Reversible Transformation of Pt Nanoparticles into Single Atoms inside High-Silica Chabazite Zeolite.

We report the encapsulation of platinum species in highly siliceous chabazite (CHA) crystallized in the presence of N,N,N-trimethyl-1-adamantammonium and a thiol-stabilized Pt complex. When compared to Pt/SiO or Pt-containing Al-rich zeolites, the materials in this work show enhanced stability toward metal sintering in a variety of industrial conditions, including H, O, and HO. Remarkably, temperatures in the range 650-750 °C can be reached without significant sintering of the noble metal.

Host-directed antimicrobial drugs with broad-spectrum efficacy against intracellular bacterial pathogens.

We sought a new approach to treating infections by intracellular bacteria, namely, by altering host cell functions that support their growth. We screened a library of 640 Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved compounds for agents that render THP-1 cells resistant to infection by four intracellular pathogens. We identified numerous drugs that are not antibiotics but were highly effective in inhibiting intracellular bacterial growth with limited toxicity to host cells.

Dental complications of rickets in early childhood: case report on 2 young girls.

Vitamin D is an essential hormone for calcium gut absorption. It is also involved in child growth, cancer prevention, immune system responses, and tooth formation. Due to inadequate vitamin D intake and/or decreased sunlight exposure, vitamin D deficiency has resurfaced in developed countries despite known inexpensive and effective preventive methods.

[The "relational" touch in care?].

Training in "relational" touch is offered by a nurse and a psychologist working in tandem, according to a theoretical-practical approach. This is based on nurses' experience, their impressions and interdisciplinarity. The carers are therefore supported in the (re)discovery of thisprecioussensewhichoffers a different way of communicating.

Chemical genetics reveals bacterial and host cell functions critical for type IV effector translocation by Legionella pneumophila.

Delivery of effector proteins is a process widely used by bacterial pathogens to subvert host cell functions and cause disease. Effector delivery is achieved by elaborate injection devices and can often be triggered by environmental stimuli. However, effector export by the L.

Long-term versus short-term clopidogrel therapy in patients undergoing coronary stenting (from the Randomized Argentine Clopidogrel Stent [RACS] trial).

The optimal duration of treatment with clopidogrel after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with stent placement remains controversial. The Randomized Argentine Clopidogrel Stent (RACS) trial was a prospective, randomized, nonblinded study of 1,004 patients undergoing PCI who were randomized after successful bare metal stent placement to 30 versus 180 days of clopidogrel; all patients also received aspirin. Patients were eligible regardless of whether they had presented with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI), acute coronary syndrome, or stable angina.

[Evaluation of diastolic function during and post-exercise in patients with arterial hypertension].

Unlabelled: It is known that patients with arterial hypertension and ventricular hypertrophy have diastolic alterations, in particular during exercise. However, it is controversial if diastolic dysfunction continues once exercise had concluded. The objective was to assess the effects of isometric exercise on the diastolic function in patients with arterial hypertension.

NT-probrain natriuretic peptide predicts complexity and severity of the coronary lesions in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes.

Unlabelled: NT-probrain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) has been associated with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and adverse outcome in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTEACS). However, the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for this association have not been well established. We sought to explore the relation between NT-proBNP levels and extension of coronary artery disease (CAD) and the presence of more complex and severe coronary lesions.

A simple prediction rule for significant renal artery stenosis in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization.

Background: Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is a potentially reversible cause of hypertension and renal insufficiency and is associated with poor prognosis.

Methods: We aimed to identify simple predictors of significant RAS among patients undergoing coronary angiography. Prospective data were collected on 843 consecutive patients who underwent cardiac catheterization and abdominal aortography.

Effects of isometric exercise on the diastolic function in patients with severe aortic stenosis with or without coronary lesion.

Background: There is no literature evaluating the effect of exercise on patients with aortic stenosis, in which patients with and without coronary artery disease were assessed separately.

Objective: To assess the effects of isometric exercise on the diastolic function in patients with aortic stenosis (AS).

Methods: 18 patients with AS, and 5 control patients were studied (group 1, G1).

Relation of C-reactive protein to extent and complexity of coronary narrowing in patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes. A prospective cohort study.

Background: Inflammatory markers have been associated with adverse clinical outcome in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). In addition, angiographic plaque morphology and extension of coronary artery disease has been related to worse prognosis in this group of patients. The aim of the present study was to determine if the clinical prognostic value of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory marker, can by associated with the angiographic findings in patients with non-ST elevation ACS.

Early reperfusion and late clinical outcomes in patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction randomly assigned to primary percutaneous coronary intervention or streptokinase.

Background: Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has become an alternative to thrombolytic therapy as a reperfusion strategy for ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods: The main goal of this study was to determine whether PCI and thrombolytic therapy achieve comparable reperfusion rates, as evidenced by ST-segment resolution. Secondary end points included infarct vessel patency rates before hospital discharge and short- and long-term outcomes.

[Effects of isometric exercise on the diastolic function in patients with severe aortic stenosis].

The objective of the study was to determine the effects of isometric exercise on the diastolic function in patients with aortic stenosis without coronary lesion (group 1, G1, n = 9) and with coronary lesion (group 2, G2, n = 11). Patients subjected to a cardiac catheterization performed isometric exercise until their heart rate increased in 32 +/- 9% compared to baseline. The left ventricular systolic pressure, the +dP/dtmax, and the end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) were measured, and the time constant of pressure decay (tau, tau) was calculated.

Basic residues in azurocidin/HBP contribute to both heparin binding and antimicrobial activity.

Azurocidin/CAP37/HBP is an antimicrobial and chemotactic protein that is part of the innate defenses of human neutrophils. In addition, azurocidin is an inactive serine protease homolog with binding sites for diverse ligands including heparin and the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI). The structure of the protein reveals a highly cationic domain concentrated on one side of the molecule and responsible for its strong polarity.

[Gadodiamide and carbon dioxide as alternative contrast media in patients with chronic renal failure].

Twelve diagnostic and therapeutic angiograms were performed in 10 patients with chronic renal failure using gadodiamide and CO2 as vascular contrast. Renal function was evaluated with serum creatinine levels 24 hours before and 24 to 48 hours after the vascular procedure. Imaging quality and tolerance of these contrast agents were also studied.

Broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity of hemoglobin.

While hemoglobin is one of the most well characterized proteins due to its function in oxygen transport, few additional properties of hemoglobin have been described. While screening serum samples for novel antimicrobial factors, it was found that intact hemoglobin tetramers, including that from human, exhibited considerable activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and fungi. To further characterize this surprising activity, the antimicrobial potency of sections of human hemoglobin was tested against a panel of microorganisms.

Identification of constituents of human neutrophil azurophil granules that mediate fungistasis against Histoplasma capsulatum.

Previously we demonstrated that human neutrophils mediate potent and long-lasting fungistasis against Histoplasma capsulatum yeasts and that all of the fungistatic activity resides in the azurophil granules. In the present study, specific azurophil granule constituents with fungistatic activity were identified by incubation with H. capsulatum yeasts for 24 h and by quantifying the subsequent growth of yeasts via the incorporation of [(3)H]leucine.

Ocular manifestations of systemic infections.

Awareness of atypical presentations and understanding the pathogenesis of uncommon systemic infections will make us better clinicians. Recent literature alerts the ophthalmologist to recent findings and treatment options regarding ocular manifestations of malaria, cysticercosis, histoplasmosis, mucormycosis, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, and Acanthamoeba infection.

Azurocidin, a natural antibiotic from human neutrophils: expression, antimicrobial activity, and secretion.

The azurophil granules of human PMN contain four antibiotic proteins, the serprocidins, which have extensive homology to one another and to serine proteases. Azurocidin, a member of this family, is a 29-kDa glycoprotein with broad spectrum antimicrobial activity and chemotactic activity toward monocytes. Insect cells transfected with a baculovirus vector carrying azurocidin cDNA produced a recombinant azurocidin protein.

Characterization of a recombinant proteinase 3, the autoantigen in Wegener's granulomatosis and its reactivity with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies.

Using the baculovirus/insect cells system, we have expressed a recombinant proteinase 3 (PR3) -- the neutrophil-derived serine protease autoantigen in Wegener's granulomatosis -- as a glycosylated intracellular and membrane-associated protein. Oligosaccharides accounted for the difference in molecular weights between recombinant (34 kDa) and neutrophil-PR3 (29 kDa). Whereas rabbit-anti-PR3 IgG recognized both recombinant and neutrophil-derived PR3, autoantibodies from Wegener patient sera recognized only neutrophil-derived PR3.

Elevations of neutrophil proteinase 3 in serum of patients with Wegener's granulomatosis and polyarteritis nodosa.

Objective: To determine serum levels of proteinase 3 (PR3) in normal subjects and patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), chronic renal failure, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: Serum levels of PR3 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay employing a monospecific rabbit polyclonal antibody against PR3.

Results: Quantifiable levels of PR3 were detected in all serum samples examined, including those of normal subjects.

Antimicrobial proteins with homology to serine proteases.

The azurophil granule, a specialized lysosome of human neutrophils, contains a family of antimicrobial proteins with structural homology to serine proteases, the serprocidins. Three members of this family are serine proteases (cathepsin G, elastase and proteinase-3) and one is a proteolytically inactive homologue (azurocidin). They are synthesized as preproproteins with a characteristic leader peptide and a propiece, both of which are removed by processing enzymes to yield the mature protein.

Human neutrophil-mediated fungistasis against Histoplasma capsulatum. Localization of fungistatic activity to the azurophil granules.

Human neutrophils (PMN) demonstrated potent fungistatic activity against Histoplasma capsulatum (Hc) yeasts in a sensitive microassay that quantifies the growth of yeasts by the incorporation of [3H]leucine. At a PMN:yeast ratio of 1:2, PMN inhibited the growth of yeasts by 37%. Maximum inhibition of 85% to 95% was achieved at a PMN/yeast ratio of 10:1 to 50:1.

Antibiotic peptides and serine protease homologs in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes: defensins and azurocidin.

The azurophil granule, a specialized lysosome of neutrophils, contains two families of antimicrobial proteins, each with four members. They are the defensins, comprising human neutrophil protein 1, -2, -3 and -4, on the one hand and the serprocidins, comprising cathepsin G, elastase, proteinase 3 and azurocidin, on the other. Defensins appear to contribute to mammalian as well as invertebrate immunity.