Impact of PCV7/PCV13 introduction on community-acquired alveolar pneumonia in children <5 years

BackgroundAlveolar community-acquired pneumonia (A-CAP) is mostly considered a bacterial disease, mainly pneumococcal. This study was conducted to document the impact of sequential 7-valent and the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV7; PCV13) on emergency room and hospitalization for A-CAP among children <5 years of age.MethodsThis is an ongoing prospective population-based study in southern Israel. The current analysis spans over the period July 2002 through June 2013. A-CAP was defined using the World Health Organization (WHO)’s criteria for radiologically-confirmed pneumonia. PCV7 was introduced in Israel in July 2009 and gradually replaced by PCV13 in November 2010. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) impact was calculated by comparing incidences during 3 pre-defined periods: pre-PCV (2002–2008), PCV7 (2010–2011) and PCV13 (2012–2013).ResultsOverall, 10,142 A-CAP episodes occurred. The annual incidences (per 1,000 inhabitants) in children <5 years old declined from a mean (±standard deviation) of 13.8 ± 0.9 in the pre-PCV period to 11.2 ± 2.7 in the PCV7 period and 7.4 in the PCV13 period, representing a reduction of 13% and 47%, respectively. The overall decrease was significantly faster among outpatients than among hospitalized children (42% and −8%, respectively in the PCV7 period; 68% vs. 32% in hospitalized children in the PCV13 period). While in children 12–23 months a significant decline was observed during the PCV7 and PCV13 periods, significant declines in A-CAP rates were observed only during the PCV13 period in the <12 months and 24–59 months age groups (44% and 46%, respectively).ConclusionsA moderate decline in hospital A-CAP visits in children <5 years old was observed after PCV7 introduction. In contrast, after PCV13 introduction a substantial reduction in all visits was evident.     

Cat exposure in early life decreases asthma risk from the 17q21 high-risk variant

1. Download high-res image (153KB)
2. Download full-size image

     

Impact of dose-rate on the low-dose hyper-radiosensitivity and induced radioresistance (HRS/IRR) response

Abstract

Purpose: To ask whether dose-rate influences low-dose hyper- radiosensitivity and induced radioresistance (HRS/IRR) response in rat colon progressive (PRO) and regressive (REG) cells.

Methods: Clonogenic survival was applied to tumorigenic PRO and non-tumorigenic REG cells irradiated with ⁶⁰Co γ-rays at 0.0025–500 mGy.min^?1. Both clonogenic survival and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway involved in DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) repair assays were applied to PRO cells irradiated at 25 mGy.min^?1 with 75 kV X-rays only.

Results: Irrespective of dose-rates, marked HRS/IRR responses were observed in PRO but not in REG cells. For PRO cells, the doses at which HRS and IRR responses are maximal were dependent on dose-rate; conversely exposure times during which HRS and IRR responses are maximal (t_HRSmax and t_IRRmax) were independent of dose-rate. The t_HRSmax and t_IRRmax values were 23 ± 5 s and 66 ± 7 s (mean ± standard error of the mean [SEM], n = 7), in agreement with literature data. Repair data show that t_HRSmax may correspond to exposure time during which NHEJ is deficient while t_IRRmax may correspond to exposure time during which NHEJ is complete.

Conclusion: HRS response may be maximal if exposure times are shorter than t_HRSmax irrespective of dose, dose-rate and cellular model. Potential application of HRS response in radiotherapy is discussed.     

Risk of peptic ulcer hospitalizations in users of NSAIDs with gastroprotective cotherapy versus coxibs

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The primary strategies to reduce the risk of serious gastropathy caused by traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are use of a coxib or concurrent use of a proton pump inhibitor or double-dose histamine-2 receptor antagonist. However, the relative clinical effectiveness of these therapeutic alternatives is understudied. METHODS: We studied peptic ulcer hospitalizations in a cohort of Tennessee Medicaid enrollees between 1996 and 2004. To decrease potential "channeling" bias, the study included only new episodes of prescribed NSAID or coxib use and controlled for multiple baseline risk factors for upper gastrointestinal disease. There were 234,010 and 48,710 new episodes of NSAID and coxib use, respectively, with 363,037 person-years of follow-up and 1223 peptic ulcer hospitalizations. RESULTS: Current users of NSAIDs with no gastroprotective cotherapy had an adjusted incidence of peptic ulcer hospitalizations of 5.65 per 1000 person-years, 2.76 (95% confidence interval, 2.35-3.23) times greater than that for persons not currently using either NSAIDs or coxibs. This risk was reduced by 39% (16%-56%, 95% CI) for current users of NSAIDs with gastroprotective cotherapy and 40% (23%-54%) for current users of coxibs without such cotherapy. Concurrent users of NSAIDs and proton pump inhibitors had a 54% (27%-72%) risk reduction, very similar to the 50% (27%-66%) reduction for concurrent users of proton pump inhibitors and coxibs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that coprescribing a proton pump inhibitor with an NSAID is as effective as use of a coxib for reducing the risk of NSAID-induced gastropathy.     

Osteoarthritis and its management - Epidemiology,nutritional aspects and environmental factors

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent chronic rheumatic diseases worldwide, with a strong impact on individual and population health. OA is a clinically heterogeneous disease presenting with different clinical phenotypes recognising systemic and local risk factors. The pathogenesis is multifactorial including constitutive features of the joint, non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors. Epidemiological studies highlight the link between metabolic syndrome and OA and the effect of interplay between immunological and metabolic processes is getting increasing emphasis because of to the discovery that metabolic syndrome is implicated in OA pathogenesis and progression. In addition, recent findings suggest a potential role of dietary factors in susceptibility and progression of OA. In this review, we summarise the most robust evidence on epidemiology and classical risk factors OA, also exploring the most recent evidence on metabolic changes and Mediterranean diet for OA as a possible target to impact on the natural history of the disease.