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In Argentina, breast and cervical cancers are the most common cancers in women. At the national level, geographic disparities were described related to the use of preventive practices for these cancers, particularly mammography and Papanicolaou (PAP). Objective: To analyze the association of individual socio-demographic characteristics and socio-sanitary contextual factors with the use of these practices in women in Argentina (2018). An observational-analytical cross-sectional study was carried out using the 2018 National Survey of Risk Factors (Ministry of Health) as a secondary data source (multi-stage probabilistic sample). A sub-sample was extracted, including women whose ages were in the target groups for mammograms (50-70 years; n=4,924) and PAP (25-65 years; n=11,576). Data on these preventive practices (done in the last 2 years, yes/no) and on sociodemographic characteristics (age, income quintile, level of education, health coverage, type of household, place of residence according to population size) were included. At the contextual level, three-year averages (2016-2018) were calculated for the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and for the total number of doctors (per 1000 inhabitants), by province. Measures of association (OR) of these individual and contextual variables were estimated for each preventive practice (dichotomous response) using multilevel logistic models, with a random intercept (provinces) and a random coefficient (for context variables). Both preventive practices were significantly associated with higher levels of education and income and showed an inverse association with age (OR 0.95 and 0.98 for mammograms and PAP, respectively; p <0.001). A higher chance of having PAP/mammograms was estimated in those that reside in cities with 150,000 or more inhabitants (vs. <150,000), and in those with medical insurance (vs. only public medical coverage; OR 2.24 for mammography and 1.66 for PAP; p<0.001). The chance was significantly lower in women from single-parent households with children or other members vs. single-person households (OR 0.64 for mammograms; p=0.001). The total number of physicians and MMR showed a direct and inverse association, respectively, with both practices (p<0.05). Concluding, the cervical and breast cancer preventive practices studied were associated with underlying socio-demographic and contextual factors related to women\u27s health care in Argentina, showing noticeable social inequities.En Argentina el cáncer de mama y cérvix son los más incidentes en mujeres. A nivel nacional, se describieron disparidades geográficas en la realización de prácticas preventivas de estos cánceres, particularmente mamografía y Papanicolaou (PAP). Objetivo: Analizar la asociación de características socio-demográficas individuales y factores contextuales socio-sanitarios con la realización de estas prácticas en mujeres de Argentina (2018). Se realizó un estudio observacional-analítico transversal empleando la Encuesta Nacional de Factores de Riesgos 2018 (Ministerio de Salud) como fuente de datos secundaria (muestra probabilística multietápica). Se extrajo una submuestra con las mujeres participantes que representan la población objetivo para mamografías (50-70 años; n= 4.924) y PAP (25-65 años; n=11.576). Se empleó la información sobre dichas prácticas preventivas (realización en los últimos 2 años, si/no) y características sociodemográficas (edad, quintil de ingresos, nivel de instrucción, cobertura de salud, tipo de hogar, localidad de residencia según tamaño). A nivel contextual, se calcularon promedios trianuales (2016-2018) de la razón de mortalidad materna (RMM) y total de médicos/as (cada 1000 habitantes), por provincias. Se estimaron medidas de asociación (OR) de esas variables individuales y contextuales con cada práctica preventiva (respuesta dicotómica) usando modelos logísticos multinivel, con intercepto aleatorio (provincias) y coeficiente aleatorio (para las variables de contexto). Ambas prácticas preventivas se asociaron significativamente con mayores niveles de instrucción e ingresos, y mostraron relación inversa con la edad (OR 0,95 y 0,98 para la realización de mamografías y PAP, respectivamente; p<0,001). Se estimó mayor chance de realización de PAP/mamografías en quienes residen en localidades con 150.000 o más habitantes (vs. <150.000), y en aquellas con obra social/prepaga (vs. sólo cobertura pública; OR 2,24 para mamografía y 1,66 para PAP; p<0,001). La chance fue significativamente menor en mujeres de hogares monoparentales con hijos/otros miembros vs. hogares unipersonales (OR 0,64 para la realización de mamografías; p=0,001). El total de médicos/as y la RMM mostraron asociación directa e inversa, respectivamente, con ambas prácticas (p<0,05). Concluyendo, las  prácticas preventivas de cáncer de cérvix y mama estudiadas se asocian a factores socio-demográficos subyacentes y contextuales relacionados a la atención de salud de la mujer en Argentina, evidenciando fuertes inequidades sociales.

Population pharmacokinetics of ganciclovir after intravenous ganciclovir and oral valganciclovir administration in solid organ transplant patients infected with cytomegalovirus

A population pharmacokinetics analysis was performed after intravenous ganciclovir and oral valganciclovir in solid organ transplant patients with cytomegalovirus. Patients received ganciclovir at 5 mg/kg of body weight (5 days) and then 900 mg of valganciclovir (16 days), both twice daily with dose adjustment for renal function. A total of 382 serum concentrations from days 5 and 15 were analyzed with NONMEM VI. Renal function given by creatinine clearance (CL(CR)) was the most influential covariate in CL. The final pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: ganciclovir clearance (CL) was 7.49.(CL(CR)/57) liter/h (57 was the mean population value of CL(CR)); the central and peripheral distribution volumes were 31.9 liters and 32.0 liters, respectively; intercompartmental clearance was 10.2 liter/h; the first-order absorption rate constant was 0.895 h(-1); bioavailability was 0.825; and lag time was 0.382 h. The CL(CR) was the best predictor of CL, making dose adjustment by this covariate important to achieve the most efficacious ganciclovir exposure

DFT investigation of 3d transition metal NMR shielding tensors in diamagnetic systems using the gauge-including projector augmented-wave method

We present a density functional theory based method for calculating NMR shielding tensors for 3d transition metal nuclei using periodic boundary conditions. Calculations employ the gauge-including projector augmented-wave pseudopotentials method. The effects of ultrasoft pseudopotential and induced approximations on the second-order magnetic response are intensively examined. The reliability and the strength of the approach for 49Ti and 51V nuclei is shown by comparison with traditional quantum chemical methods, using benchmarks of finite organometallic systems. Application to infinite systems is validated through comparison to experimental data for the 51V nucleus in various vanadium oxide based compounds. The successful agreement obtained for isotropic chemical shifts contrasts with full estimation of the shielding tensor eigenvalues, revealing the limitation of pure exchange-correlation functionals compared to their exact-exchange corrected analogues.Comment: 56 page

Chikungunya virus infections among travellers returning to Spain, 2008 to 2014

Since the first documented autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus in the Caribbean island of Saint Martin in 2013, the infection has been reported within the Caribbean region as well as North, Central and South America. The risk of autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus becoming established in Spain may be elevated due to the large numbers of travellers returning to Spain from countries affected by the 2013 epidemic in the Caribbean and South America, as well as the existence of the Aedes albopictus vector in certain parts of Spain. We retrospectively analysed the laboratory diagnostic database of the National Centre for Microbiology, Institute of Health Carlos III (CNM-ISCIII) from 2008 to 2014. During the study period, 264 confirmed cases, of 1,371 suspected cases, were diagnosed at the CNM-ISCIII. In 2014 alone, there were 234 confirmed cases. The highest number of confirmed cases were reported from the Dominican Republic (n = 136), Venezuela (n = 30) and Haiti (n = 11). Six cases were viraemic in areas of Spain where the vector is present. This report highlights the need for integrated active case and vector surveillance in Spain and other parts of Europe where chikungunya virus may be introduced by returning travellers

Hospital-acquired influenza infections detected by a surveillance system over six seasons, from 2010/2011 to 2015/2016

In addition to outbreaks of nosocomial influenza, sporadic nosocomial influenza infections also occur but are generally not reported in the literature. This study aimed to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of cases of nosocomial influenza compared with the remaining severe cases of severe influenza in acute hospitals in Catalonia (Spain) which were identified by surveillance. An observational case-case epidemiological study was carried out in patients aged ≥18 years from Catalan 12 hospitals between 2010 and 2016. For each laboratory-confirmed influenza case (nosocomial or not) we collected demographic, virological and clinical characteristics. We defined patients with nosocomial influenza as those admitted to a hospital for a reason other than acute respiratory infection in whom ILI symptoms developed ≥48 h after admission and influenza virus infection was confirmed using RT-PCR. Mixed-effects regression was used to estimate the crude and adjusted OR. One thousand seven hundred twenty-two hospitalized patients with severe laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection were included: 96 (5.6%) were classified as nosocomial influenza and more frequently had > 14 days of hospital stay (42.7% vs. 27.7%, P <.001) and higher mortality (18.8% vs. 12.6%, P <.02). The variables associated with nosocomial influenza cases in acute-care hospital settings were chronic renal disease (aOR 2.44 95% CI 1.44-4.15) and immunodeficiency (aOR 1.79 95% CI 1.04-3.06). Nosocomial infections are a recurring problem associated with high rates of chronic diseases and death. These findings underline the need for adherence to infection control guidelines

Guide to the alien and invasive species of rivers, lakes and estuaries in the Iberian Peninsula.

Guide to the alien and invasive species of rivers, lakes and estuaries in the Iberian Peninsula

Exploring the three PIPs and three TIPs of grapevine for transport of water and atypical substrates through heterologous expression in aqy-null yeast

Aquaporins are membrane channels that facilitate the transport of water and other small molecules across the cellular membranes. We examined the role of six aquaporins of Vitis vinifera (cv. Touriga nacional) in the transport of water and atypical substrates (other than water) in an aqy-null strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Their functional characterization for water transport was performed by stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy. The evaluation of permeability coefficients (Pf) and activation energies (Ea) revealed that three aquaporins (VvTnPIP2;1, VvTnTIP1;1 and VvTnTIP2;2) are functional for water transport, while the other three (VvTnPIP1;4, VvTnPIP2;3 and VvTnTIP4;1) are non-functional. TIPs (VvTnTIP1;1 and VvTnTIP2;2) exhibited higher water permeability than VvTnPIP2;1. All functional aquaporins were found to be sensitive to HgCl2, since their water conductivity was reduced (24–38%) by the addition of 0.5 mM HgCl2. Expression of Vitis aquaporins caused different sensitive phenotypes to yeast strains when grown under hyperosmotic stress generated by KCl or sorbitol. Our results also indicate that Vitis aquaporins are putative transporters of other small molecules of physiological importance. Their sequence analyses revealed the presence of signature sequences for transport of ammonia, boron, CO2, H2O2 and urea. The phenotypic growth variations of yeast cells showed that heterologous expression of Vitis aquaporins increased susceptibility to externally applied boron and H2O2, suggesting the contribution of Vitis aquaporins in the transport of these speciesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Deep Molecular Characterization of HIV-1 Dynamics under Suppressive HAART

In order to design strategies for eradication of HIV-1 from infected individuals, detailed insight into the HIV-1 reservoirs that persist in patients on suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART) is required. In this regard, most studies have focused on integrated (proviral) HIV-1 DNA forms in cells circulating in blood. However, the majority of proviral DNA is replication-defective and archival, and as such, has limited ability to reveal the dynamics of the viral population that persists in patients on suppressive ART. In contrast, extrachromosomal (episomal) viral DNA is labile and as a consequence is a better surrogate for recent infection events and is able to inform on the extent to which residual replication contributes to viral reservoir maintenance. To gain insight into the diversity and compartmentalization of HIV-1 under suppressive ART, we extensively analyzed longitudinal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) samples by deep sequencing of episomal and integrated HIV-1 DNA from patients undergoing raltegravir intensification. Reverse-transcriptase genes selectively amplified from episomal and proviral HIV-1 DNA were analyzed by deep sequencing 0, 2, 4, 12, 24 and 48 weeks after raltegravir intensification. We used maximum likelihood phylogenies and statistical tests (AMOVA and Slatkin-Maddison (SM)) in order to determine molecular compartmentalization. We observed low molecular variance (mean variability ≤0.042). Although phylogenies showed that both DNA forms were intermingled within the phylogenetic tree, we found a statistically significant compartmentalization between episomal and proviral DNA samples (P<10−6 AMOVA test; P = 0.001 SM test), suggesting that they belong to different viral populations. In addition, longitudinal analysis of episomal and proviral DNA by phylogeny and AMOVA showed signs of non-chronological temporal compartmentalization (all comparisons P<10−6) suggesting that episomal and proviral DNA forms originated from different anatomical compartments. Collectively, this suggests the presence of a chronic viral reservoir in which there is stochastic release of infectious virus and in which there are limited rounds of de novo infection. This could be explained by the existence of different reservoirs with unique pharmacological accessibility properties, which will require strategies that improve drug penetration/retention within these reservoirs in order to minimise maintenance of the viral reservoir by de novo infection