Falsas enfermedades tropicales: un estudio retrospectivo

Background. When we evaluate a patient with a suspected imported disease we cannot forget to include any autochthonous causes that may mimic imported pathologies to avoid misdiagnosis and therapeutic delay. Methods. A descriptive longitudinal retrospective study was designed with patients in whom an imported disease was suspected but who were finally diagnosed with autochthonous processes. The patients were selected from two internal medicine practices specializing in tropical diseases between 2008-2017 in Spain. Results. We report 16 patients, 11 (68.7%) were males, and the mean age was 43.4 ± 13.7 years old. Thirteen patients (81.2%) were travellers. Half of the patients were from Latin America, 7 (43.5%) were from Africa, and 1 (6.2%) was from Asia. The time from trip to evaluation ranged between 1 week and 20 years (me-dian, 4 weeks), and the mean time from evaluation to diagnosis was 58.4 ± 100.9 days. There were 5 (31.2%) cases of autochthonous infection, 5 (31.2%) cases of cancer, 2 (12.5%) cases of inflammatory disease, and 2 (12.5%) cases of vascular disease. Conclusions. Travel or migration by a patient can sometimes be a confusing factor if an imported disease is suspected and may cause delays in the diagnosis and treatment of an autochthonous disease. We highlight that 1/3 of the patients with autochthonous diseases in this study had cancer. The evaluation of imported diseases requires a comprehensive approach by the internist, especially if he specializes in infectious and/or tropical diseases and is, therefore, the best qualified to make an accurate diagnosis.Introducción. La evaluación de un enfermo con sospecha de patología importada debe incluir las causas autóctonas que puedan simular enfermedades importadas, para evitar un diagnóstico erróneo y un retraso terapéutico. Métodos. Estudio retrospectivo longitudinal descriptivo de pacientes con sospecha de patología importada con diagnóstico final de proceso autóctono. Los pacientes fueron seleccionados en dos consultas especializadas en enfermedades tropicales de dos hospitales españoles entre 2008-2017. Resultados. Se obtuvieron 16 pacientes, 11 (68,7%) hombres. La edad media fue de 43,4 ± 13,7 años. Trece pacientes (81,2%) eran viajeros. Ocho (50%) pacientes eran latinoamericanos, 7 (43,5%) africanos y un paciente asiático (6,2%). El tiempo desde el viaje hasta la evaluación osciló entre 1 semana y 20 años. El tiempo medio desde la evaluación hasta el diagnóstico fue de 58,4 ± 100,9 días. Hubo 5 (31,2%) casos de infección autóctona, 5 (31,2%) casos de cáncer, 2 (12,5%) casos de enfermedad inflamatoria y 2 (12,5%) casos de patología vascular. Conclusiones. El origen del paciente o el antecedente de un viaje pueden ser factores de confusión durante el proceso clínico y causar un retraso diagnóstico y terapéutico. Por lo tanto, es aconsejable una visión amplia al evaluar estas enfermedades. Destacamos que un tercio de los pacientes presentó un diagnóstico final de neoplasia

Skin and Soft Tissue Infections (Patera Foot) in Immigrants, Spain

An unusual skin and soft tissue infection of the lower limbs has been observed in immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa who cross the Atlantic Ocean crowded on small fishing boats (pateras). Response to conventional treatment is usually poor. Extreme extrinsic factors (including new pathogens) may contribute to the etiology of the infection and its pathogenesis

Characteristics and Outcome of Acute Heart Failure in Infective Endocarditis: Focus on Cardiogenic Shock

Spanish Collaboration on Endocarditis—Grupo de Apoyo al Manejo de la Endocarditis Infecciosa en España (GAMES).[Background] Studies investigating the impact of cardiogenic shock (CS) on endocarditis are lacking.[Methods] Prospectively collected cohort from 35 Spanish centers (2008-2018). Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors for developing CS and predictors of mortality.[Results] Among 4856 endocarditis patients, 1652 (34%) had acute heart failure (AHF) and 244 (5%) CS. Compared with patients without AHF and AHF but no CS, patients with CS presented higher rates of surgery (40.5%, 52.5%, and 68%; P < .001) and in-hospital mortality (16.3%, 39.1%, and 52.5%). Compared with patients with septic shock, CS patients presented higher rates of surgery (42.5% vs 68%; P < .001) and lower rates of in-hospital and 1-year mortality (62.3% vs 52.5%, P = .008, and 65.3% vs 57.4%, P = .030). Severe aortic and mitral regurgitation (OR [95% CI], 2.47 [1.82-3.35] and 3.03 [2.26-4.07]; both P < .001), left-ventricle ejection fraction <60% (1.72; 1.22-2.40; P = .002), heart block (2.22; 1.41-3.47; P = .001), tachyarrhythmias (5.07; 3.13-8.19; P < .001), and acute kidney failure (2.29; 1.73-3.03; P < .001) were associated with higher likelihood of developing CS. Prosthetic endocarditis (2.03; 1.06 -3.88; P = .032), Staphylococcus aureus (3.10; 1.16 -8.30; P = .024), tachyarrhythmias (3.09; 1.50-10.13; P = .005), and not performing cardiac surgery (11.40; 4.83-26.90; P < .001) were associated with a higher risk of mortality.[Conclusions] AHF is common among patients with endocarditis. CS is associated with high mortality and should be promptly identified and assessed for cardiac surgery.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo of Spain (grant number FIS NCT00871104; Instituto de Salud Carlos III). Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) provided J. M. M. with a persobal IDIBAPS 80:20 research grant during 2017–2021. M. H. M. held a Rio Hortega Research Grant (CM17/00062) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III” and the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Madrid (Spain) in 2018–2020.Peer reviewe

Evolving trends in the management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 waves. The ACIE appy II study

Background: In 2020, ACIE Appy study showed that COVID-19 pandemic heavily affected the management of patients with acute appendicitis (AA) worldwide, with an increased rate of non-operative management (NOM) strategies and a trend toward open surgery due to concern of virus transmission by laparoscopy and controversial recommendations on this issue. The aim of this study was to survey again the same group of surgeons to assess if any difference in management attitudes of AA had occurred in the later stages of the outbreak. Methods: From August 15 to September 30, 2021, an online questionnaire was sent to all 709 participants of the ACIE Appy study. The questionnaire included questions on personal protective equipment (PPE), local policies and screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection, NOM, surgical approach and disease presentations in 2021. The results were compared with the results from the previous study. Results: A total of 476 answers were collected (response rate 67.1%). Screening policies were significatively improved with most patients screened regardless of symptoms (89.5% vs. 37.4%) with PCR and antigenic test as the preferred test (74.1% vs. 26.3%). More patients tested positive before surgery and commercial systems were the preferred ones to filter smoke plumes during laparoscopy. Laparoscopic appendicectomy was the first option in the treatment of AA, with a declined use of NOM. Conclusion: Management of AA has improved in the last waves of pandemic. Increased evidence regarding SARS-COV-2 infection along with a timely healthcare systems response has been translated into tailored attitudes and a better care for patients with AA worldwide

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Measurement of the Splitting Function in &ITpp &ITand Pb-Pb Collisions at root&ITsNN&IT=5.02 TeV

Data from heavy ion collisions suggest that the evolution of a parton shower is modified by interactions with the color charges in the dense partonic medium created in these collisions, but it is not known where in the shower evolution the modifications occur. The momentum ratio of the two leading partons, resolved as subjets, provides information about the parton shower evolution. This substructure observable, known as the splitting function, reflects the process of a parton splitting into two other partons and has been measured for jets with transverse momentum between 140 and 500 GeV, in pp and PbPb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV per nucleon pair. In central PbPb collisions, the splitting function indicates a more unbalanced momentum ratio, compared to peripheral PbPb and pp collisions.. The measurements are compared to various predictions from event generators and analytical calculations.Peer reviewe

Measurement of nuclear modification factors of gamma(1S)), gamma(2S), and gamma(3S) mesons in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The cross sections for ϒ(1S), ϒ(2S), and ϒ(3S) production in lead-lead (PbPb) and proton-proton (pp) collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV have been measured using the CMS detector at the LHC. The nuclear modification factors, RAA, derived from the PbPb-to-pp ratio of yields for each state, are studied as functions of meson rapidity and transverse momentum, as well as PbPb collision centrality. The yields of all three states are found to be significantly suppressed, and compatible with a sequential ordering of the suppression, RAA(ϒ(1S)) > RAA(ϒ(2S)) > RAA(ϒ(3S)). The suppression of ϒ(1S) is larger than that seen at √sNN = 2.76 TeV, although the two are compatible within uncertainties. The upper limit on the RAA of ϒ(3S) integrated over pT, rapidity and centrality is 0.096 at 95% confidence level, which is the strongest suppression observed for a quarkonium state in heavy ion collisions to date. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Funded by SCOAP3.Peer reviewe