Evidence-based clinical standard for the diagnosis and treatment of candidemia in critically ill patients in the intensive care unit.

Candidemia is the predominant form of invasive candidiasis and the most frequently occurring serious fungal infection in critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU). Studies carried out in Latin America reveal a higher incidence of candidemia and higher mortality rates when compared to North America or Europe. This highlights the need to develop guidelines for correctly diagnosing and treating candidemia in critically ill patients in the ICU.

Detecting Echinocandin Resistance in C. glabrata Using Commercial Methods: Are CLSI or EUCAST Breakpoints Suitable for Categorical Classification?

Background: Previous studies correlated Sensititre YeastOne and gradient diffusion plastic strips with standard procedures for the detection of echinocandin-resistant C. glabrata isolates. However, these studies were limited by the low number of resistant isolates studied; the inclusion of sufficient numbers of mutant isolates is essential to test the procedures' capacity to detect resistance.

Effects of the spray-drying process using maltodextrin on bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of the pulp of the tropical fruit açai ( Mart.).

Aҫai fruit is characterized by the properties of its bioactive compounds; however, this fruit is highly perishable and its compounds are sensitive when exposed to non-optimal environmental factors. Therefore, the objective of this study was to encapsulate the fruit pulp by spray drying to improve the nutritional value and extend the shelf life of the products derived from acai fruit. Maltodextrin was used as a wall material and the process was optimized to obtain the desirable values of the response variables.

Benign Intraoral Soft Tissue Lesions in Children.

Benign intraoral soft tissue pathology in pediatric patients includes developmental, traumatic, inflammatory, and infectious lesions. Common pathology includes gingival cysts, mucoceles, fibromas, and parulis. Less common lesions include peripheral ossifying fibromas, congenital epulis of the newborn, and congenital mandibular duct atresia.

Antimicrobial stewardship programs in seven Latin American countries: facing the challenges.

Background: Studies have shown that more than 50% of the antibiotics used in hospitals are unnecessary or inappropriate and, that antimicrobial resistance may cost up to 20 billion USD in excess medical costs each year. On the other hand, Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASP) significantly reduce inappropriate antimicrobial use, emergence of antimicrobial resistance, healthcare associated infections, and costs in hospital settings.

Objective: To evaluate the development of ASP and antibiotic savings in 7 Latin American hospitals using standardized quantitative indicators in all the participating health care institutions.

Psoriatic Arthritis: Differential Features at the Time of Clinical Presentation in a Large Cohort of Patients with Polyarthralgia.

Objective: Most patients with psoriatic arthritis begin with cutaneous psoriasis, which is why all early detection strategies are based on screening in the dermatological consultation and referral to a rheu matologist. However, there are cases of patients who consult initially for musculoskeletal symptoms, mostly joint pain, regardless of family and/or personal history of psoriasis. This study aimed to esti mate the frequency of psoriatic arthritis in a cohort of patients who consulted for polyarthralgia and to determine the differential features, at the time of clinical presentation, in relation to both patients with final diagnosis other than psoriatic arthritis and patients with diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Public Cord Blood Banks as a source of starting material for clinical grade HLA-homozygous induced pluripotent stem cells.

Background: The increasing number of clinical trials for induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cell therapy products makes the production on clinical grade iPSC more and more relevant and necessary. Cord blood banks are an ideal source of young, HLA-typed and virus screened starting material to produce HLA-homozygous iPSC lines for wide immune-compatibility allogenic cell therapy approaches. The production of such clinical grade iPSC lines (haplolines) involves particular attention to all steps since donor informed consent, cell procurement and a GMP-compliant cell isolation process.

Clinicopathological Features and Mortality in Patients With Kaposi Sarcoma and HIV: A Retrospective Analysis of a Thirty-Year Study From a Peruvian Oncologic Center.

Purpose: Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a multifocal angioproliferative disease. In Peru, the implementation of the highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) program was in 2005, the model for treating patients with HIV-positive KS shifted to a potential cure. In this study, we aim to compare clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors associated with outcomes in patients with HIV-positive KS.

Assessing the impact of human mobility to predict regional excess death in Ecuador.

COVID-19 outbreaks have had high mortality in low- and middle-income countries such as Ecuador. Human mobility is an important factor influencing the spread of diseases possibly leading to a high burden of disease at the country level. Drastic control measures, such as complete lockdown, are effective epidemic controls, yet in practice one hopes that a partial shutdown would suffice.

Excess deaths reveal unequal impact of COVID-19 in Ecuador.

Latin America has struggled to control the transmission of COVID-19. Comparison of excess death (ED) rates during the pandemic reveals that Ecuador is among the highest impacted countries. In this analysis, we update our previous findings with the most complete all-cause mortality records available for 2020, disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity and geography.

Excess deaths reveal the true spatial, temporal and demographic impact of COVID-19 on mortality in Ecuador.

Background: In early 2020, Ecuador reported one of the highest surges of per capita deaths across the globe.

Methods: We collected a comprehensive dataset containing individual death records between 2015 and 2020, from the Ecuadorian National Institute of Statistics and Census and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Government. We computed the number of excess deaths across time, geographical locations and demographic groups using Poisson regression methods.

Listeria bacteremia in patients from a peruvian oncologic institute, 2005-2015.

Listeriosis infection is a severe disease, with high morbidity and mortality in the immunocompromised patient, especially with disseminated and fatal presentations in cancer patients. A descriptive study was developed to describe the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics in oncologic patients with listeriosis in the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas between the years 2005-2015. A total of 29 patients were included; 23 (79.

The role of education in executive functions, behavioral problems and functional performance in people with schizophrenia.

Objective: This cross-sectional study examined the influence of education on executive functions, behavioral problems and functional performance in people with chronic schizophrenia.

Method: Our sample was composed of 116 subjects with a schizophrenia diagnosis (evolution time = 17.5 ± 9.

International multicentre observational study to evaluate the association between perioperative red blood cell transfusions and 1-year mortality after major cancer surgery (ARCA-1): study design, statistical analysis plan and study protocol.

Introduction: Blood transfusion is still common in patients undergoing major cancer surgery. Blood transfusion can be associated with poor prognosis in patients with cancer. Perioperative Care in the Cancer Patient -1 (ARCA-1) aims to assess in a large cohort of patients the current incidence, pattern of practice and associations between perioperative blood transfusions and 1-year survival in patients undergoing major cancer surgery.

Excess deaths reveal the true spatial, temporal, and demographic impact of COVID-19 on mortality in Ecuador.

Background: In early 2020, Ecuador reported one of the highest surges of per capita deaths across the globe.

Methods: We collected a comprehensive dataset containing individual death records between 2015 and 2020 from the Ecuadorian National Institute of Statistics and Census and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Government. We computed the number of excess deaths across time, geographical locations and demographic groups using Poisson regression methods.

Update on the epidemiology of carbapenemases in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Introduction: Carbapenemases are β-lactamases able to hydrolyze a wide range of β-lactam antibiotics, including carbapenems. Carbapenemase production in and spp., with and without the co-expression of other β-lactamases is a serious public health threat.

A Survey of Opioid Medication Stewardship Practices at Academic Medical Centers.

The results of a survey of academic medical centers assessing the presence and description of opioid stewardship activities. Academic medical centers within the Vizient University Health System Consortium Pharmacy Network were asked to complete a survey related to opioid stewardship activities. The survey consisted of 30 questions aimed at identifying current opioid stewardship practices among hospitals and health systems.

CAT: computer aided triage improving upon the Bayes risk through ε-refusal triage rules.

Background: Manual extraction of information from electronic pathology (epath) reports to populate the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result (SEER) database is labor intensive. Systematizing the data extraction automatically using machine-learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) is desirable to reduce the human labor required to populate the SEER database and to improve the timeliness of the data. This enables scaling up registry efficiency and collection of new data elements.

2018 American Society of Consultant Pharmacists Annual Meeting & Exhibition.

Poster abstracts are evaluated based on the following criteria: significance of the problem to healthy aging or medication management; innovativeness of ideas, methods, and/or approach; methodological rigor of methods and approach; presentation of finding; implications identified for future research, practice, and/or policy; and clarity of writing. Submissions are not evaluated through the peer-reviewed process used by . Industry support is indicated, where applicable.

[Tuberculosis That Mimics Cancer: Cases Referred to the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases, Lima-Peru].

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem that, due to the clinical variability of its presentation, can be confused with cancer. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical-radiological characteristics and to describe the methodology that allowed to achieve a TB diagnosis in patients referred to the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (INEN) with a presumed diagnosis of cancer between 2014 and 2016. The study included 170 patients (52.

The Effect of Genistein Supplementation on Vitamin D Levels and Bone Turnover Markers during the Summer in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: Role of Genotypes of Isoflavone Metabolism.

Aims: The objective of this study was to determine whether vitamin D and genistein supplementation had an additive beneficial effect on levels of vitamin D and bone markers and whether this effect was mediated by genes regulating isoflavone metabolism.

Materials And Methods: We carried out a prospective study in postmenopausal women randomized to calcium and vitamin D supplementation or calcium, vitamin D, and genistein supplementation. Vitamin D, parathyroid hormone (PTH), cross-linked C-telopeptide (CTX), and procollagen 1 N-terminal (P1NP) were determined by electrochemiluminescence.

Characterization of Reagent Pencils for Deposition of Reagents onto Paper-Based Microfluidic Devices.

Reagent pencils allow for solvent-free deposition of reagents onto paper-based microfluidic devices. The pencils are portable, easy to use, extend the shelf-life of reagents, and offer a platform for customizing diagnostic devices at the point of care. In this work, reagent pencils were characterized by measuring the wear resistance of pencil cores made from polyethylene glycols (PEGs) with different molecular weights and incorporating various concentrations of three different reagents using a standard pin abrasion test, as well as by measuring the efficiency of reagent delivery from the pencils to the test zones of paper-based microfluidic devices using absorption spectroscopy and digital image colorimetry.