Comparative genomic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing-like strains revealed specific genetic variations associated with virulence and drug resistance.

Isolates of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 2/East-Asian are considered one of the most successful strains due to their increased pathogenicity, hyper-virulence associated with drug resistance, and high transmission. Recent studies in Colombia have shown that the Beijing-like genotype is associated with multidrug-resistance and high prevalence in the southwest of the country, but the genetic basis of its success in dissemination is unknown. In contribution to this matter, we obtained the whole sequences of six genomes of clinical isolates assigned to the Beijing-like genotype.

Genotypic Analysis of Genes Associated with Independent Resistance and Cross-Resistance to Isoniazid and Ethionamide in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates.

Ethionamide (ETH) is an antibiotic used for the treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) (MDR-TB), and its use may be limited with the emergence of resistance in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis population. ETH resistance in M. tuberculosis is phenomenon independent or cross related when accompanied with isoniazid (INH) resistance.

Population structure among mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Colombia.

Background: Phylogeographic composition of M. tuberculosis populations reveals associations between lineages and human populations that might have implications for the development of strategies to control the disease. In Latin America, lineage 4 or the Euro-American, is predominant with considerable variations among and within countries.

A rare pairing: myocardial noncompaction and congenital absence of pericardium.

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Biosafety evaluation of the DNA extraction protocol for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex species, as implemented at the Instituto Nacional de Salud, Colombia.

Introduction: Manipulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical specimens and cultures represents a risk factor for laboratory personnel. One of the processes that requires high concentrations of microorganisms is DNA extraction for molecular procedures. Pulmonary tuberculosis cases have occurred among professionals in charge of molecular procedures that require manipulation of massive quantities of microorganisms.

Intrapericardial primary thymic carcinoma in a 73-year-old man.

Thymic carcinoma is a rare, highly aggressive type of tumor that typically occurs in the anterior mediastinum. We describe the case of a 73-year-old man who presented with weakness, cough, dyspnea, anorexia, and weight loss. An echocardiogram showed an intrapericardial mass that occupied the space around the lateral walls of the left ventricle and distally compressed the right ventricle.

Accessory mitral valve without left ventricular outflow tract obstruction in an adult.

Accessory mitral valve is a rare congenital abnormality and an unusual cause of subvalvular obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract. Accessory mitral valves are usually detected in children due to symptomatic obstruction; isolated nonobstructive accessory mitral valve is rarely seen in adults. We describe the echocardiographic diagnosis of accessory mitral valve as an isolated congenital anomaly not associated with a substantial degree of obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract in an asymptomatic adult patient.

Kawasaki disease in the adult: a case report and review of the literature.

Kawasaki disease, predominantly a disease of childhood, includes such symptoms as acute vasculitis, mucosal inflammation, rash, cervical adenopathy, and edema. Its most severe forms are associated with coronary artery aneurysms. We report a rare case of this disease in an asymptomatic adult and review its epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.

Rare chronic gastric volvulus associated with left atrial and mediastinal compression.

We report a case of chronic gastric volvulus associated with left atrial compression in a 75-year-old woman who presented with chest pain, shortness of breath, and hypotension after elective hemiarthroplasty of the left hip. The patient's medical history included a paraesophageal hernia and gastric volvulus diagnosed in 1997 but left untreated. The present diagnosis of gastric volvulus was made on the basis of a chest radiograph and subsequent computed tomography.