Culture‐positive shigellosis cases are epidemiologically different to culture‐negative/PCR‐positive cases

Objective : To review the epidemiological differences between culture‐positive and culture‐negative (but ipaH PCR‐positive) cases of shigellosis in Sydney Local Health District (SLHD), NSW, to inform whether changes to the national case definition for shigellosis are required. Methods : An audit of all cases of shigellosis (culture‐positive vs. culture‐negative/PCR‐positive) in SLHD from 1 January 2013 to 30 June 2015 was conducted and demographic, clinical and risk factors were analysed and compared between these groups. Results : Of the 148 shigellosis cases notified to SLHD, 122 cases (85 culture‐positive vs. 37 culture‐negative) were included for analysis. Culture‐positive cases were more likely than culture‐negative/PCR‐positive cases to have experienced at least three symptoms (OR 3.18, 95%CI 1.3–7.5), been hospitalised (OR 4.2, 95%CI 1.4–13.2), and have had men‐who‐have‐sex‐with‐men exposure identified as the source of their infection (OR 28.7, 95%CI 6.2–132.6). Conclusions : This study has identified that culture‐positive vs. culture‐negative/PCR‐positive shigellosis cases in NSW differ by clinical severity and risk factors for infection. Implications for public health : The study findings warrant further research to determine the true diagnostic prevalence of Shigella in the culture‐negative/PCR‐positive group in the Australian context, in order to inform further changes to the national case definition for shigellosis.     

Does level of minority presence and hospital reimbursement policy influence hospital referral region health rankings in the United States

The shift from a fee‐for‐service payment to a value‐based payment scheme, sparked by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, introduced pay‐for‐performance programs such Hospital Value Based Purchasing. Previous inquiry has not considered how local community factors may affect hospital system performance. This study investigated the association between local health performance and minority population in a hospital referral region (HRR). The primary objective was to ascertain whether community diversity levels are significantly associated to local health performance guided by the ecological model. Secondary data analysis collected from the 2016 American Hospital Association, Area Health Resource File, Commonwealth Fund Scorecard on Local Health System Performance, and the Dartmouth Atlas HRR dataset was used. Our primary findings show that the more diverse a HRR is, the more likely it is to be associated with lower ranking for access and affordability prevention and treatment avoidable hospital use and cost as well as healthy lives. Total performance score was significantly related to a better health ranking on prevention and treatment, hospital use, and cost, as well as healthy lives. This research supports the assertion that communities, particularly minorities in those communities, affect local health care performance in a variety of ways.     

Towards an ecological understanding of readiness to engage with interventions for children exposed to domestic violence and abuse: Systematic review and qualitative synthesis of perspectives of children,parents and practitioners

Children who grow up in homes affected by domestic violence and abuse (DVA) are at risk of poor outcomes across the lifespan, yet there is limited evidence on the acceptability and effectiveness of interventions for them. A recent review of child‐focused interventions highlighted a gap in understanding the factors influencing the willingness of parents and children to engage with these programmes. We conducted a systematic review of qualitative evidence on the experiences of receiving and delivering interventions with the aim of identifying factors at different levels of the social–ecological context that may influence parent and child readiness to take up interventions. We searched literature till April 2016 and found 12 reports of eight programmes. Two authors independently screened papers for inclusion, extracted data and identified the first‐ and second‐order constructs. The third‐order constructs were derived and fitted to the ecological framework to inform a picture of readiness to engage with interventions. Three key findings emerged from this review: (a) parent and child readiness is influenced by a complex interplay of individual, relationship and organisational factors, highlighting that individual readiness to take up child‐focussed interventions must be viewed in an ecological context; (b) the specific process through which women become ready to engage in or facilitate child‐focussed interventions may differ from that related to uptake of safety‐promoting behaviours and requires parents to be aware of the impact of DVA on children and to focus on children's needs; (c) there are distinct but interlinked processes through which parents and children reach a point of readiness to engage in an interventions aimed at improving child outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for both practice and research.     

Serum vitamin D levels correlate to coronary artery disease severity: a retrospective chart analysis

Background: The pro-atherosclerotic nature of vitamin D deficiency has been shown to increase cardiovascular events. We further emphasized and evaluated the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) with varying levels of vitamin D in relation to age, gender, ethnicity and baseline confounders.

Methods: A retrospective, single-center study of 9,399 patients admitted between 2005 and 2014 for chest pain who underwent coronary angiography. Patients without a vitamin D level, measured as 25-dihydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) were excluded from our study. 25(OH)D deficiency and insufficiency were defined by having serum concentration levels of less than 20 ng/ml and 20 to 29.9 ng/ml, respectively, while normal levels were defined as greater than or equal to 30 ng/ml. We assessed levels of 25(OH)D and extent of coronary disease with coronary angiography as obstructive CAD (left main stenosis of ≥50% or any stenosis of ≥70%), non-obstructive CAD (≥1 stenosis ≥20% but no stenosis ≥70%) and normal coronaries (no stenosis >20%).

Results: Among 9,399 patients, 1,311 qualified, of which 308 patients (23%) had normal 25(OH)D levels, 552 patients (42%) had 25(OH)D deficiency and 451 patients (35%) had 25(OH)D insufficiency. In an analysis of the extent of coronary disease, we identified 20% of patients having normal coronaries, 55% having obstructive CAD and 25% having non-obstructive CAD. Baseline clinical risk factors and co-morbidities did not differ between the groups.

Patients with normal 25(OH)D levels were found to have normal coronaries compared to patients with 25(OH)D deficiency or insufficiency (OR: 7, 95% CI: 5.2 – 9.5, p < 0.0001). Comparing patients with normal 25(OH)D levels, patients with 25(OH)D deficiency or insufficiency (<29 ng/ml), 62% were found to have obstructive CAD (n = 624, OR: 2.9, 95% CI: 2.3-3.7, p < 0.0001) and 25% had non-obstructive CAD (n = 249, OR: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1-2, p = 0.02).

Conclusion: Normal coronaries and CAD were shown to correlate with normal and low levels of 25(OH)D, respectively. There is an inverse relationship between the percentage of coronary artery occlusion and serum 25(OH)D concentrations. Vitamin D may provide benefits in risk stratification of patients with CAD and serve as a possible risk factor.     

Changes in classic and alternative pathways of bile acid synthesis in chronic liver disease

BACKGROUND: Cholesterol elimination occurs through bile acid synthesis that starts within the liver from 7alpha-hydroxylation or in extrahepatic tissues from 27-hydroxylation. This study was aimed at investigating in vivo these two pathways in patients with chronic liver disease. METHODS: Serum concentrations of 7alpha- and 27-hydroxycholesterol were measured in 54 patients (29 with primary biliary cirrhosis and 25 with chronic hepatitis C) and 18 controls. The rate of oxysterol plasma appearance was calculated after intravenous infusions of deuterated 7alpha- and 27-hydroxycholesterol in patients (n=8) and control subjects (n=8) who gave consent. The expression of sterol 27-hydroxylase was evaluated in macrophages isolated from 20 subjects. RESULTS: In patients with liver disease, the rate of plasma appearance of 7alpha-hydroxycholesterol was significantly reduced (1.44+/-0.96 vs. 2.75+/-1.43 mg/hour, p=0.03), the degree of reduction being related with the severity of the disease (p=0.01) whereas that of 27-hydroxycholesterol was unaffected. The rate of plasma appearance of 27-hydroxycholesterol was significantly related to its serum concentrations (r=0.54, p=0.03) and to its release from cultured macrophages ( r=0.85, p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: In liver disease 7alpha-hydroxylation of cholesterol seems to be impaired while 27-hydroxylation is unaffected. Serum concentrations of 27-hydroxycholesterol are useful to obtain information on the activity of this alternative pathway.