasaki disease, intravenous immunoglobulin, CD40 ligand, soluble CD40L.ABBREVIATIONS. KD, Kawasaki disease; CD40L, CD40 ligand; IgG, immunoglobulin G; sCD40L, soluble CD40L; FC, febrile controls; IVIG, intravenous immunoglobulin; CAL, coronary artery lesions; FITC, fluorescein isothiocyanate; PE, phycoerythrin; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; PRP, platelet-rich plasma; IL, interleukin; TSST-1, toxic shock syndrome toxin-1. K awasaki disease (KD) is an acute multisystem vasculitic syndrome of unknown cause that occurs in infants and children. 1 Evidence increasingly suggests that immunoregulatory activation with vascular endothelial inflammation may be involved in the immunopathogenesis of KD. 2 The acute stage of KD is associated with overactivation of numerous immunologic parameters, such as immune-competent cell activation, 3-5 cytokines, 6 nitric oxide production, 7 autoantibody production, 8 and adhesion molecule expression. 9 Pathologic examination of acute coronary arteritis in the acute stage of KD showed that KD vascular lesion formation is an activated T-lymphocyte-dependent process characterized by transmural infiltration of activated T-lymphocytes, with CD8ϩ T...

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Successful treatment for OSAS with nasal CPAP can restore blood levels of the SIRT1 protein and its activity and serum levels of NO x .