Mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease: Diagnosis and progression to dementia.

Introduction: Mild cognitive impairment is common in nondemented Parkinson disease patients (PD-MCI) and is considered as a risk factor for dementia (PDD). Recently, the Movement Disorder Society (MDS) published guidelines for PD-MCI, although the studies available are still limited. The aim of this work was to characterize PD-MCI and its progression to dementia.

[Consensus-based approach for severe paediatric asthma in routine clinical practice].

Introduction: Accurate identification of paediatric patients with severe asthma is essential for an adequate management of the disease. However, criteria for defining severe asthma and recommendations for control vary among different guidelines.

Material And Methods: An online survey was conducted to explore expert opinions about the definition and management of severe paediatric asthma.

Conjugation of SUMO to p85 leads to a novel mechanism of PI3K regulation.

Class IA phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3Ks) are composed of p110 catalytic and p85 regulatory subunits. How regulatory subunits modulate PI3K activity remains only partially understood. Here we identified SUMO (small ubiquitin-related modifier) as a new player modulating this regulation.

Cognitive decline before the age of 50 can be detected with sensitive cognitive measures.

Background: To define the profile of age-related differences in cognition in healthy middle-aged adults in order to identify the most sensitive measures of early cognitive decline. To study whether these differences precede cognitive decline in the elderly.

Method: 141 cognitively normal participants (101 middle-aged adults with age 40-50±2; and 40 elderly individuals with age 65±2) were assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological protocol covering processing speed, attention, executive functions, verbal and visual episodic memory, procedural memory, visuoconstructive, visuoperceptive and visuospatial functions, and language.

The Cellular Factor NXP2/MORC3 Is a Positive Regulator of Influenza Virus Multiplication.

Unlabelled: Transcription and replication of influenza A virus are carried out in the nuclei of infected cells in the context of viral ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). The viral polymerase responsible for these processes is a protein complex composed of the PB1, PB2, and PA proteins. We previously identified a set of polymerase-associated cellular proteins by proteomic analysis of polymerase-containing intracellular complexes expressed and purified from human cells.

A sustained intravitreal drug delivery system with remote real time monitoring capability.

Unlabelled: Many chorioretinal diseases are chronic and need sustained drug delivery systems to keep therapeutic drug level at the disease site. Many intravitreal drug delivery systems under developing do not have mechanism incorporated for a non-invasive monitoring of drug release. The current study prepared rugate porous silicon (pSi) particles by electrochemical etching with the current frequency (K value) of 2.

CCR5 deficiency predisposes to fatal outcome in influenza virus infection.

Influenza epidemics affect all age groups, although children, the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions are the most severely affected. Whereas co-morbidities are present in 50% of fatal cases, 25-50% of deaths are in apparently healthy individuals. This suggests underlying genetic determinants that govern infection severity.

Influenza virus polymerase: Functions on host range, inhibition of cellular response to infection and pathogenicity.

The viral polymerase is an essential complex for the influenza virus life cycle as it performs the viral RNA transcription and replication processes. To that end, the polymerase carries out a wide array of functions and associates to a large number of cellular proteins. Due to its importance, recent studies have found numerous mutations in all three polymerase protein subunits contributing to virus host range and pathogenicity.

Clinical response to pandemic H1N1 influenza virus from a fatal and mild case in ferrets.

Background: The majority of pandemic 2009 H1N1 (A(H1N1)pdm09) influenza virus (IV) caused mild symptoms in most infected patients, however, a greater rate of severe disease was observed in healthy young adults and children without co-morbid conditions. The purpose of this work was to study in ferrets the dynamics of infection of two contemporary strains of human A(H1N1)pdm09 IV, one isolated from a patient showing mild disease and the other one from a fatal case.

Methods: Viral strains isolated from a patient showing mild disease-M (A/CastillaLaMancha/RR5661/2009) or from a fatal case-F (A/CastillaLaMancha/RR5911/2009), both without known comorbid conditions, were inoculated in two groups of ferrets and clinical and pathological conditions were analysed.

Prevalence of endometriosis in epithelial ovarian cancer. Analysis of the associated clinical features and study on molecular mechanisms involved in the possible causality.

Purpose Of Investigation: To determine the prevalence of endometriosis in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and explore the differences between women with endometrioid and clear-cell histologic subtypes with and without associated endometriosis.

Materials And Methods: The medical charts of 496 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer at the Hospital Virgin de la Arrixaca (Murcia, Spain) between 1971 and 2010 were reviewed.

Results: Endometriosis was present in 27 (5.

Safety and efficacy of pimecrolimus in atopic dermatitis: a 5-year randomized trial.

Background And Objectives: Atopic dermatitis (AD) primarily affects infants and young children. Although topical corticosteroids (TCSs) are often prescribed, noncorticosteroid treatments are needed because compliance with TCSs is poor due to concerns about their side effects. In this longest and largest intervention study ever conducted in infants with mild-to-moderate AD, pimecrolimus 1% cream (PIM) was compared with TCSs.

Fund of Information is More Strongly Associated with Neuropsychological Functioning Than Education in Older Spanish Adults.

Educational influence on cognitive performance has been extensively agreed in Neuropsychology. Nonetheless, recent studies highlighted the need of better measurements to assess benefit from the schooling experience in order to further understand schooling influence on cognition. The WAIS-III Information subtest is proposed here to measure this influence at old age.

Effect of BRCA1 and XPG mutations on treatment response to trabectedin and pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in patients with advanced ovarian cancer: exploratory analysis of the phase 3 OVA-301 study.

Background: We investigated the association of BRCA1 and XPG mutations with response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in a subset of patients from a phase 3 clinical trial comparing the efficacy and safety of trabectedin + pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) versus PLD alone in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer.

Patients And Methods: A candidate array was designed based on the Breast Cancer Information Core database for BRCA mutation analyses. An exploratory analysis of BRCA1/XPG mutation status was conducted using a two-sided log-rank test and 0.

Factors related to the development of CMV-specific CD8+ T cell response in CMV-seropositive solid organ transplant candidates.

This cross-sectional study analyzes factors associated with the development of CMV-specific CD8+ response, measured by IFNg production after cytomegalovirus (CMV) peptide stimulation, in CMV-seropositive solid organ transplantation candidates. A total of 114 candidates were enrolled, of whom 22.8% (26/114) were nonreactive (IFNγ < 0.

BRCA1 polymorphism in breast cancer patients from Argentina.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in females in Argentina, with an incidence rate similar to that in the USA. However, the contribution of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation in breast cancer incidence has not yet been investigated in Argentina. In order to evaluate which BRCA1 polymorphisms or mutations characterize female breast cancer in Argentina, the current study enrolled 206 females with breast cancer from several hospitals from the southeast of Argentina.

Anti-inflammatory effect of natural and semi-synthetic phthalides.

This study evaluated the potential anti-inflammatory effects of natural phthalides, isolated from Ligusticum porteri, and of semi-synthetic phthalides. Anti-inflammatory activity was investigated in two mouse models; one with ear edema, induced with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, and the other with paw edema, induced with carrageenan. The effect on the RAW 264.

Surface engineering of porous silicon microparticles for intravitreal sustained delivery of rapamycin.

Purpose: To understand the relationship between rapamycin loading/release and surface chemistries of porous silicon (pSi) to optimize pSi-based intravitreal delivery system.

Methods: Three types of surface chemical modifications were studied: (1) pSi-COOH, containing 10-carbon aliphatic chains with terminal carboxyl groups grafted via hydrosilylation of undecylenic acid; (2) pSi-C12, containing 12-carbon aliphatic chains grafted via hydrosilylation of 1-dodecene; and (3) pSiO2-C8, prepared by mild oxidation of the pSi particles followed by grafting of 8-hydrocarbon chains to the resulting porous silica surface via a silanization.

Results: The efficiency of rapamycin loading follows the order (micrograms of drug/milligrams of carrier): pSiO2-C8 (105 ± 18) > pSi-COOH (68 ± 8) > pSi-C12 (36 ± 6).

Genomewide admixture study in Mexican Mestizos with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex immune-mediated disease. It has been suggested that genetic factors could explain differences in the prevalence among ethnic groups. To know whether genetic ancestry is a potential risk factor for MS in Mexican patients and to identify candidate genes for the susceptibility to the disease we conducted an initial trial of genome-wide analysis.

Spanish consensus on vulvar disorders in postmenopausal women.

Introduction: The consequences of vulvar disorders in terms of health, sexuality, and quality of life are usually undervalued, with disparities in the conceptual, diagnosis and treatment criteria.

Aim: The objective of this guide will be to analyse the factors associated with the diagnosis and treatment of vulvar disorders and to provide recommendations for the most appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic measures.

Methodology: A panel of experts from various Spanish scientific societies related to sexual health (Spanish Menopause Society [SMS] and the Asociación Española de Patología Cervical y Colposcopia [AEPCC]) met to reach a consensus on these issues and to decide the optimal timing and methods based on the best evidence available.

Presence of radionuclides in sludge from conventional drinking water treatment plants. A review.

The analysis of sludge samples generated during water treatment processes show that different radioisotopes of uranium, thorium and radium, among others can accumulate in that kind of samples, even the good removal rates obtained in the aqueous phase (by comparison of influent and effluent water concentrations). Inconsequence, drinking water treatment plants are included in the group of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) industries. The accumulation of radionuclides can be a serious problem especially when this sludge is going to be reused, so more exhaustive information is required to prevent the possible radiological impact of these samples in the environment and also on the people.

Uterine and umbilical artery Doppler at 28 weeks for predicting adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with abnormal uterine artery Doppler findings in the early second trimester.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the contribution of uterine (UtA) and umbilical arteries (UA) Doppler examination at 28 weeks to predict adverse pregnancy outcomes in women who had increased resistance in UtA in the early second trimester.

Methods: Women with UtA mean pulsatility index (PI) above the 95th centile at 19-22 weeks of gestation were offered a growth scan including Doppler examination of UtA and UA at 28 weeks. Adverse pregnancy outcomes included small for gestational age (SGA), defined as birth weight below the tenth centile, preeclampsia (PE) and early-onset PE (PE before 34 weeks).

[Progresses in the diagnosis of allergy].

The traditional diagnosis of allergy by Prick tests and/or RAST offers very limited information about the real nature of allergic problems and of their clinical, therapeutic and prognostic implications. The diagnosis by allergic components (natural or recombinant) suppose a great qualitative step leading a great improving in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic patients, because its use with clinical history and other diagnostic in vivo or in vitro methods improve importantly the diagnostic accuracy.