Characteristics of Madariaga and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Infections, Panama.

Madariaga virus (MADV) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) are emerging arboviruses affecting rural and remote areas of Latin America. However, clinical and epidemiologic reports are limited, and outbreaks are occurring at an increasing frequency. We addressed the data gap by analyzing all available clinical and epidemiologic data of MADV and VEEV infections recorded since 1961 in Panama.

Venous Thromboembolism Risk and Adherence to Pharmacological Thromboprophylaxis in Hospitalized Patients in Uruguay: First Nationwide Study.

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious, frequent, and preventable medical complication in hospitalized patients. Although the efficacy of prophylaxis (pharmacological and/or mechanical) has been demonstrated, compliance with prophylaxis is poor at international and national levels.

Aim: To determine the indication and use of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis in hospitalized patients in Uruguay.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Madariaga and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus infections.

Madariaga virus (MADV) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) are emerging arboviruses affecting rural and remote areas of Latin America. However, there are limited clinical and epidemiological reports available, and outbreaks are occurring at an increasing frequency. We addressed this gap by analyzing all the available clinical and epidemiological data of MADV and VEEV infections recorded since 1961 in Panama.

Genome sequences of six cluster CT and two cluster DJ bacteriophages that infect .

We report the genome sequences of eight bacteriophages isolated using NRRL B-16540-SEA. Based on gene content similarity to phages in the Actinobacteriophage database, six of the phages are assigned to phage cluster CT while two are assigned to cluster DJ.

A Novel Generation of Tailored Antimicrobial Drugs Based on Recombinant Multidomain Proteins.

Antibiotic resistance has exponentially increased during the last years. It is necessary to develop new antimicrobial drugs to prevent and treat infectious diseases caused by multidrug- or extensively-drug resistant (MDR/XDR)-bacteria. Host Defense Peptides (HDPs) have a versatile role, acting as antimicrobial peptides and regulators of several innate immunity functions.

Enhanced human T cell expansion with inverse opal hydrogels.

Advanced personalized immunotherapies still have to overcome several biomedical and technical limitations before they become a routine cancer treatment in spite of recent achievements. In adoptive cell therapy (ACT), the capacity to obtain adequate numbers of therapeutic T cells in the patients following treatment should be improved. Moreover, the time and costs to produce these T cells should be reduced.

Irritable bowel syndrome in celiac disease - relationships to celiac disease antibodies and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Background: Evidence indicates that low-grade inflammation can alter gastrointestinal motor and sensory function and might contribute to the genesis of symptoms in IBS.

Objective: To examine relationships between IBS, disease antibodies and cytokine titers in celiac patients and a control group.

Materials And Methods: IBS, CD activity and serum levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL12/23p40 were determined in celiac patients and controls.

The Effect of Tapered Abutments on Marginal Bone Level: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Early peri-implant bone loss has been associated to long-term implant-prosthetic failure. Different technical, surgical, and prosthetic techniques have been introduced to enhance the clinical outcome of dental implants in terms of crestal bone preservation. The aim of the present cohort study was to observe the mean marginal bone level around two-part implants with gingivally tapered abutments one year after loading.

Zika Testing Behaviors and Risk Perceptions Among Pregnant Women in Miami-Dade County, One Year After Local Transmission.

Objectives: This study sought to describe the knowledge and perceptions of pregnant women in Miami-Dade County concerning Zika virus (ZIKV) in their community, to characterize their testing behaviors, and to identify any barriers that would keep them from seeking testing.

Methods: The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County partnered with the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade to administer an assessment survey in eight OBGYN clinics from June to August 2017. The survey captured past ZIKV testing practices, attitudes towards testing, barriers to testing, risk perception of ZIKV in the participants' community, and ZIKV-related knowledge.

Functionalization of polyacrylamide for nanotrapping positively charged biomolecules.

Engineering new materials which are capable of trapping biomolecules in nanoscale quantities, is crucial in order to achieve earlier diagnostics in different diseases. This article demonstrates that using free radical copolymerization, polyacrylamide can be successfully functionalized with specific synthons for nanotrapping positively charged molecules, such as numerous proteins, through electrostatic interactions due to their negative charge. Specifically, two functional random copolymers, acrylamide/acrylic acid (1) and acrylamide/acrylic acid/-(pyridin-4-yl-methyl)acrylamide (2), whose negative net charges differ in their water solutions, were synthetized and their ability to trap positively charged proteins was studied using myoglobin as a proof-of-concept example.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Miami-Dade County Following Hurricane Irma in 2017.

Objective: The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County (DOH-Miami-Dade) investigated 106 reported carbon monoxide (CO) exposures over a 9-day timeframe after Hurricane Irma. This report evaluates risk factors for CO poisoning and the importance of heightened surveillance following natural disasters.

Methods: Data on CO poisoning cases from September 9 to 18, 2017 were extracted from Merlin, the Florida Department of Health Surveillance System.

Implementation and Evaluation of a Recurring Interdisciplinary Community Health Fair in a Remote U.S.-Mexico Border Community.

The purpose of this project was to design, implement, and assess a recurring interdisciplinary community health fair in an underserved border town. University of California San Diego (UCSD) medical and pharmacy students, under faculty supervision, worked alongside community partners in Calexico, California to implement a health fair two miles from the U.S.

Cutting-Edge Implant Rehabilitation Design and Management: A Tapered Abutment Approach.

Soft-tissue recession around an implant rehabilitation over time has been considered a physiologic phenomenon. The divergent profile of the abutment and the abutment's dis/reconnections are the most critical predisposing and precipitating factors regarding such gingival recession. Recent publications have discussed how tapered and marginless abutments that allow no disconnections and increase soft-tissue thickness could prevent implant rehabilitations from experiencing gingival recession.

Communication Between Low Income Hispanic Patients and Their Healthcare Providers Regarding Physical Activity and Healthy Eating.

U.S. Hispanics disproportionately show health burdens that may be decreased by discussing physical activity (PA) and healthy eating with their healthcare providers (HCPs).

Arrangement of Peri-implant Connective Tissue Fibers Around Platform-Switching Implants with Conical Abutments and Its Relationship to the Underlying Bone: A Human Histologic Study.

The objective of this study was to clarify and evaluate the orientation of the collagen fibers around platform-switching (PS) implants with conical abutments in humans after 8 weeks of healing, and to determine how this orientation would help stabilize the soft tissue and prevent bone resorption. On PS implants, circular orientation of collagen fiber was observed as the main arrangement in a cross-sectional view. The circular collagen fibers might be the key factor in stabilizing the soft tissues around the rehabilitation, inhibiting apical migration of the soft tissues and, in turn, protecting the underlying bone.

Anatomical and radiological approach to pterygoid implants: a cross-sectional study of 202 cone beam computed tomography examinations.

The aim of this study was to define the three-dimensional angulation of the pterygomaxillary corridor in which pterygoid implants should ideally be placed. A secondary objective was to study the bone density in the tuberosity area and pterygoid plate. Two hundred and two cone beam computed tomography files of atrophic posterior maxillae were evaluated.

Assessing the total factor productivity of cotton production in Egypt.

The main objective of this paper is to decompose the productivity growth of Egyptian cotton production. We employ the stochastic frontier approach and decompose the changes in total factor productivity (CTFP) growth into four components: technical progress (TP), changes in scale component (CSC), changes in allocative efficiency (CAE), and changes in technical efficiency (CTE). Considering a situation of scarce statistical information, we propose four alternative empirical models, with the purpose of looking for convergence in the results.

Anatomical study of the pterygomaxillary area for implant placement: cone beam computed tomographic scanning in 100 patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe the average angulation and dimensions of the pterygomaxillary area in the atrophic maxilla to facilitate the orientation of pterygoid implants during their placement.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective radiologic study was made. A virtual pterygoid implant, 13, 15, or 18 mm long, was placed in the pterygomaxillary area following the axis of the bone, with a distance of at least 2 mm maintained between the artery and palatine nerve and the implant.

Finite element analysis relative to the crestal position of a 3.0-mm-diameter implant.

It has been shown that implant designs and different vertical positions have an influence on crestal bone. The purpose of this study was to use finite element (FE) analysis to biomechanically investigate the influence of the stress/strain distribution in a maxillary anterior 3.0-mm-diameter implant in relation to its apicocoronal level after oblique loading.

[Common variable immunodeficiency: digestive involvement of a systemic disease].

Common variable immunodeficiency is characterized by a primary deficiency in antibody production that is clinically manifested by respiratory recurrent infections and gastrointestinal diseases (infectious, inflammatory and neoplastic). Above 50% of the patients have diarrhea and 10% develop idiopathic malabsorption and weight loss. We present the case of a 34-year-old woman submitted to our service for chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and bloating and history of recurrent respiratory infections since childhood.

Modified surgical protocol for placing implants in the pterygomaxillary region: clinical and radiologic study of 454 implants.

Purpose: To review a series of 454 pterygoid implants placed more vertically than the previous standard angle (45 degrees) over a functional loading period ranging from 2 months to 14 years with a mean follow-up period of 6 years.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study was made. The sample was composed of patients rehabilitated with pterygoid implants between January 1997 and December 2010.

Effect of platform switching on collagen fiber orientation and bone resorption around dental implants: a preliminary histologic animal study.

Purpose: To show the presence and direction of the collagen fiber orientation around platform-switched (PS) and non-platform switched (NPS) implants at the crestal bone level.

Materials And Methods: Twelve implants (six PS and six NPS implants) were placed with single-stage surgery in three dogs. The implant abutments were disconnected and reconnected after 8, 10, 12, and 14 weeks.

Declining sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers: the results of an HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention strategy in Honduras, 2006-08.

In 2006, we implemented an HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention programme for female sex workers (FSWs) in three Honduran cities. All FSW attending STI clinics underwent regular examinations and STI testing. Information on condom use with different partners was collected at each visit.