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OBJECTIVE: Data on severe asthma phenotypes in Latin America are lacking. The PREPARE study describes the prevalence of certain determinants of severe asthma among patients in 5 Latin American countries with blood eosinophil counts (BEC) ≥300 cells/mm3 and serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) concentrations >100 IU/mL. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, information on demographics, disease characteristics, and asthma treatments were extracted from the existing medical records of patients aged ≥12 years attending centers specialized in severe asthma management. Medical record data were transcribed onto electronic case report forms. Blood eosinophil counts and IgE concentrations were assayed from specimens obtained at study visit. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Data from 461 patients with severe asthma (mean age, 50.5 years) were analyzed. Most patients were female (73%), had a body mass index of ≥25 kg/m2 (77%), and received full healthcare reimbursement (63%). In the previous 12 months, 52% of patients experienced ≥1 severe exacerbation and 44% received oral corticosteroid burst therapy. Blood eosinophil counts ≥300 cells/mm3 and ≥150 cells/mm3 were reported in 44% and 76% of patients, respectively. In 58% of patients, serum IgE concentrations exceeded 100 IU/mL. Uncontrolled asthma was documented in 50% (n = 230) of patients. CONCLUSIONS: The PREPARE study provides useful insights about the prevalence of eosinophilic and atopic phenotypes in patients with severe asthma in Latin America, thereby paving the way for a more personalized approach to managing severe asthma. Notwithstanding the treatment at specialized medical centers, disease burden remained high in this study population.

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JUSTIFICATION: In Mexico, the number of unidentified bodies has been steadily rising for years. By now, more than 50,000 bodies are considered unidentified. Forensic laboratories that could perform comparative molecular genetic investigation are often overburdened and examinations can take months. Therefore, pragmatic approaches that can help to identify more unknown bodies must be sought. The increased use of distinctive physical features might be one, and the high rate of tattooed people in Mexico points towards a great potential of tattoos as a tool for identification. The prerequisite for a comparison of antemortem (missing persons) and postmortem (unknown bodies) data is an objective description of the particularities, e.g., of the tattoos. The aim of this study was to establish an objective classification for tattoo motives, taking into consideration local preferences. METHODS: In the database of the medicolegal services of the Instituto Jaliscience de Ciencias Forenses (IJCF) in Guadalajara, postmortem data of 1000 tattooed bodies from 2019 were evaluated. According to sex and age, the tattooed body localization and the tattoo motives were categorized. RESULTS: The 1000 tattooed deceased showed tattoos on 2342 body localizations. The motives were grouped and linked to the following 11 keywords (with decreasing frequency): letters/numbers, human, symbol (other), plant, symbol (religious), animal, object, fantasy/demon/comic, tribal/ornament/geometry, other, unrecognizable. CONCLUSION: Using the proposed classification, tattoo motives can be described objectively and classified in a practical way. If used for antemortem (missing persons) and postmortem (unknown bodies) documentation, motives can be searched and compared efficiently-helping to identify unknown bodies.

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Scientists have a single currency for productivity and impact: published articles. In an effort to map the global research landscape in microbiology, and to obviate the current lack of bibliometric analysis in the field, FEMS-the Federation of European Microbiological Societies-generated a dataset encompassing an exhaustive, worldwide list of microbiology studies for 2013-14, which further includes information as author affiliation, funding agency and number of citations. The manually curated database is useful in assessing the impact and regional productivity of microbiology research at different levels. Here, the data for microbiology research in South America are presented and discussed in detail. Based on the analysis, it emerged that despite great degrees of variation between number of published articles among the countries, a more levelled research productivity was observed when considering further dimensions like population size or number of research institutes. Normalised productivity and impact increase in countries with a 'central research hub', i.e. an institute or university producing a substantial portion of the national output (15% or more). From these observations, a possible strategy to increase impact and productivity in (microbiology) research for emerging countries is outlined.

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Objectives: Bronchopleural fistula (BPF) is an uncommon complication following a lung resection to address various conditions. BPFs are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. This study evaluated the endoscopic treatment of 'total' BPFs using the Occlutech-Fígulla® cardiac device at a single centre. Methods: We selected nine patients with chronic and complete BPFs. Under direct bronchoscopic visualization, the BPFs were treated using the Occlutech-Fígulla device. The patients were followed up for 12 months to determine the treatment level and complications. Results: The procedure had a favourable outcome in three patients, resulting in complete fistula closure. Two patients had partial closure and showed improvements in their clinical conditions. In two other cases, closure of the bronchial stump was unsuccessful using this method. Two patients died from causes unrelated to the procedure or the device. During the follow-up period, no complications related to infection or device-related injuries were reported. Conclusions: In patients without clinical conditions that require surgical treatment, the Occlutech-Fígulla cardiac device can be a safe and effective method for the endoscopic treatment of large BPFs resulting from complete dehiscence of a bronchial stump. No severe events were reported.

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En la actualidad el auge de la información en miles de revistas dificulta la correcta identificación y recuperación de la producción científica de los investigadores. Durante los últimos años se han realizado intentos por parte de distintas organizaciones para crear un registro único permanente para los autores, que permita identificar sus artículos dondequiera que estos se ubiquen y con independencia de las especificidades de la escritura del nombre de los autores, las prácticas editoriales y el procesamiento en las bases de datos, así como de los diversos estilos de descripción bibliográfica. Entre estos identificadores ORCID (Open Researcher and Contribution ID), ha tenido las mayores posibilidades de universalizarse para lograr la visibilidad y el posicionamiento de las universidades de Latinoamérica en el contexto internacional actual, es por ello que la revista MEDISAN comenzará a mostrar el registro ORCID de sus autores a partir de enero del 2017

At present, the warehouse of information sources in thousands of journals makes very difficult the correct identification and recovery of the scientific production of researchers. During the last years, attempts of different organizations have been made to create a permanent unique register for authors, which permits to identify their articles wherever they are published and without taking into account the specificity in the author's name, publishing and processing practices in data bases, and different bibliographic description styles as well. Among these identifiers ORCID (Open Researcher and Contribution ID) has had the greatest possibilities of becoming universal to achieve visibility and positioning of Latin-American universities in the present international context, that´s why MEDISAN will start showing the ORCID register of its authors from January 2017 on

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