Comorbidities, age, severity of illness, and high risk pathogens are well-known outcome determinants in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). How these factors interact has not yet been clarified.
We ...conducted this study to analyze the complex interaction of comorbidities, age, illness severity, and pathogens in relation to CAP.
We performed a secondary analysis of the Community-Acquired Pneumonia Organization database to evaluate the impact of age in different age groups (<65, 65-79, and ≥80 yr), comorbidities (malignant disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal and liver disease, cerebrovascular accident, congestive heart failure, and diabetes mellitus), severity of illness at admission, and etiology on the mortality of patients admitted to the hospital with CAP.
A total of 6,205 patients met the inclusion criteria, and 508 (8.2%) died within 30 days. Factors independently associated with mortality were malignant disease, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular accident, renal disease, diabetes mellitus, altered mental status, hypoxemia, pleural effusion, hematocrit less than 30%, requirement for mechanical ventilation, and being age 80 years and older. A total of 1,699 pathogens were defined in 1,545 cases; the etiology was the same for all age groups. In the overall population, mortality increased with age, but etiology was not associated with mortality. When we analyzed the patients with one comorbidity or less, we found that mortality was not different between patients younger than 65 old and those 65-79 years old, but it was higher for those aged 80 years and older.
The presence of comorbidities is associated with poorer outcomes in CAP. However, when one comorbidity or less was present, we found that being age 80 years or older was a factor that increased mortality. From a clinical standpoint, this study suggests that being age 80 years or older, instead of age 65 years and older, should be considered a risk factor for poor outcome in CAP.
MicroRNA-122, an abundant and conserved liver-specific miRNA, regulates hepatic metabolism and functions as a tumor suppressor, yet systematic and direct biochemical elucidation of the miR-122 target ...network remains incomplete. To this end, we performed Argonaute crosslinking immunoprecipitation (Argonaute Ago-CLIP) sequencing in miR-122 knockout and control mouse livers, as well as in matched human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and benign liver tissue to identify miRNA target sites transcriptome-wide in two species. We observed a majority of miR-122 binding on 3′ UTRs and coding exons followed by extensive binding to other genic and non-genic sites. Motif analysis of miR-122-dependent binding revealed a G-bulged motif in addition to canonical motifs. A large number of miR-122 targets were found to be species specific. Upregulation of several common mouse and human targets, most notably BCL9, predicted survival in HCC patients. These results broadly define the molecular consequences of miR-122 downregulation in hepatocellular carcinoma.
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•Genome-wide miRNA binding sites were elucidated in miR-122 KO mice and human HCC•Widespread, non-canonical, and species-specific miR-122 binding was observed•miR-122 binding sites in human HCC revealed a core set of conserved targets•Conserved miR-122 targets, most notably BCL9, correlated with human HCC survival
Lack of the liver-specific microRNA-122 spontaneously results in hepatocellular carcinoma in mice. Luna et al. provide a comprehensive and biochemically defined catalog of miR-122 targets in mice and humans to uncover novel features of miR-122 targeting that may offer predictive value for human HCC survival.
Este texto pretende ofrecer una reflexión sobre las posibilidades de poner en práctica una etnografía desde el archivo. Este análisis se ve condicionado por las características propias del archivo ...donde se ha realizado la investigación que, por la documentación que guarda, puede definirse como un archivo de la represión franquista. A partir de este caso, a lo largo del artículo, se realiza una aproximación comparativa a otros espacios que comparten algunas de sus características, hasta desgranar el poder que emana de este tipo de archivos que en contextos de violencia extrema son una de las mejores herramientas de control social y adquieren el poder de configurar al enemigo. Desde la perspectiva teórica del llamado «giro archivístico» que sitúa al propio archivo como objeto de estudio, se busca profundizar en algunas de las características que convierten al archivo elegido para realizar la investigación -Archivo General e Histórico de Defensa- en el mejor ejemplo desde el que plantear un acercamiento etnográfico. En ese proceso se analiza de qué manera, desde su origen, esa documentación ha perseguido el fin último de seleccionar, ordenar y clasificar al enemigo hasta el punto de que, a través de ella, se han delimitado incluso sus rasgos físicos y psicológicos.
Contamination by heavy metals is the result of different industrial activities. The presence of heavy metals in soil and water causes serious problems, as these materials are not biodegradable and do ...contaminate both biological systems and the subsoil. Biological surface-active compounds otherwise known as biosurfactants in general and rhamnolipids biosurfactants in particular have been successfully employed in the remediation of environments contaminated with heavy metal ions. The aim of the present review is to highlight potential applications of these tensioactive compounds for use in environmental heavy metals removal and bioremediation and processes involved.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Alachlor is a recalcitrant carcinogenic contaminant that may easily spread in water sources due to its wide usage as an herbicide. The aim of this study is to synthesize Fe-TiO2 on granular activated ...carbon (GAC) support via hydrothermal method for the photocatalytic degradation of alachlor under ultraviolet and visible light irradiation. The effects of Fe-TiO2 loading, initial alachlor concentration, and initial solution pH were determined using Box-Behnken design (BBD). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of Fe-TiO2-GAC samples showed anatase TiO2 peaks as well as the graphite peak from carbon. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images verified that Fe-TiO2 was immobilized onto the GAC. In UV photocatalysis, the interaction between Fe and TiO2 loading and initial alachlor concentration is significant wherein low Fe-TiO2 loading and 50 ppm initial alachlor concentration increased the removal efficiency. In visible light photocatalysis, low Fe-TiO2 loading and initial alachlor concentrations of 30 and 70 ppm are significant. The interactions of the initial solution pH with Fe-TiO2 loading and initial alachlor concentration are also significant in which low solution pH increased alachlor removal for low Fe-TiO2 loading and low initial concentration. The highest alachlor removal percentages obtained were 99.74 and 99.96% under UV and visible light irradiation, respectively. Total organic carbon analysis confirmed the mineralization of alachlor with 92.44 and 66.49% removal by UV and visible light photocatalysis, respectively.
Clinical and laboratory parameters are useful tools for the diagnosis, follow-up and evaluation of resolution, and to predict outcomes when measured at different time-points onset and serially during ...follow-up in patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia and/or ventilator-associated pneumonia (HAP/VAP).
Both, the 2017 ERS/ESICM/ESCMID/Asociación Latino Americana de Tórax (EEEAG) and the 2016 IDSA/ATS guidelines (IAG) for the management of HAP/VAP recommend using clinical criteria alone, rather than biomarkers for diagnosis. Several studies were conducted to assess the value of serum biomarker concentration and kinetics for predicting the outcome in HAP/VAP, including C-reactive protein and procalcitonin (PCT). Although the EEEAG do not recommend routinely performing biomarker determinations in addition to bedside clinical assessment in patients receiving antibiotic treatment for VAP or HAP to predict adverse outcomes and clinical response, the IAG recommend that routine bedside clinical assessment should be accompanied by measurements of PCT to guide antimicrobial therapy. Additionally, the 2016 Surviving Sepsis Campaign also suggests that PCT levels can be used to support the shortening of antibiotic therapy.
Current evidence indicate that there is no recommendation to use biomarkers systematically to guide every decision. However, in some circumstances they might add some relevant information to our everyday practice.
To date, association rule mining has mainly focused on the discovery of frequent patterns. Nevertheless, it is often interesting to focus on those that do not frequently occur. Existing algorithms ...for mining this kind of infrequent patterns are mainly based on exhaustive search methods and can be applied only over categorical domains. In a previous work, the use of grammar-guided genetic programming for the discovery of frequent association rules was introduced, showing that this proposal was competitive in terms of scalability, expressiveness, flexibility and the ability to restrict the search space. The goal of this work is to demonstrate that this proposal is also appropriate for the discovery of rare association rules. This approach allows one to obtain solutions within specified time limits and does not require large amounts of memory, as current algorithms do. It also provides mechanisms to discard noise from the rare association rule set by applying four different and specific fitness functions, which are compared and studied in depth. Finally, this approach is compared with other existing algorithms for mining rare association rules, and an analysis of the mined rules is performed. As a result, this approach mines rare rules in a homogeneous and low execution time. The experimental study shows that this proposal obtains a small and accurate set of rules close to the size specified by the data miner.
This is a first report in Mexico of the presence of antibodies against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and parainfluenza-3 virus in Mexican sheep in different productive stages. We determine the ...association of serological positivity with age and production system, and obtain molecular evidence of infection by both virus. RSV prevalence in adult sheep was 47% (49/105) at the tropic and 64% (63/99) at the uplands. A significant difference in RSV seropositivity between animals from the tropic and the uplands was observed (
P
< 0.05). Seropositivity correlated with production system (
P
= 0.003, OR = 2.042), with a risk of showing antibodies was 2.042 times higher in sheep under an extensive production system. A significant difference in PI3V seropositivity between animals from either provenance (
P
= 0.017, OR = 0.475) were also found, with a risk of showing antibodies 0.475 times higher in sheep under an extensive production system. Genetic material from RSV and PI3V was identified by RT-PCR in nasal swab samples from clinically healthy lambs and confirmed by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Serological results show that sheep are susceptible to infection by both viruses, and molecular results suggest that the identified antibodies are result of natural infections and reinfections.
According to expert consensus, dystonia can be classified as focal, segmental, multifocal, and generalized, based on the affected body distribution. To provide an empirical and data-driven approach ...to categorizing these distributions, we used a data-driven clustering approach to compare frequency and co-occurrence rates of non-focal dystonia in pre-defined body regions using the Dystonia Coalition (DC) dataset. We analyzed 1,618 participants with isolated non-focal dystonia from the DC database. The analytic approach included construction of frequency tables, variable-wise analysis using hierarchical clustering and independent component analysis (ICA), and case-wise consensus hierarchical clustering to describe associations and clusters for dystonia affecting any combination of eighteen pre-defined body regions. Variable-wise hierarchical clustering demonstrated closest relationships between bilateral upper legs (distance = 0.40), upper and lower face (distance = 0.45), bilateral hands (distance = 0.53), and bilateral feet (distance = 0.53). ICA demonstrated clear grouping for the a) bilateral hands, b) neck, and c) upper and lower face. Case-wise consensus hierarchical clustering at k = 9 identified 3 major clusters. Major clusters consisted primarily of a) cervical dystonia with nearby regions, b) bilateral hand dystonia, and c) cranial dystonia. Our data-driven approach in a large dataset of isolated non-focal dystonia reinforces common segmental patterns in cranial and cervical regions. We observed unexpectedly strong associations between bilateral upper or lower limbs, which suggests that symmetric multifocal patterns may represent a previously underrecognized dystonia subtype.
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