BACKGROUND: Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) strains are pediatric pathogens commonly isolated from both healthy and sick children with diarrhea in areas of endemicity. The aim of this study was to compare the bacterial load of EPEC isolated from stool samples from children with and without diarrhea to determine whether bacterial load might be a useful tool for further study of this phenomenon. METHODS: EPEC was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of colonies isolated on MacConkey plates from 53 diarrheal and 90 healthy children aged <2 years. DNA was isolated from stool samples by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide extraction. To standardize quantification by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), the correlation between fluorescence threshold cycle and copy number of the intimin gene of EPEC E2348/69 was determined. RESULTS: The detection limit of qRT-PCR was 5 bacteria/mg stool. The geometric mean load in diarrhea was 299 bacteria/mg (95% confidence interval [CI], 77-1164 bacteria/mg), compared with 29 bacteria/mg (95% CI, 10-87 bacteria/mg) in control subjects (P = .016). Bacterial load was significantly higher in children with diarrhea than in control subjects among children <12 months of age (178 vs 5 bacteria/mg; P = .006) and among children with EPEC as the sole pathogen (463 vs 24 bacteria/mg; P = .006). CONCLUSIONS: EPEC load measured by qRT-PCR is higher in diarrheal than in healthy children. qRT-PCR may be useful to study the relationship between disease and colonization in settings of endemicity.

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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The incidence of periprocedural brain infarcts varies among cardiovascular procedures. In a systematic review, we compared the ratio of radiographic brain infarcts (RBI) to strokes and transient ischemic attacks across cardiac and vascular procedures. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE and 5 other databases for brain infarcts in aortic valve replacement, coronary artery bypass grafting, cardiac catheterization, and cerebral angiogram through September 2015. We followed the PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) recommendations. We defined symptomatic rate ratio (RR) as ratio of stroke plus transient ischemic attack rate to RBI rate. RESULTS: Twenty-nine studies involving 2124 subjects met the inclusion criteria. In meta-analysis of aortic valve replacements with 494 people, 69.4% (95% confidence interval (CI), 57.6%-81.4%) had RBIs, whereas 3.6% (95% CI, 2.0%-5.2%) had clinical events (RR, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.05-0.12). Coronary artery bypass grafting among 204 patients had 27.4% (95% CI, 6.0%-48.8%) RBIs and 2.4% (95% CI, 0.3%-4.5%) clinical events (RR, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.05-0.26). Cardiac catheterization among 833 people had 8.0% (95% CI, 4.1%-12.0%) RBIs, and 0.6% (95% CI, 0.1%-1.1%) had clinical events (RR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.08-0.31). Cerebral angiogram among 593 people had 12.8% (95% CI, 6.6-19.0) RBIs and 0.6% (95% CI, 0%-13%) clinical events (RR, 0.10; 95% CI, 0.04-0.27). The RR of all procedures was 0.10 (95% CI, 0.07-0.13) without differences in the RRs across procedures (P=0.29). CONCLUSIONS: One of 10 people with periprocedural RBIs during cardiac surgeries and invasive vascular diagnostic procedures resulted in strokes or transient ischemic attacks, which may serve as a potential surrogate marker of procedural proficiency and perhaps as a predictor of risk for periprocedural strokes.

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We analyzed the association between antibiotic resistance and recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI) by Escherichia coli. Susceptibility levels to 14 antimicrobial agents and the presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) were established using MicroScan. Incidences of multidrug resistant (MDR), extensively drug resistant (XDR), and ESBL-producer isolates as well as rUTIs were estimated. The time to recurrence was established adjusted for number of antibiotic-resistant families and MDR as predictors of interest, respectively. Overall, 8,553 urinary tract infection (UTI) cases related to E. coli, including 963 rITU, were analyzed with levels of resistance >30% in all cases, except for amikacin, nitrofurantoin, and carbapenems. The incidence of rUTI was of 11.3%, being 46.5%, 24.3%, and 42.5% for MDR, XDR, and ESBLs, respectively. Bivariate analysis showed that rUTI was associated with age, gender, resistance to specific antimicrobials, MDR, and XDR. The number of antibiotic families tested as resistant, MDR, XDR, gender, and age were associated with time to recurrence when adjusted for number of antibiotic families, and MDR, gender, and age were related when adjusted for MDR. High rates of antibiotic resistance to the usual antibiotics was observed in E. coli causing UTI, with female sex, age, and antibiotic resistance being risk factors for the development of rUTI.

In 2013, Peru initiated a reform process under the premise of recognizing the nature of health as a right that must be protected by the state. This reform aimed to improve health conditions through the elimination or reduction of restrictions preventing the full exercise of this right, and the consequent approach aimed to protect both individual and public health and rights within a framework characterized by strengthened stewardship and governance, which would allow system conduction and effective responses to risks and emergencies. The reform led to an increase in population health insurance coverage from 64% to 73%, with universalization occurring through the SIS affiliation of every newborn with no other protection mechanism. Health financing increased by 75% from 2011, and the SIS budget tripled from 570 to 1,700 million soles. From 2012 to May 2016, 168 health facilities have become operational, 51 establishments are nearing completion, and 265 new projects are currently under technical file and work continuity with an implemented investment of more than 7 billion soles. Additionally, this reform led to the approval of the Ministry of Health intervention for health emergencies and strengthened the health authority of the ministry to implement responses in case of risks or service discontinuity resulting from a lack of regional or local government compliance with public health functions.

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The worldwide scarcity of psychiatrists makes the identification of the factors associated with the intention to choose this specialty an important issue. This study aims to evaluate the association between religious affiliation and the intention to choose psychiatry as a specialty among medical students from 11 Latin American countries. We conducted a cross-sectional, multi-country study that included first- and fifth-year students of 63 medical schools in 11 Latin-American countries between 2011 and 2012. The main outcome and measures were the intention to pursue psychiatry as a specialty over other specialties (yes/no) and religious affiliation (without: atheist/agnostic; with: any religion). A total of 8308 participants were included; 53.6% were women, and the average age was 20.4 (SD = 2.9) years. About 36% were fifth-year students, and 11.8% were not affiliated with any religion. Only 2.6% had the intention to choose psychiatry; the highest proportion of students with the intention to choose psychiatry was among students in Chile (8.1%) and the lowest among students in Mexico (1.1%). After adjusting for demographic, family, academic as well as personal and professional projection variable, we found that those who had no religious affiliation were more likely to report the intention to become a psychiatrist [OR: 2.92 (95%CI: 2.14-4.00)]. There is a strong positive association between not having a religious affiliation and the intention to become a psychiatrist. The possible factors that influence this phenomenon must be evaluated in greater depth, ideally through longitudinal research.

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