Methodological and reporting quality of non-inferiority randomized controlled trials comparing antifungal therapies: a systematic review.

Background: Detailed reporting is essential in non-inferiority randomized controlled trials (NI-RCTs) to assess evidence quality, as these trials inform standards of care.

Objectives: The primary objective was to evaluate the methodological and reporting quality of antifungal NI-RCTs.

Data Sources: Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane CENTRAL and the United States Federal Drug Administration (FDA) drugs database were searched to 9 September 2020.

Secondary Analysis of a Systematic Review: Are Antifungal Noninferiority Trials at Risk of Eroding Effectiveness Because of Biocreep?

Noninferiority randomized controlled trial (RCT) effectiveness may erode when results favor the active control over time and when a decreasingly effective control arm is used in serial trials. We analyzed 32 antifungal noninferiority RCTs (NI-RCTs) for these scenarios in this secondary analysis of a systematic review. Our exploratory analysis suggests that the erosion risk in the effectiveness of antifungal noninferiority trials is uncommon.

Confidence interval of risk difference by different statistical methods and its impact on the study conclusion in antibiotic non-inferiority trials.

Background: Numerous statistical methods can be used to calculate the confidence interval (CI) of risk differences. There is consensus in previous literature that the Wald method should be discouraged. We compared five statistical methods for estimating the CI of risk difference in terms of CI width and study conclusion in antibiotic non-inferiority trials.

Cefazolin versus cloxacillin as definitive antibiotic therapy for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus spinal epidural abscess: a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: We compared the effectiveness of cefazolin and cloxacillin as definitive antibiotic therapy for methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) spinal epidural abscess (SEA).

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients with MSSA SEA from two academic hospitals in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, between 2014 and 2020. Patients treated with cefazolin were compared to those treated with cloxacillin.

Intention-to-treat analysis may be more conservative than per protocol analysis in antibiotic non-inferiority trials: a systematic review.

Background: In non-inferiority trials, there is a concern that intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, by including participants who did not receive the planned interventions, may bias towards making the treatment and control arms look similar and lead to mistaken claims of non-inferiority. In contrast, per protocol (PP) analysis is viewed as less likely to make this mistake and therefore preferable in non-inferiority trials. In a systematic review of antibiotic non-inferiority trials, we compared ITT and PP analyses to determine which analysis was more conservative.

pericarditis in a lymphoma patient: Case report and literature review.

We present a case of pericarditis with pericardial effusion secondary to A 56-year-old man presented with signs of acute pericarditis, but with prior chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with stem cell transplantation, chronic graft-versus-host disease, and a recent diagnosis of untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. He developed cardiac tamponade requiring pericardiocentesis. Blood and pericardial cultures grew .

Methodological and Reporting Quality of Noninferiority Randomized Controlled Trials Comparing Antibiotic Therapies: A Systematic Review.

Background: Antibiotic noninferiority randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are used for approval of new antibiotics and making changes to antibiotic prescribing in clinical practice. We conducted a systematic review to assess the methodological and reporting quality of antibiotic noninferiority RCTs.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Food and Drug Administration drug database from inception until November 22, 2019, for noninferiority RCTs comparing different systemic antibiotic therapies.

Novel Antibiotics May Be Noninferior but Are They Becoming Less Effective?: a Systematic Review.

Novel antibiotics approved by noninferiority trials may become less effective over time in two scenarios: (i) the treatment effect in studies of novel antibiotics may be consistently worse than studies of older antibiotics; (ii) when a decreasingly effective control arm is used in a series of noninferiority trials. Our systematic review of 175 noninferiority antibiotic trials found these scenarios to be rare.

Factors Affecting Pre-Travel Health Seeking Behaviour and Adherence to Pre-Travel Health Advice: A Systematic Review.

Background: Recent years have seen unprecedented growth in international travel. Travellers are at high risk for acquiring infections while abroad and potentially bringing these infections back to their home country. There are many ways to mitigate this risk by seeking pre-travel advice (PTA), including receiving recommended vaccinations and chemoprophylaxis, however many travellers do not seek or adhere to PTA.

The use of air travel data for predicting dengue importation to China: A modelling study.

Background: Dengue virus importation from abroad is still the main driver of dengue incidence in China. Using global flight data to model importation may improve our understanding and prediction of dengue virus importation and onward transmission.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of surveillance cases of dengue infections imported to China and volume of air traffic to China for the years 2005 through 2014, inclusive.

Seasonal and interannual risks of dengue introduction from South-East Asia into China, 2005-2015.

Due to worldwide increased human mobility, air-transportation data and mathematical models have been widely used to measure risks of global dispersal of pathogens. However, the seasonal and interannual risks of pathogens importation and onward transmission from endemic countries have rarely been quantified and validated. We constructed a modelling framework, integrating air travel, epidemiological, demographical, entomological and meteorological data, to measure the seasonal probability of dengue introduction from endemic countries.

Human Mobility and the Global Spread of Infectious Diseases: A Focus on Air Travel.

Greater human mobility, largely driven by air travel, is leading to an increase in the frequency and reach of infectious disease epidemics. Air travel can rapidly connect any two points on the planet, and this has the potential to cause swift and broad dissemination of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases that may pose a threat to global health security. Investments to strengthen surveillance, build robust early-warning systems, improve predictive models, and coordinate public health responses may help to prevent, detect, and respond to new infectious disease epidemics.

Maternal near miss and mortality due to postpartum infection: a cross-sectional analysis from Rwanda.

Background: The objective of this study is to evaluate 'near miss' and mortality in women with postpartum infections.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients referred to the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) between January 2012 and December 2013. We identified 117 patients with postpartum infections.

Ultra-fast electron capture by electrosterically-stabilized gold nanoparticles.

Ultra-fast pre-solvated electron capture has been observed for aqueous solutions of room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) surface-stabilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs; ∼9 nm). The extraordinarily large inverse temperature dependent rate constants (k(e)∼ 5 × 10(14) M(-1) s(-1)) measured for the capture of electrons in solution suggest electron capture by the AuNP surface that is on the timescale of, and therefore in competition with, electron solvation and electron-cation recombination reactions. The observed electron transfer rates challenge the conventional notion that radiation induced biological damage would be enhanced in the presence of AuNPs.

Combined fragment molecular orbital cluster in molecule approach to massively parallel electron correlation calculations for large systems.

The local correlation "cluster-in-molecule" (CIM) method is combined with the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method, providing a flexible, massively parallel, and near-linear scaling approach to the calculation of electron correlation energies for large molecular systems. Although the computational scaling of the CIM algorithm is already formally linear, previous knowledge of the Hartree-Fock (HF) reference wave function and subsequent localized orbitals is required; therefore, extending the CIM method to arbitrarily large systems requires the aid of low-scaling/linear-scaling approaches to HF and orbital localization. Through fragmentation, the combined FMO-CIM method linearizes the scaling, with respect to system size, of the HF reference and orbital localization calculations, achieving near-linear scaling at both the reference and electron correlation levels.

Use of pollen and ancient DNA as conservation baselines for offshore islands in New Zealand.

Islands play a key role globally in the conservation of endemic species. Many island reserves have been highly modified since human colonization, and their restoration and management usually occur without knowledge of their prehuman state. However, conservation paleoecology is increasingly being recognized as a tool that can help to inform both restoration and conservation of island reserves by providing prehuman vegetation baselines.

Terpenoid mosquito repellents: a combined DFT and QSAR study.

Interactions between low-toxicity terpenoid mosquito repellents and lactic acid are studied at the HF and B3LYP level. The subsequent QSAR study shows that not only the structure of repellents but also the repellent-lactic acid complexes may play an important role. It suggests that further study on interactions between repellents and characteristic compounds from human host may be required in order to understand the repelling mechanism.

Seroprevalence of West Nile virus in Saskatchewan's Five Hills Health Region, 2003.

Background: The Five Hills Health Region of Saskatchewan reported the highest West Nile virus (WNV) case rates in the 2003 outbreak. A serologic and telephone survey was undertaken to assess the seroprevalence of the virus and the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of the residents.

Methods: Respondents had to be at least 18 years of age, and residents of the Five Hills Health Region between July 1st and September 15th, 2003.