BMJ open
-
Objectives Control of the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is a global health priority and one that is likely to be achieved only through vaccination. The critical overlap with the HIV epidemic requires any effective TB vaccine regimen to be safe in individuals who are infected with HIV. The objectives of this clinical trial were to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a leading candidate TB vaccine, MVA85A, in healthy, HIV-infected adults. ⋯ The functional quality of the vaccine-induced T cell response in HIV-infected subjects was remarkably comparable with that observed in healthy HIV-uninfected controls, but less durable. Conclusion MVA85A is safe and immunogenic in healthy adults infected with HIV. Further safety and efficacy evaluation of this candidate vaccine in TB- and HIV-endemic areas is merited.
-
Background There is growing interest in the potential utility of real-time PCR in diagnosing bloodstream infection by detecting pathogen DNA in blood samples within a few hours. SeptiFast is a multipathogen probe-based real-time PCR system targeting ribosomal DNA sequences of bacteria and fungi. It detects and identifies the commonest pathogens causing bloodstream infection and has European regulatory approval. ⋯ Furthermore, differences in circulating immune-inflammatory markers in patient groups differentiated by the presence/absence of culturable pathogens and pathogen DNA will help elucidate further the patho-physiology of infection developing in the critically ill. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been granted by the North West 6 Research Ethics Committee (09/H1003/109). Based on the results of this first non-commercial study, independent recommendations will be made to The Department of Health (open-access health technology assessment report) as to whether SeptiFast has sufficient clinical diagnostic accuracy to move forward to efficacy testing during the provision of routine clinical care.
-
Objectives (1) To assess endorsement of trial registration in author instructions of urology-related journals and (2) to assess whether randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in the field of urology were effectively registered. Design Cross-sectional study of author instructions and published trials. Setting Journals publishing in the field of urology. ⋯ This difference was statistically significant (p=0.04). Conclusions The existence of a statement about trial registration in author instructions resulted in a higher proportion of registered RCTs in those journals. Journals with higher IFs were more likely to mention trial registration.
-
Objective Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) is most widely used as a mortality prediction score in US intensive care units (ICUs), but its calculation is onerous. The authors aimed to develop and validate automatic mapping of physicians' admission diagnoses to structured concepts for automated APACHE IV calculation. Methods This retrospective study was conducted in medical ICUs of a tertiary healthcare and academic centre. ⋯ The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test demonstrated good calibration of automatically calculated APACHE IV score (χ(2)=6.46; p=0.6). The automatic tool demonstrated excellent discrimination with an area under the curve value of 0.87 (95% CI 0.83 to 0.92) and good calibration (p=0.58) in the validation cohort of 593 patients. Conclusion A Boolean-logic text search is an efficient alternative to manual database entry for mapping of ICU admission diagnosis to structured APACHE IV concepts.
-
Objective In order to illustrate the important public health impact of syphilis, which is a preventable infection, the epidemiology of syphilis-related hospitalisations in Spain was studied over a 10-year period. Methods A retrospective study was conducted using the National Epidemiological Surveillance System for Hospital Data (Minimum Data Set). All hospitalisations due to syphilis infection in any diagnostic position (ICD-9-CM 090-097) between 1997 and 2006 were analysed, according to the Spanish version of the International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision (ICD-9-CM). Results There were 9556 hospitalisations associated with syphilis in Spain. ⋯ The hospitalisation rate increased significantly after 2000 and was higher in men. Conclusion Syphilis remains a major public health problem because of both potential complications and its close association with HIV infection. It is necessary to promote early diagnosis, ensure treatment in patients with syphilis and emphasise health promotion and prevention programmes.