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This study aims to investigate whether fetuin A deficiency predicts the prognosis of COVID-19 disease in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). The study was conducted on 35 hospitalized KTRs with COVID-19 pneumonia between November 2020 and June 2021. Serums were collected for fetuin-A measurement at admission and after six months of follow-up. The demographic and laboratory data of the patients were recorded and analyzed with the appropriate statistical method. A total of 35 KTRs, 23 of which (65.7%) were men, were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 51.6 ± 14.0 years. Seventeen (48.6%) patients had severe disease criteria and required intensive care (ICU) support. Biopsy-proven acute rejection developed in 6 (17.1%) patients in the follow-up. At admission, the median fetuin-A value was 173.5 mcg/mL (143.5-199.25) in the moderate disease group and 126.0 mcg/mL (89.4-165.5) in the severe patient group (p = 0.005). While the Median fetuin-A value at the time of diagnosis was 173.5 mcg/mL (143.5-199.25), and in the 6th month was 208 mcg/mL [184-229] (p<0.001). By ROC analysis, the effect of serum fetuin-A level in predicting the severity of COVID-19 disease was significant (AUC: 0.771, p = 0.006, 95% CI: 0.615-0.927). When serum fetuin-A cut-off value was taken as 138 mcg/mL to determine disease severity, it was shown to have 83.3% sensitivity and 64.7% specificity. Serum fetuin-A level can predict disease severity in kidney transplant recipients in the presence of active COVID-19 disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remarkable efficacy and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines have been described in healthy individuals, but kidney transplant recipients have been excluded from these studies. Therefore, real-world evidence of these vaccines can guide clinicians in predicting complications in kidney transplant recipients and how many doses of vaccines are protective. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 vaccines on kidney transplant recipients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. This matched case-control study included vaccinated kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19 from two centers between 1 May and 1 October 2021. All patients in the vaccinated group received a minimum of two doses of the vaccine and were diagnosed with COVID-19 at least one month after the last dose. Each vaccinated patient was matched with an unvaccinated kidney transplant recipient diagnosed with COVID. The endpoints were all-cause mortality, hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, acute kidney injury, cytokine storm, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. The median age of vaccinated seventy-two participants was 45 years, and 41 of the participants were men in the vaccinated group. Four patients in the vaccinated group and nine patients in the control group died during follow-up (p = 0.247). Seventeen patients in the vaccinated group, thirty-four participants in the control group were hospitalized (p = 0.004); five vaccinated patients and ten unvaccinated patients were followed-up in the ICU during follow-up (p = 0.168). Thirteen of the vaccinated and twelve unvaccinated patients developed acute kidney injury (p = 0.16). The occurrence of cytokine storm (n = 4 vs. n = 11; p = 0.061) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (n = 5 vs. n = 10; p = 0.168) was higher in the patient group compared to the control group. COVID-19 remains a fatal disease despite advancing treatment modalities and preventive strategies. COVID-19 vaccines can't prevent death in all kidney transplant recipients, but they decrease hospitalization rate and duration in most patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale and Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the findings found in thorax computed tomography (CT), which is increasingly used in the diagnosis of the important public health problem of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and the findings of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as an important diagnostic alternative.Materials and Methods: Thirty-two patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who underwent thorax CT for COVID pneumonia and MRI for any reason within 24 hours after CT were included in the study. The number of lobes affected, number of lobes containing ground-glass opacities and consolidation, number of nodules, distribution of lesions (central, peripheral, or diffuse), lobes with centrilobular nodular pattern, and the presence of pleural effusion were recorded separately for both imaging methods.Results: Seventeen of the patients were female (53%) and 15 were male (47%). The mean age of the patients was 60.5 (range, 20-85) years. A total of 31 patients (96%) had signs of pneumonia on CT. The most common finding in CT was ground-glass opacities in 29 patients (90.6%), followed by consolidation in 14 patients (43.75%). Both consolidation and ground-glass opacities were also observed in MRI in all of these patients. Nodules were detected in 12 patients (37.5%) on CT and 11 patients (34.4%) on MRI. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI in nodule detection were calculated as 91.67% and 100%, respectively.Conclusion: Although thorax CT is widely used in the imaging of COVID-19 infection, due to its advantages, MRI can also be used as an alternative diagnostic tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the normal population, a high monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) level is an important biomarker for the progression of COVID-19. This study investigated whether MCP-1 level can determine the disease prognosis in kidney transplant (KT) patients with COVID-19. A total of 89 patients, including 49 KT patients (group 1) diagnosed with COVID-19 who required hospitalization, and 40 KT patients who did not have COVID-19 disease (group 2), were included. Demographic characteristics and laboratory results of the patients were recorded. The serum reserved for MCP-1 was stored at –80°C and studied blindly by a single microbiologist at the end of the study. While the mean age of the patients was 51.0 years (40.0-59.50) in group 1, it was 48.0 years (40.75-54.75) in group 2 (P >.05). In terms of the female sex, it was 36 (73.5%) and 27 (67.5%) in group 1 and group 2, respectively (P >.05). Similarly, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups regarding primary disease and basal graft function (P >.05). There was a statistically significant difference in inflammation indicators in group 1 compared with group 2 (P <.05). A correlation was found between inflammation indicators and COVID-19 (P <.05). However, no significant correlation was detected between COVID-19 disease and MCP-1 levels in both groups (P >.05). Also, according to basal MCP-1 levels, we did not find a significant difference between survival and nonsurvival patients (164.0 pg/mL [146.0-202.0] vs 156.0 pg/mL [143.0-173.0], respectively (P >.05). Monocyte chemoattractant protein, an indicator of inflammation, was not found to predict the prognosis of COVID-19 disease in kidney recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first seen in the city of Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and then spread worldwide. On 24 March 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported that the use of convalescent plasma (CP) containing antibodies against COVID-19 could be effective against infection. The aim of this study is to retrospectively investigate whether early CP transfusion treatment has an effect on recovery of clinical and laboratory parameters in patients diagnosed with severe COVID-19 who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The study included 141 consecutive patients who had laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 and were admitted to the ICU between 1 May and 30 September 2020. Of the 141 patients, 84 received CP in the first five days of hospitalization in the ICU (early group), and 57 received CP after the fifth day of hospitalization in the ICU (late group). There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, comorbidities and the severity of the disease (according to the evaluation of lung tomography). There was no difference between the two groups in terms of mechanical ventilator needed, inotrope support, and tracheostomy procedure during the ICU admission (p = 0.962, p = 0.680, and p = 0.927, respectively). Despite these limitations, the overriding result of our study is that it suggests that administration of CP either early or late in the treatment of COVID-19, had no effect on mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]