Pre-diagnostic plasma advanced glycation end-products and soluble receptor for advanced glycation end-products and mortality in colorectal cancer patients.

Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), formed endogenously or obtained exogenously from diet, may contribute to chronic inflammation, intracellular signaling alterations, and pathogenesis of several chronic diseases including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the role of AGEs in CRC survival is less known. The associations of pre-diagnostic circulating AGEs and their soluble receptor (sRAGE) with CRC-specific and overall mortality were estimated using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression among 1369 CRC cases in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

COVID-19, social determinants of transmission in the home. A population-based study.

Background: Studying transmission within the home is essential to understand the transmission dynamics of numerous infectious diseases. For Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), transmission within the home constitutes the majority exposure context. The risk of infection in this setting can be quantified by the household/intra-family secondary attack rate (SAR).

Toenail zinc as a biomarker: Relationship with sources of environmental exposure and with genetic variability in MCC-Spain study.

Background: Toenails are commonly used as biomarkers of exposure to zinc (Zn), but there is scarce information about their relationship with sources of exposure to Zn.

Objectives: To investigate the main determinants of toenail Zn, including selected sources of environmental exposure to Zn and individual genetic variability in Zn metabolism.

Methods: We determined toenail Zn by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in 3,448 general population controls from the MultiCase-Control study MCC-Spain.

The impact of climate change scenarios on droughts and their propagation in an arid Mediterranean basin. A useful approach for planning adaptation strategies.

Areas where there is a scarcity of water frequently experience significant drought periods, which may become exacerbated in the future due to climate change. In this paper we propose a novel and integrated method for a semi-distributed analysis of the impact on potential future meteorological, hydrological, agronomical and operational droughts within a basin. We analyse the propagation and correlation of the different types of droughts, and then this analysis can be used to plan sustainable adaptation strategies.

Infective endocarditis treated in a secondary hospital: epidemiological, clinical, microbiological characteristics and prognosis, with special reference to patients transferred to a third level hospital.

Objective: To analyse the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and mortality-related factors of patients admitted to a secondary hospital with Infective Endocarditis (IE).

Methods: Observational study of a cohort of patients who have been diagnosed with IE in a secondary hospital and evaluated in accordance with a pre-established protocol.

Results: A total of 101 cases were evaluated (years 2000-2017), with an average age of 64 years and a male-to-female ratio of 2:1.

Analysis of Air Mean Temperature Anomalies by Using Horizontal Visibility Graphs.

The last decades have been successively warmer at the Earth's surface. An increasing interest in climate variability is appearing, and many research works have investigated the main effects on different climate variables. Some of them apply complex networks approaches to explore the spatial relation between distinct grid points or stations.

Risk factors for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and extended-spectrum ß-lactamase producing Enterobacterales in patients with diabetic foot infections requiring hospital admission.

Objective: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) may complicate the treatment of diabetic foot infections (DFIs). The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for these pathogens in DFIs.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study of 167 consecutive adult patients with DFIs.

Eficacia y seguridad de la analgesia preventiva con gabapentinoides para pacientes sometidos a cirugía artroscópica de hombro: una revisión sistemática y metanálisis.

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of preemptive analgesia with gabapentinoids for patients undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery.

Material And Methods: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library and ScienceDirect databases. Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) comparing gabapentinoids (gabapentin and pregabalin) with placebo in patients undergoing shoulder arthroscopic surgery were retrieved.

Improving graph-based detection of singular events for photochemical smog agents.

Recently, a set of graph-based tools have been introduced for the identification of singular events of O, NO and temperature time series, as well as description of their dynamics. These are based on the use of the Visibility Graphs (VG). In this work, an improvement of the original approach is proposed, being called Upside-Down Visibility Graph (UDVG).

Dietary intake of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and changes in body weight in European adults.

Purpose: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) can be formed in foods by the reaction of reducing sugars with proteins, and have been shown to induce insulin resistance and obesity in experimental studies. We examined the association between dietary AGEs intake and changes in body weight in adults over an average of 5 years of follow-up.

Methods: A total of 255,170 participants aged 25-70 years were recruited in ten European countries (1992-2000) in the PANACEA study (Physical Activity, Nutrition, Alcohol, Cessation of smoking, Eating out of home in relation to Anthropometry), a sub-cohort of the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition).

A sliding window-based algorithm for faster transformation of time series into complex networks.

A new alternative method to approximate the Visibility Graph (VG) of a time series has been introduced here. It exploits the fact that most of the nodes in the resulting network are not connected to those that are far away from them. This means that the adjacency matrix is almost empty, and its nonzero values are close to the main diagonal.

Checking complex networks indicators in search of singular episodes of the photochemical smog.

A set of indicators derived from the analysis of complex networks have been introduced to identify singularities on a time series. To that end, the Visibility Graphs (VG) from three different signals related to photochemical smog (O, NO concentration and temperature) have been computed. From the resulting complex network, the centrality parameters have been obtained and compared among them.

Can complex networks describe the urban and rural tropospheric O dynamics?

Tropospheric ozone (O) time series have been converted into complex networks through the recent so-called Visibility Graph (VG), using the data from air quality stations located in the western part of Andalusia (Spain). The aim is to apply this novel method to differentiate the behavior between rural and urban regions when it comes to the ozone dynamics. To do so, some centrality parameters of the resulting complex networks have been investigated: the degree, betweenness and shortest path.

[Influence of initial protocolized treatment with steroids in length of stay and costs of community acquired pneumonia].

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of steroid treatment in patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP), both in length of stay and economical cost of admission at a clinical university hospital.

Methods: Prospective study of admitted patients with the diagnosis of CAP, both in Internal Medicine and Infectious diseases department. The study was conducted from January to march 2015; patients receiving steroids from diagnosis to end of antibiotic treatment were classified as group I; otherwise, they were considered in group II.

[Design and implementation of an outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy program in primary care: the experience at a second level hospital].

Objective: Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) programs are a good assistance option in a wide variety of infectious diseases. Our aim was to design and implement an OPAT program in the area of influence of a second-level hospital, with no Home Hospitalization Service available, being necessary close collaboration between hospitalization and Primary Care teams, describe our cohort, analyse the antimicrobial treatment indicated and evaluate the prognostic and risk factors associated with readmission and mortality.

Methods: Prospective study cohorts of patients admitted to the OPAT programme, from 1 January 2012 to 31 May 2015.

A Rich Morphological Diversity of Biosaline Drying Patterns Is Generated by Different Bacterial Species, Different Salts and Concentrations: Astrobiological Implications.

Unlabelled: Biosaline formations (BSFs) are complex self-organized biomineral patterns formed by "hibernating" bacteria as the biofilm that contains them dries out. They were initially described in drying biofilms of Escherichia coli cells + NaCl. Due to their intricate 3-D morphology and anhydrobiosis, these biomineralogical structures are of great interest in astrobiology.

Use of antibiotics at a University Clinic Hospital: effect of protocolized antibiotic treatment in the evolution of hospital patients with infections.

Objectives: To analyse factors associated to "failure" in patients under antibiotic (AB) treatment at a third level hospital.

Patients And Methods: All patients receiving an AB treatment along April 2012 were prospectively observed and factors associated to failure were analyzed. Failure was defined as clinical or microbiological failure, relapse or death.

Drying bacterial biosaline patterns capable of vital reanimation upon rehydration: novel hibernating biomineralogical life formations.

Water is the fundamental molecule for life on Earth. Thus, the search for hibernating life-forms in waterless environments is an important research topic for astrobiology. To date, however, the organizational patterns containing microbial life in extremely dry places, such as the deserts of Earth, the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, or Mars analog regolith, have been poorly characterized.

Crowning: a novel Escherichia coli colonizing behaviour generating a self-organized corona.

Background: Encased in a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) composed of flagella, adhesins, amyloid fibers (curli), and exopolysaccharides (cellulose, β-1,6-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine polymer-PGA-, colanic acid), the bacteria Escherichia coli is able to attach to and colonize different types of biotic and abiotic surfaces forming biofilms and colonies of intricate morphological architectures. Many of the biological aspects that underlie the generation and development of these E. coli's formations are largely poorly understood.

[Bacteraemia at a second level hospital: epidemiological study, analysis of pronostic factors associated to mortality and economic cost estimation].

Introduction: Bacteraemia (B) accounts for a considerable proportion (0.36%) of all hospital admissions due to infections diseases and it is associated to increased hospital costs. The aim of this study is to describe a cohort of patients with bacteraemia at a second level hospital, to analyze factors associated to mortality and its economical impact during hospital admission.

[Candida sp endocarditis. Experience in a third-level hospital and review of the literature].

Despite the relative high frequency of Candida bloodstream infection, Candida endocarditis is a rare entity. We report five cases of Candida endocarditis admitted to our hospital in the period between 2005 and 2011. Two cases were caused by C.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis in a patient receiving infliximab.

Leishmaniasis is endemic in the Mediterranean region, and the prevalence of latent infection in this area is high. Treatment with tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists represents a major breakthrough in the treatment of several inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis. Reports describing opportunistic leishmaniasis in European patients treated with TNF-α antagonist drugs are rapidly accumulating.

[Nursing care in the patient with an artificial airway in the intensive care unit].

Introduction: Complications related to the artificial airway (endotracheal tube and tracheotomy) in intensive care units are a major health problem that depends largely on the management and care applied to these devices. The daily challenge of nursing professionals is to minimize the incidence of these complications (among which highlights the pneumonia associated with mechanical ventilation).

Interventions: We analyzed 21 measures related to management of these devices in order to reflect the recommendations based on scientific evidence and provide quality care applied to the patient that need these devices.

Uncommon fungi isolated from diabetic patients toenails with or without visible onychomycoses.

Kodamaea ohmeri and Prototheca wickerhamii are rare pathogens for humans, and even more rare as cause of onychomycosis. This work reports the second case of onychomycosis by K. ohmeri and the fourth of onycoprotothecosis; it was made in public health institutions in the Hidalgo State, Mexico, studying 261 diabetic patients during 2005 and 2006.