An experimental model for studying the biomechanics of embryonic tendon: Evidence that the development of mechanical properties depends on the actinomyosin machinery.

Tendons attach muscles to bone and thereby transmit tensile forces during joint movement. However, a detailed understanding of the mechanisms that establish the mechanical properties of tendon has remained elusive because of the practical difficulties of studying tissue mechanics in vivo. Here we have performed a study of tendon-like constructs made by culturing embryonic tendon cells in fixed-length fibrin gels.

6-mercaptopurine inhibits atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein e*3-leiden transgenic mice through atheroprotective actions on monocytes and macrophages.

Objective: 6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP), the active metabolite of the immunosuppressive prodrug azathioprine, is commonly used in autoimmune diseases and transplant recipients, who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Here, we aimed to gain knowledge on the action of 6-MP in atherosclerosis, with a focus on monocytes and macrophages.

Methods And Results: We demonstrate that 6-MP induces apoptosis of THP-1 monocytes, involving decreased expression of the intrinsic antiapoptotic factors B-cell CLL/Lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl2-like 1 (Bcl-x(L)).

[Etanercept and pregnancy].

We present the case of a pregnant woman with arthritis in treatment with etanercept. After becoming pregnant she continued treatment with standard doses of this drug, 25 mg twice a week, without complications.

[Prevalence of nosocomial infection in Navarre. Aggregated data of the EPINE study for 2005].

Nosocomial infection is a serious problem of morbidity and mortality that, according to the 2003 national prevalence data affected 6,5-7% of all the patients admitted in Spanish hospitals. Our aim is to assess the prevalence of nosocomial infection in Navarre, from the aggregated data of each participant in the EPINE (Study of Prevalence of Nosocomial Infection in Spain) in 2005, and to analyse different features of the nosocomial infections to compare them with the global data for Spain. The prevalence of patients with nosocomial infection was 5,6% and the prevalence of patients with community infection was 13,2%.