Immune checkpoint inhibitors-associated thrombosis in patients with lung cancer and melanoma: a study of the Spanish society of medical oncology (SEOM) thrombosis and cancer group.

Purpose: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICI) can be associated with thrombotic events, both venous and arterial (VTE/AT). However, there is a paucity of information regarding patients in routine clinical practice.

Methods/patients: Retrospective, multicenter study promoted by the Thrombosis and Cancer Section of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM).

Correction: Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to DDT by Breast Milk Analysis in Canary Islands.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to DDT by breast milk analysis in Canary Islands.

Introduction: The use of p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) has been banned since the late 1970s due to its toxicity. However, its long half-life makes it persistent in the environment and, consequently, almost everyone has DDT residues in the body. Human milk constitutes an ideal non-conventional matrix to investigate environmental chronic exposure to organochlorine compounds (OCs) residues.

Assessment of prenatal exposure to arsenic in Tenerife Island.

Introduction: Increasing awareness of the potential chronic health effects of arsenic (As) at low exposure levels has motivated efforts to better understand impaired child development during pregnancy by biomarkers of exposure. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prenatal exposure to As by analysis of an alternative matrix (meconium), to examine its effects on neonatal outcomes and investigate the association with maternal lifestyle and dietary habits during pregnancy.

Methods: A transversal descriptive study was conducted in Tenerife (Spain).

Assessment of prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke by cotinine in cord blood for the evaluation of smoking control policies in Spain.

Background: Over the last few years a decreasing trend in smoking has occurred not only in the general population but also during pregnancy. Several countries have implemented laws requiring all enclosed workplace and public places to be free of second hand smoke (SHS). In Spain, legislation to reduce SHS was implemented in 2005.

Cocaine use during pregnancy assessed by hair analysis in a Canary Islands cohort.

Background: Drug use during pregnancy is difficult to ascertain, and maternal reports are likely to be inaccurate. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of illicit drug use among pregnant women by using maternal hair analysis.

Methods: A toxicological analysis of hair was used to detect chronic recreational drug use during pregnancy.

[Relationship between lower respiratory tract infections in the first year of life and the development of asthma and wheezing in children].

Introduction: There is limited knowledge on the relationship between lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and asthma and wheezing during infancy, as there are few studies with prospective design, birth cohort and in non selected population. The objectives of the present study were to determine the prevalence of asthma and recurrent wheezing in childhood and to analyse the relationship between LTRI during the first year of life and the development of asthma and/or wheezing in childhood.

Patients And Methods: Prospective birth cohort study conducted in the Hospital del Mar (Barcelona).

[Perinatal exposure to tobacco and respiratory and allergy symptoms in first years of life].

Background And Objectives: To analyse the relationship between prenatal and postnatal tobacco exposure and the development of respiratory and allergy symptoms during the first 4 years of life.

Patients And Methods: Prospective and multicentred cohort study that included the subjects belonging to AMICS (Asthma Multicentred Infant Cohort Study) located in Ashford (England), Barcelona and Minorca (Spain). We recruited 1611 children, followed from the pregnancy to the 4th year of life, whose parents annually answered a questionnaire on their tobacco consumption and their children's respiratory and allergy health.

Incidence and risk factors of lower respiratory tract illnesses during infancy in a Mediterranean birth cohort.

Aim: To investigate the incidence rate, viral respiratory agents and determinants of lower respiratory tract illnesses (LRTIs) in infants younger than 1 year.

Methods: A total of 487 infants were recruited at birth for the Asthma Multicenter Infant Cohort Study in Barcelona (Spain). Cases of LRTIs were ascertained through an active register including a home visit and viral test in nasal lavage specimens during the first year of life.

A longitudinal study of environmental tobacco smoke exposure in children: parental self reports versus age dependent biomarkers.

Background: Awareness of the negative effects of smoking on children's health prompted a decrease in the self-reporting of parental tobacco use in periodic surveys from most industrialized countries. Our aim is to assess changes between ETS exposure at the end of pregnancy and at 4 years of age determined by the parents' self-report and measurement of cotinine in age related biological matrices.

Methods: The prospective birth cohort included 487 infants from Barcelona city (Spain).

[Impact of a clinical self-evaluation intervention on the appropriateness of hospital stays].

Aim: To assess the impact of an intervention on inappropriate hospital stays (IHS) in acute-care hospitals in Catalonia (Spain) with the aim of testing the hypothesis that a simple intervention (adeQhos) reduces the proportion of IHS.

Methods: A pre-test/post-test study was performed through the <> questionnaire. Two intervention groups (internal medicine and general surgery) and 2 control groups (other medical specialities, orthopedics) were compared in 10 acute-care hospitals in Catalonia.

Early-life allergen exposure and atopy, asthma, and wheeze up to 6 years of age.

Rationale: Although it is widely assumed that the incidence of childhood respiratory allergies to common aeroallergens is directly related to allergen exposure in early life, few longitudinal studies have investigated this issue, and available data are scarce and mainly limited to high-risk groups.

Objectives: To assess, in a prospective manner and in a general population, the role of early life exposures to Der p1 and Fel d1 on the inception of sensitization and asthma.

Methods: Pregnant women and their children were recruited for the Asthma Multicentre Infant Cohort Study.

Fetal exposure to cocaine and infections during the first 18 months of life in infants from a Mediterranean city.

Aim: The incidence of infections during the first 18 months of life was investigated in 36 infants prenatally exposed to cocaine and in 72 non-exposed controls from Barcelona, Spain.

Methods: Fetal exposure to cocaine was ascertained by meconium analysis, infections by structured questionnaire.

Results: A higher incidence of infections, if excluding those acquired in utero, was not found in exposed infants versus non-exposed infants of similar demographical and socioeconomic characteristics.

Assessment of exposure to opiates and cocaine during pregnancy in a Mediterranean city: preliminary results of the "Meconium Project".

For the first time in Europe, the "Meconium Project" aimed to estimate the prevalence of drug use by pregnant women and the effects of exposure to illicit drugs during pregnancy on the fetus and infant. Between October 2002 and February 2004, 1151 (79%) dyads among the 1439 mother-infant dyads from the Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain, met eligibility criteria and agreed to participate in the study. We present preliminary results on the first 830 meconium samples and 549 mother-infant dyads, for which statistical analysis of socio-economic and demographic characteristics and newborn somatometry was completed.

Nitrogen dioxide is not associated with respiratory infection during the first year of life.

Background: Nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) has been related to respiratory infections in experimental studies but its role remains controversial in general population studies of children. We aim to assess the association between indoor NO(2) and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) during the first year of life in a multicentre prospective cohort study.

Methods: Children (n = 1611) were recruited prior to birth for the Asthma Multicentre Infants Cohort Study (AMICS).

Quantification of arecoline (areca nut alkaloid) in neonatal biological matrices by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray quadrupole mass spectrometry.

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with mass spectrometric detection is described for determination of arecoline in newborn meconium, urine and cord serum, using pilocarpine as internal standard. The analytes were extracted from neonatal biological matrices with chloroform/isopropanol (95:5, v/v) at alkaline pH. Extracts were analyzed by HPLC coupled to an electrospray (ESI) interface and a quadrupole mass spectrometer.

Domestic aeroallergen levels in Barcelona and Menorca (Spain).

Exposure to common indoor allergens is known to be associated with sensitization and triggers of asthma. Levels of allergens have been barely described in Mediterranean countries. This study reports domestic allergen levels among the general population of two regions of Spain.

[Neonatal effects of smoking habit during pregnancy and sociodemographic determinants in Barcelona, Spain].

Background: Smoking during pregnancy poses a health risk for the fetus which may later extend to the child and adult, with higher probability of respiratory problems. The aim of this study was the to investigate the correlation between smoking during pregnancy and the neonatal characteristics and sociodemographic determinants of smoking habit during pregnancy.

Patients And Methods: Study subjects were 419 mothers and their newborns in Barcelona, Spain.