The evaluation of body composition (BC) is relevant in the evaluation of children's health-disease states. Different methods and devices are used to estimate BC. The availability of methods and the clinical condition of the patient usually defines the ideal approach to be used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPremise: Pollinators are thought to exert selective pressures on plants, mediating the evolution of convergent floral shape often recognized as pollination syndromes. However, little is known about the accuracy of using petal shape for inferring convergence in pollination mode without a priori pollination information. Here we studied the genus Erythrina L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSalmonellosis in calves is a bacterial disease that affects their digestive tract causing diarrhea. A cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out with the aim of studying the prevalence of various serovars of Salmonella in calves and their relationship with diarrhea signs. The study was conducted in Mar and Sierras Dairy Basin located in Buenos Aires province, Argentina.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (DBS-SN) on cognitive function in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) 5 years after surgery.
Material And Methods: We conducted a prospective study including 50 patients with PD who underwent DBS-SN (62.5% were men; mean age of 62.
Long-term impact of bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and associated factors in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are not clear. In this prospective study, we included 69 PD patients (64 % men, mean age 61.3 ± 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBovine noroviruses are enteric pathogens detected in fecal samples of both diarrheic and non-diarrheic calves from several countries worldwide. However, epidemiological information regarding bovine noroviruses is still lacking for many important cattle producing countries from South America. In this study, three bovine norovirus genogroup III sequences were determined by conventional RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing in feces from diarrheic dairy calves from Argentina (B4836, B4848, and B4881, all collected in 2012).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBovine coronavirus (BCoV) is an important viral pathogen associated with neonatal calf diarrhea. Our aim was to investigate the incidence of BCoV in diarrhea outbreaks in beef and dairy herds from Argentina during 1994-2010. A total of 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCryptosporidium parvum from 73 dairy calves less than two months old from Buenos Aires province (Argentina) were molecularly characterized using sequence analysis of the GP60 gene. Seventy-five sequences were obtained, and seven different subtypes were identified, all belonging to the IIa subtype family. The most common subtypes were IIaA20G1R1 (27/75), IIaA22G1R1 (16/75), and IIaA18G1R1 (13/75).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFecal specimens were obtained from a total of 70 dairy calves less than two months old on 11 municipalities in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After removal of fecal debris by sieving and sucrose flotation, specimens were subjected to PCR to detect the presence of Enterocytozoon bieneusi. PCR revealed a 14.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGroup A rotavirus (RVA) is one of the main causes of neonatal calf diarrhea worldwide. RVA strains affecting Argentinean cattle mainly possess combinations of the G6, G10, P[5] and P[11] genotypes. To determine RVA diversity among Argentinean cattle, representative bovine RVA strains detected in diarrheic calves were selected from a survey conducted during 1997-2009.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBovine Group A Rotavirus (RVA) is one of the main causes of neonatal calf diarrhea worldwide. The present study reports the genotyping of bovine RVA strains circulating in Argentinean cattle from 2004 to 2010. Additionally, a new set of typing primers was designed and tested to differentiate between G8 and G6 (lineage III and IV) RVA strains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To analyze the relationship between hospital acquired infections and clinical outcomes, duration of stay, and cost per infectious episode in patients diagnosed with brain tumors in our service.
Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on patients diagnosed with brain tumors and admitted to the department of neurosurgery in the Cruces Hospital of the University of the Basque Country between January 1st, 2007 and December 31st, 2007. We collected demographics, responsible pathogens, infection location, length of hospitalization, and costs of various medical and surgical procedures performed.
Introduction: Spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea is a relatively rare entity and can be easily missed in adults. Every adult older than 50 years with a negative history of otologic disease who has recurrent serous otitis media should be evaluated for this pathology. Meningitis is the most serious complication, so there is no doubt that the condition needs immediate attention and correction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cervical corpectomy is a common procedure in spondylosis. It is normally a well-tolerated surgery and clinical improvement is widely described. However, it is associated with potential risky complications (subsidence, clinical deterioration, vertebral artery injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Deep brain subthalamic stimulation provides symptomatic relief to patients with Parkinson's disease. The present study analyzes the postoperative outcome of deep brain subthalamic stimulation in patients carrying the R1441G mutation in the leucine-rich repeat kinase-2 (LRRK2) (dardarin) gene.
Methods: Five of the 48 patients treated in our unit carried a mutation in the LRRK2 (dardarin) gene.
Progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta is the main histopathological characteristic of Parkinson's disease. We studied the electrophysiological characteristics of the spontaneous activity of substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons in rats with a partial, unilateral, 6-hydroxydopamine lesion of the nigrostriatal pathway. In addition, the effects of subthalamotomy and prolonged levodopa treatment on the activity of dopaminergic neurons were investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Evidence is emerging that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) participates in initiation of apoptosis induced by the unfolded protein response and by aberrant Ca(++) signaling during cellular stress such as ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R injury). ER-induced apoptosis involves the activation of caspase-12 and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), and the shutdown of translation initiated by phosphorylation of eIF2alpha. Sodium 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) is a low molecular weight fatty acid that acts as a chemical chaperone reducing the load of mutant or unfolded proteins retained in the ER during cellular stress and also exerting anti-inflammatory activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhages (SSIH) carry high morbidity and mortality rates. At present, the proper role of surgery is not clear and data from the International STICH trial have not clarified this challenging question. On the other hand, few prospective studies have measured long term survival regardless of the treatment and clinical condition of the patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIschemia-reperfusion injury (I/R-I), which is unavoidable in liver transplantation, impairs liver regeneration and predisposes to liver failure. The three major mitogen-activated protein-kinases (MAPKs): ERK, p38, and JNK, are critical in the transmission of signals triggered by proinflammatory cytokines, by stress, and by growth factors. JNK and p38alpha activation have been associated with apoptosis; p38beta with cell survival; and ERK with proliferation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClinical studies indicate that significant loss of functional islet mass occurs in the peritransplant period. Islets are injured as a result of detrimental effects of brain death, pancreas preservation, islet isolation, hypoxia, hyperglycemia, and immune-mediated events. In addition, recent studies demonstrated that islets are injured as a result of their exposure to blood and of activation of intrahepatic endothelial and Kupffer cells, resulting in inflammation and thrombosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Effective cytoprotection to xenoislets would circumvent the major tissue limitation for pancreatic islet transplantation (PIT). Cell-surface engineering with poly[ethylene glycol] (PEG) derivatives can successfully prevent antibody binding to the surface antigens. Gene transfer of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 gene has been shown to decrease cytotoxicity mediated by xenoreactive natural antibodies and complement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report on a clinicopathological case of multiple system atrophy with good response to levodopa and subsequent development of motor complications. Because the subject complied with all the inclusion criteria (Core Assessment Program for Surgical Interventional Therapies in Parkinson's Disease), bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation electrodes were implanted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R injury) of the liver remains a significant problem during liver surgery and transplantation. I/R injury is associated with liver apoptosis, which is mediated by death receptors such as Fas and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and/or mitochondrial dysfunction induced by cellular stress. Caspase-8 is presumed to be the apex of the death-mediated apoptosis pathway, whereas caspase-3 belongs to the "effector" proteases in the apoptosis cascade.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Current isolation techniques recover only 20% to 50% of the pancreatic islets. Brain death (BD) is characterized by activation of proinflammatory cytokines (PICs) with reduced islet yields and functionality. We previously reported that 17beta-estradiol (E2) induces cytoprotection to human islets exposed to PICs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFunctional poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) derivatives, including monosuccinimidyl PEG (MSPEG) with molecular weight (MW) of 2000 (2 kDa) as well as 5 kDa and disuccinimidyl PEG (DSPEG) with MW of 3 and 6 kDa, were synthesized and characterized. They were used to modify the surface of adult porcine islets for cytoprotection. The islets were isolated, purified and modified with functional PEG.
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