Intravenous Diuresis in Severe Precapillary Pulmonary-Hypertension-Related Right Heart Failure: Effects on Renal Function and Blood Pressure.

In patients with right heart failure (RHF) and pulmonary hypertension (PH), classical teaching often advises cautious diuresis in the setting of 'preload dependence' to avoid renal injury and hemodynamic compromise. However, while this physiology may hold true in some clinical settings, such as acute ischemia with right ventricular infarction, it cannot necessarily be extended to PH-related RHF. Rather, in patients with precapillary PH and decompensated RHF, diuresis aimed to decongest the right heart and systemic venous system may be directly beneficial.

Right ventricular assessment in pulmonary hypertension.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of assessment of right ventricular function in the context of pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We will review unique features of right ventricular anatomy, delineation of cause of pulmonary hypertension through careful right ventricular assessment, echocardiographic and hemodynamic evaluation, and the importance of this assessment in prognosis.

Recent Findings: The importance of performance in prognosis and risk assessment in patients with pulmonary hypertension has been continually emphasized in ongoing research.

Modifiable Mechanical Ventilation Targets Are Associated With Improved Survival in Ventilated VA-ECLS Patients.

Background: In acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), lung protective ventilation (LPV) improves patient outcomes by minimizing ventilator-induced lung injury. The value of LPV in ventilated patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) requiring venoarterial extracorporeal life support (VA-ECLS) is not known, but the extracorporeal circuit provides a unique opportunity to modify ventilatory parameters to improve outcomes.

Objectives: The authors hypothesized that CS patients on VA-ECLS who require mechanical ventilation (MV) may benefit from low intrapulmonary pressure ventilation (LPPV), which has the same end goals as LPV.

Aortic Mural Thrombus and Acute Coronary Syndrome in a Patient With Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome.

A 36-year-old woman with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome presented with chest pain and was found to have single-vessel coronary artery disease and an aortic mural thrombus. This case describes unique management with coronary artery bypass and surgical thrombectomy because of the patient's inability to tolerate uninterrupted antiplatelet therapy given her cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. ().

Papillary Muscle Rupture Complicating Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Tale of Teamwork.

A 52-year-old man presented with acute onset of chest pain and was found to have an inferolateral ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and acute mitral regurgitation due to papillary muscle rupture. This case describes a rare, potentially fatal mechanical complication of acute myocardial infarction. ().

A new species of Schäffer, 1897 (Collembola, Entomobryidae) from Altamira Caves (Cantabria, Spain).

This paper describes from the Altamira Caves, municipal district of Santillana del Mar (Cantabria, Spain), and five other caves near the coast of Cantabria (northern Spain). Its taxonomic position is discussed and differences and similarities among morphologically and geographically close species are highlighted. The new species can be identified by its five eyes, the basal and small inner paired teeth on the claw, and the length of the uncrenulated part of the distal dens.

Brazilian experiments in Mobile Learning for Health Professionals.

The Distance Education has evolved with the available technology in each new decade. The evolution and spread of mobile technology from year 2000s enabled their migration to this new platform: The Mobile Learning. Making it possible for professionals and students can carry with multimedia tools with Internet access to learning tools or professional references.

The use of Digital Sound in Health.

With the advent of computing and micro computing, several applications based on Digital Sound have emerged around the world. Much analog equipment and electronics have gained new functions due to evolution and the low cost of microprocessors and integrated circuits. The rapidly expanding user community of such equipment allowed the advancement of research and development of numerous applications in which the Digital Sound participates actively, including, tests, treatments and therapies.

A mapping of information security in health Information Systems in Latin America and Brazil.

In health, Information Systems are patient records, hospital administration or other, have advantages such as cost, availability and integration. However, for these benefits to be fully met, it is necessary to guarantee the security of information maintained and provided by the systems. The lack of security can lead to serious consequences such as lawsuits and induction to medical errors.

Hyaluronan (HA) interacting proteins RHAMM and hyaluronidase impact prostate cancer cell behavior and invadopodia formation in 3D HA-based hydrogels.

To study the individual functions of hyaluronan interacting proteins in prostate cancer (PCa) motility through connective tissues, we developed a novel three-dimensional (3D) hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel assay that provides a flexible, quantifiable, and physiologically relevant alternative to current methods. Invasion in this system reflects the prevalence of HA in connective tissues and its role in the promotion of cancer cell motility and tissue invasion, making the system ideal to study invasion through bone marrow or other HA-rich connective tissues. The bio-compatible cross-linking process we used allows for direct encapsulation of cancer cells within the gel where they adopt a distinct, cluster-like morphology.

A chromosomal investigation of some European Leiodidae (Coleoptera), with particular focus on Spanish subterranean Leptodirini.

Karyotypes are shown for Leiodes calcarata (Erichson, 1845), Catops coracinus Kellner, 1846, Cantabrogeus luquei (Salgado, 1993), Espanoliella luquei Salgado & Fresneda, 2005, Fresnedaella lucius Salgado, Labrada & Luque, 2011, Notidocharis uhagoni (Sharp 1872), Quaestus (Quaesticulus) pasensis Salgado, Labrada & Luque, 2010, all of which are shown to have a diploid number of 20 autosomes plus Xy (♂) or XX (♀) sex chromosomes, as well as an as yet undescribed triploid species of the genus Cantabrogeus Salgado, 2000. These results are contrasted with published information, all on Leptodirini, which lists 10 species as having diploid numbers of 22 + Xy or XX. It is shown that the higher chromosome number (n = 11 + X or y) previously reported refers exclusively to the more derived Leptodirini ("infraflagellates") whereas the lower number (n = 10 + X or y) refers to the less derived surface-dwelling forms and the less derived Leptodirini ("supraflagellates").

A surface groove essential for viral Bcl-2 function during chronic infection in vivo.

Antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins inhibit apoptosis in cultured cells by binding BH3 domains of proapoptotic Bcl-2 family members via a hydrophobic BH3 binding groove on the protein surface. We investigated the physiological importance of the BH3 binding groove of an antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein in mammals in vivo by analyzing a viral Bcl-2 family protein. We show that the gamma-herpesvirus 68 (gammaHV68) Bcl-2 family protein (gammaHV68 v-Bcl-2), which is known to inhibit apoptosis in cultured cells, inhibits both apoptosis in primary lymphocytes and Bax toxicity in yeast.

Photographic and luminometric detection of luciferase reporter phages for drug susceptibility testing of clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.

Luciferase reporter phages (LRPs) have proven to be efficient tools for drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Luminometric detection of LRP activity offers higher sensitivity and quantitative results, while a Polaroid film detection method offers a "low-tech" inexpensive alternative that is called the Bronx box. In this work we evaluated, improved, and compared the performance of the luminometer and the Bronx box formats for drug susceptibility testing with LRPs by using 51 clinical isolates of M.

Age-dependent resistance to lethal alphavirus encephalitis in mice: analysis of gene expression in the central nervous system and identification of a novel interferon-inducible protective gene, mouse ISG12.

Several different mammalian neurotropic viruses produce an age-dependent encephalitis characterized by more severe disease in younger hosts. To elucidate potential factors that contribute to age-dependent resistance to lethal viral encephalitis, we compared central nervous system (CNS) gene expression in neonatal and weanling mice that were either mock infected or infected intracerebrally with a recombinant strain, dsTE12Q, of the prototype alphavirus Sindbis virus. In 1-day-old mice, infection with dsTE12Q resulted in rapidly fatal disease associated with high CNS viral titers and extensive CNS apoptosis, whereas in 4-week-old mice, dsTE12Q infection resulted in asymptomatic infection with lower CNS virus titers and undetectable CNS apoptosis.

Avian reoviruses cause apoptosis in cultured cells: viral uncoating, but not viral gene expression, is required for apoptosis induction.

The cytopathic effect evidenced by cells infected with avian reovirus S1133 suggests that this virus may induce apoptosis in primary cultures of chicken embryo fibroblasts. In this report we present evidence that avian reovirus infection of cultured cells causes activation of the intracellular apoptotic program and that this activation takes place during an early stage of the viral life cycle. The ability of avian reoviruses to induce apoptosis is not restricted to a particular virus strain or to a specific cell type, since different avian reovirus isolates were able to induce apoptosis in several avian and mammalian cell lines.

Modification of late membrane permeability in avian reovirus-infected cells: viroporin activity of the S1-encoded nonstructural p10 protein.

Infection of chicken embryo fibroblasts by avian reovirus induces an increase in the permeability of the host plasma membrane at late, but not early, infection times. The absence of permeability changes at early infection times, as well as the dependence of late membrane modification on both viral protein synthesis and an active exocytic route, suggest that a virus-encoded membrane protein is required for avian reovirus to permeabilize cells. Further studies revealed that expression of nonstructural p10 protein in bacterial cells arrested cell growth and enhanced membrane permeability.

The avian reovirus genome segment S1 is a functionally tricistronic gene that expresses one structural and two nonstructural proteins in infected cells.

The avian reovirus S1 gene contains three partially overlapping, out-of-phase open reading frames (ORFs) that the highly conserved in all avian reovirus strains examined to date. The three S1 ORFs of the avian reovirus strain S1133 were individually expressed in bacterial cells, and their purified translation products used as antigens to raise specific polyclonal antibodies. With these antibodies we were able to demonstrate that all three S1 ORFs from different avian reovirus strains are translatable in infected cells.

PCR-based diagnosis of acute and chronic cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania (Viannia).

We evaluated PCR methods for diagnosis of acute and chronic cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in an area of Colombia where Leishmania (Viannia) is endemic. The PCR method specifically amplified whole linearized minicircle kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) of the Leishmania subgenus Viannia from biopsy lysates. PCR products were detected in agarose gels.

Evaluation of Etest for susceptibility testing of multidrug-resistant isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

To prescribe effective treatment schemes for patients with tuberculosis, more-efficient susceptibility testing techniques for Mycobacterium tuberculosis are needed, especially in regions with multidrug resistance. Etest (AB BIODISK, Solna, Sweden) is a simple technique that provides quantitative drug susceptibility results for M. tuberculosis in 5 to 10 days from a culture grown at low cost.

Evaluation of polymerase chain reaction, adenosine deaminase, and interferon-gamma in pleural fluid for the differential diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis.

Study Objectives: Pleural tuberculosis (TB) is a diagnostic challenge because of its nonspecific clinical presentation and paucibacillary nature. The inefficiency of conventional laboratory methods and the reliance on pleural biopsy have motivated the evaluation of alternative diagnostic strategies. We have evaluated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) directed to the IS6110 sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the determination of adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity, and measurement of interferon (IFN)-gamma levels in pleural fluid in the diagnosis of pleural TB.

Minicircle variable region probes for characterization of Leishmania (Viannia) species.

The minicircle molecules present in the kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) network constitute a particularly useful molecular tool because they are a multicopy target and present a variable region that differs among minicircle classes in the same network. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and a set of primers directed outwardly from the minicircle conserved region, it is possible to prepare molecular probes representing the pool of variable regions from the different minicircle classes in the kDNA. In order to examine the specificity of the minicircle variable region as hybridization probes in Leishmania (Viannia) species, such fragments were amplified from reference strains and from a panel of isolates representing the zymodeme diversity of Leishmania (Viannia) in Colombia.

Frequency of the Asn-108 and Thr-108 point mutations in the dihydrofolate reductase gene in Plasmodium falciparum from southwest Colombia.

Several point mutations in the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene of Plasmodium falciparum have been correlated with in vitro anti-folate drug resistance of laboratory and field isolates. Furthermore, two different point mutations that generate amino acid substitutions at the same position of the enzyme have been observed in all the isolates studied to date. These point mutations change a serine (Ser-108) in the wild type to an asparagine (Asn-108 mutation) or to a threonine (Thr-108 mutation).

A comparative study of diagnosis by the polymerase chain reaction and by current clinical methods using biopsies from Colombian patients with suspected leishmaniasis.

The results of a preliminary trial are reported in which the diagnostic value of a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) specific for Leishmania of the subgenus Viannia was compared with that of currently recommended methods. These methods were microscopic examination of dermal scrapings, in vitro culture of both patient biopsies and aspirates, an in vitro culture of hamster aspirates following inoculation with patient biopsies. The tests were performed on biopsies of Colombian patients with leishmaniasis or with nonleishmanial ethiologies.