D espite a 10-year survival rate of 83%, 1,2 between 25% and 60% of surviving patients who have undergone surgery for breast cancer experience persistent postsurgical pain, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] which is associated with reduced quality of life and functional impairment. [10][11][12][13] Systematic reviews summarizing proposed risk factors for persistent pain after breast cancer surgery -including demographic, intraoperative and postoperative factors -have had several limitations, including outdated searches, inadequate attention to risk-of-bias assessment, lack of statistical pooling of measures of association and failure to evaluate the quality of evidence.5,10-14 We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies to identify risk factors for persistent pain after breast cancer surgery, addressing the limitations of previous reviews. MethodsWe completed our systematic review in accordance with the MOOSE statement 15 and registered our protocol with PROSPERO (registration CRD42014013338). Background: Persistent pain after breast cancer surgery affects up to 60% of patients. Early identification of those at higher risk could help inform optimal management. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies to explore factors associated with persistent pain among women who have undergone surgery for breast cancer. Predictors of persistent pain after breast cancer surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

OBJECTIVE: Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death and represents a major public health problem worldwide. Another major cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in developing countries, is tuberculosis. The simultaneous or sequential occurrence of pulmonary tuberculosis and LC in the same patient has been reported in various case series and case-control studies. The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics of patients developing tuberculosis and LC, either simultaneously or sequentially. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study based on the review of medical charts. RESULTS: The study involved 24 patients diagnosed with tuberculosis and LC between 2009 and 2012. The diagnoses of tuberculosis and LC occurred simultaneously in 10 patients, whereas tuberculosis was diagnosed prior to LC in 14. The median time between the two diagnoses was 5 years (interquartile range: 1-30 years). Fourteen patients (58.3%) were male, 20 (83.3%) were White, and 22 (91.7%) were smokers or former smokers. The most common histological type was adenocarcinoma, identified in 14 cases (58.3%), followed by epidermoid carcinoma, identified in 6 (25.0%). Seven patients (29.2%) presented with distant metastases at diagnosis; of those 7 patients, 5 (71%) were diagnosed with LC and tuberculosis simultaneously. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, most of the patients with tuberculosis and LC were smokers or former smokers, and tuberculosis was diagnosed either before or simultaneously with LC. Non-small cell lung cancer, especially adenocarcinoma, was the most common histological type.

Delays in diagnosis of TB cases are major impeding factors in the control of TB. The objectives of this study were to describe the health care seeking behavior of TB patients, assessing patient delay and the number of health care facilities visited before the start of TB treatment. A cross-sectional study was carried out with adult patients with pulmonary TB presenting to two TB facilities to start treatment. We found a median patient delay of 20 days. The factors associated negatively with patient delay in multivariate analysis were weight loss, and have sought treatment because of the first symptom. We also demonstrated that 44.8% of patients incorrectly reported the mode of transmission of TB. In addition, the local of first attendance was an emergency room of public hospitals in 37.3% of patients. We demonstrated that the median patient delay in TB diagnosis in two TB services in a region with a high prevalence of TB was 20 days, and the protective factors associated with this delay in multivariate analysis were weight loss, and have sought treatment because of the first symptom.

Although systematic reviews have numerous advantages, they are vulnerable to biases that can mask the true results of the study and therefore should be interpreted with caution. This article aims at critically reviewing the literature about systematic reviews of observational studies, emphasizing the errors that can affect this type of study design and possible strategies to overcome these errors. This is an integrative literature review whose search was conducted in the databases States National Library of Medicine, Scientific Electronic Library Online and Google Scholar. The following descriptors were used: review, bias (epidemiology) and observational studies as the subject, including relevant books and documents which were consulted. Data collection was conducted between June and July 2016. The most known errors present in the design of systematic reviews were those related to the selection and publication. Although this type of study is subject to possible errors, preventive measures used during the planning of systematic reviews and even during and after their implementation can help ensure scientific rigor. This literature can serve as an important tool for the development and interpretation of systematic reviews of observational studies.

Background: There is uncertainty regarding which factors are associated with in-hospital mortality among patients with pulmonary TB (PTB). The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to identify predictors of in-hospital mortality among patients with PTB. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Global Health, for cohort and case-control studies that reported risk factors for in-hospital mortality in PTB. We pooled all factors that were assessed for an association, and presented relative associations as pooled odds ratios (ORs). Results: We identified 2,969 records, of which we retrieved 51 in full text; 11 cohort studies that evaluated 5,468 patients proved eligible. Moderate quality evidence suggested an association with co-morbid malignancy and in-hospital mortality (OR 1.85; 95% CI 1.01–3.40). Low quality evidence showed no association with positive sputum smear (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.40–2.48), or male sex (OR 1.09, 95% CI 0.84–1.41), and very low quality evidence showed no association with diabetes mellitus (OR 1.31, 95% IC 0.38–4.46), and previous TB infection (OR 2.66, 95% CI 0.48–14.87). Conclusion: Co-morbid malignancy was associated with increased risk of in-hospital death among pulmonary TB patients. There is insufficient evidence to confirm positive sputum smear, male sex, diabetes mellitus, and previous TB infection as predictors of in-hospital mortality in TB patients.

The ability of Pasteurella multocida to invade and multiply in its host is enhanced by the presence of the capsule, one of the most important virulence factors for this bacterium. Capsular typing methods are often used in epidemiological and pathogenesis studies of this agent. Five different serogroups have been identified based on serological typing. However, such tests are laborious, and agglutination of homologous antiserum may fail. The aim of this study was to develop a multiplex PCR protocol for the identification of the hyaD-hyaC and dcbF genes specific to serogroups A and D, respectively, and to compare these results with those of phenotypic tests for 54 strains isolated from fowl cholera cases in southern Brazil. The kappa coefficient and chisquare statistics were calculated to assess the agreement between the diagnostic methods and to determine the significance of the results, respectively. The multiplex PCR was able to detect the evaluated genes. Forty-nine strains (90.74%) were classified into serogroup A, and only two isolates (3.7%) were not identified as belonging to any of the serogroups analyzed. In contrast, with the phenotypic tests, only 41 strains (75.93%) were classified into serogroup A and 11 samples (20.37%) were unidentifiable. Of the strains analyzed, 70.37% were classified into the same serogroup (A) by both methods, and the kappa coefficient (k = 0.017) indicated poor agreement between the tests. Thus, multiplex PCR is an alternative for P. multocida capsular typing, as it allows the simultaneous and rapid detection of genes and also provides a greater strain-typing capacity.

A brief DL course on TB was associated with some improvement in knowledge among nurses. The baseline knowledge was low regarding TB epidemiologic data, concepts on LTBI, and active case finding. This finding emphasizes the need to further improve the competencies and knowledge of nurses.

Purpose: To characterize patients with stroke and to establish the prevalence of oral communication disorders (CD) related by cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and the frequency of indication or request of speech therapy. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study from the medical report forms of 95 patients hospitalized for stroke between June 2007 and June 2008 in a regional public hospital. Results: Out of the 95 patients, 51 (53.7%) were male (mean age was 59.8 years old), 48 (59.3%) had a history of hypertension, 82 (86.3%) had ischaemic stroke and CD were present in 53 (55.8%) of patients. The mean hospital stay was 5 days. There was no significant relationship between the type of stroke and CD, or between the site of neurological damage due to stroke and the occurrence of CD. None of the subjects received an evaluation or speech-language therapy during hospitalization, and there were no referrals to healthcare after discharge. Conclusion: More than 50% of individuals affected by stroke had oral communication disorders during the hospitalization. There was no any indication or request for speech therapy in this period, even after discharge. These findings indicate a probable failure to integrate with the speech therapy staff for the treatment of patients with neurological diseases. It is necessary to further evaluate whether this is due absence of speech therapists in the team or just healthcare professionals lacking knowledge about the possibilities of speech therapy along with disturbances in oral communication due to stroke. isquêmico e 53 (55,8%), distúrbios de comunicação oral. O tempo médio de internação foi de cinco dias. Não houve relação significativa entre o tipo de AVC e distúrbio de comunicação oral, tampouco entre o local da lesão neurológica decorrente do AVC e a ocorrência de distúrbio de comunicação oral. Nenhum dos sujeitos recebeu indicação de avaliação ou tratamento fonoaudiológico durante a internação ou na alta. Conclusão: Mais de 50% dos indivíduos acometidos por AVC apresentam distúrbios de comunicação oral durante o período de internação hospitalar. Não houve nenhuma indicação ou solicitação de atendimento fonoaudiológico neste período, tampouco em encaminhamento para atendimento após a alta hospitalar. Estes achados indicam provável falha da inserção fonoaudiológica em equipes que atendem pacientes acometidos por doenças neurológicas, sendo necessário avaliar mais profundamente se isto ocorre devido à ausência do fonoaudiólogo na equipe, ou ao pouco conhecimento dos profissionais sobre a atuação fonoaudiológica junto aos distúrbios de comunicação oral decorrentes de AVC. Keywords