Early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric cancer care in Latin America

Although previous studies have suggested that the complications and mortality rate related to COVID-19 are substantially lower in the paediatric population,1 it is reasonable to consider that children with underlying conditions such as cancer will be at increased risk of severe disease...Fil: Vasquez, Liliana. Universidad de San Martín de Porres; Perú. Organización Panamericana de la Salud; PerúFil: Sampor, Claudia. Fundacion Hospital de Pediatria Professor Dr. Juan P. Garrahan; ArgentinaFil: Villanueva, Gabriela. Fundacion Hospital de Pediatria Professor Dr. Juan P. Garrahan; ArgentinaFil: Maradiegue, Essy. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas; PerúFil: Garcia Lombardi, Mercedes. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Niños "Ricardo Gutiérrez"; ArgentinaFil: Gomez García, Wendy. Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral; República DominicanaFil: Moreno, Florencia. Ministerio de Salud. Instituto Nacional del Cáncer; ArgentinaFil: Diaz, Rosdali. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas; PerúFil: Cappellano, Andrea M.. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Portilla, Carlos Andres. Universidad del Valle; ColombiaFil: Salas, Beatriz. Hospital del Niño Manuel Ascencio Villarroel; BoliviaFil: Nava, Evelinda. Hospital de Niños Jesus Garcia Coello; VenezuelaFil: Brizuela, Silvia. Instituto de Previsión Social ; ParaguayFil: Jimenez, Soledad. Hospital Solca Núcleo de Loja; EcuadorFil: Espinoza, Ximena. Hospital de Niños Dr. Roberto del Río; ChileFil: Gassant, Pascale Yola. Hôpital Saint-Damien; HaitíFil: Quintero, Karina. Children's Hospital Dr Jose Renan Esquivel; PanamáFil: Fuentes Alabi, Soad. Hospital Nacional de Niños Benjamin Bloom; El SalvadorFil: Velasquez, Thelma. No especifíca;Fil: Fu, Ligia. Hospital Escuela de Tegucigalpa; HondurasFil: Gamboa, Yessika. National Children's Hospital; Costa RicaFil: Quintana, Juan. Clinica Las Condes; ChileFil: Castiglioni, Mariela. Hospital Pereira Rossell; UruguayFil: Nuñez, Cesar. Children's Cancer Hospital; Estados UnidosFil: Moreno, Arturo. Hospital Universitario de Puebla; MéxicoFil: Luna Fineman, Sandra. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados UnidosFil: Luciani, Silvana. Pan American Health Organization; Estados UnidosFil: Chantada, Guillermo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital de Pediatría "Juan P. Garrahan"; Argentina. Hospital Sant Joan de Deu Barcelona; Españ

ASPM gene expression in medulloblastoma

Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant tumors of the central nervous system in childhood. The incidence is about 19-20% between children younger than 16 years old with peak incidence between 4 and 7 years. Despite its sensibility to no specific therapeutic means like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the treatment is very aggressive and frequently results in regression, growth deficit, and endocrine dysfunction. From this point of view, new treatment approaches are needed such as molecular targeted therapies. Studies in glioblastoma demonstrated that ASPM gene was overexpressed when compared to normal brain and ASPM inhibition by siRNA-mediated inhibits tumor cell proliferation and neural stem cell proliferation, supporting ASPM gene as a potential molecular target in glioblastoma. The aim of this work was to evaluate ASPM expression in medulloblastoma fragment samples, and to compare the results with the patient clinical features. Analysis of gene expression was performed by quantitative PCR real time using SYBR Green system in tumor samples from 37 children. The t test was used to analyze the gene expression, and Mann-Whitney test was performed to analyze the relationship between gene expressions and clinical characteristics. Kaplan-Meier test evaluated curve survival. All samples overexpressed ASPM gene more than 40-fold. However, we did not find any association between the overexpressed samples and the clinical parameters. ASPM overexpression may modify the ability of stem cells to differentiate during the development of the central nervous system, contributing to the development of medulloblastoma, a tumor of embryonic origin from cerebellar progenitor cells.GRAACC/CAPES/FAPESP[04/12133-6]Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Grupo de Apoio ao Adolescente e a Crianca com Cancer (GRAACC/UNIFESP

Risk factors for enterococcal bacteremia in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients

P>Bacteremia is a well known cause of morbidity and mortality in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients and enterococci are among the most frequently isolated pathogens. the aim of this study was to identify risk factors for enterococcal bacteremia during the first 30 days after allogeneic HSCT. A retrospective case-control study was performed; for each case, 3 controls were randomly selected among 306 patients transplanted during the study period (January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2007). Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for variables influencing the risk for bacteremia. Overall, 33 patients developed enterococcal bacteremia, within a median of 9 days after HSCT (range, 2-24). the cumulative incidence was 10.8%. Multivariate analysis identified the following variables as risk factors for enterococcal bacteremia: donor and transplant type (greater risk for mismatched related or cord blood) (OR=8.98, 95% CI, 1.65-48.99 and OR=7.52, 95% CI, 1.56-36.31, respectively, P=0.047); severe (grades 3-4) mucositis (OR=9.04, 95% CI, 1.97-41.52, P=0.018); pharyngeal enterococcal colonization (OR=4.48, 95% CI, 1.11-18.03, P=0.035); and previous empirical therapy with cephalosporins (OR=4.16, 95% CI, 0.93-18.66 for 1-7 days of therapy, and OR=7.31, 95% CI, 1.78-30.12 for 8-23 days, P=0.018). Higher Karnofsky score (>= 50) and previous empirical therapy with glycopeptides were associated with a decreased risk (OR=0.25, 95% CI, 0.06-0.97, P=0.045 and OR=0.11, 95% CI, 0.02-0.59, P=0.010, respectively). the crude mortality at 7 and 30 days was 12% (4/33) and 24% (8/33), respectively. Enterococcal bacteremia is frequent after allogeneic HSCT. the factors associated with this infection are type of transplant, pharyngeal colonization, severe mucositis, and use of cephalosporins. Good general conditions and the use of vancomycin were associated with lower risk of enterococcal bacteremia.San Martino Univ Hosp, Div Infect Dis, I-16132 Genoa, ItalyIst Toscano AOU Tumori Careggi, Clin Trials Coordinating Ctr, Florence, ItalySan Martino Univ Hosp, Div Haematol, Genoa, ItalySan Martino Univ Hosp, HSCT, Genoa, ItalyUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Infect Dis, Dept Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Div Infect Dis, Dept Med, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc