Emergence of concurrent infections with colistin-resistant ESBL-positive Klebsiella pneumoniae and OXA-23-producing Acinetobacter baumannii sensitive to colistin only in a Romanian cardiac intensive care unit.

We report the emergence and analysis of a cluster of concurrent infections/colonisations with colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and OXA-23 carbapenemase-producing Acinetobacter baumannii in patients who had undergone cardiac surgery. We describe the emergence of colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae harbouring blaCTX-M-15, blaSHV-11, blaOXA-1, blaTEM-1 beta-lactamases and aac(6')-Ib-cr fluoroquinolone resistance.

Subacute fungal endocarditis due to Acremonium spp: a case study and review of the literature.

A 52 years old patient is hospitalized in June 2007 in the Cardiology Clinic of Cardiovascular Diseases Medical Institute in Iasi with suspected subacute infectious endocarditis. Echocardiography shows mobile vegetation on the pulmonary valve. Acremonium spp is isolated from blood cultures after 2 weeks of incubation.

[Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) can be done for lithiasic patients with cardiac arrhythmias with a lithotriptor without ECG triggering system--the experience of Iaşi Urological Department].

The recommendations for spark gap lithotripters include that the shock waves must be delivered according to the ECG, avoiding the discharge during the refractory part of the heart activity. The lithotripters we have in our department does not have from the factory an ECG correlated triggering system. Observing that ESWL for patients without heart problems did not induced arrhythmias, we decide to perform this procedure under strict cardiologic supervision to the patients having arrhythmias (chronic fibrillation, chronic atrial fibrillation, supraventricular arrhythmias, supraventricular premature beats, ventricular premature beats, ventricular tachycardia).

[Cardiac amyloidosis. A case report].

The paper presents the morphoclinical picture in cardiac amyloidosis to a 50 years old man admitted at Iasi Cardiology Center with progressive chronic cardiac failure, the patient having recent history of restrictive cardiomyopathy. It was made a complete cardiovascular evaluation including the right cardiac catheterization for endomyocardial biopsy. The biopsy specimens were fixed in buffered 10 % formalin, followed by routine paraffin embedding, and were stained with haematoxylin-eosin, elastic Van Gieson and sulphated blue Alcian for amyloid evaluation.

[ANF--atrial natriuretic factor].

Is produced at the right atrium and is acting upon four types of receptors. The main effects of ANF are: renal effects, by rapid increasing and prolongation of glomerular filtration; neuroumoral effects--the inhibition of renin-angiotensin system and of the release of aldosterone; effects upon the vascular wall, with vasodilatation; another effect is the regulation of the hydrosalin balance. The therapeutical endpoints of ANF are related to its action in some diseases like: cardiac failure, arterial hypertension, myocardia infarction, paroxysmal arrhythmias; in some of them it is a very fiable predictive marker.