Surgical research in Colombia part 3: Authorship and publications of Colombian medical students in surgery in Colombian medical journals-cross-sectional study.

Research training, scientific activity and publications are cornerstones of academic surgery. Knowing the activity and trends of medical students aspiring to become surgeons it allows to identify gaps and skills to be strengthened. Currently, there is no data on the authorship and scientific activity of medical students in surgery in Latin America and Colombia. Methods: A bibliometric cross-sectional study was carried out, in which the Colombian medical journals were reviewed from 2010 to 2020. The articles with topics in general surgery and subspecialties where the authorship of medical students could be identified, were selected. Data on the sociodemographic and scientific characteristics of the authors and their publications were extracted and analyzed. Results: A total of 14 383 articles from 34 Colombian medical journals were reviewed. From 2010 to 2020, 807 articles related to surgery were published in Colombia. The most frequent typology of these articles was original articles (n=298; 37%), followed by case reports (n=222; 28.2%) and reviews (n=137; 17.3%). A total of 132 medical students and 141 authorships and were found, specifically in 9.9% (n=80/807) of these publications, with a higher frequency in original articles (n=32; 40%) and case reports (n=29; 36.2%). Collaboration of students with professors or surgeons was evidenced in 97.5% of the publications. Conclusions: The authorship of Colombian medical students in scientific publications in surgery in Colombian medical journals was low. From 2010 to 2020, student authors were found in 1 out of every 10 publications, mainly in original articles and clinical cases.

Mapping Dengue in children in a Colombian Caribbean Region: clinical and epidemiological analysis of more than 3500 cases.

Dengue continues to be a global public health problem due to its impact in terms of morbidity and mortality and economic burden on health systems, with severe effects mainly on children. Among the objectives of sustainable development is the control of infectious diseases; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of existing programs on the prevention and management of infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiological, clinical, and geospatial behavior of dengue in children in a region of the Colombian Caribbean. A retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out. The data provided by the Municipal Health Secretariat were taken and the cases of dengue and severe dengue in children aged 0 to 17 years reported in Sincelejo, Colombia, were extracted. The sociodemographic and clinical characteristics presented were analyzed and descriptive statistics were performed with tables and graphs of frequency and accumulated percentages. To locate the areas with the highest incidence of cases during the year, a geospatial location of the cases was carried out with the QGIS v.3.8 program. In 2019, there were 3611 cases of dengue fever in children aged 0 to 17 years. There were 1394 (38.6%) cases with warning signs, and 41 (1.1%) cases of severe dengue fever. Cases of severe dengue fever occurred more frequently in women. The incidence rate found was 3927 and 45.1 cases per 100,000 population, for dengue and severe dengue in children, respectively. The age ranges with the highest number of cases were children aged 4 to 9 years with 1778 cases. The clinical presentation was varied, with the most frequent symptoms, in all groups, being fever in 100% of cases, myalgias ≥71%, and arthralgias ≥64%. Only 9% (n=315) of the cases, corresponded to cases in the rural area. A very high incidence of cases of dengue and dengue with alarm signs in children was evidenced in the Colombian Caribbean region, mainly in the urban area, despite the existence of public health programs and strategies to control the burden of diseases transmitted by arbovirus vectors.

Uncovering the neuroenteric-pulmonary axis: vagal nerve stimulation prevents acute lung injury following hemorrhagic shock.

AIMS: Trauma/hemorrhagic shock (T/HS) induced gut injury is known to initiate a systemic inflammatory response which can lead to secondary lung injury. We have shown that vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) protects intestinal epithelial integrity after a severe burn insult. We hypothesize that VNS will protect the lung from injury following T/HS by preventing intestinal barrier failure. MAIN METHODS: Male Balb/c mice were subjected to a T/HS model with and without cervical VNS. Intestinal injury was evaluated by measuring changes in gut barrier function and tight junction protein localization. Lung injury was evaluated using histology and markers of lung inflammation. Using NF-kB-luciferase (NF-kB-luc) transgenic mice, NF-kb-DNA binding was measured by photon emission analysis at 4 after injury. KEY FINDINGS: T/HS is associated gut injury characterized by histologic injury, increased epithelial permeability, and altered localization of gut tight junction proteins. Cervical VNS prevented the T/HS-induced changes in gut barrier integrity. Gut injury after T/HS was associated with acute lung injury at 24 h characterized by histologic injury, increased number of MPO positive stained cells and MPO enzymatic activity, and increased ICAM-1 expression in lung endothelium. VNS decreased T/HS-induced lung injury with a marked decrease in lung inflammation compared to T/HS alone. Lungs harvested from NF-kB-luc mice at 4h post VNS+T/HS demonstrated decreased DNA binding of NF-kB compared to T/HS alone as measured by changes in bioluminescence. SIGNIFICANCE: VNS is effective in protecting against acute lung injury caused by hemorrhagic shock through its ability to prevent gut barrier dysfunction.