We study the clinical, management and outcome differences between respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) positive and negative bronchiolitis. A retrospective review of the medical records of children ≤ 2 years of age with acute bronchiolitis between January 1995 and December 2006 was done. There were 2,384 patients hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis, and 1,495 (62.7%) were RSV infections. Overall, hospitalization rate was 55/1,000 admissions. Mortality occurred in 0.08% of cases. Bronchiolitis due to RSV was more frequent from November to March (97%). RSV bronchiolitis had longer hospital stays (6 vs. 5 days, P<0.0001), higher risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission (OR 2.7; 95%CI 1.87-3.9) and more oxygen use (OR 2.2; 95%CI 1.8-2.6). Infants < 2 months had longer median hospital stay (6 vs. 5 days, P <0.0001) and higher risk of ICU admission (OR 3.4; 95%CI 2.5-4.6). Prematures of < 32 gestational weeks, congenital heart disease, and atelectasis/condensation were the main risk factors for ICU admission in both RSV and non-RSV bronchiolitis. The introduction of palivizumab in prematures diminished hospitalization for RSV bronchiolitis, oxygen need, length of hospital stay and mechanical ventilation. In conclusion, this study supports that RSV bronchiolitis seems to be a more severe disease than that caused by other viruses.

BackgroundSeveral studies have shown a relation between the adipose tissue accumulation and a higher risk for developing metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, body fat content and, mainly, the fat distribution or adiposity could be considered as important indicators of health risk. In spite of presenting several limitations, BMI is the most widely used and accepted index for classifying overweight and obesity. The aim of the study was to evaluate the correlations between Body Adiposity Index (BAI), BMI and other adiposity indexes such as WC, WHR and WHtR with cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors. Furthermore, the behavior of BAI and BMI regarding the ability to discriminate overweight or obese individuals was also analyzed.Research Methodology/Principal FindingsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Spanish Caucasian adult workers. Participants in the study (29.214 men and 21.040 women, aged 20–68 years) were systematically selected during their work health periodic examinations. BAI, BMI, WHR, WHtR, body weight, hip and waist circumference (WC) as well as systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured. Serum levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG) and glucose were also determined. Results of the study indicated that BAI was less correlated with cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic risk factors than other adiposity indexes (BMI, WC and WHtR). The best correlations were found for WHtR. In addition, the BAI presented lower discriminatory capacity than BMI for diagnosing metabolic syndrome (MS) using both IDF and ATP III criteria. A different behavior of the BAI in men and women when considering the ability to discriminate overweight or obese individuals was also observed.ConclusionsThe adiposity indexes that include the waist circumference (WHtR and WC) may be better candidates than BAI and BMI to evaluate metabolic and cardiovascular risk in both clinical practice and research.

The present study examined the effects of mindfulness on depression and anxiety, both direct and indirect through the mediation of four mechanisms of emotional regulation: worry, rumination, reappraisal and suppression. Path analysis was applied to data collected from an international and non-clinical sample of 1151 adults, including both meditators and non-meditators, who completed an online questionnaire battery. Our results show that mindfulness are related to lower levels of depression and anxiety both directly and indirectly. Suppression, reappraisal, worry and rumination all acted as significant mediators of the relationship between mindfulness and depression. A similar picture emerged for the relationship between mindfulness and anxiety, with the difference that suppression was not a mediator. Our data also revealed that the estimated number of hours of mindfulness meditation practice did not affect depression or anxiety directly but did reduce these indirectly by increasing mindfulness. Worry and rumination proved to be the most potent mediating variables. Altogether, our results confirm that emotional regulation plays a significant mediating role between mindfulness and symptoms of depression and anxiety in the general population and suggest that meditation focusing on reducing worry and rumination may be especially useful in reducing the risk of developing clinical depression.

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