BACKGROUND Seasonal influenza-associated mortality estimates help identify the burden of disease and assess the value of public health interventions such as annual influenza immunization. Vital registration is limited in Bangladesh making it difficult to estimate seasonal influenza mortality. OBJECTIVES Our study aimed to estimate seasonal influenza-associated mortality rates for 2010-2012 in...

Some gastropod specimens belonging to the planorbid genus Ferrissia were recently collected in Lebanon and in Iraq, where the autochthonous species Ferrissia clessiniana (Jickeli, 1882) is supposed to occur. The molecular identification of collected specimens proved that they belong to the allochthonous species Ferrissia fragilis (Tryon, 1863), the protagonist of a dramatic cryptic invasion whi...

INTRODUCTION Streptococcus pneumoniae is the commonest cause of bacteremic pneumonia among HIV-infected persons. As more countries with high HIV prevalence are implementing infant pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) programs, we aimed to describe the baseline clinical characteristics of adult invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in the pre-PCV era in South Africa in order to interpret potential...

BACKGROUND The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate (PCV7) vaccine's impact on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is well described, but few reports exist on the additional impact of the 13-valent vaccine (PCV13). METHODS We calculated the IPD incidence across all ages in a surveillance project following implementation of PCV7 (in September 2006) and PCV13 (in April 2010) in children aged <2 year...

Empathy is an important component of the provider-patient relationship. In the United States one in five persons has a disability. Persons with disabilities perceive gaps in health care providers' understanding of their health care preferences and needs. The purpose of this study was to use valid and reliable assessment methods to investigate the association between empathy and attitudes toward...

Introduction. In industrialized countries, the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) caused a slow but substantial ageing of the AIDS epidemic mainly due to the longer survival of persons with HIV/AIDS which has turned HIV into a manageable, chronic disease. The number of older people with AIDS is growing in many European countries. We described the impact of AIDS among p...

BACKGROUND Guidelines for statin use currently focus on patients with elevated low-density lipoprotein levels. Recent findings from the Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER), however, indicate that statin therapy to reduce cardiovascular risk is also effective among older persons with at-goal low-density lipoprotein b...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to analyse the changes in new certifications for both sight impairment (SI) and severe sight impairment (SSI, blindness) in Wales due to diabetic retinopathy (DR)/maculopathy between 2007 and 2015. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This is a retrospective analysis of annual data of new certifications for visual impairment and blindness (Certificate of Vision Impa...

Background—Guidelines for statin use currently focus on patients with elevated low-density lipoprotein levels. Recent findings from the Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER), however, indicate that statin therapy to reduce cardiovascular risk is also effective among older persons with at-goal low-density lipoprotein b...

LAST SPRING, A GROUP CALLED MAYors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of US mayors who want more stringent regulation of firearm sales, unveiled a television commercial featuring clips from speeches by the 3 leading presidential candidates. In these clips, Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton (D, NY), Sen Barack Obama (D, Ill), and Sen John McCain (R, Ariz) said they oppose a “gun show loophole” that allo...