Aims: Digital pathology (DP) offers advantages over glass slide microscopy (GS), but data demonstrating a statistically valid equivalent (i.e. non-inferior) performance of DP against GS are required to permit its use in diagnosis. The aim of this study is to provide evidence of non-inferiority. Methods and results: Seventeen pathologists rereported 3017 cases by DP. Of these, 1009 were re-reported by the same pathologist, and 2008 by a different pathologist. Re-examination of 10 138 scanned slides (2.22 terabytes) produced 72 variances between GS and DP reports, including 21 clinically significant variances. Ground truth lay with GS in 12 cases and with DP in nine cases. These results are within the 95% confidence interval for existing intraobserver and interobserver variability, proving that DP is non-inferior to GS. In three cases, the digital platform was deemed to be responsible for the variance, including a gastric biopsy, where Helicobacter pylori only became visible on slides scanned at the 960 setting, and a bronchial biopsy and penile biopsy, where dysplasia was reported on DP but was not present on GS. Conclusions: This is one of the largest studies proving that DP is equivalent to GS for the diagnosis of histopathology specimens. Error rates are similar in both platforms, although some problems e.g. detection of bacteria, are predictable.

IntroductionChronic systemic corticosteroid (CS) therapy is associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with many chronic diseases. However, it has not been elucidated whether chronic systemic CS therapy is associated with increased mortality in patients with asthma. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of chronic systemic CS therapy on long-term mortality in adult patients with asthma.MethodsA population-based matched cohort study of males and females aged ≥18 years with asthma was performed using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database from 2005 to 2015. Hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval for all-cause mortality among patients in the CS-dependent cohort (CS use ≥6 months during baseline period) relative to those in the CS-independent cohort (CS use <6 months during baseline period) was evaluated.ResultsThe baseline cohort included 466 941 patients with asthma, of whom 8334 were CS-dependent and 458 607 were CS-independent. After 1:1 matching, 8334 subjects with CS-independent asthma were identified. The HR of mortality associated with CS-dependent asthma relative to CS-independent asthma was 2.17 (95% CI 2.04–2.31). In patients receiving low-dose CS, the HR was 1.84 (95% CI 1.69–2.00); in patients receiving high-dose CS, the HR was 2.56 (95% CI 2.35–2.80).ConclusionsIn this real-world, clinical practice, observational study, chronic use of systemic CS was associated with increased risk of mortality in patients with asthma, with a significant dose–response relationship between systemic CS use and long-term mortality.

Response to vaccines generally varies according to individual factors of the vaccinated subjects such as demographics and immune status. While there are various reports of factors associated with immunogenicity of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, little is known about those of adenovirus vector vaccines. We conducted a prospective observational study to assess the relationships of antibody level with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and adverse reactions (ARs) to an adenovirus vector vaccine, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Healthcare workers who planned to receive both the first and second injections of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine at Hanyang University Hospital, Seoul, Korea, were enrolled in the study. Seven days after each injection, participants were asked to complete an online adverse reaction survey. In addition, anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein receptor binding domain (RBD) antibody concentration was measured 4 weeks after the second injection. All participants (n = 447, 100%) showed serologic positivity (≥ 0.8 U/mL) 4 weeks after the second injection of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine. Furthermore, the anti-SARS-CoV-2 S protein RBD concentration was similar among groups when stratified by age, sex, BMI, or presence and severity of AR; multivariable linear regression found no associations between antibody response to the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and age, BMI, sex, and vaccine-induced ARs. In conclusion, age, sex, obesity, and ARs were not associated with antibody responses after two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination.

There are limited data regarding whether mortality is higher in patients with non cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (bronchiectasis) than in those without bronchiectasis. Using 2005–2015 data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, we evaluated hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in the bronchiectasis cohort relative to the matched cohort. The effect of comorbidities over the study period on the relative mortality was also assessed. All-cause mortality was significantly higher in the bronchiectasis cohort than in the matched cohort (2505/100,000 vs 2142/100,000 person-years, respectively; P < 0.001). Mortality risk was 1.15-fold greater in the bronchiectasis cohort than in the matched cohort (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09–1.22); mortality was greatest among elderly patients (HR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.10–1.25) and men (HR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.10–1.29). Comorbidities over the study period significantly increased the risk of death in the bronchiectasis cohort relative to the matched cohort: asthma (adjusted HR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.11–1.30), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (adjusted HR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.15–1.34), pneumonia (adjusted HR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.39–1.63), lung cancer (adjusted HR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.61–2.12), and cardiovascular disease (adjusted HR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.23–1.45). In contrast, there were no significant differences in the risk of death in patients without bronchiectasis-related comorbidities and the matched cohort, except in the case of non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection. In conclusion, all-cause mortality was higher in patients with bronchiectasis cohort than those without bronchiectasis, especially in elderly patients and men. Comorbidities over the study period played a major role in increasing mortality in patients with bronchiectasis relative to those without bronchiectasis.

We provide the first report for the reliable use of MR to identify BAT in a living human adult, with histological/immunohistochemical confirmation. Our data demonstrate proof of concept to support the development of MR as a safe, reproducible imaging modality for human BAT.