Field evaluation of two point-of-care tests for syphilis among men who have sex with men, Verona, Italy

Objectives: The incidence of HIV and syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Europe has recently increased. Rapid point-of-care tests (POCTs) for syphilis can improve access to screening. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of two syphilis POCTs compared with laboratory tests among MSM. Methods: The study was undertaken in Verona, Italy. Asymptomatic MSM, potentially exposed to syphilis, were enrolled prospectively. The POCTs evaluated were SD Bioline Syphilis 3.0 and Chembio DPP Syphilis Screen & Confirm Assay on both serum and fingerprick blood. The results of the POCTs were read by the naked eye by two independent readers and their concordance assessed. Results: A total of 289 MSM were enrolled in the study. Based on laboratory tests, 35 MSM (12.1%) were TPPA-positive alone and 16 (5.5%) were both Treponema pallidum particle agglutination test (TPPA) and rapid plasma reagin (RPR)-positive. The specificities of both POCTs were above 99% on both serum and fingerstick blood specimens, while sensitivities varied considerably. The sensitivity of the SD Bioline test was lower on fingerprick blood (51.4% and 54.3%, readers 1 and 2, respectively) compared with that on serum (80.0% and 82.9%). In contrast, the Chembio test exhibited similar sensitivity values for serum and fingerprick samples (57.7% and 64.0% on serum vs 65.4% and 69.2% on fingerprick for the treponemal component; 63.6% on both samples by both readers for the non-treponemal component). The positive predictive value ranged between 100% and 93.9% for the treponemal component of both syphilis POCTs, but was lower (76.3%-100%)%) for the non-treponemal component of the Chembio POCT. The negative predictive value surpassed 90% for both tests on both samples. The agreement between readers was very high (>99%). Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of the syphilis POCTs was lower than expected; however, considering the prevalence of syphilis among MSM, POCTs should be recommended to improve syphilis detection among MSM

Performance of alere determine HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab combo rapid test for acute HIV infection: A case report | Performance del test rapido Alere Determine HIV-1/2 Ag/Ab Combo nell?infezione acuta da HIV: Un caso clinic

We describe a case of symptomatic acute HIV infection in a young man where a fourth-generation rapid screening test combining HIV-specific antibody and p24 antigen was negative. In highly suspicious cases of acute HIV infection, plasma HIV RNA assays together with conventional, non-rapid screening tests should be used

Field evaluation of two point-of-care tests for syphilis among men who have sex with men, Verona, Italy.

OBJECTIVES: The incidence of HIV and syphilis among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Europe has recently increased. Rapid point-of-care tests (POCTs) for syphilis can improve access to screening. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of two syphilis POCTs compared with laboratory tests among MSM. METHODS: The study was undertaken in Verona, Italy. Asymptomatic MSM, potentially exposed to syphilis, were enrolled prospectively. The POCTs evaluated were SD Bioline Syphilis 3.0 and Chembio DPP Syphilis Screen & Confirm Assay on both serum and fingerprick blood. The results of the POCTs were read by the naked eye by two independent readers and their concordance assessed. RESULTS: A total of 289 MSM were enrolled in the study. Based on laboratory tests, 35 MSM (12.1%) were TPPA-positive alone and 16 (5.5%) were both Treponema pallidum particle agglutination test (TPPA) and rapid plasma reagin (RPR)-positive. The specificities of both POCTs were above 99% on both serum and fingerstick blood specimens, while sensitivities varied considerably. The sensitivity of the SD Bioline test was lower on fingerprick blood (51.4% and 54.3%, readers 1 and 2, respectively) compared with that on serum (80.0% and 82.9%). In contrast, the Chembio test exhibited similar sensitivity values for serum and fingerprick samples (57.7% and 64.0% on serum vs 65.4% and 69.2% on fingerprick for the treponemal component; 63.6% on both samples by both readers for the non-treponemal component). The positive predictive value ranged between 100% and 93.9% for the treponemal component of both syphilis POCTs, but was lower (76.3%-100%)%) for the non-treponemal component of the Chembio POCT. The negative predictive value surpassed 90% for both tests on both samples. The agreement between readers was very high (>99%). CONCLUSION: The diagnostic performance of the syphilis POCTs was lower than expected; however, considering the prevalence of syphilis among MSM, POCTs should be recommended to improve syphilis detection among MSM

Autophagy Alteration in ApoA‐I Related Systemic Amyloidosis

Amyloidoses are characterized by the accumulation and aggregation of misfolded proteins into fibrils in different organs, leading to cell death and consequent organ dysfunction. The specific substitution of Leu 75 for Pro in Apolipoprotein A-I protein sequence (ApoA-I; L75P-ApoA-I) results in late onset amyloidosis, where deposition of extracellular protein aggregates damages the normal functions of the liver. In this work, we describe that the autophagic process is inhibited in the presence of the L75P-ApoA-I amyloidogenic variant in stably transfected human hepatocyte carcinoma cells. The L75P-ApoA-I amyloidogenic variant alters the redox status of the cells, resulting into excessive mitochondrial stress and consequent cell death. Moreover, L75P-ApoA-I induces an impairment of the autophagic flux. Pharmacological induction of autophagy or transfection-enforced overexpression of the pro-autophagic transcription factor EB (TFEB) restores proficient proteostasis and reduces oxidative stress in these experimental settings, suggesting that pharmacological stimulation of autophagy could be a promising target to alleviate ApoA-I amyloidosis

Factores clave de éxito para el desarrollo de un clúster de palta en Chincheros, Apurímac

La presente investigación buscó identificar los factores clave de éxito para el desarrollo de un clúster de palta en los distritos de Chincheros, Huaccana y Ongoy, provincia de Chincheros, en la región peruana de Apurímac. Para ello, se realizó una investigación de campo y de escritorio, la cual consistió en la realización de una encuesta de manera presencial a los agricultores de los distritos mencionados, así como a los especialistas del sector; la recolección de datos secundarios y el análisis competitivo del Perú, de Apurímac y de Chincheros; el análisis competitivo de la palta en el Perú y en Chincheros y el análisis del clúster paltero nacional y regional en Chincheros. La investigación realizada a los agricultores de estos tres distritos concluyó que la mayoría de ellos presentan similitudes en sus características de producción, problemas de cosecha y problemas de comercialización. A su vez, los resultados obtenidos señalaron que los agricultores cuentan con la disposición e interés de realizar un trabajo cooperativo con sus vecinos, proveedores y clientes nacionales e internacionales; a fin de incrementar su rentabilidad, y con ello conseguir un crecimiento económico compartido para todos los involucrados, especialmente los agricultores. Producto de los análisis arriba apuntados y de los datos secundarios, se concluyó que, existen diez factores clave de éxito para el desarrollo de un clúster de palta en la provincia de Chincheros, en Apurímac, los cuales son: asociatividad y creación de redes de confianza, infraestructura hidráulica, infraestructura logística, acceso y desarrollo de nuevos mercados, formalización de empresas, tecnificación y capacitación en procesos, calidad del producto, acceso a financiamiento, gestión del capital de trabajo y liderazgo empresarial.This study tried to identify the key success factors for the development of an avocado cluster in Chincheros, Huaccana and Ongoy, province of Chincheros, based in Apurímac, Peru. In order to get this information, a field and desk study were carried out. Both consisted of conducting a survey to farmers in those districts, as well as industry specialists; secondary data collection and competitive analysis from Peru, Apurimac and Chincheros; the competitive analysis of avocado in Peru and Chincheros and the national and regional avocado cluster in Chincheros analysis. The research in those districts concluded that most of them have similarities in their production characteristics, harvest problems and marketing problems. The results indicated that farmers have the willingness and interest to carry out cooperative work with their neighbors, suppliers and national and international clients; in order to increase their profitability, and thereby achieve shared economic growth for all involved, especially farmers. Data analyzes concluded that there are ten key success factors for the development of an avocado cluster in Chincheros. Those are associativity and creation of trust networks, hydraulic infrastructure, logistics infrastructure, access and development of new markets, formalization of companies, technification and training in processes, quality products, access to financing, working capital management and business leadership.Tesi

Landslide Susceptibility Analysis on the Vicinity of Bogotá-Villavicencio Road (Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes)

first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Landslide Susceptibility Analysis on the Vicinity of Bogotá-Villavicencio Road (Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes) by María Camila Herrera-Coy 1ORCID,Laura Paola Calderón 2,Iván Leonardo Herrera-Pérez 1,3,Paul Esteban Bravo-López 1,4ORCID,Christian Conoscenti 2ORCID,Jorge Delgado 1ORCID,Mario Sánchez-Gómez 5,6ORCID andTomás Fernández 1,6,*ORCID 1 Department of Cartographic, Geodetic and Photogrammetric Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain 2 Department of Earth and Marine Sciences (DiSTeM), University of Palermo, 90123 Palermo, Italy 3 Department of Geographic and Environmental Engineering, University of Applied and Environmental Sciences (U.D.C.A.), Bogotá 111166, Colombia 4 Institute for Studies of Sectional Regime of Ecuador (IERSE), University of Azuay, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador 5 Department of Geology, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain 6 Natural Hazards Lab of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Earth Sciences, Energy and Environment (CEACTEMA), University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Remote Sens. 2023, 15(15), 3870; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15153870 Received: 11 June 2023 / Revised: 24 July 2023 / Accepted: 31 July 2023 / Published: 4 August 2023 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Techniques for Landslides Studies and Their Hazards Assessment) Download Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract Landslide occurrence in Colombia is very frequent due to its geographical location in the Andean mountain range, with a very pronounced orography, a significant geological complexity and an outstanding climatic variability. More specifically, the study area around the Bogotá-Villavicencio road in the central sector of the Eastern Cordillera is one of the regions with the highest concentration of phenomena, which makes its study a priority. An inventory and detailed analysis of 2506 landslides has been carried out, in which five basic typologies have been differentiated: avalanches, debris flows, slides, earth flows and creeping areas. Debris avalanches and debris flows occur mainly in metamorphic materials (phyllites, schists and quartz-sandstones), areas with sparse vegetation, steep slopes and lower sections of hillslopes; meanwhile, slides, earth flows and creep occur in Cretaceous lutites, crop/grass lands, medium and low slopes and lower-middle sections of the hillslopes. Based on this analysis, landslide susceptibility models have been made for the different typologies and with different methods (matrix, discriminant analysis, random forest and neural networks) and input factors. The results are generally quite good, with average AUC-ROC values above 0.7–0.8, and the machine learning methods are the most appropriate, especially random forest, with a selected number of factors (between 6 and 8). The degree of fit (DF) usually shows relative errors lower than 5% and success higher than 90%. Finally, an integrated landslide susceptibility map (LSM) has been made for shallower and deeper types of movements. All the LSM show a clear zonation as a consequence of the geological control of the susceptibility.Incluye referencias bibliográfica

Fortalecimiento de la prestación de mecanismos de seguridad y salud en el trabajo para los empleados de Asvidas Palestina para el 2022.

Anexo 1 Aplicativo de encuesta online (Google Forms) 38Implementar en las organizaciones un buen sistema de gestión de seguridad y salud en el trabajo es fundamental para garantizar la calidad de vida de todos sus colaboradores, de allí la importancia de que se puedan prevenir y controlar los accidentes, enfermedades laborales, ausentismo, etc. razón por la cual en la en la empresa Asociación para la vida digna y solidaria Asvidas Palestina, entidad sin ánimo de lucro y cuyo objeto social es hacer valer los derechos de los niños y eliminar la vulneración de los mismos; cuenta con un SG-SST sin embargo presenta varias falencias que, si es necesario mitigar y contrarrestar para llevar un correcto proceso para la prevención de accidentes, enfermedades y poder mejorar la estabilidad, y el bienestar con unas condiciones favorables donde todos los colaboradores trabajen a gusto y de manera eficiente. El objetivo propuesto para contrarrestar la situación actual de la empresa es desarrollar una cultura de seguridad preventiva basada en la mejora continua con finalidad de poder anticipar, evaluar y controlar cualquier riesgo donde se pueda ver afectado el empleado.Implementing a good occupational health and safety management system in organizations is essential to guarantee the quality of life of all its collaborators, hence the importance of preventing and controlling accidents, occupational diseases, absenteeism, etc. which is why in the company Association for a dignified and supportive life Asvidas Palestina, a non-profit organization whose corporate purpose is to assert the rights of children and eliminate their violation; has a SG-SST, however, it has several shortcomings that, if necessary, mitigate and counteract in order to carry out a correct process for the prevention of accidents, illnesses and to be able to improve stability and well-being with favorable conditions where all collaborators work together. tastefully and efficiently. The proposed objective to counteract the current situation of the company is to develop a culture of preventive safety based on continuous improvement in order to be able to anticipate, evaluate and control any risk where the employee may be affected

Diplomado Supply Chain Management y Logística empresa “Agmo Nubes Inversiones S.A.S”

Con el desarrollo del presente trabajo se dará a conocer la importancia del Supply Chain dentro del proceso Logístico de la empresa Agmo Nubes e Inversiones SAS, y analizar cada una de las etapas desde la planificación hasta la ejecución y control de cada una de las operaciones intervinientes en la red de suministroThe development of this work translates into the importance of the Supply Chain, in the Logistics process of the company Agmo Nubes e Inversiones SAS , and all stages are analyzed from planning to execution and control of each of the intervening operations in the supply networ

Autophagy Alteration in ApoA-I Related Systemic Amyloidosis

Amyloidoses are characterized by the accumulation and aggregation of misfolded proteins into fibrils in different organs, leading to cell death and consequent organ dysfunction. The specific substitution of Leu 75 for Pro in Apolipoprotein A-I protein sequence (ApoA-I; L75P-ApoA-I) results in late onset amyloidosis, where deposition of extracellular protein aggregates damages the normal functions of the liver. In this work, we describe that the autophagic process is inhibited in the presence of the L75P-ApoA-I amyloidogenic variant in stably transfected human hepatocyte carcinoma cells. The L75P-ApoA-I amyloidogenic variant alters the redox status of the cells, resulting into excessive mitochondrial stress and consequent cell death. Moreover, L75P-ApoA-I induces an impairment of the autophagic flux. Pharmacological induction of autophagy or transfection-enforced overexpression of the pro-autophagic transcription factor EB (TFEB) restores proficient proteostasis and reduces oxidative stress in these experimental settings, suggesting that pharmacological stimulation of autophagy could be a promising target to alleviate ApoA-I amyloidosis

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London