Cost-of-illness analysis of chronic urticaria clinical management in five countries of Latin America.

Introduction: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a disease with a high impact on the quality of life of patients. There are some evaluations of the economic cost of the disease in developed countries, but there is little information about the economic cost of the disease in developing countries. Our aim was to assess the economic diagnostic and therapeutic expenses of CSU in five Latin American (LA) countries.

Diagnostic accuracy of patch testing based in clinical response to contact allergen restrictions in allergic contact dermatitis.

Patch testing (PT) is used to identify substances that cause allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). However, the clinical effects of allergen restrictions following PT have not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to assess the diagnostic accuracy of PT in patients suspected of having ACD.

"I was very sad, but not depressed": phenomenological differences between adjustment disorder and a major depressive episode.

Introduction: Adjustment disorder (AD) is a diagnosis that must be differentiated from major depressive episode (MDE) because of the therapeutic implications. The aim of this study is to understand the experience of patients who in their lifetime have been diagnosed with AD as well as MDE to establish the characteristics of each disorder.

Methods: A descriptive phenomenological approach was used with in-depth interviews to four patients and the method proposed by Colaizzi to understand the experiences and reach the description of both disorders.

Real-world study: drug reduction in children with allergic rhinitis and asthma receiving immunotherapy.

The reduction of pharmacological treatment after allergen immunotherapy (AIT) for house dust mites (HDMs) has been little studied in children. To evaluate the reduction of pharmacological treatment comparing children that receive HDM immunotherapy (AIT group) versus only pharmacotherapy. A historic cohort of children with rhinitis or asthma was assessed.

Prospective analysis of clinical evolution in chronic urticaria: Persistence, remission, recurrence, and pruritus alone.

Background: Population and study's methodology heterogenicity became clinical evolution of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) highly variable.

Objective: In a prospective cohort, we evaluated the different pathways of clinical evolution of CSU and identified possible risk factors.

Methods: A total of 685 CSU patients (>12 years) were prospectively followed over 5 years.

Validity based on content: A challenge in health measurement scales.

Content-based validity can be defined as the evidence of the degree to which the items of an instrument represent the construct to be inferred. It is the initial and unavoidable step for evaluating other sources of validity. However, it is one of the least reported psychometric properties in development of health measurement scales.

Colombian Rasch validation of KIDSCREEN-27 quality of life questionnaire.

Background: The family of KIDSCREEN instruments is the only one with trans-cultural adaptation and validation in Colombia. These validations have been performed from the classical test theory approach, which has evidenced satisfactory psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties of KIDSCREEN-27 children and parent-proxy versions, through Rasch analysis.

In vivo effect of statins on the expression of the HIV co-receptors CCR5 and CXCR4.

Background: During the HIV-1 replication cycle, several molecules including chemokine receptors and cholesterol are crucial, and are therefore potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Indeed statins, compounds that inhibit cellular synthesis of cholesterol and have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties were shown to inhibit HIV-1 infection by R5 tropic strains but not by X4 strains in vitro, mainly by altering the chemokine receptor/ligands axes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize in vivo, the capacity of statins to modulate in HIV seronegative and chronically HIV-1-infected adults the expression of CCR5 and CXCR4, of their ligands and the tropism of circulating HIV-1 strains.