Infección hospitalaria en unidad de tratamiento intensivo de un hospital universitario brasileño

Este estudio prospectivo tuvo como objetivo determinar la incidencia de infección hospitalaria (IH) en una Unidad de Terapia Intensiva (UTI), su asociación con características clínicas del paciente y sitios de ocurrencia. Fueron incluidos 1886 pacientes de la UTI de un hospital universitario, entre agosto de 2005 y enero de 2008. Se utilizó el test exacto de Fisher y Riesgo Relativo. Fueron identificadas 383 (20,3%) IH: 144 (37,6%) del tracto urinario, 98 (25,6%) neumonía, 58 (15,1%) sepsis, 54 (14.1%) sitio quirúrgico y 29 (7,7%) otras infecciones. La permanencia promedio fue 19,3 días para pacientes con IH y 20,2 días para colonizados con microorganismos resistentes. Se registró 39.5% óbitos entre pacientes con IH (RR: 4,4; 3,4-5,6). La IH estuvo asociada a pacientes provenientes de otra unidad de la institución/unidad de emergencia, internación mayor que 4 días, con infección comunitaria, colonizados por microorganismos resistentes, uso de procedimientos invasivos y óbitos resultantes de IH.Este estudo prospectivo objetivou determinar a incidência da infecção hospitalar (IH) em uma unidade de terapia intensiva (UTI), sua associação com características clínicas do paciente e sítios de ocorrência. Inclui-se 1.886 pacientes de UTI de um hospital universitário, entre agosto de 2005 e janeiro de 2008. Utilizou-se, neste estudo, o teste exato de Fisher e Risco Relativo. Foram identificadas 383 (20,3%) IH: 144 (37,6%) do trato urinário, 98 (25,6%) pneumonia, 58 (15,1%) sepses, 54 (14,1%) do sítio cirúrgico e 29 (7,7%) outras. A permanência média foi de 19,3 dias para pacientes com IH e 20,2 dias para colonizados com microrganismos resistentes. Registrou-se 39,5% óbitos entre pacientes com IH (RR: 4,4; 3,4-5,6). A IH esteve associada a pacientes provenientes de outras unidades da instituição/unidade de emergência, permanência superior a 4 dias de internação, infecção comunitária à internação, colonizados por microrganismos resistentes, em uso de procedimentos invasivos e óbitos resultantes de IH.This prospective study aimed to determine the nosocomial infection (NI) incidence in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), its association with clinical characteristics and occurrence sites. It was carried out among 1.886 patients admitted in an ICU of a University Hospital, from August 2005 to January 2008. Data analysis was done using Fishers test and Relative Risk (RR). There were 383 NIs (20.3%). The infections were in the urinary tract (n=144; 37.6%), pneumonia (n=98; 25.6%), sepsis (n=58; 15.1%), surgical site (n=54; 14.1%) and others (n=29; 7.7%). Hospitalization average was 19.3 days for patients with NI and 20.2 days for those with colonization by resistant microorganisms. The mortality was 39.5% among patients with NI (RR: 4.4; 3.4-5.6). The NI was associated with patients originated from other units of the institution/emergency unit, more than 4 days of hospitalization, community infection, colonized by resistant microorganisms, using invasive procedures and deaths resulting from NI

Evaluation of mobile apps for treatment of patients at risk of developing gestational diabetes

This study evaluates mobile apps using a theory-based evaluation framework to discover their applicability for patients at risk of gestational diabetes. This study assessed how well the existing mobile apps on the market meet the information and tracking needs of patients with gestational diabetes and evaluated the feasibility of how to integrate these apps into patient care. A search was conducted in the Apple iTunes and Google Play store for mobile apps that contained keywords related to the following concepts of nutrition: diet, tracking, diabetes, and pregnancy. Evaluation criteria were developed to assess the mobile apps on five dimensions. Overall, the apps scored well on education and information functions and scored poorly on engagement functions. There are few apps that provide comprehensive evidence-based educational content, tracking tools, and integration with electronic health records. This study demonstrates the need to develop apps that have comprehensive content, tracking tools, and ability to bidirectionally share data

Effect of different pre-slaughter procedures on behavioural and blood parameters in pigs.

The effect of different pre-slaughter procedures on behavioural and blood parameters were evaluated on 120 pigs reared in one farm and delivered in groups of 40 subjects to three slaughterouses. Due to the different attitude of the personnel involved, differences in handling were evident at loading and at unloading where the difficulties to srive the pigs incresed the behaviuoral events. Blood analysis parameter showed that different resting time did not reduce the physical stress exoerienced by the pigs, which seems related "per se" to loading, transport and unloading and not to the different handling applied in each slaughter plant

Preliminary investigation of the use of digital image analysis for raw ham evaluation

In order to find objective parameters for the evaluation of pig thighs to be used for PDO processing, digital images of the external surface of 384 left thighs were acquired, to be used for multivariate image analysis. The following parameters were also measured on the same samples: weight, length, circumference, thickness of fat and thigh, globosity index and colour of skin. Moreover, a subjective evaluation of veining and red skin defects was also made by an expert assessor. Multivariate analysis of the digital images showed a separation of the analysed samples in two clusters, whose differences were then investigated on the basis of the other traits. Various differences between the two clusters where found, mainly for the size-related parameters

Dose/dense metronomic chemotherapy with fractioned cisplatin and oral daily etoposide enhances the anti-angiogenic effects of bevacizumab and has strong antitumor activity in advanced non-small-cell-lung cancer patients.

Background: We designed a translational clinical trial to investigate whether a dose/dense chemotherapy regimen is able to enhance in patients with non-small-cell-lung-cancer, the anti-angiogenic, and anti-tumor activity of bevacizumab, a murine/human monoclonal antibody to the vasculo-endothelial-growth-factor (VEGF) Patients and Methods: Forty-eight patients (42 males and 6 females) with stage IIIB/IV non-small-cell-lung-cancer, a mean age of 68 years, and ECOG ≤ 2 were enrolled in the study. They received every three weeks fractioned cisplatinum (30 mg/sqm, days 1-3) and oral etoposide (50 mg, days 1-15) and were divided in 5 cohorts receiving different bevacizumab dosages [0; 2.5; 5; 7.5; and 10 mg/kg] on the day 3. Results: The combined treatment was able of inducing a significant decline in the blood-perfusion of primary tumor (NMR-study); in serum levels of VEGF, angiopoietin-1, thrombospondin-1; and in the number of VEGF-transporting cells. In the group of 40 patients who received bevacizumab ther..

Favourable ten-year overall survival in a Caucasian population with high probability of hereditary breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of our study was to compare differences in the prognosis of breast cancer (BC) patients at high (H) risk or intermediate slightly (IS) increased risk based on family history and those without a family history of BC, and to evaluate whether ten-year overall survival can be considered a good indicator of <it>BRCA1 </it>gene mutation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We classified 5923 breast cancer patients registered between 1988 and 2006 at the Department of Oncology and Haematology in Modena, Italy, into one of three different risk categories according to Modena criteria. One thousand eleven patients at H and IS increased risk were tested for <it>BRCA1/2 </it>mutations. The overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) were the study end-points.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eighty <it>BRCA1 </it>carriers were identified. A statistically significantly better prognosis was observed for patients belonging to the H risk category with respect to women in the IS and sporadic groups (82% vs.75% vs.73%, respectively; p < 0.0001). Comparing only <it>BRCA1 </it>carriers with <it>BRCA-</it>negative and sporadic BC (77% vs.77% vs.73%, respectively; p < 0.001) an advantage in OS was seen.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Patients belonging to a population with a high probability of being <it>BRCA1 </it>carriers had a better prognosis than those with sporadic BC. Considering these results, women who previously had BC and had survived ten years could be selected for <it>BRCA1 </it>analysis among family members at high risk of hereditary BC during genetic counselling. Since only 30% of patients with a high probability of having hereditary BC have <it>BRCA1 </it>mutations, selecting women with a long term survival among this population could increase the rate of positive analyses, avoiding the use of expensive tests.</p

Systemic inflammatory status predict the outcome of k-RAS WT metastatic colorectal cancer patients receiving the thymidylate synthase poly-epitope-peptide anticancer vaccine

TSPP is an anticancer poly-epitope peptide vaccine to thymidylate synthase, recently investigated in the multi-arm phase Ib TSPP/VAC1 trial. TSPP vaccination induced immune-biological effects and showed antitumor activity in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients and other malignancies. Progression-free and overall survival of 41 mCRC patients enrolled in the study correlated with baseline levels of CEA, immune-inflammatory markers (neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, CRP, ESR, LDH, ENA), IL-4 and with post-treatment change in p-ANCA and CD56dimCD16brightNKs (p < 0.04). A subset of 19 patients with activating k-ras mutations showed a different immune-inflammatory response to TSPP as compared to patients with k-ras/wt and a worse outcome in term of PFS (p = 0.048). In patients with k-ras/mut, inflammatory markers lost their predictive value and their survival directly correlated with the baseline levels of IL17/A over the median value (p = 0.01). These results provide strong hints for the design of further clinical trials aimed to test TSPP vaccination in mCRC patients