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Introduction Lactococcus garvieae, a zoonotic pathogen, may rarely infect humans through the consumption of fish. Documented manifestations of L. garvieae infection in humans include infective endocarditis, prosthetic joint infections, liver abscesses, peritoneal dialysis-associated peritonitis, osteomyelitis, meningitis, infective spondylodiscitis, acalculous cholecystitis, and urinary tract infection. Case report An 87-year-old female was hospitalized for coffee-ground emesis secondary to acute gastritis after eating cooked fish. One week after her discharge, she developed new-onset confusion and was returned to the hospital. Chest computed tomography revealed total consolidation of the left lung and a multiloculated left pleural effusion. The patient required intubation and direct admission to the intensive care unit. Pleural fluid and blood cultures grew L. garvieae, which was susceptible to ceftriaxone, penicillin, and vancomycin. Despite intensive antibiotic therapy and supportive care for thirteen days, the patient remained in irreversibl e shock, and the family opted for comfort care. Conclusions Heretofore unreported, this case demonstrates that L. garvieae can cause bronchopneumonia and empyema. Copyright © GERMS 2022.
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Objective. International studies have found an increased risk of puerperal depression during COVID-19 pandemic. The present research aims to investigate the risk of puerperal depression within the obstetrics ward of Ospedale dell’Angelo (Venice Mestre), between March and June, 2020. Patients and Methods. 98 new mothers (average age: 33 y/o, SD: 5) were asked to complete the 10 item version of the EPDS, 2-3 days after delivery and again 3 months later. Results. The percentage of women with high score is 26.5%, less than what was found in 2016. The risk of puerperal depression does not change significantly 3 months after delivery. However, high scores on EPDS do not seem to be connected either to the type of birth or to the condition of primiparity of the mothers. Conclusions. Some hypotheses have been proposed to explain the results obtained, such as quality of the assistance offered and/or the compliance and the coping skills acquired by families, which could be evaluated in future research. © 2022, EDRA S.p.A. All rights reserved.
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Background: Prompt recognition of COVID-19 prognosis could improve the care of inpatients admitted to Internal Medicine wards. Aim. To evaluate the impact of serum biomarkers at admission on COVID-19 prognosis. Methods: Two hundred eighteen COVID-19 patients referred to the Internal Medicine Baccelli, University of Bari were consecutively analyzed (September 2020 - June 2021) in a retrospective, monocentric study. A complete medical history, physical examination, blood count, renal function, inflammatory biomarkers, and total serum calcium were obtained. Results: Low serum calcium was found on average (8.4 mg/dl) but it normalized after correction for albuminemia (8.9 mg/dL). Patients transferred to the intensive care unit showed a statistically significant lower serum calcium (8.1 vs 8.4 mg/dL, p<0.01) compared to those not transferred to the intensive care even if relation vanished after albumin correction. Older age (81 vs 63y, p <0.001), higher C reactive protein (114 vs 38.5 mg/dL, p <0.001), d-dimer (2543 vs 641 ng/mL, p <0.001), lactic dehydrogenase (301 vs 236 UI/L, p <0.001), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (9.9 vs 4.5, p <0.001), interleukin- 6 (118 vs 21.6 pg/mL, p <0.001), creatinine (1.17 vs 0.88 mg/dL, p <0.001), and corrected calcium (9.2 vs 8.4 mg/dL, p<0.001) predicted death. Conclusions: Low total serum calcium might anticipate patients' transfer to the intensive care unit. This phenomenon may be driven by hypoalbuminemia. Advanced age, higher inflammatory biomarkers and creatinine, and higher serum calcium corrected for albumin may predict death.
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In response to the disruptive changes brought upon our society by the COVID-19 pandemic, most work activities and service providers had to resort to remote working. This is credited to reduce emissions for transportation, however the role of forced confinement within dwellings, especially if not designed for hosting working stations, deserves to be properly evaluated in terms of both user acceptance and long-term environmental impact. In this work, a dedicated survey campaign is used for investigating the potential pros and cons of remote working. In more detail, logistic regression and generalized linear models are used for capturing the effect of several independent variables on user acceptance of remote working. At a later stage, the main greenhouse gas emissions produced by each participant before and during remote working are assessed. According to the obtained results, the greater the distance between their home and workplace, the higher the acceptance score declared by the survey participants about remote working. Additionally, higher incomes and better-quality lifestyles with larger devotion to leisure activities also provide higher acceptance. Finally, the existence of a comfortable room to be used for work activities plays a crucial role on the declared acceptance. From an environmental point of view, remote working is always sustainable in case of long commuting distances (above 10 km) are avoided on a daily routine. In conclusion, a sensible use of remote working could reduce the environmental impact of any organization employing desk-workers as well as improve their work satisfaction and lifestyle. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers.