Interleukin-1 receptor-induced PGE production controls acetylcholine-mediated cardiac dysfunction and mortality during scorpion envenomation.

Scorpion envenomation is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among accidents caused by venomous animals. Major clinical manifestations that precede death after scorpion envenomation include heart failure and pulmonary edema. Here, we demonstrate that cardiac dysfunction and fatal outcomes caused by lethal scorpion envenomation in mice are mediated by a neuro-immune interaction linking IL-1 receptor signaling, prostaglandin E and acetylcholine release.

Human coronavirus alone or in co-infection with rhinovirus C is a risk factor for severe respiratory disease and admission to the pediatric intensive care unit: A one-year study in Southeast Brazil.

Objective: We aimed to assess the profile of respiratory viruses in young children hospitalized for acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRI) and its association with disease severity, defined as need for pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission.

Design: Prospective observational cohort study.

Setting: A tertiary-care university hospital in Brazil.

CD36 Shunts Eicosanoid Metabolism to Repress CD14 Licensed Interleukin-1β Release and Inflammation.

Interleukin (IL)-1β is a potential target for treatment of several inflammatory diseases, including envenomation by the scorpion . In this context, bioactive lipids such as prostaglandin (PG)E and leukotriene (LT)B modulate the production of IL-1β by innate immune cells. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that perceive venom (TsV), and orchestrate LTB, PGE, and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production to regulate IL-1β release are unknown.

The burden of single virus and viral coinfections on severe lower respiratory tract infections among preterm infants: a prospective birth cohort study in Brazil.

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is associated with severe lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), especially in preterm infants. Other viruses, co-detected with RSV, may play a role in the severity of respiratory outcomes.

Methods: This prospective epidemiologic study of severe LRTI incidence among children born ≤35 weeks gestational age at 3 sites in Brazil (2008-2010) followed a birth cohort for 1 year post-enrollment.

Role of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 for diagnosing ventilator-associated pneumonia after cardiac surgery: an observational study.

Background: The diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a challenge, particularly after cardiac surgery. The use of biological markers of infection has been suggested to improve the accuracy of VAP diagnosis. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (sTREM)-1 in the diagnosis of VAP following cardiac surgery.

Evaluation of cardiac involvement during dengue viral infection.

Background:  Dengue is a disease whose clinical manifestations range from asymptomatic infections to a severe disease. There have been some previous reports of myocardial involvement in dengue, but this association has not been completely established.

Methods:  From January to July of 2011, patients hospitalized with dengue, confirmed through dengue nonstructural protein 1 and/or immunoglobulin M detection, were included in this study and troponin I and N terminal fragment of B-type natriuretic peptide levels were determined.

Effect of oral hygiene with 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate on the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia in children undergoing cardiac surgery.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of oral hygiene with 0.12% chlorhexidine gluconate on the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in children undergoing cardiac surgery.

Design: Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.