Evaluación del cribado y la efectividad de una intervención breve en bebedores de riesgo atendidos en consultas de atención primaria

ObjetivosEvaluar el cribado y la efectividad de una intervención breve antialcohólica, el grado de aceptación y la evolución de los parámetros biológicos asociados con el consumo de alcohol tras la intervención.DiseñoEstudio prospectivo longitudinal de intervención de 1 año de duración.EmplazamientoCinco consultas de atención primaria urbanas.ParticipantesDe una muestra aleatoria de 681 sujetos de ambos sexos y de edad de 18-65 años, se seleccionó a 78 bebedores de riesgo. Los que cumplían criterios de exclusión (n=10), no aceptaban participar (n=24) y presentaban sospecha de síndrome de dependencia alcohólica (n=11) no participaron en el estudio.IntervencionesSe ofrecía un breve consejo antialcohólico apoyado con soporte escrito, y se realizaba un seguimiento a los 2 y 12 meses mediante la cuantificación del consumo de alcohol y un control analítico.Mediciones principalesSe estimó la prevalencia de bebedores de riesgo, el grado de aceptación a participar en el estudio, la disminución del consumo de alcohol y de bebedores de riesgo a los 2 y 12 meses, y la evolución de los parámetros analíticos tras la intervención.ResultadosLa prevalencia de bebedores de riesgo fue del 11,5% (intervalo de confianza [IC] del 95%, 8,3-14,7%). El grado de aceptación a participar en el estudio fue del 64,7%. Se observó un decremento significativo (p<0,05) en el consumo de alcohol a los 2 y 12 meses, así como una disminución de los bebedores de riesgo, que a los 2 meses fue del 57,6% (IC del 95%, 50,3-64,9%; p=0,01) y a los 12 meses del 42,4% (IC del 95%, 35,9-48,9%; p=0,003). Asimismo, se produjeron disminuciones significativas en las concentraciones de GGT, VCM, colesterol y triglicéridos.ConclusionesSe observa una baja prevalencia de bebedores de riesgo sin sospecha de síndrome de dependencia alcohólica en nuestro medio, así como una elevada efectividad del consejo breve antialcohol y del grado de aceptación a participar en el estudio. Se apreció una disminución de las concentraciones de GGT, VCM, colesterol y triglicéridos tras la intervención.AimsTo evaluate the screening, the effectiveness of an antialcoholic brief intervention for risk drinkers, the acceptation level to participate in this study, and the analytical parameters evolution associated to the alcohol consumption after of the intervention.DesignLongitudinal prospective intervention study of 1 year of duration.Setting5 urban primary care physician's practices.ParticipantsOf an aleatory pattern of 681 patients, men and women of 18-65 years old, were selected 78 risk drinkers. Patients with exclusion criteria (n=10), didn’t wanted to participate (n=24) and had suspicion of alcoholic dependence syndrome (ADS) (n=11), didn’t participated in this intervention.InterventionsWere offered antialcoholic brief counselling with written supporter and were followed with alcohol consumption rate and analytical control at 2 and 12 months.Main measuresWas estimated the prevalence of risk drinkers, the acceptation level to participate in this study, alcohol consumption and risk drinkers decreased at 2 and 12 months, analytical parameters evolution after of the intervention.ResultsPrevalence of risk drinkers: 11.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.3%-14.7%). Acceptation level to participate in this study: 64.7%. Significative alcohol consumption decreased at 2 and 12 months (P<.05). Risk drinkers decreased: at 2 months were 57.6% (95% CI, 50.3%-64.9%; P=.01) and at 12 months were 42.4% (95% CI; 35.9%-48.9%) (P=.003). GGT, MCV, cholesterol, and triglycerides significative decreased.ConclusionsLow prevalence of risk drinkers without suspicion of ADS in our setting; high effectiveness of antialcoholic brief counselling and high acceptation level to participate in this study; reduction of the GGT, MCV, cholesterol, and triglycerides after of the intervention

Worldwide dynamic biogeography of zoonotic and anthroponotic dengue

Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. The rapid spread of dengue could lead to a global pandemic, and so the geographical extent of this spread needs to be assessed and predicted. There are also reasons to suggest that transmission of dengue from non-human primates in tropical forest cycles is being underestimated. We investigate the fine-scale geographic changes in transmission risk since the late 20th century, and take into account for the first time the potential role that primate biogeography and sylvatic vectors play in increasing the disease transmission risk. We apply a biogeographic framework to the most recent global dataset of dengue cases. Temporally stratified models describing favorable areas for vector presence and for disease transmission are combined. Our models were validated for predictive capacity, and point to a significant broadening of vector presence in tropical and non-tropical areas globally. We show that dengue transmission is likely to spread to affected areas in China, Papua New Guinea, Australia, USA, Colombia, Venezuela, Madagascar, as well as to cities in Europe and Japan. These models also suggest that dengue transmission is likely to spread to regions where there are presently no or very few reports of occurrence. According to our results, sylvatic dengue cycles account for a small percentage of the global extent of the human case record, but could be increasing in relevance in Asia, Africa, and South America. The spatial distribution of factors favoring transmission risk in different regions of the world allows for distinct management strategies to be prepared

Unidades de paisaje, en un sector del corredor bioceánico. Departamento Jáchal. San Juan

Los recursos naturales en ecosistemas áridos, son condicionantes para el desarrollo de las actividades socioeconómicas de una región. Su conocimiento general, la situación actual y su estado, permiten diseñar políticas de manejo y uso de éstas áreas, contribuyendo al conocimiento del medio físico y su vulnerabilidad, ante acciones presentes y futuras.En éste sentido el estudio del paisaje se vuelve esencial si reconocemos que el mismo resulta de la combinación de factores físicos y biológicos, además de la incidencia de las alteraciones de tipo natural y de las modificaciones antrópicas.El paisaje expresa las características y particularidades intrínsecas del terreno, así como las generadas por las diferentes formas e intensidades con las que la naturaleza y el hombre han transformado su territorio.Teniendo en cuenta estas consideraciones, se planteó un proyecto para aplicar una metodología, apoyada en técnicas de percepción remota y la aplicación de sistemas de información geográfica. Esto permitió sistematizar y ordenar la información geoambiental y definir Unidades de Paisaje en la localidad de Huaco, ubicada en el Departamento Jáchal, a 190 km de la ciudad capital de la provincia de San Juan, República Argentina.Esta zona, rica en recursos naturales, mineros, culturales y terapéuticos, históricamente marginada por las políticas públicas, ahora enfrenta el desafío de integrarse a la economía provincial, nacional e internacional a partir del desarrollo y construcción del Corredor Bioceánico Central, que unirá los océanos Atlántico y Pacífico.Las Unidades de Paisaje quedaron definidas como una expresión integrada de los componentes físicos, biológicos y culturales, que se presentan en este espacio geográfico, y constituyen la base para la gestión de un desarrollo sustentable de la zona de estudio. AbstractThe natural resources in arid ecosystems, are determining factors for the development of the socio-economic activities of a region. Your general knowledge, the current situation and your state, allow you to design policies of management and use of these areas, contributing to the knowledge of the physical environment and their vulnerability, before shares present and future.In this sense the study of the landscape becomes essential if we recognize that it is the result of the combination of physical and biological factors, in addition to the incidence of the alterations of natural and anthropogenic modifications.The landscape expresses the characteristics and intrinsic characteristics of the field, as well as those generated by the different forms and intensities with which nature and man have transformed their territory.With these considerations in mind, it was a project to implement a methodology, supported by remote sensing techniques and the application of geographic information systems. This allowed systematize and sort the geo-environmental information and define landscape units in the town of Huaco, located in the Department Jachal River, 190 kilometers from the capital city of the province of San Juan, Argentina.This area, rich in natural resources, mining, cultural and therapeutic, historically marginalized by public policies, now faces the challenge of integrating to the provincial economy, national and international from the development and construction of the Bioceanic Central Corridor, which will link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.The landscape units were defined as an integrated expression of the physical, biological and cultural components, which are presented in this geographical area, and form the basis for the management of a sustainable development of the study area

A scoping review of the changing landscape of geriatric medicine in undergraduate medical education: curricula, topics and teaching methods

Purpose The world’s population is ageing. Therefore, every doctor should receive geriatric medicine training during their undergraduate education. This review aims to summarise recent developments in geriatric medicine that will potentially inform developments and updating of undergraduate medical curricula for geriatric content. Methods We systematically searched the electronic databases Ovid Medline, Ovid Embase and Pubmed, from 1st January 2009 to 18th May 2021. We included studies related to (1) undergraduate medical students and (2) geriatric medicine or ageing or older adults and (3) curriculum or curriculum topics or learning objectives or competencies or teaching methods or students’ attitudes and (4) published in a scientific journal. No language restrictions were applied. Results We identified 2503 records and assessed the full texts of 393 records for eligibility with 367 records included in the thematic analysis. Six major themes emerged: curriculum, topics, teaching methods, teaching settings, medical students’ skills and medical students’ attitudes. New curricula focussed on minimum Geriatrics Competencies, Geriatric Psychiatry and Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment; vertical integration of Geriatric Medicine into the curriculum has been advocated. Emerging or evolving topics included delirium, pharmacotherapeutics, healthy ageing and health promotion, and Telemedicine. Teaching methods emphasised interprofessional education, senior mentor programmes and intergenerational contact, student journaling and reflective writing, simulation, clinical placements and e-learning. Nursing homes featured among new teaching settings. Communication skills, empathy and professionalism were highlighted as essential skills for interacting with older adults. Conclusion We recommend that future undergraduate medical curricula in Geriatric Medicine should take into account recent developments described in this paper. In addition to including newly emerged topics and advances in existing topics, different teaching settings and methods should also be considered. Employing vertical integration throughout the undergraduate course can usefully supplement learning achieved in a dedicated Geriatric Medicine undergraduate course. Interprofessional education can improve understanding of the roles of other professionals and improve team-working skills. A focus on improving communication skills and empathy should particularly enable better interaction with older patients. Embedding expected levels of Geriatric competencies should ensure that medical students have acquired the skills necessary to effectively treat older patients

CHANDRA/VLA Follow-up of TeV J2032+4131, the Only Unidentified TeV Gamma-ray Source

The HEGRA Cherenkov telescope array group recently reported a steady and extended unidentified TeV gamma-ray source lying at the outskirts of Cygnus OB2. This is the most massive stellar association known in the Galaxy, estimated to contain ~2600 OB type members alone. It has been previously argued that the large scale shocks and turbulence induced by the multiple interacting supersonic winds from the many young stars in such associations may play a role in accelerating Galactic cosmic rays. Indeed, Cyg OB2 also coincides with the non-variable MeV-GeV range unidentified EGRET source, 3EG 2033+4118. We report on the near-simultaneous follow-up observations of the extended TeV source region with the CHANDRA X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope obtained in order to explore this possibility. Analysis of the CO, HI, and IRAS 100 micron emissions shows that the TeV source region coincides with an outlying sub-group of powerful OB stars which have evacuated or destroyed much of the ambient atomic, molecular and dust material, and which may be related to the very high-energy emissions. An interesting SNR-like structure is also revealed near the TeV source region in the CO, HI and radio emission maps. Applying a numerical simulation which accurately tracks the radio to gamma-ray emission from primary hadrons as well as primary and secondary e+/-, we find that the broadband spectrum of the TeV source region favors a predominantly nucleonic - rather than electronic - origin of the high-energy flux, though deeper X-ray and radio observations are needed to confirm this. A very reasonable, ~0.1%, conversion efficiency of Cyg OB2's extreme stellar wind mechanical luminosity to nucleonic acceleration to ~PeV (10^15 eV) energies is sufficient to explain the multifrequency emissions.Comment: ApJ accepte

Safety and effectiveness of isavuconazole in real-life non-neutropenic patients

Objectives: Information is scarce on clinical experiences with non-neutropenic patients with invasive fungal infection (IFI) receiving isavuconazole. We aimed to report the safety and effectiveness of this drug as a first-line treatment or rescue in real life. Methods: A retrospective, observational multicentric study of non-neutropenic patients who received isavuconazole as an IFI treatment at 12 different university hospitals (January 2018-2022). All patients met criteria for proven, probable or possible IFI according to EORTC-MSG. Results: A total of 238 IFIs were treated with isavuconazole during the study period. Combination therapy was administered in 27.7% of cases. The primary IFI was aspergillosis (217, 91.2%). Other IFIs treated with isavuconazole were candidemia (n = 10), mucormycosis (n = 8), histoplasmosis (n = 2), cryptococcosis (n = 2), and others (n = 4). Median time of isavuconazole treatment was 29 days. Only 5.9% (n = 14) of cases developed toxicity, mainly hepatic-related (10 patients, 4.2%). Nine patients (3.8%) had treatment withdrawn. Successful clinical response at 12 weeks was documented in 50.5% of patients. Conclusion: Isavuconazole is an adequate treatment for non-neutropenic patients with IFIs. Toxicity rates were low and its effectiveness was comparable to other antifungal therapies previously reported. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Defects in memory B-cell and plasma cell subsets expressing different immunoglobulin-subclasses in patients with CVID and immunoglobulin subclass deficiencies

Background: Predominantly antibody deficiencies (PADs) are the most prevalent primary immunodeficiencies, but their B-cell defects and underlying genetic alterations remain largely unknown. Objective: We investigated patients with PADs for the distribution of 41 blood B-cell and plasma cell (PC) subsets, including subsets defined by expression of distinct immunoglobulin heavy chain subclasses. Methods: Blood samples from 139 patients with PADs, 61 patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), 68 patients with selective IgA deficiency (IgAdef), 10 patients with IgG subclass deficiency with IgA deficiency, and 223 age matched control subjects were studied by using flow cytometry with EuroFlow immunoglobulin isotype staining. Patients were classified according to their B-cell and PC immune profile, and the obtained patient clusters were correlated with clinical manifestations of PADs. Results: Decreased counts of blood PCs, memory B cells (MB Cs), or both expressing distinct IgA and IgG subclasses were identified in all patients with PADs. In patients with IgAdef, B-cell defects were mainly restricted to surface membrane (sm)IgA(+) PCs and MBCs, with 2 clear subgroups showing strongly decreased numbers of smIgA(+) PCs with mild versus severe smIgA(+) MBC defects and higher frequencies of nonrespiratory tract infections, autoimmunity, and affected family members. Patients with IgG subclass deficiency with IgA deficiency and those with CVID showed defects in both smIgA(+) and smIgG(+) MBCs and PCs. Reduced numbers of switched PCs were systematically found in patients with CVID (absent in 98%), with 6 different defective MBC (and clinical) profiles: (1) profound decrease in MBC numbers; (2) defective CD27(+) MBCs with almost normal IgG(3)(+) MBCs; (3) absence of switched MBCs; and (4) presence of both unswitched and switched MBCs without and; (5) with IgG(2)(+) MBCs; and (6) with IgA(1)(+) MBCs. Conclusion: Distinct PAD defective B-cell patterns were identified that are associated with unique clinical profiles

Activating Transcription Factor 4 Modulates TGFβ-Induced Aggressiveness in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer via SMAD2/3/4 and mTORC2 Signaling

Purpose: On the basis of the identified stress-independent cellular functions of activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), we reported enhanced ATF4 levels in MCF10A cells treated with TGFβ1. ATF4 is overexpressed in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but its impact on patient survival and the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We aimed to determine ATF4 effects on patients with breast cancer survival and TNBC aggressiveness, and the relationships between TGFβ and ATF4. Defining the signaling pathways may help us identify a cell signaling-tailored gene signature.Experimental Design: Patient survival data were determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Relationship between TGFβ and ATF4, their effects on aggressiveness (tumor proliferation, metastasis, and stemness), and the underlying pathways were analyzed in three TNBC cell lines and in vivo using patient-derived xenografts (PDX).Results: ATF4 overexpression correlated with TNBC patient survival decrease and a SMAD-dependent crosstalk between ATF4 and TGFβ was identified. ATF4 expression inhibition reduced migration, invasiveness, mammosphere-forming efficiency, proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and antiapoptotic and stemness marker levels. In PDX models, ATF4 silencing decreased metastases, tumor growth, and relapse after chemotherapy. ATF4 was shown to be active downstream of SMAD2/3/4 and mTORC2, regulating TGFβ/SMAD and mTOR/RAC1-RHOA pathways independently of stress. We defined an eight-gene signature with prognostic potential, altered in 45% of 2,509 patients with breast cancer.Conclusions: ATF4 may represent a valuable prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in patients with TNBC, and we identified a cell signaling pathway-based gene signature that may contribute to the development of combinatorial targeted therapies for breast cancer