A systematic scoping review of environmental health conditions and hygiene behaviors in homeless shelters

Background

There are well-established relationships between health and homelessness, and shelters can facilitate the transmission of diseases and contribute to their prevention. Adequate environmental health conditions and hygiene behaviors in homeless shelters are fundamental to the health of their clients, a marginalized population. We report the status of environmental health conditions and hygiene behaviors in homeless shelters and associated health outcomes; interventions to improve these conditions, behaviors, and outcomes; and obstacles to improvement.

Reticencia vacunal: análisis del discurso de madres y padres con rechazo total o parcial a las vacunas

Objective

To analyse and understand vaccination hesitancy discourses, particularly those of people who have decided not to vaccinate their sons and daughters.

Neurological manifestations of decompression illness in recreational divers - the Cozumel experience.

Neurological signs and symptoms are common in recreational divers with decompression illness (DCI). The spectrum of neurological manifestations, temporal profile, and laboratory findings are described in a large series of 200 consecutive recreational divers treated for DCI. The Hyperbaric Medicine Unit charts of 200 recreational divers treated for DCI were reviewed and analyzed. The cohort was mainly male, with a median age of 40 years, and quite experienced, with a median of 100 prior dives. In 44 divers (22%) a rapid ascent was documented. The median time to onset of neurological symptoms was 60 minutes after surfacing. One hundred seventy-seven of 200 divers (88.5%) had at least one symptom of neurological DCI at presentation. The most common neurological manifestations were paresthesia, dysesthesia, incoordination, motor weakness, and dizziness. Paresthesias were associated with significantly younger (p = 0.003) and less experienced (p = 0.03) divers. Similar but less significant correlations were noted for dysesthesias. Female divers were significantly more likely to experience painful skin symptoms (p < 0.001). Neurological manifestations are common in recreational divers treated for DCI. Neurological DCI and paresthesias are more likely to occur in younger and less experienced divers.     

Gestación heterotópica espontánea

Heterotopic pregnancy is the combination of intrauterine and ectopic pregnancy. This potentially fatal condition rarely occurs in spontaneous conception cycles and consequently its diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion. We report a case of heterotopic pregnancy in a 30-year old primipara with no known risk factors who presented with acute abdominal pain due to a spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy. The ectopic pregnancy was resected via laparoscopy. After surgery, the intrauterine pregnancy was uneventful.     

Helicobacter pylori erradication and its relation to antibiotic resistance and CYP2C19 status]

OBJECTIVE: to assess the efficacy of rabeprazole (RPZ), amoxicillin (Am), and clarithromycin (Cla) (7 vs. 14 days) in the eradication of H. pylori, and to determine the effect of strain-specific antibiotic resistance and host CYP2C19 status. MATERIAL AND METHODS: first, we determined the CYP2C19 status of 100 healthy subjects to establish a sample size for the clinical trial. Then, 59 H. pylori-infected patients were randomized to receive RPZ (20 mg daily) plus Cla (500 mg b.d.) and Am (1,000 mg b.d.) for 7 vs. 14 days. The MIC for Am and Cla were determined using the agar dilution method. The CYP2C19 genotype was determined by the PCR-RFLP method. RESULTS: In the per-protocol analysis (PP) eradication rates were 89.7 and 72% for the 7- and 14-day groups (p = 0.159). In the intention to-treat analysis (ITT) eradication rates were 86.7 and 62.1% in the 7- and 14-day groups, respectively (p = 0.06).None of the strains was resistant to Am, and 4 strains were resistant to Cla: 3 (11.1%) in the 14-day group and 1 (4%) in the 7-day group. Neither strain-specific antibiotic resistance nor host CYP2C19 status influenced eradication rates. CONCLUSIONS: both 7- and 14-day therapies were effective for H. pylori eradication. Strain resistance and CYP2C19 status do not seem to influence eradication rates in the studied population.     

A Mono-Percoll separation technique improves sperm recovery of normal and male factor specimens when compared with the swim-up technique

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of asimplified 80% Mono-Percoll sperm separation procedure on bothnormal and male factor semen samples compared with the standardswim-up technique. The parameters examined include sperm concentration,motility and morphology, total motile functional spermatozoaand percentage recovery. Normal patients demonstrated enhancedsperm parameters with the Mono-Percoll compared with the swim-uptechnique for concentration (67x10⁶ versus 42x10⁶/ml, P <0.001), motility (66 versus 59%, P < 0.001), morphology (56versus 49%, P < 0.005) and percentage recovery (60 versus42%, P < 0.005). Male factor patients showed enhanced spermparameters with the Mono-Percoll procedure compared with theswim-up technique for motility (53 versus 42%, P < 0.05)and percentage recovery (54 versus 29%, P < 0.005), withno significant difference in concentration and morphology. Insummary, the Mono-Percoll sperm recovery procedure is significantlybetter than the swim-up technique for male factor patients andpatients with normal sperm parameters.     

Gastrointestinal side effects and quality of life in patients receiving radiation therapy

A sample of 101 patients from four radiation oncology clinics participated in a study to describe the relative impact of gastrointestinal side effects of radiation therapy on the psychological and physical well-being dimensions of quality of life. Stepwise regression analysis showed that 44.2% of the variance in psychological well-being was accounted for by patient-reported gastrointestinal problems (21.5%), tension-anxiety (11.8%), other side effects of radiation (5.4%), and satisfaction with care (5.5%). A similar analysis revealed that 50.7% of the variance in physical well-being was accounted for by patient-reported fatigue (35.5%), gastrointestinal problems (8.8%), other side effects (4%), and willingness to comply (2.4%). Although treatment dose and field size directly impact on the severity of side effects, these results suggest that it is the perception of side effects as problems that impacts on psychological and physical well-being.