Adolescent Social Networks and Physical Intimate Partner Violence Among Colombian Rural Adolescents.

The current study analyzes individual and social network correlates of adolescent engagement in physical intimate partner violence (IPV) utilizing socio-centric data from a high-school population of 242 adolescents from rural Colombia. We studied self-reported victimization and perpetration for boys and girls. First, we used logistic regression to explore the relationship between adolescents' IPV engagement and school peers' IPV engagement, school violence victimization, and social network position, controlling for gender and age (N=111). Second, we used social network statistical methods to investigate if there were more friendships of similar IPV status to the adolescent than expected by chance in their social networks. Our results show that the proportion of friends perpetrating physical IPV increased the probability of adolescents' IPV perpetration. Contrarywise, the proportion of friends experiencing IPV victimization decreased with the adolescent's own victimization. Being a victim (a status significantly more common among boys) was also associated with reporting perpetration for both genders. Furthermore, our results contradicted the social network literature, as we found no preferential ties among perpetrators/victims (e.g., adolescents do not seem to befriend each other by IPV engagement). Our study is unique to the global adolescent IPV literature given the scarcity of research examining physical IPV among adolescents in the context of both girls and boys in the context of their school networks. We also add to the understanding of IPV in the case of the global majority of adolescents with the highest rates of IPV victimization (living in Low and Middle-Income Countries).

Insights on the genomic diversity, virulence and resistance profile of a Campylobacter jejuni strain isolated from a hospitalized patient in Brazil.

Campylobacteriosis is currently recognized as one of the major causes of foodborne bacterial diseases worldwide. In Brazil, there is insufficient data to estimate the impact of Campylobacter in public health. The aim of this present study was to characterize a C. jejuni CJ-HBSJRP strain isolated from a hospitalized patient in Brazil by its ability to invade human Caco-2 epithelial cells, to survive in U937 human macrophages, and to assess its phenotypic antimicrobial resistance profile. In addition, prophages, virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes were search using whole-genome sequencing data. The genetic relatedness was evaluated by MLST and cgMLST analysis by comparison with 29 other C. jejuni genomes isolated from several countries. The CJ-HBSJRP strain showed an invasion percentage of 50% in Caco-2 polarized cells, 37.5% of survivability in U937 cells and was phenotypically resistant to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid. A total of 94 virulence genes related to adherence, biofilm, chemotaxis, immune modulation, invasion process, metabolism, motility and toxin were detected. The resistance genes blaOXA-605 (blaOXA-61), cmeB and mutations in the QRDR region of gyrA were also found and none prophages were detected. The MLST analysis showed 23 different STs among the strains studied. Regarding cgMLST analysis, the CJ-HBSJRP strain was genetically distinct and did not group closely to any other isolate. The results obtained reinforce the pathogenic potential of the CJHBSJRP strain and highlighted the need for more careful attention to Campylobacter spp. infections in Brazil since this pathogen has been the most commonly reported zoonosis in several countries worldwide.

Antimicrobial resistance genotypes and phenotypes of Campylobacter coli isolated from different sources over a 16-year period in Brazil.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify antimicrobial resistance genotypes in 63 Campylobacter coli strains isolated from humans (12), animals (21), the environment (20), and food (10) in Brazil using whole genome sequencing (WGS) tools, comparing them with results obtained by antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) against some important antimicrobials in clinical use. METHODS: Phenotypic resistance profiles were determined by minimal inhibitory concentrations and the disk diffusion technique. The prediction of the resistance genes was performed using ABRicate v.0.8 and the Resistance Gene Identifier software of the CARD. RESULTS: The percentage of C. coli strains phenotypically resistant to antimicrobials were: ampicillin, 44.4%; doxycycline, 20.6%; tetracycline, 20.6%; ciprofloxacin, 12.7%; nalidixic acid, 12.7%; streptomycin, 6.3%; erythromycin, 4.8%; and gentamicin, 1.6%. The genes blaOXA-605 / blaOXA-61,tet(O), cmeB, aadE-Cc, aph (3 ') - IIIa, sat4 and aad9 were detected in 54%, 22.2%, 9.5%,6.3%, 1.6%, 1.6%, and 1.6% strains, respectively. Mutations T86I in the QRDR region of gyrA were detected in 8 (12.7%) strains. The agreement between AST and WGS was 100%, 92.9%, 82.4%, and 80% for quinolones, tetracycline, ß-lactam, and aminoglycoside classes, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The rates of C. coli strains resistant to ß- lactams and quinolones may represent a public health concern. The partial agreement between AST and WGS shows that improvement in antibiotic resistance databases may be required to minimize this discrepancy observed in some antimicrobial classes and to become an acceptable tool to both clinical microbiologists and regulatory agencies.

Our Voice in a rural community: empowering Colombian adolescents to advocate for school community well-being through citizen science.

BACKGROUND: Santa Ana is home to an Afro-descendant rural population of the island of Barú in Cartagena, Colombia. While a popular area for tourism, Santa Ana's population is affected by multidimensional poverty, precarious work conditions, homelessness, broken streets and sewer systems, limited quality education, and a lack of recreation and sport spaces. While Santa Ana's Community Action Board aims to unify efforts and resources to solve these problems, the state's capacity to meet the requirements of the Board is limited. METHODS: We evaluated the relationship between healthy lifestyles and characteristics of Santa Ana's school using the Our Voice Citizen Science Research Method. This systemic approach combines information and communication technologies with group facilitation to empower adolescents to: 1) collect and discuss data about factors in their local environments that facilitate or hinder well-being within their school community; 2) identify relevant local stakeholders who could help to address the issues identified; and 3) advocate collectively for local improvements to support increased well-being at a community level. RESULTS: Eleven citizen scientists ages 13 to 17 years from the science club of Institución Educativa Santa Ana were recruited and together conducted 11 walks within the school to collect data about the facilitators and barriers to student well-being. They identified barriers to well-being related to school infrastructure, furniture, bathrooms, and sense of belonging. They then advocated with school stakeholders and reached agreements on concrete actions to address identified barriers, including fostering a culture among students of caring for school property and presenting their findings to the community action board. This methodology allowed the community to realize how students can become agents of change and take collective action when motivated by solution-oriented methodologies such as Our Voice. Project ripple effects, including greater empowerment and participation in collective actions by students, also were observed. CONCLUSIONS: This study underscores the importance of the school's built environment in the well-being of students in rural areas. The Our Voice method provided the opportunity to inform school-based interventions, and promoted ripple effects that expanded productive dialogue to the community level and generated systemic actions involving actors outside of the school community.

Campylobacter coli isolated in Brazil typed by core genome Multilocus Sequence Typing shows high genomic diversity in a global context.

Campylobacter has been one of the most common causative agent of bacterial food-borne gastroenteritis in humans worldwide. However, in Brazil the campylobacteriosis has been a neglected disease and there is insufficient data to estimate the incidence of this pathogen in the country. AIMS: The current study aimed to determine the phylogenetic relationships among Campylobacter coli strains isolated in Brazil and to compare them with international Campylobacter isolates available in some public databases. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 63C. coli strains isolated in Brazil were studied. The MLST analysis showed 18 different STs including three STs not yet described in the PubMLST database. The cgMLST allocated the Brazilian strains studied into five main clusters and each cluster comprised groups of strains with nearly identical cgMLST profiles and with significant genetic distance observed among the distinct clusters. The comparison of the Brazilian strains with 3401 isolates from different countries showed a wide distribution of these strains isolated in this country. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed a high similarity among some strains studied and a wide distribution of the Brazilian strains when compared to isolates from different countries, which is an interesting data set since it showed a high genetic diversity of these strains from Brazil in a global context. This study contributed for a better genomic characterization of C. coli strains isolated in Brazil and provided important information about the diversity of this clinically-relevant pathogen.

Manifestaciones perianales de la histoplasmosis generalizada / Perianal manifestations of the generalized hystoplasmosis

Se presenta un paciente portador de histoplasmosis generalizada que cursa la forma clínica sistémica rápida ampliamente diseminada. En el cuadro clínico prima la afectación del sistema nervioso central acompañado de hepatoesplenomegalia, linfadenopatía generalizada y lesiones tegumentarias expresadas como úlceras múltiples en cavidad oral, pie y región perianal. Se describen las caraterísticas de estas lesiones periorificiales y se evalúa su frecuencia. (AU)

Manifestaciones perianales de la histoplasmosis generalizada / Perianal manifestations of the generalized hystoplasmosis

Se presenta un paciente portador de histoplasmosis generalizada que cursa la forma clínica sistémica rápida ampliamente diseminada. En el cuadro clínico prima la afectación del sistema nervioso central acompañado de hepatoesplenomegalia, linfadenopatía generalizada y lesiones tegumentarias expresadas como úlceras múltiples en cavidad oral, pie y región perianal. Se describen las caraterísticas de estas lesiones periorificiales y se evalúa su frecuencia.