Plos One
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Observational Study
Seizure Outcomes and Predictors of Recurrent Post-Stroke Seizure: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study.
Seizure is a common complication after stroke (termed "post-stroke seizure," PSS). Although many studies have assessed outcomes and risk factors of PSS, no reliable predictors are currently available to determine PSS recurrence. We compared baseline clinical characteristics and post-stroke treatment regimens between recurrent and non-recurrent PSS patients to identify factors predictive of recurrence. ⋯ Approximately one-third of PSS patients experienced seizure recurrence within one year. The predictors of recurrent PSS were younger age, presence of convulsions and VPA monotherapy. Our findings should be interpreted cautiously in countries where monotherapy with second-generation AEDs has been approved because this study was conducted while second-generation AEDs had not been officially approved for monotherapy in Japan.
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The diagnosis and treatment of childhood asthma is complicated by its mechanistically distinct subtypes (endotypes) driven by genetic susceptibility and modulating environmental factors. Clinical biomarkers and blood gene expression were collected from a stratified, cross-sectional study of asthmatic and non-asthmatic children from Detroit, MI. This study describes four distinct asthma endotypes identified via a purely data-driven method. ⋯ For example, we describe metabolic syndrome-induced systemic inflammation as an associated factor in three of the four asthma endotypes. Context provided by the clinical biomarker data was essential in interpreting gene expression patterns and identifying putative endotypes, which emphasizes the importance of integrated approaches when studying complex disease etiologies. These synthesized patterns of gene expression and clinical markers from our research may lead to development of novel serum-based biomarker panels.
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Clarithromycin was considered the cornerstone for the treatment of Mycobacterium abscessus complex infections. Genetic resistance mechanisms have been described and many experts propose amikacin as an alternative. Nevertheless, clarithromycin has several advantages; therefore, it is necessary to identify the non-functional erm(41) allele to determine the most suitable treatment. The aims of this study were to characterize the molecular mechanisms of clarithromycin resistance in a collection of Mycobacterium abscessus complex isolates and to verify the relationship between these mechanisms and the antibiogram. ⋯ Most clinical isolates of M. abscessus complex had inducible resistance to clarithromycin and total absence of constitutive resistance. Our findings showed that the acquisition of resistance mutations in rrl gene was associated with functional and non-functional erm(41) gene. Caution is needed when using erm(41) sequencing alone to identify M. abscessus subspecies. This study reports an acquired mutation at position 2057 of rrl gene, conferring medium-low clarithromycin constitutive resistance.
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This study aimed to identify what information triggered social media users' responses regarding infectious diseases. Chinese microblogs in 2012 regarding 42 infectious diseases were obtained through a keyword search in the Weiboscope database. Qualitative content analysis was performed for the posts pertinent to each keyword of the day of the year with the highest daily count. ⋯ News unrelated to the specified infectious diseases also led to elevated microblog traffic. Our study showcases the diverse contexts from which increased social media traffic occur. Our results will facilitate better health communication as causes underlying increased social media traffic are revealed.
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To investigate the effect of social deprivation and ethnicity on inpatient admissions due to diabetes in England. ⋯ More deprived areas had higher rates of inpatient admissions and readmissions due to diabetes. South Asian British showed higher admission risk and lower readmission risk than white British. However, there was almost no difference by ethnicity in readmission due to diabetes. Higher rates of admission among deprived people may not necessarily reflect higher prevalence, but higher admission rates in south Asian British may be explained by their higher prevalence because their lower readmission risk suggests no inequality in primary care to prevent readmission. Better interventions in poorer areas, are needed to reduce these inequalities.