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Matthew Grigsby,1,2 Trishul Siddharthan,1 Muhammad AH Chowdhury,3 Ali Siddiquee,3 Adolfo Rubinstein,4 Edgardo Sobrino,4 J Jaime Miranda,5,6 Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz,5 Dewan Alam,7 William Checkley1,2 1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, 2Program in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; 3Centre for Control of Chronic Diseases, icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 4Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 5CRONICAS Centre of Excellence for Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, 6Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru; 7Faculty of Health, School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is a strong social determinant of health. There remains a limited understanding of the association between SES and COPD prevalence among low- and middle-income countries where the majority of COPD-related morbidity and mortality occurs. We examined the association between SES and COPD prevalence using data collected in Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay.Methods: We compiled lung function, demographic, and SES data from three population-based studies for 11,042 participants aged 35–95 years. We used multivariable alternating logistic regressions to study the association between COPD prevalence and SES indicators adjusted for age, sex, self-reported daily smoking, and biomass fuel smoke exposure. Principal component analysis was performed on monthly household income, household size, and education to create a composite SES index.Results: Overall COPD prevalence was 9.2%, ranging from 1.7% to 15.4% across sites. The adjusted odds ratio of having COPD was lower for people who completed secondary school (odds ratio [OR] =0.73, 95% CI 0.55–0.98) and lower with higher monthly household income (OR =0.96 per category, 95% CI 0.93–0.99). When combining SES factors into a composite index, we found that the odds of having COPD was greater with lower SES (interquartile OR =1.23, 95% CI 1.05–1.43) even after controlling for subject-specific factors and environmental exposures.Conclusion: In this analysis of multiple population-based studies, lower education, lower household income, and lower composite SES index were associated with COPD. Since household income may be underestimated in population studies, adding household size and education into a composite index may provide a better surrogate for SES. Keywords: COPD, socioeconomic status, low- and middle-income country

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the association between household air pollution with lower tract respiratory infection ( LRTI) in children younger than 5 years old and adverse pregnancy outcomes. This retrospective cohort study took place in two cities in Patagonia. Using systemic random sampling, we selected households in which at least one child <5 years had lived and/or a child had been born alive or stillborn. Trained interviewers administered the questionnaire. We included 926 households with 695 pregnancies and 1074 children. Household cooking was conducted indoors in ventilated rooms and the use of wood as the principal fuel for cooking was lower in Temuco (13% vs. 17%). In exposed to biomass fuel use, the adjusted OR for LRTI was 1.87 (95% CI 0.98-3.55; P = 0.056) in Temuco and 1.12 (95% CI 0.61-2.05; P = 0.716) in Bariloche. For perinatal morbidity, the OR was 3.11 (95% CI 0.86-11.32; P = 0.084) and 1.41 (95% CI 0.50-3.97; P = 0.518), respectively. However, none of the effects were statistically significant ( P > 0.05). The use of biomass fuel to cook in traditional cookstoves in ventilated dwellings may increase the risk of perinatal morbidity and LRTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pleuropulmonary manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have been reported to be of variable prevalence, depending on the diagnostic methods used. The objective of this study was to determine the anatomopathological prevalence and the nature of lung involvement associated with SLE and to define if there were differences in the grade and type of pulmonary involvement in patients who had died at different time periods, before or after 1996. Complete autopsy studies of 90 patients with SLE diagnosis carried out between 1958 and 2006 and their clinical records were studied. All patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumathology (ACR) diagnostic criteria for SLE. Two groups of patients were analyzed: patients who had died before 1996 and those deceased in 1996-2006. Some pleuropulmonary involvement was detected in 97.8% of the autopsies. The most frequent findings were pleuritis (77.8%), bacterial infections (57.8%), primary and secondary alveolar haemorrhages (25.6%), followed by distal airway alterations (21.1%), opportunistic infections (14.4%) and pulmonary thromboembolism (7.8%), both acute and chronic. No cases of acute or chronic lupus pneumonitis were found. Opportunistic lung infections were invasive aspergillosis, disseminated strongyloidiasis, mucormicosis and Pneumocystis carinii. Only three of 23 patients with alveolar haemorrhage showed capillaritis. The four patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PHT) had plexiform lesions. Deceased patients' age at death (46.09 ± 11.01 vs 30.3 ± 11.5 years, P < 0.0001) as well as survival time from diagnosis date (11.8 ± 11.2 vs 4.4 ± 4.9 years, P < 0.0001) in the second time period evaluated were significantly higher. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of any of the pulmonary manifestations. Sepsis was considered the major cause of death without significant differences in both groups. Our results show that pulmonary manifestations directly caused by systemic lupus erythematosus are very uncommon and that their prevalence has not changed in the past 10 years. Pulmonary infection is still the most frequent affection, and it is an important cause of death in patients with lupus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL), nasal type and aggressive NK cell leukemia are rare in Western World been less than 1% in USA to 8% in Asia among Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. It is aggressive, with poor outcome and optimal treatment is unclear. A combination therapy that includes Peg-Asparaginase (SMILE) has been employed in young patients. An 85-year-old Puerto Rican male presented with anorexia, epistaxis, vertigo and involuntary facial movements. He was treated with injectable Onabotulinum toxin A due to suspicion of a hemifacial spasm. However, a CT scan demonstrated a left maxillary sinus lesion extending into the left middle turbinate with biopsy consistent with ENKTL. We adjusted therapy to patient's age and performance receiving Gemcitabine-Oxaliplatin (Gemox) with radiation obtaining a complete response with persistent negative Epstein Barr DNA titers. ENKTL is a rare disease initially misdiagnosed in our elderly patient, who demonstrated adequate response with a modified therapeutic regime.

Background: Lung cancer (LC) screening improves LC survival; the best screening method in terms of improving survival is low-dose CT (LDCT), outpacing chest X-ray and sputum cytology., Methods: A consensus of experts in Argentina was carried out to review the literature and generate recommendations for LC screening programmes. A mixed-method study was used with three phases: (1) review of the literature; (2) modified Delphi consensus panel; and (3) development of the recommendations. The Evidence to Decision (EtD) framework was used to generate 13 evaluation criteria. Nineteen experts participated in four voting rounds. Consensus among participants was defined using the RAND/UCLA method., Results: A total of 16 recommendations scored ≥7 points with no disagreement on any criteria. Screening for LC should be performed with LDCT annually in the population at high-risk, aged between 55 and 74 years, regardless of sex, without comorbidities with a risk of death higher than the risk of death from LC, smoking ≥30 pack-years or former smokers who quit smoking within 15 years. Screening will be considered positive when finding a solid nodule ≥6 mm in diameter (or ≥113 mm 3 ) on baseline LDCT and 4 mm in diameter if a new nodule is identified on annual screening. A smoking cessation programme should be offered, and cardiovascular risk assessment should be performed. Institutions should have a multidisciplinary committee, have protocols for the management of symptomatic patients not included in the programme and distribute educational material., Conclusion: The recommendations provide a basis for minimum requirements from which local institutions can develop their own protocols adapted to their needs and resources., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: Hypothermia, the gold standard after a hypoxic-ischemic insult, is not beneficial in all treated newborns. Cannabidiol is neuroprotective in animal models of newborn hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. This study compared the relative efficacies of cannabidiol and hypothermia in newborn hypoxic-ischemic piglets and assessed whether addition of cannabidiol augments hypothermic neuroprotection., Methods: One day-old HI (carotid clamp and FiO 2 10% for 20 min) piglets were randomized to vehicle or cannabidiol 1 mg/kg i.v. u.i.d. for three doses after being submitted to normothermia or 48 h-long hypothermia with a subsequent rewarming period of 6 h. Non-manipulated piglets (naïve) served as controls. Hemodynamic or respiratory parameters as well as brain activity (aEEG amplitude) were monitored throughout the experiment. Following termination, brains were obtained for histological (TUNEL staining, apoptosis; immunohistochemistry for Iba-1, microglia), biochemical (protein carbonylation, oxidative stress; and TNFα concentration, neuroinflammation) or proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (Lac/NAA: metabolic derangement; Glu/NAA: excitotoxicity)., Results: HI led to sustained depressed brain activity and increased microglial activation, which was significantly improved by cannabidiol alone or with hypothermia but not by hypothermia alone. Hypoxic-ischemic-induced increases in Lac/NAA, Glu/NAA, TNFα or apoptosis were not reversed by either hypothermia or cannabidiol alone, but combination of the therapies did. No treatment modified the effects of HI on oxidative stress or astroglial activation. Cannabidiol treatment was well tolerated., Conclusions: cannabidiol administration after hypoxia-ischemia in piglets offers some neuroprotective effects but the combination of cannabidiol and hypothermia shows some additive effect leading to more complete neuroprotection than cannabidiol or hypothermia alone., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. The study aimed to determine and compare the prevalence of COPD in the general population aged 45-74 years old according to fixed ratio and lower limit of normal (LLN) thresholds in four cities in the Southern Cone of Latin America., Methods: The Pulmonary Risk in South America (PRISA) study used a 4-stage stratified sampling method to select 5814 participants from 4 cities in the Southern Cone of Latin America (Bariloche and Marcos Paz, Argentina; Temuco, Chile; and Pando-Barros Blancos, Uruguay). Data on demographic information, medical history, risk factors, pre-bronchodilator and post-bronchodilator spirometry were obtained using a standard protocol. According to GOLD, COPD was defined as a post-bronchodilator ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) over forced vital capacity (FVC) less than 70%. The LLN threshold was defined as the lower fifth percentile for predicted FEV1/FVC, and was evaluated as an alternative COPD definition., Results: Overall COPD prevalence was 9.3% (95% CI 8.4, 10.2%), and men had a higher prevalence [11.8% (95% CI 10.3, 13.3%)] than women [7.3% (95% CI 6.2, 8.3%)] with the fixed ratio. Overall COPD prevalence using LLN was 4.7% (95% CI 4.1, 5.3%), higher in men: 5.8% (95% CI 4.7, 6.8%) than women: 3.9% (95% CI 3.1, 4.7%). COPD prevalence was significantly higher among those who were older, had

Background: The World Health Organization has estimated that by 2030, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will be the third leading cause of death worldwide. Most knowledge of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is based on studies performed in Europe or North America and little is known about the prevalence, patient characteristics and change in lung function over time in patients in developing countries, such as those of Latin America. This lack of knowledge is in sharp contrast to the high levels of tobacco consumption and exposure to biomass fuels exhibited in Latin America, both major risk factors for the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Studies have also demonstrated that most Latin American physicians frequently do not follow international chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnostic and treatment guidelines. The PRISA Study will expand the current knowledge regarding chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and risk factors in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay to inform policy makers and health professionals on the best policies and practices to address this condition., Methods/design: PRISA is an observational, prospective cohort study with at least four years of follow-up. In the first year, PRISA has employed a randomized three-staged stratified cluster sampling strategy to identify 6,000 subjects from Marcos Paz and Bariloche, Argentina, Temuco, Chile, and Canelones, Uruguay. Information, such as comorbidities, socioeconomic status and tobacco and biomass exposure, will be collected and spirometry, anthropometric measurements, blood sampling and electrocardiogram will be performed. In year four, subjects will have repeat measurements taken., Discussion: There is no longitudinal data on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease incidence and risk factors in the southern cone of Latin America, therefore this population-based prospective cohort study will fill knowledge gaps in the prevalence and incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, patient characteristics and changes in lung function over time as well as quality of life and health care resource utilization. Information gathered during the PRISA Study will inform public health interventions and prevention practices to reduce risk of COPD in the region.

Background: Recent studies have shown that quantification of specific histopathologic features found in usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) are useful in defining a prognosis, suggesting the need of biopsy in all patients., Objectives: This study examines whether UIP-associated mortality is different in patients diagnosed by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) features considered definite of UIP and in patients with no definite radiological diagnosis that required histological confirmation of diagnoses., Methods: Forty-five patients were included (30 males, mean age 65.3 +/- 10.7 years). Two groups of patients were identified: those with HRCT findings of definite UIP (n = 26) and those whose radiological diagnosis was not definite and required a surgical biopsy to confirm the presence of UIP (n = 19). Forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 s and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide were measured in all patients. All data were obtained from medical records, and the survival status was obtained by telephone or personal interview. All clinical parameters and HRCTs were obtained within 1 month before surgical lung biopsy., Results: Median survival was not different across groups and was similar to that previously reported (35 months). Kaplan-Meier analysis did not show any difference in 5-year survival between both groups., Conclusions: In a clinical context in which the diagnosis of UIP can be obtained as a dynamic process that includes an integrated clinical, radiological and pathologic approach, a reliable diagnosis of UIP can be obtained based on a typical definite HRCT with no risk of including patients with a more benign disease and a more prolonged survival., (2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Introduction: There is a high incidence of scoliosis in patients who have undergone cardiothoracic surgery for correction of congenital cardiac disease, this risk being 10 times higher than in the general population., Materials and Methods: So as to analyse the surgical and postoperative complications, we designed a retrospective study to include every child who underwent spinal orthopaedic surgery, and who had previously undergone cardiothoracic surgery because of a congenital cardiac malformation. We excluded those patients who had syndromes associated with the development of scoliosis., Results: We identified 18 patients with surgically treated congenital cardiac disease who had undergone surgery for scoliosis over a period of 7 years. This group came from a total number of 87 patients undergoing spinal fusion over the same period. Of those with congenitally malformed hearts, 61% had acyanotic lesions, with ventricular septal defect being the most frequent single lesion, present in 40%. All the patients needed blood transfusions during the surgery, with aprotinin used in 73% to reduce the bleeding, and inotropes needed for 4 children. During the immediate postoperative period, 1 patient died in the first 24 hours, while 7 (39%) had different complications, pneumonia in 4, pleural effusions in 2, and rhabdomyolysis in the other, as opposed to a rate of complications of 27% in patients without heart disease., Conclusion: The surgical and postoperative complications in these patients depend on the specific cardiac lesion. A multidisciplinary team with experience in the treatment of congenitally malformed hearts is essential for appropriate management of these patients.

This work illustrates the effectiveness of composting and vermicomposting in degrading fuel-in-water emulsions from oil spills (chapapote), and the isolation of potentially useful microorganisms for its biodegradation. Firstly, an alternative to the biodegradation of asphaltens from the Prestige oil spill (still present in some chapapote rafts in the Cantabrian coast) by means of the application of composting techniques to a microbial partnership acclimated to fuel-oil is offered. Our aim is that, after a relatively short period of time, the microorganisms can obtain its source of carbon and energy from asphaltens. The addition of metabolic co-substrates, like cow bed and potato peelings, allows the fragmentation of complex compounds into smaller structures, susceptible to further degradation. Afterwards, a maturation of the compost by means of a treatment with earthworms (Eisenia foetida) is necessary. Thus, through the vermicomposting it will be possible to obtain a valued product, useful in the processes of ground amendment, with little presence of asphaltens and occluded polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, rich in humus, and with an important bacterial flora of Bacillus genera, so that it can be typical of co-activators and accelerating products in composting processes. Along with this article, we show some parameters that control the evolution of the compost products (evolved gases, acidity, temperature and humidity); the chemical and microbiological analytical results; and the germination assays of vermicomposting. Results reveal that by using microorganisms living in either earthworm intestines (Stenotrophomonas maltophilia) or vermiculture substrates (Scedosporium apiospermium), it is possible to degrade and to eliminate the polycyclic asphaltens into CO(2) and H(2)O, helped by evaporation, dissolution and/or photo-oxidation processes. The obtained end product has contents of interesting vegetal nutrients and, mainly, it displays very high germination indices.

Aerial images of the high summits of the Spanish Central Range reveal significant changes in vegetation over the period 1957 to 1991. These changes include the replacement of high-mountain grassland communities dominated by Festuca aragonensis, typical of the Cryoro-Mediterranean belt, by shrub patches of Juniperus communis ssp. alpina and Cytisus oromediterraneus from lower altitudes (Oro-Mediterranean belt). Climatic data indicate a shift towards warmer conditions in this mountainous region since the 1940s, with the shift being particularly marked from 1960. Changes include significantly higher minimum and maximum temperatures, fewer days with snow cover and a redistribution of monthly rainfall. Total yearly precipitation showed no significant variation. There were no marked changes in land use during the time frame considered, although there were minor changes in grazing species in the 19th century. It is hypothesized that the advance of woody species into higher altitudes is probably related to climate change, which could have acted in conjunction with discrete variations in landscape management. The pronounced changes observed in the plant communities of the area reflect the susceptibility of high-mountain Mediterranean species to environmental change.