ABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152310.].
ABSTRACT
We carried out a prospective study of 530 patients older than 14 years of age with brucellosis. We describe the incidence and clinical features of the focal forms of the disease, analyzing some of the possible factors associated with their appearance. One hundred sixty-nine patients (31.9%) had a focal form or complication. Osteoarticular complications were the most frequent, totaling 113 cases (66%), followed by genitourinary with 18 cases (5.1% of males), hepatic (2.5%), neurologic (1.7%), and heart (1.5%). Nine patients (1.7%) had more than 1 complication. In a multivariate analysis, diagnostic delay greater than 30 days (OR 2.0), ESR > 40 mm/hr (OR 1.9), and levels of alpha-2 globulin > 7.5 g/L (OR 6.8) were statistically significant independent variables associated with the presence of focal forms. Twenty-five patients with complications (14.8%) required surgical treatment. The relapse rate was 3.6% for those patients without complications and 4.1% for patients with focal forms (p > 0.05). However, when therapeutic failure, relapses, and mortality were considered together, the risk of an unfavorable evolution was significantly greater in patients with focal forms (10.6% versus 3.6% in patients without complications; OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4-7.1, p < 0.005). Given the worse prognosis, knowledge and early diagnosis of the focal forms of B. melitensis infection is especially important.
Subject(s)
Brucella melitensis , Brucellosis/complications , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Bone Diseases/etiology , Brucellosis/diagnosis , Female , Female Urogenital Diseases/etiology , Gastrointestinal Diseases/etiology , Heart Diseases/etiology , Humans , Joint Diseases/etiology , Logistic Models , Male , Male Urogenital Diseases , Middle Aged , Multivariate Analysis , Nervous System Diseases/etiology , Prognosis , Prospective StudiesABSTRACT
The polyphenolic compounds present in raw and cooked, and dried, with and without the cooking broth of common white, black and red beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were measured by the Folin-Denis method for total polyphenols, and by the protein precipitation method of Hagerman-Butler, which measures their biological activity. The polyphenol content was measured during 20 consecutive days on the same sample, using three different extracts of volume from each sample. Statistical analysis of the results by the Folin-Denis method indicated that variability among the three aliquots was different for each bean color. A non-parametric analysis, however, indicated that the average in the three levels of concentration for beans of all colors, was the same. A similar analysis of the results by the Hagerman-Butler method demonstrated that variability and average values for the three aliquots were equal for black and red beans but not for white beans. The coefficient of variation was lower for the higher aliquot of the extract. A significant correlation (r = 0.72, P less than 0.05, n = 60) was found between the two methods for all beans using the larger aliquot of the extract. The correlation was highly significant (r = 0.84, P less than 0.05) when white bean values were eliminated. The polyphenolic content varied with seed color and the thermic process reduced their content, as measured by the two methods. The losses in polyphenolics as measured by the Folin-Denis in the cooked beans dried with broth, varied from 31.4 to 36.3%, and from 39.8 to 51.1% for the cooked bean flour dried without broth. The losses by the Hagerman-Butler method were from 25.0 to 93.5% in the cooked bean flours dried with cooking broth, and from 33.3 to 95.7% when dried without the broth. The higher losses were recorded for red beans. In vivo digestibility for cooked bean flours, dried and without broth, were 73.2, 69.6 and 64.5%, and 71.9, 71.9 and 68.8% for white, red and black beans, respectively. A negative correlation (r = -0.39) and significant (p less than 0.05) was found between polyphenolic content in the diet and in vivo protein digestibility.
