Identificação de fatores e grupos de risco de infecção com Schistosoma mansoni: uma estratégia para implementação de medidas de controle?

A fourteen year schistosomiasis control program in Peri-Peri (Capim Branco, MG) reduced prevalence from 43.5 to 4.4%; incidence from 19.0 to 2.9%, the geometric mean of the number of eggs from 281 to 87 and the level of the hepatoesplenic form cases from 5.9 to 0.0%. In 1991, three years after the interruption of the program, the prevalence had risen to 19.6%. The district consists of Barbosa (a rural area) and Peri-Peri itself (an urban area). In 1991, the prevalence in the two areas was 28.4% and 16.0% respectively. A multivariate analysis of risk factors for schistosomiasis indicated the domestic agricultural activity with population attributive risk (PAR) of 29.82%, the distance (< 10 m) from home to water source (PAR = 25.93%) and weekly fishing (PAR = 17.21%) as being responsible for infections in the rural area. The recommended control measures for this area are non-manual irrigation and removal of homes to more than ten meters from irrigation ditches. In the urban area, it was observed that swimming at weekly intervals (PAR = 20.71%), daily domestic agricultural activity (PAR = 4.07%) and the absence of drinking water in the home (PAR=4.29%) were responsible for infections. Thus, in the urban area the recommended control measures are the substitution of manual irrigation with an irrigation method that avoids contact with water, the creation of leisure options of the population and the provision of a domestic water supply. The authors call attention to the need for the efficacy of multivariate analysis of risk factors to be evaluated for schistosomiasis prior to its large scale use as a indicator of the control measures to be implemented.Um programa de controle da esquistossomose mansoni em Peri-Peri, (Capim Branco, MG), durante catorze anos reduziu a prevalência de 43,5 para 4,4%; a incidência de 19,0 para 2,9%: a média geométrica do número de ovos de 281 para 87 e o índice da forma hepatoesplênica de 5,9 para 0,0%. Em 1991, após três anos de interrupção do programa, a prevalência subiu para 19,6%. Neste distrito que é formado pelas localidades de: Barbosa (rural) e Peri-Peri propriamente dita (urbana), em 1991, as prevalências foram respectivamente de 28,4% e 16,0%. A análise multivariada de fatores de risco para a infecção esquistosomótica apontou a atividade agrícola peridomiciliar com risco atribuível populacional (RAP) de 29,93%, a distância (< 10m) da residência à fonte de água natural (RAP = 25,93%) e pescar semanalmente (RAP = 17,21%) como sendo responsáveis por infecções na área rural. As medidas de controle apontadas para esta área foram: irrigação não artesanal e afastamento das valas de irrigação para mais de dez metros das residências. Na urbana, foi observado que nadar semanalmente (RAP = 20,71%), exercer atividade agrícola peridomiciliar diariamente (RAP = 4,07%) e não ter água potável intradomiciliar (RAP = 4,29%) foram responsáveis por infecções. Para a área urbana as medidas apontadas foram criar opções de lazer para a população, substituir a irrigação artesanal por outro tipo que evite o contato com águas e fornecer água potável intradomiciliar. Observa-se que na área rural o RAP dominante foi devido a atividade agrícola peridomiciliar diária e na urbana, nadar por lazer. Os autores chamam a atenção para a necessidade de se avaliar a eficácia da técnica de análise de fatores de risco para esta endemia antes de usá-la em larga escala como indicador de medidas de controle

A comparative study of "plasmacup" and "porous-coated" acetabular components: survival after 10 to 12 years of follow-up

OBJECTIVES: Our primary aim was to compare the long-term survivorship rates and the rates of successful osseointegration between two different types of uncemented acetabular components. INTRODUCTION: Two types of alloys have primarily been used for the manufacture of the uncemented acetabular components: titanium-based and cobalt-based alloys. A titanium-based alloy appears to be more effective with regard to interface stress transfer to the host bone because of its lower elastic modulus relative to a cobalt-based alloy. This supposed mechanical advantage of a titanium-based alloy component motivated this comparative study. METHODS: Two uncemented acetabular components, a porous-coated acetabulum and a Plasmacup®, were compared with a focus on long-term prosthesis survivorship and the development of acetabular osseointegration. Five radiographic signs of osseointegration were evaluated at the last follow-up appointment: (1) absence of radiolucent lines, (2) presence of a superolateral buttress, (3) medial stress-shielding, (4) radial trabeculae, and (5) an inferomedial buttress. We considered the presence of any three of these radiographic signs, in the absence of acetabular dislocation or symptoms, to be indicative of successful acetabular osseointegration. RESULTS: Among 70 patients implanted with the porous-coated acetabulum, 80% achieved osseointegration over a mean follow-up time of 11.9 years versus 75.3% of the 73 patients who received a Plasmacup insert over a mean of 10.7 years. Prosthesis survivorship rates were not different between the two groups. Revision surgery due to mild or severe acetabular osteolysis, polyethylene wear, and aseptic loosening occurred in eight patients (11.4%) with a PCA versus nine (12.3%) with a Plasmacup. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that, during the first ten years after surgery, there is no significant difference between these two types of uncemented cups with regard to either prosthesis survivorship or successful osseointegration

Impact of Interobserver Variability in Manual Segmentation of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Applying Low-Rank Radiomic Representation on Computed Tomography

This study tackles interobserver variability with respect to specialty training in manual segmentation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Four readers included for segmentation are: a data scientist (BY), a medical student (LS), a radiology trainee (MH), and a specialty-trained radiologist (SK) for a total of 293 patients from two publicly available databases. S&oslash;rensen&ndash;Dice (SD) coefficients and low rank Pearson correlation coefficients (CC) of 429 radiomics were calculated to assess interobserver variability. Cox proportional hazard (CPH) models and Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves of overall survival (OS) prediction for each dataset were also generated. SD and CC for segmentations demonstrated high similarities, yielding, SD: 0.79 and CC: 0.92 (BY-SK), SD: 0.81 and CC: 0.83 (LS-SK), and SD: 0.84 and CC: 0.91 (MH-SK) in average for both databases, respectively. OS through the maximal CPH model for the two datasets yielded c-statistics of 0.7 (95% CI) and 0.69 (95% CI), while adding radiomic and clinical variables (sex, stage/morphological status, and histology) together. KM curves also showed significant discrimination between high- and low-risk patients (p-value &lt; 0.005). This supports that readers&rsquo; level of training and clinical experience may not significantly influence the ability to extract accurate radiomic features for NSCLC on CT. This potentially allows flexibility in the training required to produce robust prognostic imaging biomarkers for potential clinical translation

Radiomic Phenotypes for Improving Early Prediction of Survival in Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Adenocarcinoma after Chemoradiation

We evaluate radiomic phenotypes derived from CT scans as early predictors of overall survival (OS) after chemoradiation in stage III primary lung adenocarcinoma. We retrospectively analyzed 110 thoracic CT scans acquired between April 2012−October 2018. Patients received a median radiation dose of 66.6 Gy at 1.8 Gy/fraction delivered with proton (55.5%) and photon (44.5%) beam treatment, as well as concurrent chemotherapy (89%) with carboplatin-based (55.5%) and cisplatin-based (36.4%) doublets. A total of 56 death events were recorded. Using manual tumor segmentations, 107 radiomic features were extracted. Feature harmonization using ComBat was performed to mitigate image heterogeneity due to the presence or lack of intravenous contrast material and variability in CT scanner vendors. A binary radiomic phenotype to predict OS was derived through the unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the first principal components explaining 85% of the variance of the radiomic features. C-scores and likelihood ratio tests (LRT) were used to compare the performance of a baseline Cox model based on ECOG status and age, with a model integrating the radiomic phenotype with such clinical predictors. The model integrating the radiomic phenotype (C-score = 0.69, 95% CI = (0.62, 0.77)) significantly improved (p0.005) upon the baseline model (C-score = 0.65, CI = (0.57, 0.73)). Our results suggest that harmonized radiomic phenotypes can significantly improve OS prediction in stage III NSCLC after chemoradiation

Descrição dos casos de síndrome congênita associada à infecção pelo ZIKV no estado de São Paulo, no período 2015 a 2017

Resumo Objetivo: caracterizar os casos de síndrome congênita associada à infecção pelo ZIKV (SCZ) e outras etiologias infeciosas, residentes no estado de São Paulo, Brasil, no período de 30 de outubro de 2015 a 30 de junho de 2017. Métodos: estudo descritivo dos casos suspeitos de SCZ e outras etiologias infecciosas notificados no Registro de Eventos em Saúde Pública. Resultados: foram investigados 960 casos até a semana epidemiológica 26/2017, sendo confirmados 146 para infecção congênita; destes, 59 (40,4%) foram confirmados para infecção congênita sem identificação etiológica e 87 (59,6%) com confirmação laboratorial, sendo 55 com SCZ e 32 com síndrome congênita associada a outros agentes infecciosos. Conclusão: este estudo permitiu detectar 23,9% de casos de SCZ entre os casos suspeitos de etiologia infecciosa