Extended-spectrum β-lactamases, transferable quinolone resistance, and virulotyping in extra-intestinal E. coli in Uruguay

Introduction: To characterize extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes in Escherichia coli isolates obtained from extra-intestinal samples in three Uruguayan hospitals. Methodology: Fifty-five ESBL-producing E. coli isolates were studied. Virulence genes, ESBLs, and PMQR genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction. ESBL-producing isolates were compared by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Multi-locus sequence typing was also performed on 13 selected isolates. Results: Thirty-seven isolates harbored blaCTX-M-15 (67.3%), eight blaCTX-M-2 (14.6%), five blaCTX-M-14 (9.1%), three carried both blaCTX-M-2 and blaCTX-M-14, one blaCTX-M-9, and one blaCTX-M-8. Among the CTX-M-15 producers, 92% belonged to sequence types ST131 and ST405, and carried aac(6’)Ib-cr as well. Isolates harboring blaCTX-M-2, blaCTX-M-14, blaCTX-M-9, or blaCTX-M-8 were found to be genetically unrelated. Conclusions: The successful dissemination of CTX-M-15-producing E.coli isolates seems to be linked to the spreading of high-risk clones and horizontal gene transfer. A trade-off between carrying more antibiotic resistance and less virulence-related genes could partially account for the evolutionary advantages featured by successful clones.Fil: Vignoli, Rafael. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: García Fulgueiras, Virginia. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Cordeiro, Nicolás F.. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Bado, Inés. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Seija, Verónica. Universidad de la República; Uruguay. Hospital Pasteur de Montevideo; UruguayFil: Aguerrebere, Paula. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Laguna, Gabriel. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Araújo, Lucía. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Bazet, Cristina. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Gutkind, Gabriel Osvaldo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Chabalgoity Rodríguez, José Alejandro. Universidad de la República; Urugua

Networks and Emotions in Cooperative Work: A Quasi-Experimental Study in University Nursing and Computer Engineering Students

University students establish networks that impact on their behavior. Social Network Analysis (SNA) allows us to analyze the reticular structures formed and find patterns of interaction between university students. The main objective of this study was to observe the impact of interdisciplinary collaborative work between nursing and computer engineering students on the collaboration and friendship networks, emotions and performance of the participants. It is a quasi-experimental descriptive study with pre- and post-intervention measurements. The contact networks analyzed showed an increase in density in the post-intervention period. The most central people in the network corresponded with those who considered positive emotions most in their academic environment, while the less central people coincided with those who highlighted negative emotions. Academic performance was only significantly associated in the collaboration network, between this and OutdegreeN. This study shows the impact of interdisciplinary activities on teaching methodologies and the repercussions of emotions on curricular activity.S

Social Networks, Engagement and Resilience in University Students

16 p.Analysis of social networks may be a useful tool for understanding the relationship between resilience and engagement, and this could be applied to educational methodologies, not only to improve academic performance, but also to create emotionally sustainable networks. This descriptive study was carried out on 134 university students. We collected the network structural variables, degree of resilience (CD-RISC 10), and engagement (UWES-S). The computer programs used were excel, UCINET for network analysis, and SPSS for statistical analysis. The analysis revealed results of means of 28.61 for resilience, 2.98 for absorption, 4.82 for dedication, and 3.13 for vigour. The students had two preferred places for sharing information: the classroom and WhatsApp. The greater the value for engagement, the greater the degree of centrality in the friendship network among students who are beginning their university studies. This relationship becomes reversed as the students move to later academic years. In terms of resilience, the highest values correspond to greater centrality in the friendship networks. The variables of engagement and resilience influenced the university students’ support networks.S

Social Network Analysis and Resilience in University Students: An Approach from Cohesiveness

13 p.The Social Network Analysis offers a view of social phenomena based on interactions. The aim of this study is to compare social reality through the cohesion variable and analyse its relationship with the resilience of university students. This information is useful to work with the students academically and to optimise the properties of the network that have an influence in academic performance. This is a descriptive transversal study with 90 students from the first and third year of the Nursing Degree. Cohesion variables from the support and friendship networks and the level of resilience were gathered. The UCINET programme was used for network analysis and the SPSS programme for statistical analysis. The students’ friendship and support networks show high intra-classroom cohesion although there are no differences between the support networks and friendship or minimal contact networks in both of the courses used for the study. The network cohesion indicators show less cohesion in the third year. No correlations were found between cohesion and resilience. Resilience does not appear to be an attribute related to cohesion or vice versa.S

Social networks, engagement and resilience in university students

Analysis of social networks may be a useful tool for understanding the relationship between resilience and engagement, and this could be applied to educational methodologies, not only to improve academic performance, but also to create emotionally sustainable networks. This descriptive study was carried out on 134 university students. We collected the network structural variables, degree of resilience (CD-RISC 10), and engagement (UWES-S). The computer programs used were excel, UCINET for network analysis, and SPSS for statistical analysis. The analysis revealed results of means of 28.61 for resilience, 2.98 for absorption, 4.82 for dedication, and 3.13 for vigour. The students had two preferred places for sharing information: the classroom and WhatsApp. The greater the value for engagement, the greater the degree of centrality in the friendship network among students who are beginning their university studies. This relationship becomes reversed as the students move to later academic years. In terms of resilience, the highest values correspond to greater centrality in the friendship networks. The variables of engagement and resilience influenced the university students? support networks

Caracterización de los mecanismos de resistencia a oximino-cefalosporinas en aislamientos de Escherichia coli procedentes de hisopados rectales caninos en Uruguay : Primer reporte

El sobreuso de antibióticos beta-lactámicos ha promovido la diseminación de mecanismos de resistencia como beta-lactamasas de espectro extendido (BLEE), cefalosporinasas de clase C (AmpC) y carbapenemasas (CP) en humanos y animales. Se describen prevalencias de Escherichia coli (E. coli) resistentes a oximino- cefalosporinas en caninos entre 1 %-55 % asociado a BLEE, AmpC o CP. Nuestro objetivo fue caracterizar los mecanismos de resistencia a oximino-cefalosporinas en cepas de E. coli aisladas de hisopados rectales de caninos. Se estudiaron 200 caninos (Facultad de Veterinaria, Uruguay, 2019).Trabajo publicado en Cagliada, Maria del Pilar Lilia y Galosi, Cecilia Mónica (comps.). I Congreso de Microbiología Veterinaria. Libro de resúmenes. La Plata: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, 2021.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Near real-time surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic with incomplete data

When responding to infectious disease outbreaks, rapid and accurate estimation of the epidemic trajectory is critical. However, two common data collection problems affect the reliability of the epidemiological data in real time: missing information on the time of first symptoms, and retrospective revision of historical information, including right censoring. Here, we propose an approach to construct epidemic curves in near real time that addresses these two challenges by 1) imputation of dates of symptom onset for reported cases using a dynamically-estimated "backward" reporting delay conditional distribution, and 2) adjustment for right censoring using the NobBS software package to nowcast cases by date of symptom onset. This process allows us to obtain an approximation of the time-varying reproduction number (Rt) in real time. We apply this approach to characterize the early SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in two Spanish regions between March and April 2020. We evaluate how these real-time estimates compare with more complete epidemiological data that became available later. We explore the impact of the different assumptions on the estimates, and compare our estimates with those obtained from commonly used surveillance approaches. Our framework can help improve accuracy, quantify uncertainty, and evaluate frequently unstated assumptions when recovering the epidemic curves from limited data obtained from public health systems in other locations.PMD was supported by the fellowship Ramón Areces Foundation. JAH was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Award U54GM088558, and the National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence, Award DP5-OD028145. ML was supported by the Morris-Singer Fund and by a subcontract from the Carnegie Mellon University under an award from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Award U01IP001121). MS was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences, Award R01GM130668-02. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S

Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak in Murcia, Spain

An explosive outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease occurred in Murcia, Spain, in July 2001. More than 800 suspected cases were reported; 449 of these cases were confirmed, which made this the world’s largest outbreak of the disease reported to date. Dates of onset for confirmed cases ranged from June 26 to July 19 , with a case-fatality rate of 1%. The epidemic curve and geographic pattern from the 600 completed epidemiologic questionnaires indicated an outdoor point-source exposure in the northern part of the city. A case-control study matching 85 patients living outside the city of Murcia with two controls each was undertaken to identify the outbreak source; the epidemiologic investigation implicated the cooling towers at a city hospital. An environmental isolate from these towers with an identical molecular pattern as the clinical isolates was subsequently identified and supported that epidemiologic conclusion

Methodology and fieldwork logistics of a multilevel research study on the influence of neigbourdhood's characteristics on natives and Ecuadorian's mental health in Spain

The methodological design, characteristics and fieldwork stage of a multilevel research study on the impact of the environmental characteristics on mental health in an autochthonous and immigrant population are described in this paper. Individual data were obtained using a core questionnaire 40 minutes length from home interviews of Spanish and Ecuadorian adults from September 2006 to January 2007. A random sample of 1186 people aged 18-55, with equal distribution of gender and nationality was obtained from Civil Registers of 33 areas (municipalities or neighbourhoods) of Madrid, Alicante, Almeria and Murcia, chosen by ethnic density and socioeconomic criteria. Previously, a pilot study was carried out. Socioeconomic indicators of neighbourhoods and selected communities were obtained from Municipal Registers and other secondary sources. Finally, 1144 people were interviewed (96%). Each person was contacted at home at two different times. The global response rate was 61%, higher among Ecuadorians (69%), who presented more problems of localisation (34%). Analyzing methods and fieldwork process the conclusion is that sample strategies for this type of population studies should be evaluated using feasibility criteria given time and money constraints, against the need to obtain representative samples of the target populations. There were serious shortcomings in the availability of social integration indicators at the neighbourhood level. Se realizó una investigación multinivel sobre el impacto de las características ambientales de la zona de residencia en la salud mental de población autóctona e inmigrante. El objetivo de este artículo es describir el planteamiento metodológico de la investigación, el trabajo de campo, las tasas de respuesta correspondientes y discutir el diseño metodológico y las dificultades derivadas de su puesta en práctica. Los datos individuales se obtuvieron aplicando un cuestionario estructurado de aproximadamente 40 minutos, mediante entrevista domiciliaria a personas españolas y ecuatorianas de 18 a 55 años. El trabajo se realizó de septiembre de 2006 a enero de 2007 en una muestra estimada de 1.186 personas equiparada por sexo y nacionalidad, obtenida aleatoriamente de los Padrones Municipales de 33 áreas (municipios o barrios) de Madrid, Alicante, Almería y Murcia, seleccionadas según criterios de densidad étnica y socioeconómicos. Previamente se realizó un estudio piloto (n=113) Los indicadores sociodemográficos de las áreas se obtuvieron a partir de fuentes secundarias. Se entrevistó a 1.144 personas (96%). La tasa de respuesta global fue del 61%, superior entre ecuatorianos (69%), colectivo que presentó más problemas de localización (34%). Las negativas a colaborar fueron más altas entre españoles (21%). Se concluye que en este tipo de estudios sería conveniente revisar las estrategias de muestreo para combinar criterios de eficiencia con la necesidad de obtener una muestra representativa de la población diana. Se constata la dificultad de obtener datos inframunicipales de integración social

COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization due to SARS-CoV-2: A test-negative design study based on Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance in Spain

Background: With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, influenza surveillance systems in Spain were transformed into a new syndromic sentinel surveillance system. The Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SiVIRA in Spanish) is based on a sentinel network for acute respiratory infection (ARI) surveillance in primary care and a network of sentinel hospitals for severe ARI (SARI) surveillance in hospitals. Methods: Using a test-negative design and data from SARI admissions notified to SiVIRA between January 1 and October 3, 2021, we estimated COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against hospitalization, by age group, vaccine type, time since vaccination, and SARS-CoV-2 variant. Results: VE was 89% (95% CI: 83-93) against COVID-19 hospitalization overall in persons aged 20 years and older. VE was higher for mRNA vaccines, and lower for those aged 80 years and older, with a decrease in protection beyond 3 months of completing vaccination, and a further decrease after 5 months. We found no differences between periods with circulation of Alpha or Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants, although variant-specific VE was slightly higher against Alpha. Conclusions: The SiVIRA sentinel hospital surveillance network in Spain was able to describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of SARI hospitalizations and provide estimates of COVID-19 VE in the population under surveillance. Our estimates add to evidence of high effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against severe COVID-19 and waning of protection with time since vaccination in those aged 80 or older. No substantial differences were observed between SARS-CoV-2 variants (Alpha vs. Delta).The data of the study was originally collectedas part of the following projects run by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control:“Establishing Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) surveillance and performing hospital-based COVID-19 transmission studies”, “Developing an infrastructure and performing vaccine effectiveness studies for COVID-19 vaccines in the EU/EEA”, and the “Vaccine Effectiveness, Burden and Impact Studies(VEBIS) of COVID-19 and Influenza".S