Role of age and comorbidities in mortality of patients with infective endocarditis

[Purpose]: The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of patients with IE in three groups of age and to assess the ability of age and the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) to predict mortality. [Methods]: Prospective cohort study of all patients with IE included in the GAMES Spanish database between 2008 and 2015.Patients were stratified into three age groups:<65 years,65 to 80 years,and ≥ 80 years.The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was calculated to quantify the diagnostic accuracy of the CCI to predict mortality risk. [Results]: A total of 3120 patients with IE (1327 < 65 years;1291 65-80 years;502 ≥ 80 years) were enrolled.Fever and heart failure were the most common presentations of IE, with no differences among age groups.Patients ≥80 years who underwent surgery were significantly lower compared with other age groups (14.3%,65 years; 20.5%,65-79 years; 31.3%,≥80 years). In-hospital mortality was lower in the <65-year group (20.3%,<65 years;30.1%,65-79 years;34.7%,≥80 years;p < 0.001) as well as 1-year mortality (3.2%, <65 years; 5.5%, 65-80 years;7.6%,≥80 years; p = 0.003).Independent predictors of mortality were age ≥ 80 years (hazard ratio [HR]:2.78;95% confidence interval [CI]:2.32–3.34), CCI ≥ 3 (HR:1.62; 95% CI:1.39–1.88),and non-performed surgery (HR:1.64;95% CI:11.16–1.58).When the three age groups were compared,the AUROC curve for CCI was significantly larger for patients aged <65 years(p < 0.001) for both in-hospital and 1-year mortality. [Conclusion]: There were no differences in the clinical presentation of IE between the groups. Age ≥ 80 years, high comorbidity (measured by CCI),and non-performance of surgery were independent predictors of mortality in patients with IE.CCI could help to identify those patients with IE and surgical indication who present a lower risk of in-hospital and 1-year mortality after surgery, especially in the <65-year group

Major roles for pyrimidine dimers, nucleotide excision repair, and ATR in the alternative splicing response to UV irradiation

We have previously found that UV irradiation promotes RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) hyperphosphorylation and subsequent changes in alternative splicing (AS). We show now that UV-induced DNA damage is not only necessary but sufficient to trigger the AS response and that photolyase-mediated removal of the most abundant class of pyrimidine dimers (PDs) abrogates the global response to UV. We demonstrate that, in keratinocytes, RNAPII is the target, but not a sensor, of the signaling cascade initiated by PDs. The UV effect is enhanced by inhibition of gap-filling DNA synthesis, the last step in the nucleotide excision repair pathway (NER), and reduced by the absence of XPE, the main NER sensor of PDs. The mechanism involves activation of the protein kinase ATR that mediates the UV-induced RNAPII hyperphosphorylation. Our results define the sequence UV-PDs-NER-ATR-RNAPII-AS as a pathway linking DNA damage repair to the control of both RNAPII phosphorylation and AS regulation.A.R.K. and M.J.M. received support from the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica of Argentina (PICT-2011 1617, PICT-2014 2582), the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBACYT 20020130100152BA), and the Alberto J. Roemmers Foundation. G.D. was supported by Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the EU Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 275632. B.J.B. is supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (FDN 148434). M.I. is supported by grants from the European Research Council (ERC-StG-LS2- 637591) and from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BFU2014-55076-P; MINECO). A.T.-M. is supported by an FPI-SO fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. M.F. is supported by the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) and Telethon-Italy. G.B. is recipient of a fellowship from the University of Milan. S.L. is an employee of IFOM Cell Biology Unit. M.J.M., L.E.G., and A.R.K. are career investigators and N.N.M. and A.E.C.B. are recipients of a graduate student fellowship from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas of Argentina (CONICET). A.R.K. is a Senior International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Sociedad Civil y democracia en América Latina: desafíos de participación y representación

¿Por qué plantearse los problemas de la sociedad civil desde el ángulo de la relación entre participación y representación? La elección del tema de este Lente de Aproximación responde a una visión tanto de los avances desarrollados por la investigación sobre sociedad civil en la región, como a un análisis de los procesos sociales y políticos más importantes que están verificándose en América Latina y el Caribe, de los cuales la sociedad civil forma parte y es a su vez condicionada por ellos

Sociedad Civil y democracia en América Latina: desafíos de participación y representación

¿Por qué plantearse los problemas de la sociedad civil desde el ángulo de la relación entre participación y representación? La elección del tema de este Lente de Aproximación responde a una visión tanto de los avances desarrollados por la investigación sobre sociedad civil en la región, como a un análisis de los procesos sociales y políticos más importantes que están verificándose en América Latina y el Caribe, de los cuales la sociedad civil forma parte y es a su vez condicionada por ellos

Agricultural production in the 1st millennium BCE in Northwest Iberia: results of carbon isotope analysis

This work presents the first results of carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis of seeds (Triticum dicoccum, Triticum aestivum/durum, Triticum cf. spelta and Hordeum vulgare L.) from archaeological contexts from the settlement sites of A Fontela and Castrovite in Northwest Iberia, which cover a chronological range between 1050 cal BC and 25 cal AD. In addition, 142 present-day wheat seeds from 16 plots cultivated in 2014 and 2015 across this region were analysed. The results obtained for A Fontela and Castrovite were − 23.6‰ (between − 25.3 and − 21.4) and − 24.0‰ (between − 26.6 and − 21.8), respectively. Taking into account changes in the isotope composition of atmospheric carbon (δ13Catm), the Δ13C values were 17.5‰ (A Fontela) and 18.0‰ (Castrovite). In Castrovite, differences between storage facilities were detected, which could be related to the exploitation of different areas for cultivation, possibly indicating a family-based organization of agricultural production.This work was supported by a FPU grant at the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (AP2012-1353) and part of this research is included in the PhD Thesis of Adrián Mora-González “Irrigación y secano en el Mediterráneo Occidental (III-I milenio A.N.E.): un estudio isotópico”. This research has been conducted within the framework of the HAR2015-66009-P “Arqueología y Química. Reconstruyendo los hábitos alimenticios en la cultura de El Argar” funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, the Project RNM-8011 and the research groups RNM309 and HUM274 (Junta de Andalucía). The archaeobotanical studies of A Fontela and Castrovite were undertaken in the project “Paleoenvironment and Paleoeconomics during the 1st millennium BC”. We also thank Xulio Carballo Arceo, Josefa Rey Castiñeira and Cliodhna Ni Lionain for valuable comments on a draft of the text, leading to measurable improvements

Role of age and comorbidities in mortality of patients with infective endocarditis.

The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of patients with IE in three groups of age and to assess the ability of age and the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) to predict mortality. Prospective cohort study of all patients with IE included in the GAMES Spanish database between 2008 and 2015.Patients were stratified into three age groups: A total of 3120 patients with IE (1327  There were no differences in the clinical presentation of IE between the groups. Age ≥ 80 years, high comorbidity (measured by CCI),and non-performance of surgery were independent predictors of mortality in patients with IE.CCI could help to identify those patients with IE and surgical indication who present a lower risk of in-hospital and 1-year mortality after surgery, especially in th