Signal noise ratio of small intestine myoelectrical signal recorded from external surface.

Electroenterogram (EEnG), which is the myoelectrical activity of the small bowel, can be non-invasively recorded from abdominal external surface. However, this bioelectrical signal is weak and noisy compared to internal recording from bowel serous layers, because of bioelectric transmission through abdominal layers. Furthermore, it is contaminated with several interferences from other biological activities as cardiac muscle (ECG), skeletal muscles (EMG), or respiration movements.

Role of weight-based ribavirin dosing and extended duration of therapy in chronic hepatitis C in HIV-infected patients: the PRESCO trial.

The response to pegylated interferon (pegIFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) as treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is lower in HIV-coinfected than in HCV-monoinfected patients and could be due to suboptimal RBV dosing and/or insufficient duration of therapy in prior trials. In a prospective, multicenter, open, comparative trial, HCV/HIV-coinfected patients received pegIFN plus weight-based RBV for 48 or 72 weeks (HCV genotypes 1 and 4) and 24 or 48 weeks (HCV genotypes 2 and 3). Use of didanosine was not allowed.

Premature treatment discontinuation in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients receiving pegylated interferon plus weight-based ribavirin.

Background: Chronic hepatitis C therapy in HIV patients is often penalized by more frequent premature treatment discontinuations. It is unclear what the relative contribution of more adverse events and/or early virological failures are.

Methods: PRESCO was a prospective, multicentre, comparative trial, in which 389 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with CD4+ T-cell counts >300 cells/ml and elevated aminotransferases received pegylated interferon-alpha2a (peg IFN-alpha2a) 180 mg per week plus ribavirin (RBV) 1,000-1,200 mg daily.

Airway mechanoreceptor deactivation.

Airway sensors play an important role in control of breathing. Recently, it was found that pulmonary slowly adapting stretch receptors (SARs) cease after a brief excitation following sodium pump blockade by ouabain. This deactivation can be explained by overexcitation.

Bone marrow CD8 cells down-modulate membrane IL-7Ralpha expression and exhibit increased STAT-5 and p38 MAPK phosphorylation in the organ environment.

By comparing mature CD8-cell turnover in different organs, we previously demonstrated that CD8 cells proliferate predominantly in the bone marrow (BM). To investigate the mechanisms underlying such increased turnover, we compared BM, lymph nodes, and spleen CD8 cells from untreated C57BL/6 mice regarding in vivo proliferation within the organ; in vitro response to interleukin-7 (IL-7), IL-15, IL-21; ex vivo expression of membrane CD127 (IL-7Ralpha), intracellular Bcl-2, phospho-STAT-5 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 5), phospho-p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK); and in vivo proliferation on adoptive transfer. In the BM, the proliferation rate was increased for either total CD8 cells or individual CD44 and CD122 subsets.

Critical role of ribavirin for the achievement of early virological response to HCV therapy in HCV/HIV-coinfected patients.

The response to hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy seems to be lower in HCV/HIV-coinfected patients than in HCV-monoinfected individuals. Given that most pivotal trials conducted in coinfected patients have used the combination of pegylated interferon (pegIFN) along with fixed low doses (800 mg/day) of ribavirin (RBV), it is unclear whether HIV itself and/or suboptimal RBV exposure could explain this poorer outcome. Two well-defined end points of early virological response were evaluated in Peginterferon Ribavirina España Coinfección (PRESCO), a multicentre trial in which the combination of pegIFN plus RBV (1000 mg if body weight <75 kg and 1200 mg if >75 kg) was prescribed to coinfected patients.

Airway nociceptors activated by pro-inflammatory cytokines.

The present studies evaluate whether the vagus nerves link the lungs' immune and neural systems by transmitting information through pulmonary nociceptors. Single unit activities from pulmonary nociceptors [C fiber receptors (CFRs) and high threshold Adelta fiber receptors (HTARs)] were recorded from the cervical vagus nerve in anesthetized, open-chest, and mechanically ventilated rabbits. Interleukin1beta was then injected into the nociceptor field (IL-1beta, 10 microg/ml, 20 microl).

[Prognostic utility of scintigraphy with 99mTc-HMPAO labelled leukocytes in inflammatory bowel disease].

Objective: The inflammatory bowel disease (EII) has a chronic evolution with a frequent relapses. There is no specific diagnosis method to detect the patients with a high risk to relapse. The aim of the work was to analyse the prognostic value of 99mTc-HMPAO leukocyte scintigraphy (LS) performed during an acute attack of EII.

Pulmonary sensory and reflex responses in the mouse.

Mouse model research is proliferating because of its readiness for genetic manipulation. Little is known about pulmonary vagal afferents in mice, however. The purpose of this study was to determine whether their pulmonary afferents are similar to those in large animals.

A case of Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease in an immunocompetent host.

Mycobacterium avium complex is the most common of nontuberculous mycobacterium capable of causing disease in humans. The manifestations can vary from asymptomatic exposure to hypersensitivity pneumonitis to advanced fibrocavitary disease. We describe the case of a 37-year-old male with advanced cavitary disease from Mycobacterium avium complex.

[Ischemia-reperfusion injury during experimental heart transplantation. Evaluation of trimetazidine's cytoprotective effect].

Introduction And Objectives: The objectives of this study were to analyze the ischemia-reperfusion injury due to free radicals that occurs during heart transplantation and to determine the potential cytoprotective effect of trimetazidine.

Material And Method: A total of 21 orthotopic heart transplantations were performed in pigs. We divided the experimental animals into 2 groups: in group A (n=11),standard myocardial protection was used; in group B (n=10), trimetazidine was added to the cardioplegic solution used to protect the donor heart and to the solution administered to the recipient prior to release of the aortic clamp (trimetazidine, 10(-5) mol/L), and recipients were pretreated with trimetazidine, 2.

CD8 cell division maintaining cytotoxic memory occurs predominantly in the bone marrow.

Long-term persistence of Ag-experienced CD8 cells, a class of T lymphocytes with cytotoxic function, contributes to immunological memory against intracellular pathogens. After Ag clearance, memory CD8 cells are maintained over time by a slow proliferation, primarily cytokine driven. In this article, we show that the bone marrow (BM) is the crucial organ where such basal division of memory CD8 cells occurs.

7-day rescue therapy with ranitidine bismuth citrate after Helicobacter pylori treatment failure.

Background: Quadruple rescue therapy requires a complex scheme with four drugs.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of ranitidine bismuth citrate-tetracycline-metronidazole rescue regimen, and to compare two different metronidazole dose schemes.

Methods: Prospective multicentre study including proton-pump inhibitor + clarithromycin + amoxicillin failures.

Peptide profiling in epithelial tumor plasma by the emerging proteomic techniques.

The plasma peptide component (PPC) from ten melanoma (Mel), breast cancer (BC) and healthy individuals was examined by a combination of RP-HPLC, surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) and tandem mass spectrometry. A three peak pattern (2023, 2039, 2053.5 m/z) was primarily observed in melanoma.

Comparison of two management strategies for Helicobacter pylori treatment: clinical study and cost-effectiveness analysis.

Background: First-line proton pump inhibitor-based triple and quadruple therapies for Helicobacter pylori eradication present similar levels of efficacy. Cross-over treatment (quadruple following triple failure, and triple following quadruple failure) seems the most sensible approach to treatment failures, but the two strategies -'quadruple first' versus 'triple first'- have not been previously compared. The aims of our study were to assess the usefulness and the cost-effectiveness of the two treatment strategies.

Evening and morning blood gases in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Background And Purpose: The purpose of this study was to see if blood oxygen levels deteriorate overnight during obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Before and after sleep, arterial blood gases (ABGs) in OSA subjects and controls were drawn during a diagnostic night, as well as during a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) night for the OSA subjects.

Patients And Methods: Subjects, both male and female, were referred to our sleep laboratory for symptoms of daytime somnolence.

Use of fusion proteins and procaryotic display systems for delivery of HIV-1 antigens: development of novel vaccines for HIV-1 infection.

Two non-pathogenic scaffolds (represented by the filamentous bacteriophage fd and the dihydrolipoyl acetyltransferase E2 protein of the Bacillus stearothermophilus pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex) able to deliver human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 antigenic determinants, were designed in our laboratories and investigated in controlled assay conditions. Based on a modification of the phage display technology, we developed an innovative concept for a safe and inexpensive vaccine in which conserved antigenic determinants of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RTase) were inserted into the N-terminal region of the major pVIII coat protein of bacteriophagefd virions. Analogously, we developed another antigen delivery system based on the E2 component from the PDH complex and capable of displaying large intact proteins on the surface of an icosahedral lattice.

Pretransplantation risk factors for graft loss after liver transplantation in cirrhotic patients; effect of cytomegalovirus serologic status.

This study analyzes the effect of the preoperative variables of donors and recipients on graft survival after liver transplantation (LT). Preoperative data from a cohort of 122 cirrhotic patients who underwent primary LT were evaluated prospectively. The influence of these variables as risk factors for graft loss was assessed.

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C in HIV-infected patients with interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin.

One hundred six HIV-infected patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were randomized to receive ribavirin (RBV) 400 mg bid plus interferon alpha-2b (IFN-alpha) at two different doses, 3 mU tiw (control arm) or 5 mU daily for the first 6 weeks, followed by 3 mU tiw until completing 6 months of therapy (induction arm). All patients had CD4 counts above 350 cells/microl and 89% were taking antiretroviral therapy. Adverse effects leading to treatment discontinuation occurred in 12.

Expression and molecular characterization of alternative transcripts of the ARHGEF5/TIM oncogene specific for human breast cancer.

The ARHGEF5/TIM oncogene belongs to the Dbl family of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) for Rho GTPases. It is well established that Rho-GEFs play an important role in tumorigenesis and metastasis through the activation of their substrates, the Rho GTPases. Little is known about ARHGEF5/TIM oncogene expression and cellular functions.

Hypercoagulability in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been linked to cardiovascular complications such as stroke and myocardial infarction. Previous studies demonstrate that OSA patients show elevated fibrinogen levels and increased platelet aggregation that are reversed with 1 night of nasal continuous positive airway pressure treatment (NCPAP). Questioning overall coagulability in OSA, we examined whole blood coagulability in 11 chronically NCPAP treated OSA subjects, 22 previously untreated OSA subjects, and in 16 of these after 1 night of NCPAP treatment.

Lack of patent liver autoimmunity after breakage of tolerance in a mouse model.

We report in this work that a cellular and humoral autoreactive response can be induced against liver-specific self-determinants by repeated immunization with a chimeric tissue-specific self-antigen carrying a heterologous T(h) epitope. Epitope spreading rendering the autoimmune reaction independent of the presence of the cognate heterologous help is also demonstrated. Although neutrophil infiltrates can be demonstrated in the livers of treated mice, no clinical sign of organ damage is observed.