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The present study aimed to evaluate the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) in ten Latin American countries. A total of 2,321 people who had lost a family member or other loved one due to COVID-19 participated, with a mean age of 34.22 years old (SD = 11.99). In addition to the PGS, a single item of suicidal ideation was applied. The unidimensional model of the PGS had adequate fit in most countries and good reliability estimates. There was evidence of measurement invariance by country and gender. Also, a one-point increase in the PGS was associated with an almost twofold increase in the odds of suicidal ideation. Scores greater than or equal to 4 on the PGS are proposed as a cut off to identify individuals with suicidal ideation. Strong evidence of the cross-cultural validity of the PGS is provided., Competing Interests: Author’s NoteMiguel Gallegos is now affiliated with Departamento de Psicología. Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile and Programa de Posgrado en Psicología. Pontificia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Ilka Franco Ferrari is now affiliated with Programa de Posgrado en Psicología. Pontificia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Cigarette butts (CB) and cigarette butt fibers (CBF) are highly abundant and frequent residues on beach sand. Also, they are hazardous waste due to their significant toxicity and potential risk to the ecosystems' biota and the health of beach tourists. This study aimed to determine the abundance and density of CB and CBF found on the active, rest, and service zones of five pilot beaches in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico. The methodology involved collecting CB and CBF in 500 m 2 transects of urban tourist beaches using a citizen science-adapted methodology between June 2021 and May 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The abundance and density of CB and CBF, and the Cigarette Butt Pollution Index (CBPI) were calculated. The highest proportion of CB was found in service and rest areas. Bocagrande (CO) reported the highest generation of CB and CBF and a severe CBPI., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: There is an urgent need to assess changes in well-being on a multinational scale during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus culturally valid scales must be available., Methods: With this in mind, this study examined the invariance of the WHO well-being index (WHO-5) among a sample of 5183 people from 12 Latin Americans countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay)., Results: The results of the present study indicate that the WHO-5 is strictly invariant across samples from different Latin American countries. Furthermore, the results of the IRT analysis indicate that all items of the WHO-5 were highly discriminative and that the difficulty required to respond to each of the five items is ascending. Additionally, the results indicated the presence of moderate and small size differences in subjective well-being among most countries., Conclusion: The WHO-5 is useful for assessing subjective well-being in 12 Latin American countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, since the differences between scores can be attributed to differences in well-being and not in other characteristics of the scale., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objectives: Although only 10% of persons infected with human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) may develop virus-associated illnesses over their lifetime, missing the earlier diagnosis of asymptomatic carriers frequently leads to late presentation., Methods: A nationwide HTLV-1 register was created in Spain in 1989. We examined the main demographics and clinical features at the time of the first diagnosis for more than three decades., Results: A total of 428 individuals infected with HTLV-1 had been reported in Spain until the end of 2021. Up to 96 (22%) individuals presented clinically with HTLV-1-associated conditions, including subacute myelopathy (57%), T-cell lymphoma (34%), or Strongyloides stercoralis infestation (8%). Since 2008, HTLV-1 diagnosis has been made at blood banks (44%) or clinics (56%). Native Spaniards and Sub-Saharan Africans are overrepresented among patients presenting with HTLV-1-associated illnesses suggesting that poor epidemiological and/or clinical suspicion, which led to the late presentation are more frequent in them than carriers from Latin America (LATAM) (31.7% vs 20.4%, respectively; P = 0.015)., Conclusion: HTLV-1 infection in Spain is frequently diagnosed in patients presenting with characteristic illnesses. Although screening in blood banks mostly identifies asymptomatic carriers from LATAM, a disproportionately high number of Spaniards and Africans are diagnosed too late at the time of clinical manifestations. Expanding testing to all pregnant women and clinics for sexually transmitted infections could help to unveil HTLV-1 asymptomatic carriers., Competing Interests: Declarations of competing interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) comprises 9 genotypes and multiple subgenotypes that depict differences in geographic distribution, clinical outcome and response to antiviral therapy. However, the molecular epidemiology of HBV geno/subgenotypes is globally scarce. In Spain, HBV genotype D seems to be more prevalent in the northwestern regions compared to the rest of the country for unclear reasons., Methods: HBV genotyping was performed using geno2pheno on a S gene fragment amplified from plasma collected from all chronic hepatitis B individuals attended at one reference hospital in Santiago de Compostela, the Galicia's capital town. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses using a fragment of 345 bp were performed in all viremic specimens. To avoid misleading allocation as consequence of short fragment analysis, several bioinformatic controls were used., Results: A total of 320 individuals with persistent serum HBsAg+ and detectable HBV-DNA were seen between 2000 and 2016 (male 68.4%; median age, 52 years-old; native Spaniards 83.8%). HBV genotype distribution was as follows: A 15.3%; B 1.6%; C 2.5%; D 71.6%; E 3.1%; F 2.2%; G 3.1%; and H 0.6%. HBV genotype D was mostly represented by D4 and D2 subgenotypes (33.4% and 15% of total, respectively). Compared to chronic hepatitis B patients with genotypes B, C, E and G, HBV-D4 carriers tended to be older (54.2% had >50 years-old) and HBeAg-negative (85%). Moreover, 43% were female, 4.7% had cirrhosis, 10.2% hepatitis C and 6.4% HIV coinfection. Phylogenetic analyses could be performed on 82 HBV-D4 specimens; and 79 were confirmed as HBV-D4 using PhyML. Phylogeography using FasTree suggested at least two distinct introductions of HBV-D4 in Galicia, one from the Caribbean and South America, and another from India., Conclusions: HBV subgenotype D4 is the most prevalent HBV variant in chronic hepatitis B patients living in the northwest of Spain, representing 33.4% (107/320) of all chronic hepatitis B infections. This rate of HBV-D4 is among the highest reported worldwide. Epidemiological and phylogenetic analyses suggest a strong association with historical migrant exchanges with Latin America, and especially with the Caribbean basin., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED), as well as associated demographic and clinical features, in men with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), by means of a systematic, standardized evaluation., Methods: We performed a transversal study in 8 tertiary care centers in Latin America. We included male patients ≥ 16 years who fulfilled ≥ 4 American College of Rheumatology criteria for SLE and had regular sexual activity, and evaluated them with the International Index of Erectile Function-5 questionnaire. Relevant demographic, clinical, and serological characteristics were recorded. We included 2 control groups: the first was made up of healthy men and the second of men with autoimmune diseases other than SLE (non-SLE group)., Results: We included 590 subjects (174 SLE, 55 non-SLE, and 361 healthy controls). The prevalence of ED in the SLE group was 69%. Mean age in that group was 36.3 ± 1.03 years. Among SLE patients with and without ED, these factors were significantly different: the presence of persistent lymphopenia (p = 0.006), prednisone dose (9.3 ± 1.2 vs 5.3 ± 1.3 mg, p = 0.026), and the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics damage score (1.25 ± 0.14 vs 0.8 ± 0.16 points, p = 0.042). Independent risk factors for ED in patients with SLE were persistent lymphopenia (OR 2.79, 95% CI 1.37-5.70, p = 0.001) and corticosteroid use in the previous year (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.37-3.37, p = 0.001)., Conclusion: Regardless of comorbidities, treatment (excluding steroids), and type of disease activity, patients with SLE have a high prevalence of ED, especially considering that most patients are young. Recent corticosteroid use and persistent lymphopenia, which could be related to endothelial dysfunction, are risk factors for this complication in men with SLE.