El país de García

José Vicente Torrente (Huesca, 1920), diplomático y narrador, dio a la imprenta su quinta novela, El país de García, en 1972. Mezcla de libro de viajes, guía histórico-artística y novela picaresca, el libro constituye un amenísimo recorrido por la provincia de Huesca en el que se alterna el trabajo de documentación con un desprejuiciado humor de estirpe aragonesa, que privilegia lo pintoresco y, a la vez, destiñe sabiduría. Aunque la acción se desarrolla en la época contemporánea, las andanzas de los personajes tienen un regusto arcaizante servido por una prosa precisa, vigorosa y llena de expresividad

Long-term follow up of Hodgkin lymphoma

Background: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is the paradigm of curable disease. This study analyzed the overall survival (OS) of patients with HL and compared their survival between decades and with the expected survival of a general population. Results: The median follow-up was 22 years. The median OS was 33 years. The incidence mortality rate for all causes is 2 per every 100 patients per year. The OS of our cohort at 10 years from diagnosis was 76% (95% CI: 72-79) and 52% at 30 years (95% CI: 48-57). Overall SMR (1980-2013) was 2,943 (95% CI: 2,518-3,439). Excluding the primary tumor as the cause of death, the SMR obtained is 2,266 (95% CI: 1,895-2,710). The SMR for those patients diagnosed before the year 2000 was 2,097 (95% CI: 1,732-2,539); and for those diagnosed after 2000 was 5,218 (95% CI: 8,655). The group of patients diagnosed after 2000 had statistically significant more advanced stages, were older and less responsive to treatment. Conclusions: Despite the advances achieved, the risk of death remains higher than in the general population, mainly for those patients diagnosed after year 2000, even after almost 40 years of follow-up. This data might suggest a shift to more aggressive forms of disease in recent years. Patients and methods: A total of 595 patients diagnosed with HL were included between January 1966 and February 2014. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was analyzed using the annual rate of mortality in the general Spanish population, adjusted for age, sex and time period

Dynamic circulating tumor DNA quantificaton for the individualization of non-small-cell lung cancer patients treatment

Background: Liquid biopsy has evolved from being a promising line to becoming a validated approach for biomarker testing. However, its utility for individualization of therapy has been scarcely reported. In this study, we show how monitoring levels of EGFR mutation in plasma can be useful for the individualization of treatment. Results: Longitudinal EGFR mutation levels in plasma always correlated with tumor response ascertained by RECIST criteria. Moreover, decreasing EGFR mutation levels were detected in all patients benefiting from locoregional radiotherapy, whereas the opposite occurred when a patient progressed soon after radiotherapy treatment. Similarly, increasing EGFR mutation levels anticipated disease progression after TKI dose reduction, discontinuation of treatment, or reduced bioavailability due to drug interactions. In addition, EGFR mutation levels were useful to monitor treatment outcome of new therapies and constituted a decisive factor when the clinical situation of the patient did not correlate with responses ascertained by radiologist. Finally, our results indicate that cancer associated body fluids (pleural, pericardial or cerebrospinal fluid) are certainly a suitable source for biomarker testing that can extend EGFR mutation detection to biofluids other than blood. Materials and Methods: A total of 180 serial plasma samples from 18 non-smallcell lung cancer patients who carried an activating EGFR mutation were investigated by digital PCR. Conclusions: Monitoring levels of EGFR mutation in plasma allows resolving doubts that frequently arise in daily clinical practice and constitutes a major step towards achieving personalized medicineThis study was supported by Carlos III Institute of Health, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and European Regional Development Fund (grant number: PI16/01818 and PIE14/00064), A Romero is supported by Joan Rodés fellowship (grant number: JR14/00017) and CP pre-doctoral studies are supported by Jose Luís Castaño Foundatio

Desarrollo Consulta de Enfermería Clínica en el manejo de las enfermedades reumáticas

Se presenta la actividad desarrollada por la Consulta Experta de Enfermería Reumatológica del Hospital Moisés Broggi.Incluye una revisión de los criterios de derivación desde las consultas clínicas de Reumatología así como recomendaciones prácticas sobre la actividad que en ella se desarrolla

Towards Control and Oversight of SARS-CoV-2 Diagnosis and Monitoring through Multiplexed Quantitative Electroanalytical Immune Response Biosensors

The development of versatile and sensitive biotools to quantify specific SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulins in SARS-CoV-2 infected and non-infected individuals, built-on the surface of magnetic microbeads functionalized with nucleocapsid (N) and inhouse expressed recombinant spike (S) proteins is reported. Amperometric interrogation of captured N- and S-specific circulating total or individual immunoglobulin (Ig) isotypes (IgG, IgM, and IgA), subsequently labelled with HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies, was performed at disposable single or multiplexed (8) screen-printed electrodes using the HQ/HRP/H2O2 system. The obtained results using N and in-house expressed S ectodomains of five SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (including the latest Delta and Omicron) allow identification of vulnerable populations from those with natural or acquired immunity, monitoring of infection, evaluation of vaccine efficiency and even identification of the variant responsible for the infection