Objectives: To develop a clinical prediction rule (CPR) for the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis (PT) in patients with pleural exudates in Peru. Methods: Clinical and laboratory information was collected from patients with exudative pleural effusion attending two reference hospitals in Lima, Peru. Predictive findings associated with PT in a multiple logistic regression model were used to develop the CPR. A definite diagnosis of PT was based on a composite reference standard including bacteriological and/or histological analysis of pleural fluid and pleural biopsy specimens. Results: A total of 238 patients were included in the analysis, of whom 176 had PT. Age, sex, previous contact with a TB patient, presence of lymphadenopathy, and pleural adenosine deaminase (ADA) levels were found to be independently associated with PT. These predictive findings were used to construct a CPR, for whi...

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado.

Peru is negotiating the Transpacific Partnership Agreement, a commercial treaty that could have deleterious implications for the health systems of the included partners. Transparency and Intellectual Property chapters are the most controversial elements. The first mostly because it opens the possibility for groups of interest to refuse decisions being taken by the sanitary authorities concerning the incorporation of health technologies to the public health systems. The second because it poses restrictions to the entrance of generic medical products, widening the period of data exclusivity and implementing mechanisms of opposition to their registry. Other chapters include strategies to block the states from regulating the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and processed foods. We ought to create surveillance systems to evaluate the impact of the agreement if it is signed, and generate mechan...

Nos encontramos atravesando un momento en el cual se están dando a conocer faltas a la ética en la función pública que habían venido ocurriendo a todo nivel. Es importante conocer los códigos de ética y buenas prácticas de cada una de las funciones que se desempeñan. En el ámbito de las publicaciones científicas, es muy recomendable que todos los investigadores que deseen realizar publicaciones conozcan las buenas prácticas científicas y los principios éticos básicos de las publicaciones en ciencias. La gran mayoría de revistas médicas se guían por las recomendaciones del Comité Internacional de Editores de Revistas Médicas (ICMJE) y en lo referente a las faltas éticas, por los lineamientos del Comité de Ética en Publicaciones (COPE). Faltas frecuentes que se pueden encontrar en las revistas locales son problemas de autoría, publicación redundante y plagio y falt...

Knowledge translation (KT) in Public Health involves the use of scientific evidence by decision makers when generating health policies directed to accelerate the benefits resulting from research and innovation in health system and ultimately people´s health. In this paper we review the definitions and conceptual frameworks related to systematization of KT processes. The different approaches to KT share the concept that KT is composed by two main elements: a product (information) developed through scientific method with a friendly format for the target public and an action devoted to support or promote a health related practice using the aforementioned product. The understanding and application of KT is a key element for effective use of knowledge in decision making.

Peru has the highest burden of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the Americas region. Since 1999, the annual number of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) Peruvian cases has been increasing, becoming a public health challenge. The objective of this study was to perform genomic characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains obtained from Peruvian patients with XDR-TB diagnosed from 2011 to 2015 in Peru. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on 68 XDR-TB strains from different regions of Peru. 58 (85.3%) strains came from the most populated districts of Lima and Callao. Concerning the lineages, 62 (91.2%) strains belonged to the Euro-American Lineage, while the remaining 6 (8.8%) strains belonged to the East-Asian Lineage. Most strains (90%) had high-confidence resistance mutations according to pre-established WHO-confident grading system. Discordant results be...

Menciona que el Perú tiene la mayor cantidad de muertes por COVID-19 por millón de habitantes del mundo; dicha constatación nos plantea la urgente necesidad de buscar las causas más relevantes de esta tragedia. El presente informe es el resultado de dicha indagación. Ha sido elaborado por un Comité multidisciplinario y plural convocado y apoyado por el Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación(CONCYTEC).

Background: During 2021, Peru started the vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 using the BBIBP-CorV inactivated virus vaccine for health care workers (HCW). We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the BBIBP-CorV vaccine to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and deaths among HCWs. Methods: Retrospective cohort study, from February 9 to June 30, 2021, using national registries of health care workers, laboratory tests for SARS-CoV-2 and deaths. We calculated the vaccine effectiveness for preventing laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19-mortality, and all-cause mortality among partially immunized and fully immunized HCWs. An extension of Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model the mortality results, and Poisson regression was used to model SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: The study included 606,772 eligible HCWs, the mean age was 40 (IQR: 33.0, 51.0). In fully immunized HCW, th...

The case of 9 patients reported in the context of the health alert due to the increase in cases of Monkeypox virus infection in the world in non-endemic countries is presented. It is important to know in a practical way the most important epidemiological and clinical criteria that make us think about ruling out Monkeypox in the current context of transmission in Peru. The characteristics of the confirmed cases are discussed versus those of other diseases that are part of the differential diagnosis such as chickenpox, hand-foot-mouth syndrome, etc.