Adverse events of ERCP at San José Hospital of Bogotá (Colombia)

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) has become the preferred treatment method for hepatobiliary and pancreatic disease. Despite technological progress this technique continues to account for the greatest morbidity and mortality caused by digestive endoscopic procedures. ERCP carries a risk of pancreatitis, perforation, hemorrhage, cholangitis and cardiopulmonary events occurring in upto 10% of patients in referral centers, implying a mortality of up to 1%, not including therapeutic failures or the need for re-intervention. A greater mortality rate has been demonstrated in prospective studies rather than in retrospective studies, but overall, the number of complications described in the literature is much lower than the number of complications that actually occur. A descriptive prospective study was conducted at San José Hospital from April 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007 in patients who underwent an ERCP and had a 1-month follow-up. A total of 381 patients were included; 9 (2.3%) were excluded, and of the remaining 372 there was an overall success in 79.6% of cases, 8.3% had a second intervention, 7.6% developed complications (pancreatitis, perforation, hemorrhage, cholangitis, pain, intolerance to sedatives, and cardiopulmonary events), and 4.3% were failed ERCP studies. The mortality rate of the ERCP procedure was 0.8%. ERCP-related complications were determined at a teaching center, and this suggests the need to implement centers of excellence in order to improve the efficacy of the procedure

Virtual Screening of Plant Volatile Compounds Reveals a High Affinity of Hylamorpha elegans (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Odorant-Binding Proteins for Sesquiterpenes From Its Native Host

Indexación: Web of ScienceHylamorpha elegans (Burmeister) is a native Chilean scarab beetle considered to be a relevant agricultural pest to pasture and cereal and small fruit crops. Because of their cryptic habits, control with conventional methods is difficult; therefore, alternative and environmentally friendly control strategies are highly desirable. The study of proteins that participate in the recognition of odorants, such as odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), offers interesting opportunities to identify new compounds with the potential to modify pest behavior and computational screening of compounds, which is commonly used in drug discovery, may help to accelerate the discovery of new semiochemicals. Here, we report the discovery of four OBPs in H. elegans as well as six new volatiles released by its native host Nothofagus obliqua (Mirbel). Molecular docking performed between OBPs and new and previously reported volatiles from N. obliqua revealed the best binding energy values for sesquiterpenic compounds. Despite remarkable divergence at the amino acid level, three of the four OBPs evaluated exhibited the best interaction energy for the same ligands. Molecular dynamics investigation reinforced the importance of sesquiterpenes, showing that hydrophobic residues of the OBPs interacted most frequently with the tested ligands, and binding free energy calculations demonstrated van der Waals and hydrophobic interactions to be the most important. Altogether, the results suggest that sesquiterpenes are interesting candidates for in vitro and in vivo assays to assess their potential application in pest management strategies.http://jinsectscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/1/3

A systematic review of integrated frameworks for resilience and sustainability assessments for critical infrastructures

There is a growing tendency to assess resilience and sustainability of critical infrastructures (CI), given the significant increment in high-impact natural hazard events affecting socio-economic welfare. Historically, these assessments have been conducted separately due to the independent evolution of each concept. However, recent contributions tend to integrate them. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of integrated assessments for resilience and sustainability in CI, examining concepts, indicators, frameworks, and methodologies. Additionally, a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis was performed to gain further insights into the prospects of integrated assessments. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology, eligibility criteria were established, leading to the selection of twelve studies. These works were compared based on five dimensions (economic, environmental, social, technical, and governance) to highlight the differences in the indicators used. While all studies considered the social, environmental, and economic dimensions, some did not further analyze sufficient indicators to evaluate environmental and social effects, with governance often neglected. This study emphasizes the relevance of establishing common metrics for a convergent frame for the resilience and sustainability assessment. The findings presented suggest that integrated assessments lead to a more strategic use of resources toward more resilient CIPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through grant number PD/ 2020.07208.BD, and by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Oper-ational Programme—COMPETE and by national funds through FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) within the scope of the project POCI-01-0247- FEDER-039555. It was also partly financed by FCT / MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC) under the R&D Unit Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE), under reference UIDB / 04029/ 2020, and under the Associate Laboratory Advanced Production and Intelligent Systems ARISE under reference LA/P/ 0112/202

Vulnerable marine ecosystems and biological features of Gazul mud volcano (Gulf of Cádiz): A contribution towards a potential "Gulf of Cádiz" EBSA

The Gulf of Cádiz (GoC) represents an area of socioeconomic and scientific importance for oceanographic, geological and biological processes. An interesting feature of the GoC is the presence of a large amount of mud volcanoes (MVs) and diapirs that display different seepage, seabed types, oceanographic settings and biological communities. Detailed exploration of some MVs is still needed for detecting Vulnerable Marine ecosystems (VMEs) that seem to be rare in other areas of the GoC, improving the current knowledge on its biodiversity and ecological attributes. During different expeditions (MEDWAVES-ATLAS, INDEMARES-CHICA 0610 & 0412 and ISUNEPCA 0616) carried out in different years, biological samples and videos were obtained in Gazul MV (Spanish Margin of the GoC). The study of those samples and videos has revealed the presence of several ecologically important VMEs (e.g. 3 species of reef framework-forming corals, coral gardens including solitary scleractinians, gorgonians and antipatharians, as well as deep-sea sponge aggregations and chemosynthesis-related structures) and a large number of species occurring in this MV, including new records for the European margin, threatened species and non-previously described species. The combination of different environmental and anthropogenic factors allowed the present-day persistence of these VMEs in the GoC. Some of Gazul MV biological and ecological attributes fit several criteria of the Convention on Biological Diversity for EBSA description (e.g. 1,3,4,6) that, together with those of other areas of the GoC, may contribute to the future potential nomination of an EBSA in this area of the NE Atlantic

Attitudes and burden in relatives of patients with schizophrenia in a middle income country

BACKGROUND: Most studies of family attitudes and burden have been conducted in developed countries. Thus it is important to test the generalizability of this research in other contexts where social conditions and extended family involvement may be different. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between the attitudes of caregivers and the burden they experience in such a context, namely Arica, a town located in the northernmost region of Chile, close to the border with Peru and Bolivia. METHODS: We assessed attitudes towards schizophrenia (including affective, cognitive and behavioural components) and burden (including subjective distress, rejection and competence) in 41 main caregivers of patients with schizophrenia, all of whom were users of Public Mental Health Services in Arica. RESULTS: Attitude measures differed significantly according to socio-demographic variables, with parents (mainly mothers) exhibiting a more negative attitude towards the environment than the rest of the family (t = 4.04; p = 0.000).This was also the case for caregivers with a low educational level (t = 3.27; p < 0.003), for the oldest caregivers (r = 0.546; p = 0.000) and for those who had spent more time with the patient (r = 0.377; p = 0.015). Although attitudes had significant association with burden, their explanatory power was modest (R2 = .104, F = 4,55; p = .039). CONCLUSIONS: Similar to finding developed countries, the current study revealed a positive and significant relationship between the attitudes of caregivers and their burden. These findings emphasize the need to support the families of patients with schizophrenia in this social context

Identification of Plasmodium vivax Proteins with Potential Role in Invasion Using Sequence Redundancy Reduction and Profile Hidden Markov Models

BACKGROUND: This study describes a bioinformatics approach designed to identify Plasmodium vivax proteins potentially involved in reticulocyte invasion. Specifically, different protein training sets were built and tuned based on different biological parameters, such as experimental evidence of secretion and/or involvement in invasion-related processes. A profile-based sequence method supported by hidden Markov models (HMMs) was then used to build classifiers to search for biologically-related proteins. The transcriptional profile of the P. vivax intra-erythrocyte developmental cycle was then screened using these classifiers. RESULTS: A bioinformatics methodology for identifying potentially secreted P. vivax proteins was designed using sequence redundancy reduction and probabilistic profiles. This methodology led to identifying a set of 45 proteins that are potentially secreted during the P. vivax intra-erythrocyte development cycle and could be involved in cell invasion. Thirteen of the 45 proteins have already been described as vaccine candidates; there is experimental evidence of protein expression for 7 of the 32 remaining ones, while no previous studies of expression, function or immunology have been carried out for the additional 25. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the idea that probabilistic techniques like profile HMMs improve similarity searches. Also, different adjustments such as sequence redundancy reduction using Pisces or Cd-Hit allowed data clustering based on rational reproducible measurements. This kind of approach for selecting proteins with specific functions is highly important for supporting large-scale analyses that could aid in the identification of genes encoding potential new target antigens for vaccine development and drug design. The present study has led to targeting 32 proteins for further testing regarding their ability to induce protective immune responses against P. vivax malaria

Characterization of the cork oak transcriptome dynamics during acorn development

Background: Cork oak (Quercus suber L.) has a natural distribution across western Mediterranean regions and is a keystone forest tree species in these ecosystems. The fruiting phase is especially critical for its regeneration but the molecular mechanisms underlying the biochemical and physiological changes during cork oak acorn development are poorly understood. In this study, the transcriptome of the cork oak acorn, including the seed, was characterized in five stages of development, from early development to acorn maturation, to identify the dominant processes in each stage and reveal transcripts with important functions in gene expression regulation and response to water. Results: A total of 80,357 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were de novo assembled from RNA-Seq libraries representative of the several acorn developmental stages. Approximately 7.6 % of the total number of transcripts present in Q. suber transcriptome was identified as acorn specific. The analysis of expression profiles during development returned 2,285 differentially expressed (DE) transcripts, which were clustered into six groups. The stage of development corresponding to the mature acorn exhibited an expression profile markedly different from other stages. Approximately 22 % of the DE transcripts putatively code for transcription factors (TF) or transcriptional regulators, and were found almost equally distributed among the several expression profile clusters, highlighting their major roles in controlling the whole developmental process. On the other hand, carbohydrate metabolism, the biological pathway most represented during acorn development, was especially prevalent in mid to late stages as evidenced by enrichment analysis. We further show that genes related to response to water, water deprivation and transport were mostly represented during the early (S2) and the last stage (S8) of acorn development, when tolerance to water desiccation is possibly critical for acorn viability. Conclusions: To our knowledge this work represents the first report of acorn development transcriptomics in oaks. The obtained results provide novel insights into the developmental biology of cork oak acorns, highlighting transcripts putatively involved in the regulation of the gene expression program and in specific processes likely essential for adaptation. It is expected that this knowledge can be transferred to other oak species of great ecological value.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Epidemiology of Invasive Fungal Infections in Latin America

The pathogenic role of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) has increased during the past two decades in Latin America and worldwide, and the number of patients at risk has risen dramatically. Working habits and leisure activities have also been a focus of attention by public health officials, as endemic mycoses have provoked a number of outbreaks. An extensive search of medical literature from Latin America suggests that the incidence of IFIs from both endemic and opportunistic fungi has increased. The increase in endemic mycoses is probably related to population changes (migration, tourism, and increased population growth), whereas the increase in opportunistic mycoses may be associated with the greater number of people at risk. In both cases, the early and appropriate use of diagnostic procedures has improved diagnosis and outcome

Resolver problemas sociales: hacia una metodología de nodos articuladores (Complexus 11)

Los autores nos comparten sus experiencias y búsquedas, desde sus enfoques teóricos particulares y al mismo tiempo desde un trabajo de interconexión intrauniversitaria para la producción de conocimiento, metodologías y herramientas orientadas a solucionar integralmente problemáticas sociales complejas y con escenarios cambiantes