Improving the communication between farmers and veterinarians to enhance the acceptability of bovine tuberculosis eradication programmes.

France and Spain have been fighting against bovine tuberculosis (bTB) for years, even though new outbreaks continue to appear on both sides of the border, generating misconceptions about the disease and social distrust in the eradication programme and competent authorities. The perceived disease risk and the commitment of all interested parties are key factors for the successful implementation of control programmes, as they might influence the acceptability of recommended measures. Effective communication can contribute to increasing knowledge, trust and stakeholders' engagement, thus ensuring the acceptability of the eradication programme.

[Severe lactic acidosis in a pregnant woman with partial HELLP syndrome and COVID-19].

The present report describes the case of a 23-year old pregnant woman who was in the 36.5th week of gestation of her second pregnancy. She was attended at the emergency room because of dry cough and progressive dyspnea, in association with headache and myalgia.

The impact of Covid-19 on patients with suspected cancer: An analysis of ED presentation and referrals to a quick diagnosis unit.

Purpose: Patients evaluated in the emergency department (ED) who have concerning symptoms suggestive of a cancer diagnosis are mostly referred to the quick diagnosis unit of our tertiary hospital. This study analyzed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the volume, disease patterns, and accessibility to essential investigations of patients with suspected cancer referred by the ED to this unit.

Methods: Trends in referrals were analyzed from January 1 to July 8, 2020 and the corresponding dates of 2019.

Brain imaging correlates of self- and other-reflection in schizophrenia.

Background: An alteration in self/other differentiation has been proposed as a basis for several symptoms in schizophrenia, including delusions of reference and social functioning deficits. Dysfunction of the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), a region linked with social cognition, has been proposed as the basis of this alteration. However, imaging studies of self- and other-processing in schizophrenia have shown, so far, inconsistent results.

Autobiographical memory and default mode network function in schizophrenia: an fMRI study.

Background: The brain functional correlates of autobiographical recall are well established, but have been little studied in schizophrenia. Additionally, autobiographical memory is one of a small number of cognitive tasks that activates rather than de-activates the default mode network, which has been found to be dysfunctional in this disorder.

Methods: Twenty-seven schizophrenic patients and 30 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing cue words that evoked autobiographical memories.

Interferometric photodetection in silicon photonics for phase diffusion quantum entropy sources.

We report the interferometric photodetection of a phase-diffusion quantum entropy source in a silicon photonics chip. The device uses efficient and robust single-laser accelerated phase diffusion methods, and implements the unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer with optimized splitting ratio and photodetection, in a 0.5 mm×1 mm footprint.

Shared and differential default-mode related patterns of activity in an autobiographical, a self-referential and an attentional task.

The default-mode network (DMN) comprises a set of brain regions that show deactivations during performance of attentionally demanding tasks, but also activation during certain processes including recall of autobiographical memories and processing information about oneself, among others. However, the DMN is not activated in a homogeneous manner during performance of such tasks, so it is not clear to what extent its activation patterns correspond to deactivation patterns seen during attention-demanding tasks. In this fMRI study we compared patterns of activation in response to an autobiographical memory task to those observed in a self/other-reflection task, and compared both to deactivations observed during the n-back working memory task.

Immunogenicity and safety of the 4CMenB and MenACWY-CRM meningococcal vaccines administered concomitantly in infants: A phase 3b, randomized controlled trial.

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease has its highest incidence in infants. Co-administration of serogroup B (4CMenB) and quadrivalent conjugate (MenACWY-CRM) vaccines could protect against 5 clinically-relevant meningococcal serogroups.

Methods: This phase 3b, open, multicenter study (NCT02106390), conducted in Mexico and Argentina, enrolled and randomized (1:1:1) 750 healthy infants to receive either 4CMenB co-administered with MenACWY-CRM (4CMenB/MenACWY group), 4CMenB (4CMenB group), or MenACWY-CRM alone (MenACWY group) at ages 3, 5, 7 and 13 months.

Evaluating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder using ecological momentary assessment: a systematic review.

Ecological momentary assessment is an excellent tool for the measurement of different day-to-day domains in patients and capturing real-world and real-time data. The purpose of this review is to evaluate feasibility in current ecological momentary assessment studies on emotional and behavioral functioning, functional impairments, and quality of life patients with an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis. This systematic review follows the recommendation of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines selecting articles published from January 1, 1990, up to the latest access on May 2018, identifying a pool of 23 eligible studies.

P2Y12 antagonists and cardiac repair post-myocardial infarction: global and regional heart function analysis and molecular assessments in pigs.

Aims: P2Y12 antagonists are the standard in antiplatelet therapy but their potential effects on functional myocardial recovery and cardioprotection post-myocardial infarction (MI) are unknown. We investigated in a preclinical model of MI whether ticagrelor and clopidogrel differently affect cardiac repair post-MI.

Methods And Results: Pigs either received: (i) clopidogrel (600 mg; 75 mg/qd); (ii) ticagrelor (180 mg; 90 mg/bid); and (iii) placebo control.

Clinical Validation of Eye Vergence as an Objective Marker for Diagnosis of ADHD in Children.

Objective: ADHD youth show poor oculomotor control. Recent research shows that attention-related eye vergence is weak in ADHD children.

Method: To validate vergence as a marker to classify ADHD, we assessed the modulation in the angle of vergence of children ( n = 43) previously diagnosed with ADHD while performing an attention task and compared the results with age-matched clinical controls ( n = 19) and healthy peers ( n = 30).

Allogenic adipose-derived stem cell therapy overcomes ischemia-induced microvessel rarefaction in the myocardium: systems biology study.

Background: Myocardial microvascular loss after myocardial infarction (MI) remains a therapeutic challenge. Autologous stem cell therapy was considered as an alternative; however, it has shown modest benefits due to the impairing effects of cardiovascular risk factors on stem cells. Allogenic adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) may overcome such limitations, and because of their low immunogenicity and paracrine potential may be good candidates for cell therapy.

A decade of the Catalonian Arthroplasty Register (RACat): Variability, exhaustivity, and survival of prostheses between 2005 and 2014.

Background And Aim: The Catalonian Arthroplasty Register (RACat) is a public health-based population register used to analyse and evaluate hip and knee replacements in Catalonia. The aim of this study is to present the outcomes after 10 years in operation (January 2005-December 2014).

Methodology: Using the information from the RACat and the minimum basic data set at hospital discharge, an analysis was made of the quality and exhaustivity of the data, as well as a descriptive analysis of the patients, prostheses, and care process.

Protective Effects of Ticagrelor on Myocardial Injury After Infarction.

Background: The P2Y receptor antagonist ticagrelor has been shown to be clinically superior to clopidogrel. Although the underlying mechanisms remain elusive, ticagrelor may exert off-target effects through adenosine-related mechanisms. We aimed to investigate whether ticagrelor reduces myocardial injury to a greater extent than clopidogrel after myocardial infarction (MI) at a similar level of platelet inhibition and to determine the underlying mechanisms.

Incidence and Risk Factors for Infection When Teicoplanin Is Included for Prophylaxis in Patients with Hip Fracture.

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) rate after surgery for hip fracture is about 4%. The aim of the present study was to review the efficacy of dual prophylaxis using teicoplanin plus cefuroxime and risk factors for SSI.

Patients: Operations for hip fracture from 2012 to 2013 were retrospectively reviewed.

Trends and patterns in the use of computed tomography in children and young adults in Catalonia - results from the EPI-CT study.

Background: Although there are undeniable diagnostic benefits of CT scanning, its increasing use in paediatric radiology has become a topic of concern regarding patient radioprotection.

Objective: To assess the rate of CT scanning in Catalonia, Spain, among patients younger than 21 years old at the scan time.

Materials And Methods: This is a sub-study of a larger international cohort study (EPI-CT, the International pediatric CT scan study).

Characterization of the repeat expansion size in C9orf72 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia.

Hexanucleotide repeat expansions within the C9orf72 gene are the most important genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The difficulty of developing a precise method to determine the expansion size has hampered the study of possible correlations between the hexanucleotide repeat number and clinical phenotype. Here we characterize, through a new non-radioactive Southern blot protocol, the expansion size range in a series of 38 ALS and 22 FTD heterozygous carriers of >30 copies of the repeat.

Determination of the enantiomeric purity of the antiasthmatic drug montelukast by means of 1H NMR spectroscopy.

In order to define an enantioselective nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method for the antiasthmatic drug montelukast, a series of nine easily available products were evaluated as NMR chiral solvating agents (CSAs): D-dibenzoyltartaric acid, D-ditoluoyltartaric acid, (+)-camphorsulfonic acid, (S)-BINOL, (S)-3,3'-diphenyl-2,2'-binaphthyl-1,1'-diol, (R)-3,3''-di-9-anthracenyl-1,1''-bi-2-naphthol, (R)-3,3''-di-9-phenanthrenyl-1,1''-bi-2-naphthol, Pirkle's alcohol, and (-)-cinchonidine. It was proved that most of the studied agents constitute diastereomeric complexes with both drug enantiomers in CD2 Cl2 or CDCl3 solutions, thus permitting the direct (1)H NMR detection of the unwanted S-enantiomer, even at levels of 0.75%.

Identifying the cortical substrates of interictal epileptiform activity in patients with extratemporal epilepsy: An EEG-fMRI sequential analysis and FDG-PET study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to apply sequential analysis of electroencephalography-functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) data to study the cortical substrates related to the generation of the interictal epileptiform activity (IEA) in patients with pharmacoresistant extratemporal epilepsy.

Methods: We analyzed fMRI data from 21 children, adolescents, and young adults patients who showed frequent bursts or runs of spikes on EEG, by using the sequential analysis method. We contrasted consecutive fixed-width blocks of 10 s to obtain the relative variations in cerebral activity along the entire fMRI runs.

Is a strategy based on routine endotracheal cultures the best way to prescribe antibiotics in ventilator-associated pneumonia?

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to evaluate if a strategy based on routine endotracheal aspirate (ETA) cultures is better than using the American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America (ATS/IDSA) guidelines to prescribe antimicrobials in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).

Methods: This was a prospective, observational, cohort study conducted in a 15-bed ICU and comprising 283 patients who were mechanically ventilated for ≥48 h. Interventions included twice-weekly ETA; BAL culture was done if VAP was suspected.