Impact of Red Cell Exchange Transfusion on Inflammatory Markers in Sickle Cell Disease.

Background: Red Blood Cell Exchange (RBCX) is a common treatment for pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD). Since inflammation with elevated proinflammatory cytokines plays a crucial role in SCD, this study hypothesized that RBCX might lower these cytokines and aimed to assess the impact of this technique on these markers.

Methods: Prospective and observational study of pediatric SCD patients (HbSS genotype) enrolled in a chronic RBCX program at a Portuguese Hospital from October 2022 to August 2024.

Hematological and Biochemical Characteristics Associated with Cytogenetic Findern Alterations in Adult Patients with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) from the Northern Region of Brazil.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is an aggressive neoplasm derived from B and/or T cell lineage (B-ALL; T-ALL). For the first time, this study describes, cytogenetically, the karyotypic alterations in adults with ALL in the northern region of Brazil and their relationship with hematological and biochemical characteristics. Through banding analyses, immunophenotyping, as well as hematological and biochemical examination data obtained directly from patients' records, we found that chromosome 21 aneuploidy was the most frequent.

Surgical management of ulnar artery aneurysm in hypothenar hammer syndrome.

Ulnar artery aneurysms are extremely rare and are mainly associated with hypothenar hammer syndrome, an ischemic disorder of the hand resulting from mechanical and repetitive trauma to the hypothenar region. The ulnar artery is hit against the hook of the hamate bone, causing damage to the vessel wall and leading to occlusion or formation of an aneurysm. We describe the case of a truck driver who underwent resection of an ulnar artery aneurysm in the right hand and reconstruction using end-to-end anastomosis with no complications or recurrence.

Enhancing physicochemical properties of hydrochlorothiazide with zwitterionic L-proline and 5-fluorocytosine cocrystals through mechanochemical synthesis.

Hydrochlorothiazide (HTZ) is a thiazide-type diuretic drug approved by the FDA in 1959 for treatment of hypertension and peripheral edema and has been used since. HTZ exhibits low solubility and low permeability, leading to variable oral bioavailability and limited intestinal drug permeability. For this reason, several attempts to improve HTZ physicochemical properties have been made during the past decades.

Identification of a genomic cluster related to hypersecretion of intestinal mucus and mucinolytic activity of atypical enteropathogenic (aEPEC).

Enteropathogenic (EPEC) strains are subdivided into typical (tEPEC) and atypical (aEPEC) according to the presence or absence of a virulence-associated plasmid called pEAF. Our research group has previously demonstrated that two aEPEC strains, 0421-1 and 3991-1, induce an increase in mucus production in a rabbit ileal loop model . This phenomenon was not observed with a tEPEC prototype strain.