Molecular mechanisms of trauma-induced acute kidney injury: Inflammatory and metabolic insights from animal models.

Trauma-induced acute kidney injury (AKI), such as after hemorrhagic shock (HS) or burn, remains a significant problem in the intensive care unit and is associated with increased mortality. The pathophysiology that drives AKI post-trauma is multi-factorial, and includes both inflammatory and metabolic alterations. Identifying the systemic profile that contributes to AKI is crucial not only for early diagnosis, but also for identifying treatments that improve kidney function and maintaining long-term patient health.

Integrated Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA-PET/MRI in patients with suspected recurrent prostate cancer.

Aim: Evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Ga-labeled HBED-CC-PSMA-PET/MRI for detection of recurrent PCa in comparison to PET/CT.

Methods: 48 patients with suspected recurrent PCa underwent PET/CT after injection of the Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA ligand followed by integrated PET/MRI. Image analysis was performed by nuclear medicine physicians and radiologists with respect to the detection of lymph node metastases, bone metastases and local recurrence of the tumour.

Manufacture and Properties of Glucomannans and Glucomannooligosaccharides Derived from Konjac and Other Sources.

Glucomannans (GM) are polymers that can be found in natural resources, such as tubers, bulbs, roots, and both hard- and softwoods. In fact, mannan-based polysaccharides represent the largest hemicellulose fraction in softwoods. In addition to their structural functions and their role as energy reserve, they have been assessed for their healthy applications, including their role as new source of prebiotics.

Analysis of mortality trends due to cardiovascular diseases in Panama, 2001-2014.

Objective: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are still the leading cause of death worldwide despite the recent decline in mortality rates attributable to CVD in Western Europe and the Americas. The aim of this study is to investigate mortality trends due to ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke in Panama from 2001 to 2014, as well as the mortality differences by sex and age groups.

Methods: Data were obtained from the National Mortality Register.

Is integrated 18F-FDG PET/MRI superior to 18F-FDG PET/CT in the differentiation of incidental tracer uptake in the head and neck area?

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the accuracy of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (18F-FDG PET/MRI) compared with contrast-enhanced 18F-FDG PET/computed tomography (PET/CT) for the characterization of incidental tracer uptake in examinations of the head and neck.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 81 oncologic patients who underwent contrast-enhanced 18F-FDG PET/CT and subsequent PET/MRI was performed by two readers for incidental tracer uptake. In a consensus reading, discrepancies were resolved.

Conditioned medium from persistently RSV-infected macrophages alters transcriptional profile and inflammatory response of non-infected macrophages.

Cells susceptible to persistent viral infections undergo important changes in their biological functions as a consequence of the expression of viral gene products that are capable of altering the gene expression profile of the host cell. Previously, we reported that persistence of the RSV genome in a mouse macrophage cell line induces important alterations in cell homeostasis, including constitutive expression of IFN-β and other pro-inflammatory cytokines. Here, we postulated that changes in the homeostasis of non-infected macrophages could be induced by soluble factors secreted by persistently RSV- infected macrophages.

Amino Acid Properties of Trafficking Determinants in the Outer Pore-Forming Region of Kv1 Potassium Channels in Cell Lines.

Different classes of Kv1 potassium channels have different trafficking patterns despite having very similar amino acid sequences. Two amino acids responsible for these differences have been identified in the outer pore turret region of Kv1.1 and Kv1.

Android Platform for Realtime Gait Tracking Using Inertial Measurement Units.

One of the most important movements performed by the humans is gait. Biomechanical Gait analysis is usually by optical capture systems. However, such systems are expensive and sensitive to light and obstacles.

Integration in psychotherapy: Reasons and challenges.

Although integration has been formally influencing the field of psychotherapy since the 1930s, its impact gained significant momentum during the 1980s. Practical, theoretical, and scientific reasons help to explain the growing influence of integration in psychotherapy. The field of psychotherapy is characterized by many challenges which integration may change into meaningful opportunities.

Imaging of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Expression in Metastatic Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Using 68Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA PET/CT.

Purpose: The prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) was shown to be overexpressed on the neovasculature of several malignancies. Here, the role of Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA PET/CT for the detection of PSMA expression in patients with metastasized differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) was evaluated.

Methods: Six patients with iodine-negative and F-FDG-positive metastasized DTC (mean TG, 1616 ng/mL) received 71-93 MBq of the Ga-labeled PSMA ligand and underwent PET/CT at 62 ± 7 minutes p.

Availability of zinc from infant formula by in vitro methods (solubility and dialyzability) and size-exclusion chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

Zinc bioaccessibility from infant formula was estimated by in vitro methods (solubility and dialyzability) and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Infant formula samples were first characterized in terms of Zn bound to lipids and proteins and Zn distribution in the aqueous soluble protein fraction. We found that Zn is not incorporated into the lipid fraction of the samples, being mainly associated with the protein fraction (around 100%).

Optimization of Acquisition time of 68Ga-PSMA-Ligand PET/MRI in Patients with Local and Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

Objective: The aim of this optimization study was to minimize the acquisition time of 68Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) in patients with local and metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) to obtain a sufficient image quality and quantification accuracy without any appreciable loss.

Methods: Twenty patients with PCa were administered intravenously with the 68Ga-HBED-CC-PSMA ligand (mean activity 99 MBq/patient, range 76-148 MBq) and subsequently underwent PET/MRI at, on average, 168 min (range 77-320 min) after injection. PET and MR imaging data were acquired simultaneously.

Importance of Urine Dipstick in Evaluation of Young Febrile Infants With Positive Urine Culture: A Spanish Pediatric Emergency Research Group Study.

Background And Objectives: Guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics define urinary tract infection (UTI) as the growth of greater than 50,000 ufc/mL of a single bacterium in a urine culture with a positive urine dipstick or with a urinalysis associated. Our objective was to evaluate the adequacy of this cutoff point for the diagnosis of UTI in young febrile infants.

Methods: Subanalysis of a prospective multicenter study developed in RISeuP-SPERG Network between October 11 and September 13.

Validation of a predictive model for identifying febrile young infants with altered urinalysis at low risk of invasive bacterial infection.

In 2015, a predictive model for invasive bacterial infection (IBI) in febrile young infants with altered urine dipstick was published. The aim of this study was to externally validate a previously published set of low risk criteria for invasive bacterial infection in febrile young infants with altered urine dipstick. Retrospective multicenter study including nine Spanish hospitals.

Indigenous Ethnicity and Low Maternal Education Are Associated with Delayed Diagnosis and Mortality in Infants with Congenital Heart Defects in Panama.

Background: This is the first study in Panama and Central America that has included indigenous populations in an assessment of the association between socioeconomic variables with delayed diagnosis and mortality due to congenital heart defects (CHD).

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted. A sample calculation was performed and 954 infants born from 2010 to 2014 were randomly selected from clinical records of all Panamanian public health institutions with paediatric cardiologists.

[Aetiology and outcomes of potentially serious infections in febrile infants less than 3 months old].

Background: Recent studies have shown changes in the aetiology of serious bacterial infections in febrile infants ≤ 90 days of age. The aim of this study was to describe the current microbiology and outcomes of these infections in Spain.

Material And Methods: Sub-analysis of a prospective multicentre study focusing on febrile infants of less than 91 days of life, admitted between October 2011 and September 2013 to Emergency Departments of 19 Spanish hospitals, members of the Spanish Paediatric Emergency Research Group of the Spanish Society of Paediatric Emergencies (RISeuP/SPERG).

Peptide presentation on primate erythroparvovirus 1 virus-like particles: In vitro assembly, stability and immunological properties.

Virus-like particles (VLPs) have demonstrated to be valuable scaffolds for the display of heterologous peptides for vaccine development and other specific interactions. VLPs of primate erythroparvovirus 1, generally referred as parvovirus B19 (B19V), have already been produced in-vivo and in-vitro from the recombinant VP2 protein of this virus. In this study, chimeric forms of B19V VP2 were constructed, and their ability to assemble into VLPs was evaluated.

Clinical and Laboratory Profile of Persons Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and Histoplasmosis from a Colombian Hospital.

Histoplasmosis is common among persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (PLWHA) in Latin America, but its diagnosis is difficult and often nonspecific. We conducted prospective screening for histoplasmosis among PLWHA with signs or symptoms suggesting progressive disseminated histoplasmosis (PDH) and hospitalized in Hospital La María in Medellín, Colombia. The study's aim was to obtain a clinical and laboratory profile of PLWHA with PDH.

Outpatient management of selected young febrile infants without antibiotics.

Objective: To analyse the outpatient management of selected febrile infants younger than 90 days without systematic lumbar puncture and antibiotics.

Methods: A prospective registry-based cohort study including all the infants ≤90 days with fever without a source (FWS) who were evaluated in a paediatric emergency department (ED) over a 7-year period (September 2007-August 2014). We analysed the outcome of those infants with low-risk criteria for serious bacterial infection (SBI) managed as outpatients without antibiotics and without undergoing a lumbar puncture.

Validation of the "Step-by-Step" Approach in the Management of Young Febrile Infants.

Background: A sequential approach to young febrile infants on the basis of clinical and laboratory parameters, including procalcitonin, was recently described as an accurate tool in identifying patients at risk for invasive bacterial infection (IBI). Our aim was to prospectively validate the Step-by-Step approach and compare it with the Rochester criteria and the Lab-score.

Methods: Prospective study including infants ≤90 days with fever without source presenting in 11 European pediatric emergency departments between September 2012 and August 2014.

Worldwide Phylogenetic Distributions and Population Dynamics of the Genus Histoplasma.

Background: Histoplasma capsulatum comprises a worldwide complex of saprobiotic fungi mainly found in nitrogen/phosphate (often bird guano) enriched soils. The microconidia of Histoplasma species may be inhaled by mammalian hosts, and is followed by a rapid conversion to yeast that can persist in host tissues causing histoplasmosis, a deep pulmonary/systemic mycosis. Histoplasma capsulatum sensu lato is a complex of at least eight clades geographically distributed as follows: Australia, Netherlands, Eurasia, North American classes 1 and 2 (NAm 1 and NAm 2), Latin American groups A and B (LAm A and LAm B) and Africa.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma: initial experience in integrated (18)F-FDG PET/MR imaging.

Purpose: This study aims to compare staging results of (18)F-FDG PET/computed tomography (CT) and integrated PET/magnetic resonance (MR) in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) patients and to investigate a potential apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)/SUV correlation.

Materials And Methods: Six patients with MPM underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT and PET/MR including diffusion-weighted imaging. Thoracic TNM staging was performed for both modalities.

Thoracic staging with F-FDG PET/MR in non-small cell lung cancer - does it change therapeutic decisions in comparison to F-FDG PET/CT?

Objective: To investigate whether differences in thoracic tumour staging between F-FDG PET/CT and PET/MR imaging lead to different therapeutic decisions in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

Material And Methods: Seventy-seven NSCLC patients that underwent whole-body F-FDG PET/CT from the base of skull to the upper thighs and thoracic PET/MR were enrolled in this retrospective study. Thoracic PET/CT and PET/MR images were staged according to the 7th edition of the AJCC staging manual.

Whole-Genome Sequencing to Determine Origin of Multinational Outbreak of Sarocladium kiliense Bloodstream Infections.

We used whole-genome sequence typing (WGST) to investigate an outbreak of Sarocladium kiliense bloodstream infections (BSI) associated with receipt of contaminated antinausea medication among oncology patients in Colombia and Chile during 2013-2014. Twenty-five outbreak isolates (18 from patients and 7 from medication vials) and 11 control isolates unrelated to this outbreak were subjected to WGST to elucidate a source of infection. All outbreak isolates were nearly indistinguishable (<5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms), and >21,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms were identified from unrelated control isolates, suggesting a point source for this outbreak.