Objetive
To address the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and the evolutionary profile of immune compounds in breastmilk of positive mothers according to time and disease state.
Methods
Forty-five women with ...term pregnancies with confirmed non-severe SARS-CoV-2 infection (case group), and 96 SARS-CoV-2 negative women in identical conditions (control group) were approached, using consecutive sample. Weekly (1st to 5th week postpartum) reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in nasopharyngeal swabs (cases) and breastmilk (cases and controls) were obtained. Concentration of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors in breastmilk (cases and controls) were determined at 1st and 5th week post-partum.
Results
Thirty-seven (study group) and 45 (control group) women were enrolled. Symptomatic infection occurred in 56.8% of women in the study group (48% fever, 48% anosmia, 43% cough). SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not found in breastmilk samples. Concentrations of cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-1ra, IL-4, IL-6, IL-9, IL-13, and TNF-α) chemokines (eotaxin, IP-10, MIP-1α, and RANTES) and growth factors (FGF, GM-CSF, IL7, and PDGF-BB) were higher in breastmilk of the study compared with the control group at 1st week postpartum. Immune compounds concentrations decreased on time, particularly in the control group milk samples. Time of nasopharyngeal swab to become negative influenced the immune compound concentration pattern. Severity of disease (symptomatic or asymptomatic infection) did not affect the immunological profile in breast milk.
Conclusions
This study confirms no viral RNA and a distinct immunological profile in breastmilk according to mother’s SARS-CoV-2 status. Additional studies should address whether these findings indicate efficient reaction against SARS-CoV-2 infection, which might be suitable to protect the recipient child.
spp. is a relevant pathogen that can present acquired resistance to almost all available antibiotics, thus representing a serious threat for public health. While most studies have been focused on ...isolates causing community-acquired and nosocomial infections, little is known about the commensal isolates colonizing healthy subjects. We describe the molecular identification and the phenotypic characterization of commensal
spp. from breast milk of healthy women and faeces from healthy breast-fed infants, which were compared with isolates from community-acquired infections and from a nosocomial NICU outbreak. The phylogenetic analysis of a 454-bp sequence of the
gene was useful for species identification (
,
,
,
,
,
,
and
), previously misidentified as
or
by biochemical methods. Globally, we report that commensal strains present virulence traits (virulence genes, siderophores and biofilms) comparable to community-acquired and NICU-infective isolates, thus suggesting that the human microbiota could constitute a reservoir for infection. Isolates causing NICU outbreak were multi-drug resistant (MDR) and ESBLs producers, although an imipenem-resistant commensal MDR
isolate was also found. A commensal
strain showed a potent bacteriocin-like inhibitory activity against MDR
isolates, thus highlighting the potential role of commensal
spp. in health and disease.
The objective was to develop and validate a predictive model of initiation of breastfeeding in the first hour after delivery.
Retrospective cohort study on women who gave birth between 2013 and 2018 ...in Spain. For data collection, an ad hoc questionnaire was designed to be filled in by the mothers, which was distributed to the different Spanish breastfeeding associations which, in turn, shared it with their associate partners. The development of the predictive model was made on a cohort of 3218 women (2/3) and was validated on a cohort of 1609 women (1/3). Mothers whose children were admitted to hospital at the time of birth were excluded. A multivariate analysis was performed by means of logistic regression, and predictive ability was determined by areas under the ROC curve (AUC).
81.0 % (2608) women started breastfeeding in the first hour in the derivation cohort, and 80.1 % (1289) in the validation cohort. The predictive factors in the final model were: the highest number of children and skin-to-skin contact at birth as flattering factors, while dystocic delivery reduced the likelihood of the onset of breastfeeding. The predictive ability (ROC AUC) in the derivation cohort was 0.89 (CI 95 %: 0.87–0.90), while in the validation cohort it was 0.89 (CI 95 %: 0.87–0.92).
This three-variable predictive model has excellent predictive ability in both the derivation cohort and the validation cohort. This model can identify women who are at high risk of non-initiating breastfeeding within the first hour after delivery.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) contain a cell fraction of mononuclear progenitor cells (MPCs), which own significant angiogenic potential. Autologous transplant of PBMC and/or ...platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) promotes endothelial cells differentiation in experimental lower limb ischemia, which is considered a safe and effective strategy to support revascularization, either in animal models or clinical trials. In addition, thrombin has been proposed to enrich biological scaffolds, hence increasing MPC viability after intramuscular administration, whereas proangiogenic mediators such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α), inhibitor of the plasminogen activator‐1 (PAI‐1), and chemokine (CXCL1; GRO‐α) participate in the endothelial response to ischemia, through their proangiogenic effects over endothelial cells proliferation, survival, migration, endothelial integrity maintenance, and physiologic vascular response to injury. In the present study, we describe the effect of autologous PBMCs transplant and PRP, either with or without thrombin, over proangiogenic mediators (measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay) and revascularization response (angiographic vascular pattern at 30 days after vascular occlusion) in a rat model of lower limb ischemia. The group treated with PBMC + PRP significantly induced PAI‐1, an effect that was prevented by the addition of thrombin. Furthermore, treatment with PBMC + PRP + thrombin resulted in the induction of VEGF. GRO‐α showed a sensitive induction of all proangiogenic mediators. All treatments significantly stimulated revascularization, according to angiographic assessment, whereas higher effect was observed with PBMC + PRP treatment (p < .0001). In conclusion, autologous PBMC transplant stimulates revascularization during experimental ischemia of the lower limb, whereas particular effects over proangiogenic and fibrinolytic mediators may be attributed to PBMCs and its combination with PRP and thrombin.
► Technical analysis improved by neural networks is a powerful tool for evaluating stock prices. ► iRSI as a revisited RSI provide encouraging results in stock prediction. ► CAST produces remarkable ...results in spaniard IBEX 35 index.
Stock price predictions have been a field of study from several points of view including, among others, artificial intelligence and expert systems. For short-term predictions, the technical indicator relative strength indicator (RSI) has been published in many papers and used worldwide.
CAST is presented in this paper. CAST can be seen as a set of solutions for calculating the RSI using artificial intelligence techniques. The improvement is based on the use of feedforward neural networks to calculate the RSI in a more accurate way, which we call the iRSI. This new tool will be used in two scenarios. In the first, it will predict a market – in our case, the Spanish IBEX 35 stock market. In the second, it will predict single-company values pertaining to the IBEX 35. The results are very encouraging and reveal that the CAST can predict the given market as a whole along with individual stock pertaining to the IBEX 35 index.
Online dating sites have become popular platforms for those individuals who utilise the Internet to develop a personal or romantic relationship. Unlike typical recommenders systems, which attempt to ...suggest items such as films, songs, books and so on. According to a user’s interests, dating recommender systems provide services that people can use to find potential romantic partners. Since these services have a higher expectancy of users, online dating sites are considering the introduction of recommender systems in order to build an improved dating network. Different kinds of techniques based on content-based, collaborative filtering or hybrid techniques exist. In this article, we introduce BlindDate recommender, a context-based platform that utilises semantic technologies to describe users’ preferences more precisely. We utilise DBPedia repositories to obtain information that is subsequently used to enrich a previously generated ontology model. The instances inserted into the ontology enable the matching algorithms that we have generated to identify potential matches between users. In order to validate the performance of the platform, we utilise a real-world data set that has produced relevant results enhancing the accuracy compared with other well-known approaches and identifying the discriminant parameters used in the dating domain. More specifically, the proposed approach attains 0.79, 0.8 and 0.55 in the I-Precision, I-Recall and I-F-measure, respectively, when employed in separate topics.
U-shaped plantar cushions could help reduce stress affecting the central forefoot without the need for an orthosis, but they are yet to be integrated as an element in socks. The objective of this ...study was to verify the effectiveness of a sock with a central discharge element in terms of plantar temperature and comfort. The sample comprised 38 subjects (13 men and 25 women). Their plantar temperatures were measured with a thermographic camera in a basal situation and after each of two 10-minute walks around an indoor circuit during which they wore either control or experimental socks at random (the same design, weight, and fiber, but with the plantar cushioning element added). After the walks, each subject responded to a comfort questionnaire (five-point Likert scale), blindly scoring the two socks. The highest temperatures (28.3 ± 2.7 °C) were recorded in the zone of the second and third metatarsal heads. With the experimental socks, the observed temperature increase in the central forefoot zone was significantly less than with the control socks (31.6 vs. 30.6 °C, p = 0.001). The subjects found the experimental socks to be more comfortable than the controls (4.63 ± 0.5 vs. 4.03 ± 0.5, p < 0.001). The discharge element included in the experimental socks was effective since it reduced the contact zones and excess friction with the ground, thereby lessening overheating by more than 1 °C. Furthermore, the experimental socks were perceived as being more comfortable by the subjects who had mild and occasional foot discomfort.
Background
Age is a risk factor for COVID severity. Most studies performed in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV2 infection have shown an over-representation of older patients and consequently few ...have properly defined COVID-19 in younger patients who require hospital admission. The aim of the present study was to analyze the clinical characteristics and risk factors for the development of respiratory failure among young (18 to 50 years) hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Methods
This retrospective nationwide cohort study included hospitalized patients from 18 to 50 years old with confirmed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and July 2, 2020. All patient data were obtained from the SEMI-COVID Registry. Respiratory failure was defined as the ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2 ratio) ≤200 mmHg or the need for mechanical ventilation and/or high-flow nasal cannula or the presence of acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Results
During the recruitment period, 15,034 patients were included in the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, of whom 2327 (15.4%) were younger than 50 years. Respiratory failure developed in 343 (14.7%), while mortality occurred in 2.3%. Patients with respiratory failure showed a higher incidence of major adverse cardiac events (44 (13%) vs 14 (0.8%),
p
<0.001), venous thrombosis (23 (6.7%) vs 14 (0.8%),
p
<0.001), mortality (43 (12.5%) vs 7 (0.4%),
p
<0.001), and longer hospital stay (15 (9–24) vs 6 (4–9),
p
<0.001), than the remaining patients. In multivariate analysis, variables associated with the development of respiratory failure were obesity (odds ratio (OR), 2.42; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.71 to 3.43;
p
<0.0001), alcohol abuse (OR, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.26 to 4.58;
p
=0.0076), sleep apnea syndrome (SAHS) (OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.07 to 3.43;
p
=0.032), Charlson index ≥1 (OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 1.25 to 2.52;
p
=0.0013), fever (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.13 to 2.22;
p
=0.0075), lymphocytes ≤1100 cells/μL (OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.18 to 2.37;
p
=0.0033), LDH >320 U/I (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.18 to 2.42;
p
=0.0039), AST >35 mg/dL (OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.52;
p
=0.003), sodium <135 mmol/L (OR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.24 to 4.33;
p
=0.0079), and C-reactive protein >8 mg/dL (OR, 2.42; 95% CI, 1.72 to 3.41;
p
<0.0001).
Conclusions
Young patients with COVID-19 requiring hospital admission showed a notable incidence of respiratory failure. Obesity, SAHS, alcohol abuse, and certain laboratory parameters were independently associated with the development of this complication. Patients who suffered respiratory failure had a higher mortality and a higher incidence of major cardiac events, venous thrombosis, and hospital stay.
Unhealthy habits in children are increasing at an alarming rate. The school provides a promising setting for effective preventive strategies to improve children's lifestyle behaviors. The SI! Program ...is a multilevel multicomponent school-based educational intervention aimed at all stages of compulsory education in Spain.
Here, we present the design of the SI! Program for Elementary School cluster-randomized controlled trial, targeting children aged 6 to 11 years. This trial aims to study the impact of different timings and intensities of exposure to SI! Program activities on elementary school children and their immediate environment (parents/caregivers, teachers, and school).
The trial includes 1770 children from 48 public elementary schools in Madrid (Spain), together with their parents and teachers. Schools and their children were randomly assigned to the intervention group (the SI! curriculum-based educational program over 3 or 6 academic years) or to the control group (standard curriculum). The primary outcomes are the change from baseline at 3-year and 6-year follow-up in children's scores for knowledge, attitudes, and habits (KAH) and health factors (blood pressure, height, weight, waist circumference, and skinfold thickness). Secondary outcomes include 3-year and 6-year changes from baseline in lifestyle questionnaire scores for parents/caregivers and teachers, and in the school environment questionnaire.
The overarching goal of the SI! Program is to provide an effective and sustainable health promotion program for the adoption of healthy behaviors in children. The present trial will address the impact and the optimal timing and duration of this educational intervention in the elementary school setting.
Abstract Objective Intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the prevention of certain diseases during the pediatric years. Thus, there is an increasing interest in the addition of probiotics ...to infant formulas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of a follow-on formula with Lactobacillus salivarius CECT5713 in 6-mo-old children. Methods The antibiotic susceptibility of L. salivarius CECT5713 was analyzed by a dilution method. A double-blinded, randomized, placebo controlled study was performed. Children ( n = 80) were distributed in two groups and consumed the formula supplemented or not with probiotics (2 × 106 colony-forming units cfu/g) during 6 mo. Fecal samples were collected at enrollment, at 3 mo, and at the end of trial. Clinical and anthropometric evaluations were performed. Depending on the variable, one-way or two-way repeated measures analysis of variance were used for the statistical analysis. Results The antibiotic susceptibility profile of the strain resulted as safe. No adverse effects associated with the consumption of the probiotic formula were reported. In addition, clinical parameters did not differ between groups. Consumption of the probiotic supplemented formula led to an increase in the fecal lactobacilli content (7.6 ± 0.2 versus 7.9 ± 0.1 log cfu/g, P < 0.05). Lactobacillus salivarius CECT5713 was detected in the feces of volunteers from the probiotic group. Probiotic consumption induced a significant increase in the fecal concentration of butyric acid at 6 mo. Conclusion Thus, a follow-on formula with L. salivarius CECT5713 is safe and well tolerated in 6-mo-old infants.
PDF
