Pharmacological Action of Atorvastatin and Metformin on Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease on an Experimental Model of Metabolic Syndrome.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most frequent cause of chronic liver disease in the world. It is known that there is a pathogenic relation between liver damage and the inflammatory and oxidative environment present in Metabolic Syndrome (MS).

Objective: To study the pharmacological action of atorvastatin and metformin in an experimental model of MS.

Epilepsy surgery in Panama: Establishment of a successful hybrid program as a model for small middle-income countries.

Objective: The majority of the 65 million people worldwide with epilepsy live in low- and middle-income countries. Many of these countries have inadequate resources to serve the large patient population affected by epilepsy. Panama is a middle-income country that currently has only 2 facilities that can provide basic epilepsy services and no epilepsy surgery services.

Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Markers as Indicator of Atherogenesis in Rats: Antioxidants as Preventive Pharmacological Methods.

Objective: The oxidative process in atherogenesis generated by proinflammatory induction and response to antioxidants vitamins in an experimental model were analyzed.

Methods: Male rats were used: (A)Control, (B)Control+vitamin E plus C, (C)Hyperfibrinogenemia and (D)Hyperfibrinogenemia+vitamins E plus C. Hyperfibrinogenemia induced by daily injection of adrenaline (0.

Eastern equine encephalitis in Latin America.

Background: The eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) viruses are pathogens that infect humans and horses in the Americas. Outbreaks of neurologic disease in humans and horses were reported in Panama from May through early August 2010.

Methods: We performed antibody assays and tests to detect viral RNA and isolate the viruses in serum samples from hospitalized patients.

Cerebrospinal fluid and plasma concentrations of proinflammatory mediators in human immunodeficiency virus-infected children.

Background: The pathogenesis of HIV encephalopathy is poorly understood especially in children. Studies suggest that HIV replication and the release of proinflammatory mediators in the central nervous system contribute to the pathogenesis of HIV dementia in adults.

Methods: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma samples from 23 HIV-infected children were longitudinally analyzed at Weeks 0, 8, 16 and 48 for HIV RNA and concentrations of the following proinflammatory mediators: monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor-alpha, regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), macrophage-inflammatory protein (MIP)-1-alpha, MIP-1-beta and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9).

Effect of combination antiretroviral therapy on cerebrospinal fluid HIV RNA, HIV resistance, and clinical manifestations of encephalopathy.

Objectives: This study evaluated the effect of treatment with abacavir/lamivudine/zidovudine versus lamivudine/zidovudine on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA and clinical manifestations of HIV encephalopathy in children.

Study Design: HIV-infected children 7 months to 10 years of age (n = 23) were studied. CSF and plasma were obtained at baseline and weeks 8, 16, and 48.