Nefropatía por tóxicos: la cocaína y su potente daño renal

In Colombia, the consumption of illicit substances increases daily. The increase and related consumption in the population involves both young people under 16 and young adults. Therefore, there are complications associated with the consumption of these substances that otherwise, would be unusual to find in this population group. In this case report, we will review how the use of cocaine led a young patient to the development acute kidney injury requiring renal replacement therapy, which in the histologicalfindings may correspond to rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, or tubulointerstitial disease either acute renal tubular necrosis or acute interstitial nephritis.El consumo de sustancias ilícitas en menores de 16 años y en adultos jóvenes se incrementa cada día en Colombia, por lo cual se presentan complicaciones asociadas que sería inusual encontrar en este grupo poblacional. El presente reporte de caso muestra cómo uso de cocaína llevó a un paciente joven a desarrollar daño renal agudo con requerimiento de terapia de reemplazo renal, lo que en los hallazgos histológicos puede corresponder a una glomerulonefritis rápidamente progresiva o a una enfermedad tubulointersticial tipo necrosis tubular aguda o nefritis intersticial aguda

End-of-Life Care During the Pandemic. Perspectives from Healthcare Professionals in Home-based Palliative Care in Colombia

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant social and health impact. Given the high risk of contagion and the potential collapse of the healthcare system, strategies such as social isolation, the use of personal protective equipment, and an increased reliance on telemedicine were adopted. These measures altered the dynamics of end-of-life patient care. Methodology: This observational cross-sectional study explored the experiences of home care staff providing end-of-life care and the impact of the pandemic on the care process, as well as on their quality of life and emotional well-being. A survey incorporating the adapted Care Of the Dying Evaluation (iCODE) questionnaire was conducted, alongside an assessment of quality of life using question 30 of the EORTC QLQ, and emotional wellbeing using the PANAS scale. Results: The experiences of 131 deceased patients were characterized. Professionals reported adequate therapeutic efforts in managing pain, dyspnea, and delirium. Additionally, they noted that the pandemic impeded treatment in 24% of the patients. The average quality of life score for professionals was 6 points, with a predominantly positive affect reported. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals in home-based care programs observed that the pandemic affected the treatment of nearly a quarter of end-of-life patients. Nonetheless, they highlighted that satisfactory symptomatic care and control were maintained. Additionally, they reported an adequate quality of life

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Efficacy and safety of baricitinib in hospitalized adults with severe or critical COVID-19 (Bari-SolidAct): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial

International audienceAbstract Background Baricitinib has shown efficacy in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, but no placebo-controlled trials have focused specifically on severe/critical COVID, including vaccinated participants. Methods Bari-SolidAct is a phase-3, multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, enrolling participants from June 3, 2021 to March 7, 2022, stopped prematurely for external evidence. Patients with severe/critical COVID-19 were randomised to Baricitinib 4 mg once daily or placebo, added to standard of care. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality within 60 days. Participants were remotely followed to day 90 for safety and patient related outcome measures. Results Two hundred ninety-nine patients were screened, 284 randomised, and 275 received study drug or placebo and were included in the modified intent-to-treat analyses (139 receiving baricitinib and 136 placebo). Median age was 60 (IQR 49–69) years, 77% were male and 35% had received at least one dose of SARS-CoV2 vaccine. There were 21 deaths at day 60 in each group, 15.1% in the baricitinib group and 15.4% in the placebo group (adjusted absolute difference and 95% CI − 0.1% [− 8·3 to 8·0]). In sensitivity analysis censoring observations after drug discontinuation or rescue therapy (tocilizumab/increased steroid dose), proportions of death were 5.8% versus 8.8% (− 3.2% [− 9.0 to 2.7]), respectively. There were 148 serious adverse events in 46 participants (33.1%) receiving baricitinib and 155 in 51 participants (37.5%) receiving placebo. In subgroup analyses, there was a potential interaction between vaccination status and treatment allocation on 60-day mortality. In a subsequent post hoc analysis there was a significant interaction between vaccination status and treatment allocation on the occurrence of serious adverse events, with more respiratory complications and severe infections in vaccinated participants treated with baricitinib. Vaccinated participants were on average 11 years older, with more comorbidities. Conclusion This clinical trial was prematurely stopped for external evidence and therefore underpowered to conclude on a potential survival benefit of baricitinib in severe/critical COVID-19. We observed a possible safety signal in vaccinated participants, who were older with more comorbidities. Although based on a post-hoc analysis, these findings warrant further investigation in other trials and real-world studies. Trial registration Bari-SolidAct is registered at NCT04891133 (registered May 18, 2021) and EUClinicalTrials.eu ( 2022-500385-99-00 )