Physicians' responsibility toward environmental degradation and climate change: A position paper of the European Federation of Internal Medicine.

The current data on climate change and environmental degradation are dramatic. The consequences of these changes are already having a significant impact on people's health. Physicians - as advocates of the patients, but also as citizens - have an ethical obligation to be involved in efforts to stop these changes. The European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM) strongly encourages the Internal Medicine societies and internists across Europe to play an active role in matters related to climate change and environmental degradation. At a national level, this includes advocating the adoption of measures that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and environmental degradation and contributing to policy decisions related to these issues. At a hospital level and in clinical practice, supporting actions by the health sector to reduce its ecological footprint is vital. At the level of EFIM and its associated internal societies, promoting educational activities and developing a toolkit to prepare internists to better care for citizens who suffer from the consequences of climate change. In addition to advocating and implementing effective actions to reduce the ecological footprint of the health industry, recommending the introduction of these themes in scientific programs of Internal Medicine meetings and congresses and the pre- and postgraduate medical training. At a personal level, internists must be active agents in advocating sustainable practices for the environment, increasing the awareness of the community about the health risks of climate change and environmental degradation, and being role models in the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviour.

[Meticilin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and liver abscess: a retrospective analysis of 117 patients]. / Staphylococcus aureus resistente à meticilina e abcesso hepático: análise retrospectiva de 117 casos.

INTRODUCTION: Liver abscesses are a clinical entity difficult to diagnose and treat; therefore, a high index of suspicion is usually important. The majority of pyogenic liver abscesses are polymicrobial, with enteric and anaerobic bacteria being the most common. Staphylococcus aureus are found in around 7% of the liver abscesses, as reviewed in literature. This infection usually results from hematogenous dissemination of bacteria that's infecting some other organ. There are no published series on this matter, only case-reports. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: In order to investigate the physiopathology, diagnosis and natural history of liver abscesses, namely those caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), we conducted a retrospective review by studying the clinical files of the patients diagnosed with liver abscess/portal pyemia between January of 2004 and December of 2009, with a total of 117 patients. RESULTS: Fever and abdominal pain were the most common symptoms. Nearly all patients had a CT scan for diagnosis. Only 81.2% of patients had microbiological products collected. The most common pathogen isolated was Escherichia coli. MRSA was isolated in 7.6% of abscesses. Percutaneous drainage combined with antibiotic therapy was the most frequent treatment used. All MRSA isolated were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and vancomycin. The underlying conditions most frequently found were biliary diseases, followed by recent abdominal surgery, which in turn was the most frequent predisponent condition in MRSA liver abscesses. The total mortality rate was 17.9%. One patient died in the group of abscesses caused by MRSA. CONCLUSION: MRSA is an important pathogen in hospital-acquired infections and intraabdominal infections are no exception. We find the association with post abdominal surgery very important. These findings have remarkable implications in therapeutics, prognosis and investigation.

HLA in Portuguese systemic lupus erythematosus patients and their relation to clinical features.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a clinically heterogeneous disease translating the different genetic and environmental factors involved. Polymorphisms at several loci, including the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), have been associated worldwide with SLE, although inconsistencies exist among these studies mainly due to genetic heterogeneity between populations and sample characteristics. The aim of the present study was to investigate in Portuguese SLE the association of HLA-DRB1 alleles with clinical patterns of the disease and severity. Two hundred eighteen Portuguese patients with SLE--42% of whom had kidney involvement--were studied for HLA-DRB1. Clinical and laboratory manifestations were correlated with HLA allele frequencies. HLA-DRB1 * 03 allele frequency was significantly higher in SLE patients--as a whole and as either with or without renal involvement--compared to controls, while HLA-DRB1 * 09 and DRB1 * 13 allele frequencies were decreased. Regarding the relationship with the presence or absence of specific clinical manifestations, it was only found that HLA-DRB1 * 08 allele frequency was increased in patients with neurological involvement. No association with the presence or absence of anti-dsDNA, anti-sm or antiphospholipid antibodies, or antiphospholipid syndrome, was observed. These results were reproducible when analysis was repeated only with patients with more than 5 years of evolution. As in other populations HLA-DRB1 * 03 is a susceptibility allele in Portuguese SLE patients, while HLA-DRB1 * 09 and DRB1 * 13 alleles may be protective alleles, not only for the disease, but for the development of nephritis. No correlations with the different clinical manifestations were found, except with the neurological system.