Biological markers associated osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common degenerative joint disease that develops in the elderly. The worldwide prevalence continues to rise, leading to pain and disability in older ages. Osteoarthritis can be diagnosed by using plain film X-ray combined with clinical appearance and structural features. The imbalance between cartilage synthesis and degradation has been explained in the development of osteoarthritis, which is associated with chondrocyte death. There are many cytokines and biological markers related to the disease. The present review provides a background and discusses the known biological markers that are related to developing osteoarthritis. These include advance glycation end products, glutathione and glycosaminoglycans

Clinical epidemiology, treatment and prognostic factors of extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii ventilator-associated pneumonia in critically ill patients

Limited data exist regarding prognostic factors and optimal antimicrobial treatment of infections caused by extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (XDR-AB). This retrospective cohort study included 93 adult patients who developed ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) due to XDR-AB in the ICU of the University Hospital of Heraklion, Greece, from October 2012 to April 2015. XDR-AB isolates were mainly susceptible to colistin (93.5%) and tigecycline (25.8%), whereas 6 (6.5%) were pandrug-resistant. Prior to infection, patients had long durations of mechanical ventilation and hospital stay and multiple exposures to antibiotics. Median Charlson co-morbidity and APACHE II scores were 2 and 17, respectively. Mortality at 28 days of infection onset was high (34.4%) despite high rates of in-vitro-active empirical (81.7%) and definitive (90.3%) treatment. Active colistin-based combination therapy (n = 55) and monotherapy (n = 29) groups had similar 28-day mortality (27.6% vs. 30.9%, respectively) and Kaplan–Meier survival estimates over time. In multivariable Cox regression, advanced age (aHR = 1.05 per year increase, 95% CI 1.02–1.09), rapidly fatal underlying disease (aHR = 2.64, 95% CI 0.98–9.17) and APACHE II score (aHR = 1.06 per unit increase, 95% CI 0.99–1.14) were identified as independent predictors of 28-day mortality, but no difference in mortality hazards between the active colistin-based combination therapy and monotherapy groups was produced (aHR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.35–2.38). These results support the use of colistin as a first-line agent against VAP in settings where XDR-AB is endemic, but oppose the introduction of colistin-based combination therapy as standard treatment

Major affective disorders in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared with other chronic respiratory diseases

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) have significant impacts on quality of life including psychomotor domain. PURPOSE: To evaluate three major affective disorders in subjects with COPD compared with other CRDs and nonill population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Thai version of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used as a diagnostic instrument for three major affective disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and panic disorder) by face-to-face interview in assessing patients with CRDs [COPD, asthma, rhinasthma, all asthma (asthma and rhinasthma), and chronic rhinitis], and nonill subjects. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relation between major affective disorders and CRDs adjusting for age, sex, and disease severity. RESULTS: Major affective disorders were more prevalent in CRDs than nonill groups (adjusted OR =2.6 [95% CI, 1.8−3.9], P<0.001). COPD patients had significantly more generalized anxiety and panic disorder (adjusted OR =4.0 [95% CI, 1.4−11.9], P=0.011, and 4.4 [95% CI, 1.1−18.1], P=0.038, respectively) but not major depressive disorder (adjusted OR =2.7 [95% CI, 0.8−9.0, P=0.105]) than nonill group. Comparing with all asthma, COPD patients had lower occurrence of major depressive and panic disorders (adjusted OR =0.1 [95% CI, 0.0−0.4], P=0.002, and 0.1 [95% CI, 0.0−0.9], P=0.043, respectively). There was no difference in major mood disorders in COPD, rhinasthma, and chronic rhinitis patients. Major affective disorders were not increased by disease severity in COPD. CONCLUSION: Major affective disorders were significantly higher in CRDs than nonill population. Generalized anxiety and panic disorders were significantly high in COPD patients. Moreover, major depressive and panic disorders in COPD were significantly lower than all asthma. The prevalence of major affective disorders may not be related to severity of COPD

Estimating the burden of antimicrobial resistance: a systematic literature review.

Background: Accurate estimates of the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are needed to establish the magnitude of this global threat in terms of both health and cost, and to paramaterise cost-effectiveness evaluations of interventions aiming to tackle the problem. This review aimed to establish the alternative methodologies used in estimating AMR burden in order to appraise the current evidence base. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, EconLit, PubMed and grey literature were searched. English language studies evaluating the impact of AMR (from any microbe) on patient, payer/provider and economic burden published between January 2013 and December 2015 were included. Independent screening of title/abstracts followed by full texts was performed using pre-specified criteria. A study quality score (from zero to one) was derived using Newcastle-Ottawa and Philips checklists. Extracted study data were used to compare study method and resulting burden estimate, according to perspective. Monetary costs were converted into 2013 USD. Results: Out of 5187 unique retrievals, 214 studies were included. One hundred eighty-seven studies estimated patient health, 75 studies estimated payer/provider and 11 studies estimated economic burden. 64% of included studies were single centre. The majority of studies estimating patient or provider/payer burden used regression techniques. 48% of studies estimating mortality burden found a significant impact from resistance, excess healthcare system costs ranged from non-significance to $1 billion per year, whilst economic burden ranged from$21,832 per case to over $3 trillion in GDP loss. Median quality scores (interquartile range) for patient, payer/provider and economic burden studies were 0.67 (0.56-0.67), 0.56 (0.46-0.67) and 0.53 (0.44-0.60) respectively. Conclusions: This study highlights what methodological assumptions and biases can occur dependent on chosen outcome and perspective. Currently, there is considerable variability in burden estimates, which can lead in-turn to inaccurate intervention evaluations and poor policy/investment decisions. Future research should utilise the recommendations presented in this review. Trial registration: This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO (PROSPERO CRD42016037510)

Worship in the neighborhood

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/atsconferences/3268/thumbnail.jp

Worship in the neighborhood (Video)

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/atsconferences/1096/thumbnail.jp