Ambulatory care sensitive conditions hospitalization for emergencies rates in Colombia

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the emergency hospitalizations trend for ambulatory care sensitive conditions between 2011 and 2015 in a health insureance company of the Colombian Social Security General System. METHODS: A log-linear analysis based on age-adjusted hospitalization rates for ambulatory care sensitive conditions in the Entidad Promotora de Salud Sanitas was used to estimate the annual percentage change in these rates and to identify joinponts of the rates. Data was collected from administrative sources. RESULTS: There were 38,530 hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions in 26,501 Entidad Promotora de Salud Sanitas enrollees, with a significant decrease in hospitalization rates. The annual percentage change estimated for the period was -9.5% with no significant joinpoints throughout the time interval. CONCLUSIONS: A significant reduction in hospital admissions due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions in Entidad Promotora de Salud Sanitas enrollees were reported for the last five years in this study

Tecnología y automatización en salud como factor estratégico de desarrollo. Caso Laboratorio Clínico Sanitas, Bogotá, Colombia

Un caso de estudio con su material de soporte que muestra como un laboratorio clínico logro diferenciarse con una estrategia de tecnología de punta como lo es la automatización total.Magíster en AdministraciónMaestrí

Exactitud del test ADN-HPV para la detección de la enfermedad cervical de alto grado (NIC 2+) en mujeres con anormalidades citológicas (ASC-US y LSIL), afiliadas a la seguridad social en Bogotá (Colombia) The accuracy of the HPV-DNA test for detecting high grade disease (CIN2+) in women with minor cytological abnormalities (ASC-US and LSIL) in patients affiliated to the social security system in Bogota, Colombia

Objetivo: evaluar la exactitud de la prueba ADNHPV en el diagnóstico de lesiones premalignas cervicales de alto grado (HSIL, por sus siglas en inglés) en mujeres con alteraciones citológicas ASC-US (células escamosas atípicas de significado indeterminado) y LSIL (lesión escamosa intraepitelial de bajo grado). Metodología: estudio de validez diagnóstica y de cohorte transversal, realizado en mujeres con diagnóstico citológico de ASC-US o LSIL entre octubre de 2006 y enero de 2008, pertenecientes al Programa de Tamizaje de Cáncer de Cérvix de una aseguradora privada en Bogotá (Colombia). Se comparó el resultado de la colposcopia y de la prueba de ADN-HPV con la patología del cérvix como patrón de oro. Resultados: de las 429 mujeres, 344 (80,2%) presentaron ASC-US y 85 (19,8%) LSIL. Las prevalencias de infección por HPV de alto riesgo fueron 52,9% y 75,7% en pacientes con reporte citológico de ASC-US y LSIL, respectivamente. A las 379 de las 425 pacientes se les practicó biopsia, 24 (6,3%) dieron positivas para HSIL. La sensibilidad de la prueba ADN-HPV para detectar lesiones de alto grado (NIC 2+) en las mujeres con reportes de citología ASC-US y LSIL fue 88% y la especificidad fue 44%. En 21 (87.5%) de los 24 casos de HSIL se detectó la presencia de HPV de alto riesgo. Conclusión: debido a que la prueba ADN-HPV tiene una sensibilidad superior a la citología cervicovaginal (CCV), ésta puede considerarse una alternativa útil para estratificar el riesgo y mejorar la aproximación diagnóstica de lesiones premalignas del cuello uterino en mujeres con reporte de ASC-US.Objective: evaluating the accuracy of the HPV DNA test as a complementary test for diagnosing highgrade cervical disease (high-grade squamous intra epithelia lesions-HSIL) in women with minor cytological abnormalities (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance ASC-US) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). Methodology: a diagnostic validity study based on a cross-sectional design was applied to 429 women who had had a cytological report of ASC-US and/or LSIL who were attending a health maintenance organisation’s cervical cancer screening programme in Bogotá, Colombia between January 2006 and October 2008. Colposcopy reports and HPV-DNA testresultswerecomparedwithpathologicalreports which were considered the gold standard. Results: 344 (80.2%) of the 429 women had a cytological report of ASC-US and 85 (19.8%) of them one for LSIL. High-risk HPV infection prevalence was 52.9% and 75.7% in patients having an ASC-US and LSIL report, respectively. A biopsy specimen was obtained in 379 of the 429 participants and 24 high-grade cases (6.3%) were diagnosed. DNA-HPV test sensitivity was 88% and specificity was 44% for detecting high-grade disease (CIN 2+) in women having an ASC-US and LSIL cytology report . The presence of high-risk HPV virus was detected in 21 of the 24 HSIL cases (87.5%). Conclusion: the DNA-HPV test’s higher sensitivity compared to the PAP smear (due to high NPV) means that it could be considered a useful tool for stratifying risk and improving the diagnostic approach to premalignant lesions of the uterine cervix in patients having a cytological report of ASC-US

Hemoglobinopathy detection through an institutional neonatal screening program in Colombia

ABSTRACT Introduction: Hemoglobinopathies are among the most common genetic disorders of hemoglobin worldwide and a public health problem. In Colombia, even though geographical areas with high incidence of this disorder have been reported, the absence of a national screening program does not permit us to determine its prevalence. Objective: Establish the prevalence of hemoglobin variants in a population covered by the neonatal screening program of Clínica Colsanitas S.A., between June 2000 and December 2014, including eight capital cities in Colombia. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. We collected data from reports of the neonatal hemoglobinopathy-screening program for full-term newborn babies between 5 and 15 days old. Qualitative hemoglobin analysis was performed using gel electrophoresis of blood samples taken from the babies' heels. Results: The overall prevalence of abnormal Hb was 1.3%. Within the groups of newborns affected with any hemoglobinopathy (n = 400), the most frequent abnormal structural hemoglobins found were HbS (43%), HbC (9%), fast Hb (8%). For quantitative hemoglobins, HbA2 was 3.7% and HbA kept slightly elevated in 14.7% of cases. Frequency of homozygosis for HbS was 0.01%. Barranquilla, Cartagena and Cali were the cities with the greatest frequency of hemoglobinopathies. No correlation between sex and abnormal hemoglobin was found. Discussion and conclusion: Taking in consideration data from the World Health Organization (WHO) on hemoglobinopathies, our prevalence of > 1% is considered high. Therefore, a more extended coverage and the need for a national screening program are priorities

A Comprehensive Machine Learning Framework for the Exact Prediction of the Age of Onset in Familial and Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease

Machine learning (ML) algorithms are widely used to develop predictive frameworks. Accurate prediction of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) age of onset (ADAOO) is crucial to investigate potential treatments, follow-up, and therapeutic interventions. Although genetic and non-genetic factors affecting ADAOO were elucidated by other research groups and ours, the comprehensive and sequential application of ML to provide an exact estimation of the actual ADAOO, instead of a high-confidence-interval ADAOO that may fall, remains to be explored. Here, we assessed the performance of ML algorithms for predicting ADAOO using two AD cohorts with early-onset familial AD and with late-onset sporadic AD, combining genetic and demographic variables. Performance of ML algorithms was assessed using the root mean squared error (RMSE), the R-squared (R2), and the mean absolute error (MAE) with a 10-fold cross-validation procedure. For predicting ADAOO in familial AD, boosting-based ML algorithms performed the best. In the sporadic cohort, boosting-based ML algorithms performed best in the training data set, while regularization methods best performed for unseen data. ML algorithms represent a feasible alternative to accurately predict ADAOO with little human intervention. Future studies may include predicting the speed of cognitive decline in our cohorts using ML

Autoverification of the automated blood cell counter (CBC) in a reference laboratory in Bogota, Colombia

ABSTRACT Introduction: The clinical laboratory is part of the group of actors in health systems that are under increasing pressure by users and administrators to increase their productivity in order to respond efficiently to the increased volume of patients, optimizing costs and professional time. This pressure forced laboratories to perform a full review of their procedures and develop technical, logistical and computational tools to enable excellent response times. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of the automated blood cell counter autoverification process and its impact on the safety of patients. Methods: Verification rules were designed in the connectivity software, based on manual validation criteria for laboratory professionals, according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Guideline Auto10-A and the International Consensus Group for Hematology Review (ISLH). The autoverification percentage was established, and non-conforming product (NCP) percentages were estimated before and after the procedure. Pilot tests were also performed in different days so as to adjust the process. Results: 53.4% of automated blood cell counters autoverification were achieved, and, subsequently in the audit of 18 months, 60% was reached due to verification adjustments in the delta programmed filter. The NCPs rose from 0.065% to 0.0036% from the beginning to the end of the process. Conclusion: The autoverification process enabled to reduce the variability associated with human intervention, therefore the professional is able to focus on the pathological report analysis, reducing the risk of errors and advocating greater importance on patient safety

Ambulatory care sensitive conditions hospitalization for emergencies rates in Colombia

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the emergency hospitalizations trend for ambulatory care sensitive conditions between 2011 and 2015 in a health insureance company of the Colombian Social Security General System. METHODS A log-linear analysis based on age-adjusted hospitalization rates for ambulatory care sensitive conditions in the Entidad Promotora de Salud Sanitas was used to estimate the annual percentage change in these rates and to identify joinponts of the rates. Data was collected from administrative sources. RESULTS There were 38,530 hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions in 26,501 Entidad Promotora de Salud Sanitas enrollees, with a significant decrease in hospitalization rates. The annual percentage change estimated for the period was -9.5% with no significant joinpoints throughout the time interval. CONCLUSIONS A significant reduction in hospital admissions due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions in Entidad Promotora de Salud Sanitas enrollees were reported for the last five years in this study

Generation of one iPSC line (IMEDEAi006-A) from an early-onset familial Alzheimer's Disease (fAD) patient carrying the E280A mutation in the PSEN1 gene

The mutation E280A in PSEN1 (presenilin-1) is the most common cause of early-onset familial Alzheimer's Disease (fAD). It presents autosomal dominant inheritance and frequently leads to the manifestation of the disease in relatively young individuals. Here we report the generation of one PSEN1 E280A iPSC line derived from an early-onset patient. OriP/EBNA1-based episomal plasmids containing OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4, L-MYC, LIN28, BCL-xL and shp53 were used to reprogram oral mucosa fibroblasts. The iPSC line generated has normal karyotype, carry the E280A mutation, is free of plasmid integration, express high levels of pluripotency markers and can differentiate into all three germ layers.Funding was provided by the Basque Government grant: Elkartek 20017 (DRUG4AD)

Targeting neuroplasticity, cardiovascular, and cognitive-associated : Genomic variants in familial alzheimer’s disease

The identification of novel genetic variants contributing to the widespread in the age of onset (AOO) of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) could aid in the prognosis and/or development of new therapeutic strategies focused on early interventions. We recruited 78 individuals with AD from the Paisa genetic isolate in Antioquia, Colombia. These individuals belong to the world largest multigenerational and extended pedigree segregating AD as a consequence of a dominant fully penetrant mutation in the PSEN1 gene and exhibit an AOO ranging from the early 1930s to the late 1970s. To shed light on the genetic underpinning that could explain the large spread of the age of onset (AOO) of AD, 64 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with neuroanatomical, cardiovascular, and cognitive measures in AD were genotyped. Standard quality control and filtering procedures were applied, and single- and multi-locus linear mixed-effects models were used to identify AOO-associated SNPs. A full two-locus interaction model was fitted to define how identified SNPs interact to modulate AOO. We identified two key epistatic interactions between the APOE*E2 allele and SNPs ASTN2-rs7852878 and SNTG1-rs16914781 that delay AOO by up to ~ 8 years (95% CI 3.2–12.7, P = 1.83 × 10−3) and ~ 7.6 years (95% CI 3.3–11.8, P = 8.69 × 10−4), respectively, and validated our previous finding indicating that APOE*E2 delays AOO of AD in PSEN1 E280 mutation carriers. This new evidence involving APOE*E2 as an AOO delayer could be used for developing precision medicine approaches and predictive genomics models to potentially determine AOO in individuals genetically predisposed to AD. © 2018, The Author(s)