Climate change impacts the Mediterranean region, transforming it from region with a semi-arid climate to a region with an arid climate. Under this situation, while groundwater is an essential hydric resource, its existence is in danger due to anthropogenic pressures. Persistent mobile organic compounds (PMOCs) have recently been recognised as an emerging problem; however, PMOCs in groundwater need to be better characterised.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeart failure worsens the prognosis of patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and is mainly caused by severe valvular regurgitation. The aim of our investigation is to describe the clinical, epidemiological, microbiological, and echocardiographic characteristics of patients with native left-sided infective endocarditis (NLSIE) with severe valvular regurgitation; to describe the prognosis according to the therapeutic approach; and to determine the prognostic factors of in-hospital mortality. : We prospectively recruited all episodes of possible or definite NLSIE diagnosed at three tertiary hospitals between 2005 and 2022.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrban aquifers are at risk of contamination from persistent and mobile organic compounds (PMOCs), especially per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are artificial organic substances widely used across various industrial sectors. PFAS are considered toxic, mobile and persistent, and have therefore gained significant attention in environmental chemistry. Moreover, precursors could transform into more recalcitrant products under natural conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Most data regarding infective endocarditis (IE) after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) comes from TAVI registries, rather than IE dedicated cohorts. The objective of our study was to compare the clinical and microbiological profile, imaging features and outcomes of patients with IE after SAVR with a biological prosthetic valve (IE-SAVR) and IE after TAVI (IE-TAVI) from 6 centres with an Endocarditis Team (ET) and broad experience in IE.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.
Approximately a quarter of patients with infective endocarditis (IE) who have surgical indication only receive antibiotic treatment. Their short-term prognosis is dismal. We aimed to describe the characteristics of this group of patients to evaluate the mortality according to the cause of rejection and type of surgical indication and to analyze their prognostic factors of mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSepsis is a time-dependent disease whose prognosis is influenced by early diagnosis and therapeutic measures. Mortality from sepsis remains high, and for this reason, the guidelines of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign recommend establishing specific care programs aimed at patients with sepsis. We present the results of the application of a hospital model to improve performance in sepsis care, called , with the aim of reducing mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrban aquifers are an alternative to obtain freshwater, but they are frequently polluted by contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Therefore, there is a need to ascertain whether CECs are a water management challenge as they might limit the use of groundwater as safe drinking water even at ng L concentration levels. To answer this question, it is required to evaluate human health-risk effects of measured CECs in the groundwater and to understand their behaviour at a field-scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPARPi, in combination with ionizing radiation, has demonstrated the ability to enhance cellular radiosensitivity in different tumors. The rationale is that the exposure to radiation leads to both physical and biochemical damage to DNA, prompting cells to initiate three primary mechanisms for DNA repair. Two double-stranded DNA breaks (DSB) repair pathways: (1) non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and (2) homologous recombination (HR); and (3) a single-stranded DNA break (SSB) repair pathway (base excision repair, BER).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe "3 noes right-sided infective endocarditis" (3no-RSIE: no left-sided, no drug users, no cardiac devices) was first described more than a decade ago. We describe the largest series to date to characterize its clinical, microbiological, echocardiographic and prognostic profile. Eight tertiary centers with surgical facilities participated in the study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To compare outcomes in patients with infective endocarditis (IE) first treated in secondary hospitals and then transferred to reference centres for surgery with those in patients diagnosed in reference centres, and to evaluate the impact of surgery timing on prognosis.
Methods: Analysis of a prospective cohort of patients with active IE admitted to three reference centres between 1996 and 2022 who underwent cardiac surgery in the first month after diagnosis. Multi-variable analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of transfer to reference centres and time to surgery on 30-day mortality.
Cisplatin and other platinum-based anticancer agents are among the most widely used chemotherapy drugs in the treatment of different types of cancer. However, it is common to find patients who respond well to treatment at first but later relapse due to the appearance of resistance to cisplatin. Among the mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon is the increase in DNA damage repair.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduction of PARP inhibitors (PARPi) in prostate cancer is a milestone and provides a pathway to hope in fighting this disease. It is the first time that drugs, based on the concept of synthetic lethality, have been approved for prostate cancer. In addition, it is also the first time that genetic mutation tests have been included in the therapeutic algorithm of this disease, representing a significant step forward for precision and personalized treatment of prostate cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis
June 2022
Among 1655 consecutive patients with infective endocarditis treated from 1998 to 2020 in three tertiary care centres, 16 were caused by Candida albicans (CAIE, n = 8) and Candida parapsilosis (CPIE, n = 8). Compared to CAIE, CPIE were more frequently community-acquired. Prosthetic valve involvement was remarkably more common among patients with CPIE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To analyze the feasibility, accuracy and the ability of different frailty instruments to predict adverse outcomes.
Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in patients ≥ 70 years admitted to the acute care setting (ACS). Feasibility and prevalence of frailty were assessed by FRAIL, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), hand grip strength (HGS) and the Spanish Frailty-VIG.
The Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays an important role in tumor progression and chemotherapy resistance and seems to be essential for the maintenance of cancer stem cells (CSC) in several tumor types. However, the interplay of these factors has not been fully addressed in bladder cancer. Here, our goal was to analyze the role of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in paclitaxel resistance and to study the therapeutic efficacy of its inhibition in bladder cancer cells, as well as to determine its influence in the maintenance of the CSC-like phenotype in bladder cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Guidelines recommend surgery for left-sided infective endocarditis (LSIE) that is associated with large vegetations. Given that most patients who undergo surgery also have other indications (heart failure and/or uncontrolled infection), it is not settled whether surgery should be routinely recommended in patients with large vegetations but no other predictors of poor outcome.
Methods: A total of 726 patients with definitive LSIE were included in our analysis.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
December 2021
This case study investigates the exposure of 119 Spanish women of reproductive age to 5 essential (Co, Cu, Mn, V, Zn) and 10 toxic (Ba, Be, Cs, Ni, Pb, Pt, Sb, Th, Al, U) elements and assesses their risk. The essential elements (Co, Cu, Mn, V, and Zn) showed average concentrations (GM: geometric mean) of 0.8, 35, 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the prognostic impact of urgent cardiac surgery on the prognosis of left-sided infective endocarditis (LSIE) and its relationship to the basal risk of the patient and to the surgical indication.
Methods: 605 patients with LSIE and formal surgical indication were consecutively recruited between 2000 and 2020 among three tertiary centres: 405 underwent surgery during the active phase of the disease and 200 did not despite having indication. The prognostic impact of urgent surgery was evaluated by multivariable analysis and propensity score analysis.
Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) in patients with a valve-tube ascending aortic graft (AAG) is a rare entity with a challenging diagnosis and treatment. This study describes the clinical features, diagnosis and outcome of these patients.
Methods: Between 1996 and 2019, 1654 episodes of IE were recruited in 3 centres, of which 37 patients (2.
Background: Most serious complications of infective endocarditis (IE) appear in the so-called "critical phase" of the disease, which represents the first days after diagnosis. The majority of patients overcoming the acute phase has a favorable outcome, yet they remain hospitalized for a long period of time mainly to complete antibiotic therapy. The major hypothesis of this trial is that in patients with clinically stable IE and adequate response to antibiotic treatment, without signs of persistent infection, periannular complications or metastatic foci, a shorter antibiotic time period would be as efficient and safe as the classic 4 to 6 weeks antibiotic regimen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToo much of a good thing can become a bad thing. An example is FBXW7, a well-known tumor suppressor that may also contribute to tumorigenesis. Here, we reflect on the results of three laboratories describing the role of FBXW7 in the degradation of p53 and the possible implications of this finding in tumor cell development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe pathogen causes listeriosis, a severe foodborne disease associated with high mortality. Rapid and sensitive methods are required for specific detection of this pathogen during food production. Bioluminescence-based reporter bacteriophages are genetically engineered viruses that infect their host cells with high specificity and transduce a heterologous luciferase gene whose activity can be detected with high sensitivity to indicate the presence of viable target cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed)
November 2020
Introduction And Objectives: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a complex disease with high in-hospital mortality. Prognostic assessment is essential to select the most appropriate therapeutic approach; however, international IE guidelines do not provide objective assessment of the individual risk in each patient. We aimed to design a predictive model of in-hospital mortality in left-sided IE combining the prognostic variables proposed by the European guidelines.
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