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Introduction
Publications
Publications (209)
The rare, but emerging mold Aspergillus terreus is an important pathogen in some geographical areas, like Tyrol (Austria) and Houston (Texas). The reason for this high prevalence is unknown. The present serosurveillance study aimed to evaluate the trends in levels of A. terreus-specific IgG antibodies in various regions of Tyrol and to compare the...
Background:
Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) treatment, mostly based on apheresis technology, is used for immunomodulation in various diseases such as cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, graft versus host disease and other (auto)immune disorders. The aim of this study was to collect high cell counts and purity in shorter procedure times using an ECP off-...
After COVID-19, patients have reported various complaints such as fatigue, neurological symptoms, and insomnia. Immune-mediated changes in amino acid metabolism might contribute to the development of these symptoms. Patients who had had acute, PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection about 60 days earlier were recruited within the scope of the prospective...
Inflammatory responses are orchestrated by a plethora of lipid mediators, and perturbations of their biosynthesis or degradation hinder resolution and lead to uncontrolled inflammation, which contributes to diverse pathologies. Small molecules that induce a switch from pro-inflammatory to anti-inflammatory lipid mediators are considered valuable fo...
Post-infectious fatigue is a common complication that can lead to decreased physical efficiency, depression, and impaired quality of life. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiota has been proposed as a contributing factor, as the gut–brain axis plays an important role in regulating physical and mental health. This pilot study aimed to investigate the sever...
Introduction:
Babesia is a tick-borne intraerythrocytic parasite that is globally ubiquitous, yet understudied. Several species of Babesia have been shown to be transfusion-transmissible. Babesia has been reported in blood donors, animals, and ticks in the Tyrol (Western Austria), and regional cases of human babesiosis have been described. We soug...
Phyllobilins are natural products derived from the degradation of chlorophyll, which proceeds via a common and strictly controlled pathway in higher plants. The resulting tetrapyrrolic catabolites—the phyllobilins—are ubiquitous in nature; despite their high abundance, there is still a lack of knowledge about their physiological properties. Phyllob...
Because a large proportion of the Austrian population has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 during high incidence periods in winter 2021/2022, up-to-date estimates of seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are required to inform upcoming public health policies. We quantified anti-Spike IgG antibody levels in 22,607 individuals that donated blood...
Objective:
To reevaluate the frequency of perioperative blood transfusion, transfusion triggers, and survival impact in patients with incident, surgically treated head and neck cancer (HNC) in restrictive transfusion regimens.
Methods:
Retrospective analysis of surgically treated patients with incident HNC with and without perioperative blood tr...
Background
Because a large proportion of the Austrian population has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 during high incidence periods in winter 2021/2022, up-to-date estimates of seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are required to inform upcoming public health policies.
Methods
We quantified anti-Spike IgG antibody levels in 22,607 individuals...
There is uncertainty about the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population of Austria and about the waning of antibodies over time. We conducted a seroepidemiological study between June 2020 and September 2021, enrolling blood donors aged 18–70 years across Tyrol, Austria (participation rate: 84.0%). We analyzed serum sam...
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare hemolytic disease driven by impaired complement regulation. Mutations in genes encoding the enzymes that build the GPI anchors are causative, with somatic mutations in the PIG-A gene occurring most frequently. As a result, the important membrane-bound complement regulators CD55 and CD59 are missin...
Background:
Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is a blood-based therapeutic procedure increasingly used for modulation of immune dysregulation in various underlying disease settings. The aim of this study was to compare the procedure times and blood collection efficiencies between the two approaches currently utilized in European centers: the inte...
Background: There is uncertainty about the seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population of Austria, and about the extent to which antibodies elicited by vaccination or infection wane over time.
Aim: To estimate seroprevalence, waning, and correlates of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in the Federal State of Tyrol, Austria....
Background
Seroepidemiological studies provide important insight into the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV‑2) in our society. We aimed to determine seropositivity of SARS-CoV‑2 antibodies and its cross-sectional correlates in a large cohort of blood donors.
Methods
In this observational cohort study, we tested he...
The naturally occurring stilbenoid oxyresveratrol was shown to influence inflammatory and metabolic processes. During cellular immune activation, tryptophan breakdown and neopterin formation via the enzymes indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO-1) and GTP-cyclohydrolase, respectively, are induced. Neopterin and the kynurenine to tryptophan ratio are r...
Objectives
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections cause coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and induce a specific antibody response. Serological assays detecting IgG against the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike (S) protein are useful to monitor the immune response after infection or vaccination. The object...
Objectives: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections cause Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and induce a specific antibody response. Serological assays detecting IgG against the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the spike (S) protein are useful to monitor the immune response after infection or vaccination. The objec...
Objectives
Serological tests detect antibodies against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the ongoing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Independent external clinical validation of performance characteristics is of paramount importance.
Methods
Four fully automated assays, Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2, Abbott...
Objectives
Serological tests detect antibodies against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the ongoing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. Independent external clinical validation of performance characteristics is of paramount importance.
Methods
Four fully automated assays, Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2, Abbott...
Background and Objectives
Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP‐2) is a protein suspected to be crucial in numerous physiological and pathological processes such as morphogenesis, tissue remodelling and metastasis suppression. In animal models, the administration of TIMP‐2 to aged mice improved their cognitive functions. Therefore, one can...
Background:
Sepsis, a dysregulated host response following infection, is associated with massive immune activation and high mortality rates. There is still a need to define further risk factors and laboratory parameters predicting the clinical course. Iron metabolism is regulated by both, the body's iron status and the immune response. Iron itself...
Background:
Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) bears the potential for significant prolongation of liver preservation prior to transplantation. Although safety and feasibility have been recently published, not data are available describing the significant challenges of establishing NMP programs outside clinical studies. We herein present our exp...
The flavonoid kaempferol is almost ubiquitously contained in edible and medicinal plants and exerts a broad range of interesting pharmacological activities. Interactions with central inflammatory processes can be exploited to treat or attenuate symptoms of disorders associated with chronic immune activation during infections, malignancies, and neur...
Several phytochemicals were shown to interfere with redox biology in the human system. Moreover, redox biochemistry is crucially involved in the orchestration of immunological cascades. When screening for immunomodulatory compounds, the two interferon gamma- (IFN- γ -) dependent immunometabolic pathways of tryptophan breakdown via indoleamine 2,3-d...
Supplemental figure 1: Bioactivity guided screening of the Horminum root extract fractions (HOR) by treatment of unstimulated (full bars) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMC; dashed bars) for 48 h and using neopterin formation (A) and tryptophan breakdown to kynurenine, indicated by the Kyn/Trp (B) as readout....
Background: High blood levels of the chemokine eotaxin-1 (CCL11) have recently been associated with aging and dementia, as well as impaired memory and learning in humans. Importantly, eotaxin-1 was shown to pass the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) and has been identified as crucial mediator of decreased neurogenesis and cognitive impairment in young mice...
Summarized information on demographics of donors used for analysis of (A) fresh-frozen plasma (FFP), (B) erythrocyte concentrate (EC) and (C) platelet concentrate (PC).
Background
Previous studies have shown that Zika virus can infect and be transmitted by A. albopictus. The World Health organization (WHO) has raised concerns of autochthonous transmission of the virus in regions where the vector is endemic. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the occurrence of Zika virus (ZIKV) in western Austria (Tyrol) esp...
Results of ELISA photometry.
(PDF)
Regions with established and introduced A. albopictus (A). West Austria (Tyrol) (circled) (B) presented as a region with newly introduced A. albopictus (B). (Map adapted from European center for Diease Prevention and Conrol (Mosquito Maps) Updated on October 2016.).
(TIF)
Diagram depicting a single run of a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) with 96 samples.
Fluorescence signals observed for the positive control and the internal controls of each sample making the run a valid one.
(TIF)
Survey questionnaire in the German (original) language.
(PDF)
A raw data on country/exact destination visited by the study participants between April and October 2016.
(PDF)
Survey questionnaire in English.
(PDF)
Screening of blood for human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I and type II (HTLV-I/II) is important to diagnose and prevent infection and ensure the safety of blood supplies. The Elecsys® HTLV-I/II assay is a newly developed, electrochemiluminescence screening assay for the detection of HTLV-I/II infection. The sensitivity and specificity of the Ele...
Background:
Amotosalen/UVA-treated platelet concentrates (PCs) have demonstrated efficacy for treating and preventing bleeding in clinical trials and in routine use; however, most studies were performed in haematology/oncology patients. We investigated efficacy during massive transfusion (MT) in general hospitalized patients.
Methods:
Universal...
The amotosalen/UVA process (INTERCEPT Blood System Cerus corp., CA) (IBS), is designed for the ex vivo preparation of pathogen-inactivated whole blood-derived and apheresis platelets. The system is intended to reduce the risk of transfusion-associated transmission of viruses, bacteria, and parasites, prevent transfusion-associated graft versus host...
Background:
In clinical studies, pathogen inactivation (PI) of platelet concentrates (PC) with amotosalen and UVA light did not impact patient risk for haemorrhage but may affect transfusion frequency and component utilization. We evaluated the influence of platelet PI on PC, red cell concentrate (RCC) and plasma use and safety in routine practice...
Background
To increase blood transfusion safety and to ensure the availability of sufficient blood donations, a major goal of the WHO is to establish a full voluntary-based non-remunerated blood donation system by 2020. Although new operation techniques plus medical and organizational innovations lead to a decrease in blood donation demand, the ava...
Background
To increase blood transfusion safety and to ensure the availability of sufficient blood donations, a major goal of the WHO is to establish a full voluntary-based non-remunerated blood donation system by 2020. Although new operation techniques plus medical and organizational innovations lead to a decrease in blood donation demand, the ava...
Transfusion of blood components is an irreplaceable form of treatment for many patients1. However, besides providing sufficient amounts of blood components of excellent quality, blood transfusion services should protect the safety of blood donors. Numerous studies have proven that iron deficiency is common in frequent blood donors, particularly wom...
Objectives:
Despite the high prevalence and clinical relevance of NREM parasomnias, data on supportive genetic markers are scarce, and mainly refer to sleepwalking only.
Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed clinical, polysomnographic, and HLA findings of 74 adults (37 men) with NREM parasomnia gathered from four neurological sleep centers. Paras...
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely used plasticizer, which came into focus because of its genotoxic and sensitizing potential. Besides its toxic properties, BPA is also well-known for its antioxidant chemical properties.
This in vitro study investigated the interference of BPA with interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-induced tryptophan breakdown and neopterin producti...
Context:
Natural products can present remarkable biological and pharmacological activities. In traditional medicine, plants have been used historically in treating cancer, infections, and other inflammatory conditions.
Objective:
Verbascoside and catechin are widespread polyphenolic plant compounds that could play a role in the anti-inflammatory...
Background
Mandatory screening of blood donations for hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses and human immunodeficiency viruses 1 and 2 requires assays with exceptional sensitivity and specificity. This study reports the results from a direct head-to-head comparison of the Elecsys HBsAG II, Elecsys Anti-HBc, Elecsys Anti-HCV II and Elecsys HIV combi P...
Objectives:
Coffee consumption is considered to exert an influence on mood, the immune system, cardiovascular disease, and cancer development, but the mechanisms of action of coffee and its compounds are only partly known and understood.
Methods:
Immunomodulatory effects of filtered extracts of coffee and decaffeinated coffee as well as coffee c...
Formation of neopterin, a biomarker of the activated human immune system, is linked with tryptophan (TRP) and phenylalanine (PHE) metabolism. To obtain normal values, in this study, serum concentrations of neopterin as well as of TRP, PHE and their respective metabolites kynurenine (KYN) and tyrosine (TYR) were investigated in 100 successive blood...
Lavender remedies have been used in traditional medicine because of antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and mood alleviating effects, but underlying molecular mechanisms are not fully elucidated. Recently, studies investigating the effects of lavender oil in the context of psychiatric disorders have indicated potent pharmacological properties. Metabol...
Syphilis is a health problem of increasing incidence in recent years that may have severe complications if not diagnosed and
treated at an early stage. There are many diagnostic tests available for syphilis, but there is no gold standard, and diagnosis
therefore usually relies upon a combination of tests. In this multicenter study, we evaluated the...
Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) frequently occur in autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and correlate with a worse clinical outcome. In the present study, we evaluated the association between antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs), markers of inflammation, disease progression and the presence of an intra-aneurysmal thrombus in abdominal aortic an...
Abstract Seroprevalence rates for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to Tahyna virus (TAHV) and Inkoo virus (INKV) were determined in sera of 1630 blood donors from North, East, and South Tyrol by immunofluorescence assays (IFAs) and confirmatory serum neutralization tests (SNTs). Ten sera (0.6%) reacted positive by TAHV IFA, five of which (0.3%) we...
After malaria, babesiosis is the second most common transfusion-transmitted vector-borne disease. This study investigates seroprevalence rates to Babesia divergens and B. microti in the Tyrol and assesses the risk of blood products being contaminated by either agent. The area of investigation comprises the Austrian part of Tyrol. A number of 988 se...
After malaria, babesiosis is the second most common transfusion-transmitted parasitic disease in the United States. In Europe, one reported transfusion case, concerning Babesia microti, occurred in Germany.
Due to the fact that Babesia spp. are present in Tyrolean ticks, the aim of this study is to assess the occurrence of immunoglobulin (Ig)G anti...
Die Gewinnung von Thrombozytenkonzentraten (TK) kann entweder aus Vollblut oder mittels Thrombozytapherese erfolgen. Das Pool-TK enthält die gepoolten Thrombozyten von 4–6 Vollblutspendern. Das Apherese-TK enthält die maschinell gewonnenen Thrombozyten eines Einzelspenders. In beiden Präparaten finden sich im Durchschnitt 200–400 G Thrombozyten, di...
Nanomaterials are increasingly produced and used throughout recent years. Consequently the probability of exposure to nanoparticles has risen. Because of their small 1-100nm size, the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials may differ from standard bulk materials and may pose a threat to human health. Only little is known about the effects of n...
In vitro, large amounts of neopterin are released from human monocyte-derived macrophages and dendritic cells primarily upon stimulation with Th1-type cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ). IFN-γ also induces the enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), which degrades tryptophan (TRP) to form kynurenine (KYN). IDO-mediated TRP catabolism is very effective...
Graft-versus-host disease not associated with stem cell transplantation is a rare event, but might be underdiagnosed. It occurs mainly as transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease in a susceptible recipient between day 2 and 30 after transfusion of cellular blood components, which also contain lymphocytes. These transfused lymphocytes are th...
The distribution of Y-chromosomal haplogroup G2a (G-P15) in present-day paternal lineages in Tyrol (Austria) was analyzed by applying a high-density regional sampling scheme that also covered remote mountain areas. There is evidence from ancient genetic data for a high frequency of Y-chromosomal haplogroup G in prehistoric populations of Central Eu...
Hematopoietic macrochimerism, which is rarely seen after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), has been linked to the development of graft versus host disease (GvHD). We report on a patient with GvHD after OLT in whom full engraftment of donor-derived, multilineage hematopoiesis occurred, indicating that the liver contains pluripotent hematopoiet...
The potential effects of globularifolin, an acylated iridoid glucoside, on cell survival, inflammation markers and free radicals scavenging were investigated. Viability assay on human myelomomonocytic cell line THP-1 and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) using the Cell-Titer Blue assay proved that globularifolin had no toxic effect at...
An HPLC method was developed to quantify serum concentrations of phenylalanine and tyrosine simultaneously using fluorescence detection without derivatization.
Serum protein is precipitated with trichloroacetic acid, 0.015mM dihydrogen-phosphate solution is used for separation on reversed-phase C18 material, acetonitrile is avoided. Both amino acid...
Oxidative stress is considered to be critically involved in the normal aging process but also in the development and progression of various human pathologies like cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as of infections and malignant tumors. These pathological conditions involve an overwhelming production of reactive oxygen species (...
The distribution of Y-chromosomal haplogroup G2a (G-P15) in present-day paternal lineages in Tyrol (Austria) was analyzed by applying a high-density regional sampling scheme that also covered remote mountain areas. There is evidence from ancient genetic data for a high frequency of Y-chromosomal haplogroup G in prehistoric populations of Central Eu...
Neopterin is released from human monocyte-derived macrophages preferentially upon stimulation with the Th1-cell cytokine interferon-γ. In humans, increased concentrations of neopterin in serum and urine have been found in viral infections including human immunodeficiency virus type 1, various malignant disorders, autoimmune dis-eases and during all...
