Criterios microbiológicos y de muestreo establecidos en la legislación vigente para el control de Legionella

We have retrospectively investigated the relationship between the presence of total aerobic bacteria (TAB) and the presence of Legionella sp. in 576 water samples from industrial cooling towers. A lower percentage of positive samples for Legionella sp. (19.8%) was encountered when the concentration of TAB was above 104 CFU/ml than below this concentration (80.2%). The concentration of 104 CFU/ml TAB is established in Spanish legislation as the action limit, above which a higher risk of Legionella positive samples is expected. Despite that, our results indicate that levels of TAB above 100 or 1000 CFU/ml seem more useful for predicting the presence of Legionella in the cooling towers investigated. We observed that the concentration of TAB was significatively higher in the positive samples for Legionella than in the negative ones, which seems to indicate that TAB is a good tool for evaluating the effectiveness of the Autocontrol Safety Measures of those cooling towers. Our results reinforce the need for controlling the levels of TAB (at 36 ± 1 oC) because it is a good indicator of the presence of Legionella spp. despite the fact that the standard established as the action limit should be lowered. Within the study we also reviewed the sampling procedures and provide new data on the incubation period of the disease and on the genotyping methods classically employed in epidemiological investigation.Se ha investigado retrospectivamente la relación existente entre las bacterias aerobias totales (BAT) y la presencia de Legionella en un total de 576 muestras de agua procedentes de torres de refrigeración industriales. Los resultados revelan un menor porcentaje de muestras positivas para Legionella (19,8%) por encima del nivel de 104 UFC/ml BAT establecido como límite de acción, que por debajo de este (80,2%), lo que indica que este limite no cumple su función en las instalaciones investigadas. Niveles de BAT superiores 100 y 1000 UFC/ml parecen ser más útiles para predecir la presencia de Legionella. Hemos observado una concentración de BAT significativamente más elevada en las muestras positivas para Legionella que en las negativas. Esto indica que las BAT son una buena herramienta para la validación de la eficacia del Plan de Autocontol (PA) establecido en estas instalaciones. Estos resultados apoyan la importancia de seguir manteniendo el control de las BAT (a 36 ± 1 oC) como un indicador de riego de presencia de Legionella y evidencian la necesidad de introducir un límite de acción más bajo para las BAT. Por otra parte se discuten algunos aspectos vinculados a la toma de muestras y a su transporte, y algunos tópicos vinculados al periodo de incubación de la enfermedad y a los métodos de tipado epidemiológico

Semi-automatic colonic content analysis for diagnostic

The analysis of the morphology and content of the gut is necessary in order to understand metabolic and functional gut activity and for diagnostic purposes. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an important modality technique since it is able to visualize soft tissues using no ionizing radiation, and hence removes the need for any contrast agents. In the last few years, MRI of gastrointestinal function has advanced substantially, although scarcely any publication has been devoted to the analysis of the colon content. This paper presents a semi-automatic segmentation tool for the quantitative assessment of the unprepared colon from MRI images. This application has allowed for the analysis of the colon content in various clinical experiments. The results of the assessment have contributed to a better understanding of the functionality of the colon under different diet conditions. The last experiment carried out by medical doctors showed a marked influence of diet on colonic content, accounting for about 30% of the volume variations.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Gene Expression Profiling in Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy 2A

Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A (LGMD2A) is a recessive genetic disorder caused by mutations in calpain 3 (CAPN3). Calpain 3 plays different roles in muscular cells, but little is known about its functions or in vivo substrates. The aim of this study was to identify the genes showing an altered expression in LGMD2A patients and the possible pathways they are implicated in. Ten muscle samples from LGMD2A patients with in which molecular diagnosis was ascertained were investigated using array technology to analyze gene expression profiling as compared to ten normal muscle samples. Upregulated genes were mostly those related to extracellular matrix (different collagens), cell adhesion (fibronectin), muscle development (myosins and melusin) and signal transduction. It is therefore suggested that different proteins located or participating in the costameric region are implicated in processes regulated by calpain 3 during skeletal muscle development. Genes participating in the ubiquitin proteasome degradation pathway were found to be deregulated in LGMD2A patients, suggesting that regulation of this pathway may be under the control of calpain 3 activity. As frizzled-related protein (FRZB) is upregulated in LGMD2A muscle samples, it could be hypothesized that β-catenin regulation is also altered at the Wnt signaling pathway, leading to an incorrect myogenesis. Conversely, expression of most transcription factor genes was downregulated (MYC, FOS and EGR1). Finally, the upregulation of IL-32 and immunoglobulin genes may induce the eosinophil chemoattraction explaining the inflammatory findings observed in presymptomatic stages. The obtained results try to shed some light on identification of novel therapeutic targets for limb-girdle muscular dystrophies

EuReCa ONE—27 Nations, ONE Europe, ONE Registry A prospective one month analysis of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes in 27 countries in Europe

AbstractIntroductionThe aim of the EuReCa ONE study was to determine the incidence, process, and outcome for out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) throughout Europe.MethodsThis was an international, prospective, multi-centre one-month study. Patients who suffered an OHCA during October 2014 who were attended and/or treated by an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) were eligible for inclusion in the study. Data were extracted from national, regional or local registries.ResultsData on 10,682 confirmed OHCAs from 248 regions in 27 countries, covering an estimated population of 174 million. In 7146 (66%) cases, CPR was started by a bystander or by the EMS. The incidence of CPR attempts ranged from 19.0 to 104.0 per 100,000 population per year. 1735 had ROSC on arrival at hospital (25.2%), Overall, 662/6414 (10.3%) in all cases with CPR attempted survived for at least 30 days or to hospital discharge.ConclusionThe results of EuReCa ONE highlight that OHCA is still a major public health problem accounting for a substantial number of deaths in Europe.EuReCa ONE very clearly demonstrates marked differences in the processes for data collection and reported outcomes following OHCA all over Europe. Using these data and analyses, different countries, regions, systems, and concepts can benchmark themselves and may learn from each other to further improve survival following one of our major health care events

Criterios microbiológicos y de muestreo establecidos en la legislación vigente para el control de Legionella Microbiological and sampling criteria established in the present Spanish legislation for the control of Legionella

Se ha investigado retrospectivamente la relación existente entre las bacterias aerobias totales (BAT) y la presencia de Legionella en un total de 576 muestras de agua procedentes de torres de refrigeración industriales. Los resultados revelan un menor porcentaje de muestras positivas para Legionella (19,8%) por encima del nivel de 104 UFC/ml BAT establecido como límite de acción, que por debajo de este (80,2%), lo que indica que este limite no cumple su función en las instalaciones investigadas. Niveles de BAT superiores 100 y 1000 UFC/ml parecen ser más útiles para predecir la presencia de Legionella. Hemos observado una concentración de BAT significativamente más elevada en las muestras positivas para Legionella que en las negativas. Esto indica que las BAT son una buena herramienta para la validación de la eficacia del Plan de Autocontol (PA) establecido en estas instalaciones. Estos resultados apoyan la importancia de seguir manteniendo el control de las BAT (a 36 ± 1 oC) como un indicador de riego de presencia de Legionella y evidencian la necesidad de introducir un límite de acción más bajo para las BAT. Por otra parte se discuten algunos aspectos vinculados a la toma de muestras y a su transporte, y algunos tópicos vinculados al periodo de incubación de la enfermedad y a los métodos de tipado epidemiológico.We have retrospectively investigated the relationship between the presence of total aerobic bacteria (TAB) and the presence of Legionella sp. in 576 water samples from industrial cooling towers. A lower percentage of positive samples for Legionella sp. (19.8%) was encountered when the concentration of TAB was above 104 CFU/ml than below this concentration (80.2%). The concentration of 104 CFU/ml TAB is established in Spanish legislation as the action limit, above which a higher risk of Legionella positive samples is expected. Despite that, our results indicate that levels of TAB above 100 or 1000 CFU/ml seem more useful for predicting the presence of Legionella in the cooling towers investigated. We observed that the concentration of TAB was significatively higher in the positive samples for Legionella than in the negative ones, which seems to indicate that TAB is a good tool for evaluating the effectiveness of the Autocontrol Safety Measures of those cooling towers. Our results reinforce the need for controlling the levels of TAB (at 36 ± 1 oC) because it is a good indicator of the presence of Legionella spp. despite the fact that the standard established as the action limit should be lowered. Within the study we also reviewed the sampling procedures and provide new data on the incubation period of the disease and on the genotyping methods classically employed in epidemiological investigation

Microbiological and sampling criteria established in the present Spanish legislation for the control of Legionella

Se ha investigado retrospectivamente la relación existente entre las bacterias aerobias totales (BAT) y la presencia de Legionella en un total de 576 muestras de agua procedentes de torres de refrigeración industriales. Los resultados revelan un menor porcentaje de muestras positivas para Legionella (19,8%) por encima del nivel de 104 UFC/ml BAT establecido como límite de acción, que por debajo de este (80,2%), lo que indica que este limite no cumple su función en las instalaciones investigadas. Niveles de BAT superiores 100 y 1000 UFC/ml parecen ser más útiles para predecir la presencia de Legionella. Hemos observado una concentración de BAT significativamente más elevada en las muestras positivas para Legionella que en las negativas. Esto indica que las BAT son una buena herramienta para la validación de la eficacia del Plan de Autocontol (PA) establecido en estas instalaciones. Estos resultados apoyan la importancia de seguir manteniendo el control de las BAT (a 36 ± 1 oC) como un indicador de riego de presencia de Legionella y evidencian la necesidad de introducir un límite de acción más bajo para las BAT. Por otra parte se discuten algunos aspectos vinculados a la toma de muestras y a su transporte, y algunos tópicos vinculados al periodo de incubación de la enfermedad y a los métodos de tipado epidemiológico.We have retrospectively investigated the relationship between the presence of total aerobic bacteria (TAB) and the presence of Legionella sp. in 576 water samples from industrial cooling towers. A lower percentage of positive samples for Legionella sp. (19.8%) was encountered when the concentration of TAB was above 104 CFU/ml than below this concentration (80.2%). The concentration of 104 CFU/ml TAB is established in Spanish legislation as the action limit, above which a higher risk of Legionella positive samples is expected. Despite that, our results indicate that levels of TAB above 100 or 1000 CFU/ml seem more useful for predicting the presence of Legionella in the cooling towers investigated. We observed that the concentration of TAB was significatively higher in the positive samples for Legionella than in the negative ones, which seems to indicate that TAB is a good tool for evaluating the effectiveness of the Autocontrol Safety Measures of those cooling towers. Our results reinforce the need for controlling the levels of TAB (at 36 ± 1 oC) because it is a good indicator of the presence of Legionella spp. despite the fact that the standard established as the action limit should be lowered. Within the study we also reviewed the sampling procedures and provide new data on the incubation period of the disease and on the genotyping methods classically employed in epidemiological investigation

Evaluation of Disk Diffusion Method for Determining Eberconazole Susceptibility of Dermatophytes and Influence of Culture Medium

We have evaluated a disk diffusion method to determine the activity of eberconazole against 50 strains of dermatophytes by testing three culture media (RPMI, antibiotic medium 3, and high resolution). No differences were found among the results obtained with the three media. A significant correlation between disk diffusion and microdilution methods was observed with AM3

In Vitro Activities of the New Antifungal Drug Eberconazole and Three Other Topical Agents against 200 Strains of Dermatophytes

We have compared the in vitro activity of the new antifungal drug eberconazole with those of three other topical antifungal agents, clotrimazole, ketoconazole, and miconazole, against 200 strains of dermatophytes. MICs were determined by a microdilution method with optimal conditions determined in a previous study (an inoculum of 10(4) CFU/ml, an incubation temperature of 28°C, an incubation period of 7 days, and a MIC endpoint of 100% inhibition of growth). In general, the four drugs tested showed low MICs. However, eberconazole was more active (P < 0.05) than the other three drugs against the majority of the species tested. Eberconazole represents an advantageous alternative for dermatophytoses where a topical therapy is required

La imagen de Navarra en los medios de comunicación escritos nacionales e internacionales (octubre-diciembre de 2002)

En este estudio se investigó sobre la imagen pública de Navarra proyectada en los medios de comunicación nacionales e internacionales durante un trimestre del año 2002. El informe sirvió para el desarrollo posterior del Observatorio de la Imagen de Navarra, proyecto que continúa. La investigación observó que Navarra era sobre todo noticia por cuestiones económicas y sociales, y por su relación con el País Vasco. Este informe recoge los principales resultados del estudio "La imagen de Navarra en los medios de comunicación escritos nacionales e internacionales (de octubre a diciembre de 2002)" realizado mediante la técnica de Análisis de Contenido en 390 publicaciones españolas y nacionales de Alemania, Australia, Bélgica, Estados Unidos, Francia, Italia, Japón, Reino Unido y Canadá. El equipo de trabajo encargado de la elaboración de este informe está integrado por los investigadores Fernando San Miguel, Isabel Larrión y Julio Pomés