Detection of a new community genotype methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus clone that is unrelated to the USA300 clone and that causes pediatric infections in colombia

The dissemination of a clone of community genotype methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CG-MRSA) that is related to USA300 has been reported in Latin America. We recently detected isolates of a new clone of CG-MRSA (spa type t1635 and ACME-negative) that was genetically unrelated to the USA300 clone and that causes infections in children in Colombia. This finding indicates the appearance of a new clone of CG-MRSA in our region. Copyright © 2013, American Society for Microbiology

Simulating chemistry using quantum computers

The difficulty of simulating quantum systems, well-known to quantum chemists, prompted the idea of quantum computation. One can avoid the steep scaling associated with the exact simulation of increasingly large quantum systems on conventional computers, by mapping the quantum system to another, more controllable one. In this review, we discuss to what extent the ideas in quantum computation, now a well-established field, have been applied to chemical problems. We describe algorithms that achieve significant advantages for the electronic-structure problem, the simulation of chemical dynamics, protein folding, and other tasks. Although theory is still ahead of experiment, we outline recent advances that have led to the first chemical calculations on small quantum information processors.Comment: 27 pages. Submitted to Ann. Rev. Phys. Che

Cocoa intake and arterial stiffness in subjects with cardiovascular risk factors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To analyze the relationship of cocoa intake to central and peripheral blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and carotid intima-media thickness in subjects with some cardiovascular risk factor.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Design: A cross-sectional study of 351 subjects (mean age 54.76 years, 62.4% males). Measurements: Intake of cocoa and other foods using a food frequency questionnaire, central and peripheral (ambulatory and office) blood pressure, central and peripheral augmentation index, pulse wave velocity, ambulatory arterial stiffness index, carotid intima-media thickness, and ankle-brachial index.</p> <p>Results: Higher pulse wave velocity and greater cardiovascular risk were found in non-cocoa consumers as compared to high consumers (<it>p </it>< 0.05). In a multivariate analysis, these differences disappeared after adjusting for age, gender, the presence of diabetes, systolic blood pressure and antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drug use. All other arterial stiffness measures (central and peripheral augmentation index, ambulatory arterial stiffness index, ankle-brachial index, and carotid intima-media thickness) showed no differences between the different consumption groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In subjects with some cardiovascular risk factors, cocoa consumption does not imply improvement in the arterial stiffness values.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01325064">NCT01325064</a>.</p

Dietary glycemic index and retinal microvasculature in adults: a cross-sectional study

[EN] Objective: To analyze the relationship between dietary glycemic index (GI) and retinal microvasculature in adults. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 300 subjects from the EVIDENT II study. Dietary GI was calculated using a validated, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Retinal photographs were digitized, temporal vessels were measured in an area 0.5–1 disc diameter from the optic disc and arteriolar-venular index (AVI) was estimated with semi-automated software. Results: AVI showed a significant difference between the tertiles of GI, after adjusting for potential confounders. The lowest AVI values were observed among subjects in the highest tertile of GI, whereas the greatest were found among those in the lowest tertile (estimated marginal mean of 0.738 vs. 0.768, p = 0.014). Conclusions: In adults, high dietary GI implies lowering AVI values regardless of age, gender and other confounding variables. Trial registration: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT02016014. Registered 9 December 2013

Cornelia DE Lange Syndrome: A Case Report of a New Genetic Variant

We describe a clinical case of Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CDLs) diagnosed prenatally and present the pathological and cytogenetic findings.Our observations from the pathological analysis, including upper limb hemimelia, short upper limbs, microretrognathia, and hypospadias, were compatible with CDLs. The cytogenetic study revealed a normal karyotype with a series of polymorphisms without clinical relevance according to current studies and a heterozygous duplication encoding a nonsense mutation in the NIPBL gene that resulted in a truncated protein lacking 38% of its amino acids. This duplication has not been previously described in any database or literature available to date

Risk levels for suffering a traffic injury in primary health care. The LESIONAT* project

Background: Literature shows that not only are traffic injuries due to accidents, but that there is also a correlation between different chronic conditions, the consumption of certain types of drugs, the intake of psychoactive substances and the self perception of risk (Health Belief Model) and the impact/incidence of traffic accidents. There are few studies on these aspects in primary health care. The objectives of our study are: Main aim: To outline the distribution of risk factors associated with Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) in a driving population assigned to a group of primary health care centres in Barcelona province. Secondly, we aim to study the distribution of diverse risk factors related to the possibility of suffering an RTI according to age, sex and population groups, to assess the relationship between these same risk factors and self risk perception for suffering an RTI, and to outline the association between the number of risk factors and the history of reported collisions. Methods/Design: Design: Cross-sectional, multicentre study. Setting: 25 urban health care centres. Study population: Randomly selected sample of Spanish/Catalan speakers age 16 or above with a medical register in any of the 25 participating primary health care centres. N = 1540. Unit of study: Basic unit of care, consisting of a general practitioner and a nurse, both of whom caring for the same population (1,500 to 2,000 people per unit). Instruments of measurement: Data collection will be performed using a survey carried out by health professionals, who will use the clinical registers and the information reported by the patient during the visit to collect the baseline data: illnesses, medication intake, alcohol and psychoactive consumption, and self perception of risk. Discussion: We expect to obtain a risk profile of the subjects in relation to RTI in the primary health care field, and to create a group for a prospective follow-up. Trial Registration: Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT00778440. </p

Risk factors and adverse perinatal outcomes among term and preterm infants born small-for-gestational-age: secondary analyses of the WHO multi-country survey on maternal and newborn health

BACKGROUND Small for gestational age (SGA) is not only a major indicator of perinatal mortality and morbidity, but also the morbidity risks in later in life. We aim to estimate the association between the birth of SGA infants and the risk factors and adverse perinatal outcomes among twenty-nine countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia in 359 health facilities in 2010–11. METHODS We analysed facility-based, cross-sectional data from the WHO Multi-country Survey on Maternal and Newborn Health. We constructed multilevel logistic regression models with random effects for facilities and countries to estimate the risk factors for SGA infants using country-specific birthweight reference standards in preterm and term delivery, and SGA’s association with adverse perinatal outcomes. We compared the risks and adverse perinatal outcomes with appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants categorized by preterm and term delivery. RESULTS A total of 295,829 singleton infants delivered were analysed. The overall prevalence of SGA was highest in Cambodia (18.8%), Nepal (17.9%), the Occupied Palestinian Territory (16.1%), and Japan (16.0%), while the lowest was observed in Afghanistan (4.8%), Uganda (6.6%) and Thailand (9.7%). The risk of preterm SGA infants was significantly higher among nulliparous mothers and mothers with chronic hypertension and preeclampsia/eclampsia (aOR: 2.89; 95% CI: 2.55–3.28) compared with AGA infants. Higher risks of term SGA were observed among sociodemographic factors and women with preeclampsia/eclampsia, anaemia and other medical conditions. Multiparity (> = 3) (AOR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.83–0.92) was a protective factor for term SGA. The risk of perinatal mortality was significantly higher in preterm SGA deliveries in low to high HDI countries. CONCLUSION Preterm SGA is associated with medical conditions related to preeclampsia, but not with sociodemographic status. Term SGA is associated with sociodemographic status and various medical conditions.Erika Ota, Togoobaatar Ganchimeg, Naho Morisaki, Joshua P. Vogel, Cynthia Pileggi, Eduardo Ortiz-Panozo, Joa, o P. Souza, Rintaro Mori, on behalf of the WHO Multi-Country Survey on Maternal and Newborn Health Research Networ

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity as a mediator between sedentary behavior and cardiometabolic risk in Spanish healthy adults: a mediation analysis

Background: Public health strategies for cardiovascular prevention highlight the importance of physical activity, but do not consider the additional potentially harmful effects of sedentary behavior. This study was conducted between 2010 and 2012 and analyzed between 2013 and 2014. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between sedentary behavior and cardiometabolic risk factors in the Spanish adult population and to examine whether this relationship is mediated by moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Methods: The cross-sectional study included 1122 healthy subjects belonging to the EVIDENT study. Sedentary behavior was objectively measured over 7 days using Actigraph accelerometers. We assessed waist circumference (WC), triglycerides-to-HDL-C ratio (TG/HDL-C), and mean arterial pressure (MAP), and undertook homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). Linear regression models were fitted according to Baron and Kenny procedures for mediation analysis. Results: TG/HDL-C and HOMA-IR were significantly higher in adults who spent more minutes in sedentary activities after adjusting for potential covariates. However when MVPA was added to the ANCOVA models as covariate the effect of sedentary time on HOMA-IR disappeared. In addition, MVPA acted as a full mediator of the relationship between sedentary time and HOMA-IR. In contrast, subjects with lower levels of MVPA presented worse cardiometabolic profiles than those from higher MVPA categories, even after controlling for sedentary time and other potential confounders. Conclusions: These results suggest that both MVPA and sedentary time should be considered when developing cardiometabolic risk guidelines