s with other complex chronic conditions.Importance While many features of stable ischemic heart disease vary by sex, differences in ischemia, coronary anatomy, and symptoms by sex have not been investigated among patients with moderate or severe ischemia. The enrolled ISCHEMIA trial cohort that underwent coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) was required to have obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) for randomization. Objective To describe sex differences in stress testing, CCTA findings, and symptoms in ISCHEMIA trial participants. Design, Setting, and Participants This secondary analysis of the multicenter ISCHEMIA randomized clinical trial analyzed baseline characteristics of patients with stable ischemic heart disease. Individuals were enrolled from July 2012 to January 2018 based on local reading of moderate or severe ischemia on a stress test, after which blinded CCTA was performed in most. Core laboratories reviewed stress tests and CCTAs. Participants with no obstructive CAD or with left main CAD of 50% or greater were excludchemia). Ischemia was similar by sex on exercise tolerance testing. Women had less extensive CAD on CCTA (205 of 568 women [36%] vs 1142 of 2418 men [47%] with 3-vessel disease; 184 of 568 women [32%] vs 754 of 2418 men [31%] with 2-vessel disease; and 178 of 568 women [31%] vs 519 of 2418 men [22%] with 1-vessel disease). Female sex was independently associated with greater angina frequency (odds ratio, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.13-1.76). Conclusions and Relevance Women in the ISCHEMIA trial had more frequent angina, independent of less extensive CAD, and less severe ischemia than men. These findings reflect inherent sex differences in the complex relationships between angina, atherosclerosis, and ischemia that may have implications for testing and treatment of patients with suspected stable ischemic heart disease. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01471522.Importance The requirement of prolonged intravenous antibiotic courses to treat infective endocarditis (IE) is a time-honored dogma of medicine. However, numerous antibiotics are now available that achieve adequate levels in the blood after oral administration to kill bacteria. Moreover, prolonged intravenous antibiotic regimens are associated with high rates of adverse events. Accordingly, recent studies of oral step-down antibiotic treatment have stimulated a reevaluation of the need for intravenous-only therapy for IE. Observations PubMed was reviewed in October 2019, with an update in February 2020, to determine whether evidence supports the notion that oral step-down antibiotic therapy for IE is associated with inferior outcomes compared with intravenous-only therapy. The search identified 21 observational studies evaluating the effectiveness of oral antibiotics for treating IE, typically after an initial course of intravenous therapy; none found such oral step-down therapy to be inferior to intravenous-.Disrupted follicular development may result in increased follicular atresia, which is a crucial mechanism of various ovarian pathologies. It has been demonstrated that oxidative stress is associated with disrupted follicular development. Catalpol is a natural compound that has been found to possess anti-oxidative stress. However, the effects of catalpol on oxidative stress-induced disrupted follicular development remain unclear. In the present study, we evaluated the protective effect of catalpol on H2O2-induced oxidative damage in granulosa cells (GCs), which play crucial roles in the follicular development. Our results showed that catalpol significantly improved cell viability, reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) production, and elevated superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities in H2O2-induced GCs. Catalpol treatment caused significant increase in bcl-2 expression, and decreases in bax and caspase-9 expressions. Compared to the H2O2-induced GCs, caspase-3 activity in catalpol-treated cells was markedly decreased. Furthermore, catalpol caused significant activation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in GCs in response to H2O2 stimulation. Additionally, inhibition of this pathway reversed the inhibitory effects of catalpol on H2O2-induced oxidative injury and apoptosis in GCs. In conclusion, these findings suggested that catalpol protected GCs from H2O2-induced oxidative injury and apoptosis via activating PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Thus, catalpol might serve as a therapeutic approach for regulating disrupted follicular development. Copyright 2020 The Author(s).HIV-2 infection is endemic in some countries in West Africa. Due to the lower prevalence in industrialized countries, there is limited experience and knowledge on management of HIV-2 infected individuals in Europe. Compared to HIV-1, there are differential characteristics of HIV-2 regarding diagnostic procedures, clinical course and, most importantly, antiretroviral therapy. We integrated the published literature on HIV-2 (studies and reports on epidemiology, diagnostics, clinical course, treatment) as well as expert experience in diagnosing and clinical care of HIV-2 infected to provide recommendations for a present standard of medical care of HIV- infected in Western European countries, including an overview of strategies for diagnosis, monitoring and treatment, with suggestions for effective drug combinations for first- and second line treatment, post-exposure prophylaxis and prevention of mother-to-child transmission as well as listings of mutations related to HIV-2 drug resistance- and CCR5/CRCX4 co-receptor tropism. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.BACKGROUND Since December 2019, novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)-infected pneumonia (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, and rapidly spread throughout China.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/pds-0330.html  We aimed to clarify the characteristics and clinical significance of peripheral lymphocyte subset alteration in COVID-19. METHODS The levels of peripheral lymphocyte subsets were measured by flow cytometry in 60 hospitalized COVID-19 patients before and after treatment, and their association with clinical characteristics and treatment efficacy was analyzed. RESULTS Total lymphocytes, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, B cells and natural killer (NK) cells decreased in COVID-19 patients, and severe cases had a lower level than mild cases. The subsets showed a significant association with the inflammatory status in COVID-19, especially CD8+ T cells and CD4+/CD8+ ratio. After treatment, 37 patients (67%) reached clinical response, with an increase of CD8+ T cells and B cells. No significant change of any subset was detected in non-response cases. In multivariate analysis, post-treatment decrease of CD8+ T cells and B cells and increase of CD4+/CD8+ ratio were indicated as independent predictors for poor efficacy.