Long-term outcomes of cardioneuroablation with and without extra-cardiac vagal stimulation confirmation in severe cardioinhibitory neurocardiogenic syncope.

Background: Cardioneuroablation (CNA) is a novel therapeutic approach for functional bradyarrhythmias, specifically neurocardiogenic syncope or atrial fibrillation, achieved through endocardial radiofrequency catheter ablation of vagal innervation, obviating the need for pacemaker implantation. Originating in the nineties, the first series of CNA procedures was published in 2005. Extra-cardiac vagal stimulation (ECVS) is employed as a direct method for stepwise denervation control during CNA.

Treatment of Symptomatic Functional Atrioventricular Block by Cardioneuroablation as an Alternative to Pacemaker Implantation.

A woman with recurrent presyncope caused by a functional atrioventricular (AV) block after meals, with limiting symptoms, underwent cardioneuroablation and AV node vagal denervation without pacemaker implantation. Normal AV conduction was recovered with complete abolishment of symptoms. ().

Long-Term Evaluation of the Vagal Denervation by Cardioneuroablation Using Holter and Heart Rate Variability.

Background: Several disorders present reflex or persistent increase in vagal tone that may cause refractory symptoms even in a normal heart patient. Cardioneuroablation, the vagal denervation by radiofrequency ablation of the neuromyocardial interface, was developed to treat these conditions without pacemaker implantation. A theoretical limitation could be the reinnervation, that naturally grows in the first year, that could recover the vagal hyperactivity.

Relation of Fractionated Atrial Potentials With the Vagal Innervation Evaluated by Extracardiac Vagal Stimulation During Cardioneuroablation.

Background: Vagal hyperactivity is directly related to several clinical conditions as reflex/functional bradyarrhythmias and vagal atrial fibrillation (AF). Cardioneuroablation provides therapeutic vagal denervation through endocardial radiofrequency ablation for these cases. The main challenges are neuromyocardium interface identification and the denervation control and validation.

High incidence of MDR and XDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates obtained from patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia in Greece, Italy and Spain as part of the MagicBullet clinical trial.

Objectives: To characterize the antimicrobial susceptibility, molecular epidemiology and carbapenem resistance mechanisms in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates recovered from respiratory tract samples from patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia enrolled in the MagicBullet clinical trial.

Methods: Isolates were collected from 53 patients from 12 hospitals in Spain, Italy and Greece. Susceptibility was determined using broth microdilution and Etest.

Ablation of "Background Tachycardia" in Long Standing Atrial Fibrillation: Improving the Outcomes by Unmasking a Residual Atrial Fibrillation Perpetuator.

Background: Catheter ablation of long-standing persistent AF (LSAF) remains challenging. Since AF-Nest (AFN) description, we have observed that a stable, protected, fast source firing, namely "Background Tachycardia"(BT), could be hidden beneath the chaotic AF. Following pulmonary vein isolation (PVI)+AFN ablation one or more BT may arise or be induced in 30-40% of patients, which could be the culprit forAF maintenance and ablation recurrences.

Simplified Method for Vagal Effect Evaluation in Cardiac Ablation and Electrophysiological Procedures.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to show a simplified reversible approach to investigate and confirm vagal denervation at any time during the ablation procedure without autonomic residual effect.

Background: Parasympathetic denervation has been increasingly applied in ablation procedures such as in vagal-related atrial fibrillation and cardioneuroablation. This method proposes an easy way to study the vagal effect and to confirm its elimination following parasympathetic denervation through vagal stimulation (VS) by an electrophysiological catheter placed in the internal jugular vein.

Interplay between plasmid-mediated and chromosomal-mediated fluoroquinolone resistance and bacterial fitness in Escherichia coli.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyse the interplay among plasmid-mediated qnr genes, alone or in combination with multiple chromosomal-mediated fluoroquinolone (FQ) resistance determinants, susceptibility to FQs and bacterial fitness in an isogenic Escherichia coli collection.

Methods: E. coli ATCC 25922 was used to modify or delete chromosomal genes.

Intracellular antimicrobial activity appearing as a relevant factor in antibiotic efficacy against an experimental foreign-body infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

Objectives: The presence of bacterial biofilm, tolerance to antibiotics and dysfunctional activity of phagocytic cells are all related to difficulties in eradicating foreign-body infections. We aimed to quantify the presence of intracellular Staphylococcus aureus and to study the extent to which the intracellular activity of antibiotics might determine their efficacy against an experimental rat tissue-cage model of foreign-body infection.

Methods: Using this model, animals were treated for 7 days with 100 mg/kg/day levofloxacin or 200 mg/kg/12 h cloxacillin, or were left untreated.

Efficacy of high doses of daptomycin versus alternative therapies against experimental foreign-body infection by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Since the currently approved dose of daptomycin (6 mg/kg of body weight/day) has been associated with clinical failures and resistance development, higher doses for some difficult-to-treat infections are being proposed. We studied the efficacy of daptomycin at high doses (equivalent to 10 mg/kg/day in humans) and compared it to that of reference and alternative treatments in a model of foreign-body infection with methicillin (meticillin)-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In vitro studies were conducted with bacteria in the log and stationary phases.

High doses of levofloxacin vs moxifloxacin against staphylococcal experimental foreign-body infection: the effect of higher MIC-related pharmacokinetic parameters on efficacy.

Objectives: Since levofloxacin at high doses was the best therapy in staphylococcal tissue-cage model of foreign-body infection, we hypothesized that moxifloxacin with higher ratio of area under the concentration-time curve to the MIC (AUC/MIC) would provide better results.

Methods: MICs, MBCs, MPCs (mutant prevention concentration) and 24h kill-curves were determined in the log and stationary phases. Using the aforementioned model, we tested the efficacy of levofloxacin 100mg/kg/d, moxifloxacin 40mg/kg/d and moxifloxacin 80mg/kg/d; they were equivalent to human levels for 1000mg/d, 400mg/d and 800mg/d, respectively.

Antagonistic effect of rifampin on the efficacy of high-dose levofloxacin in staphylococcal experimental foreign-body infection.

Since levofloxacin at high doses was more active than levofloxacin at conventional doses and was the best therapy alone in a rat model of staphylococcal foreign-body infection, in this study we tested how these differences affect the activities of their respective combinations with rifampin in vitro and in vivo. In vitro studies were performed in the log and stationary phases. By using this model, rifampin at 25 mg/kg of body weight/12 h, levofloxacin at 100 mg/kg/day, levofloxacin at 100 mg/kg/day plus rifampin, levofloxacin at 50 mg/kg/day, levofloxacin at 50 mg/kg/day plus rifampin, or a control treatment was administered for 7 days; and therapy with for levofloxacin at 100 mg/kg/day alone and rifampin alone was prolonged to 14 days.

Syncopal high-degree AV block treated with catheter RF ablation without pacemaker implantation.

A 23-year-old-female patient had undergone a very successful gastric banding surgery to treat obesity. Six months later she began to present recurrent syncope due to very frequent, intermittent high-degree AV block referred to as pacemaker implantation. The electrophysiological study showed impaired AV nodal conduction but the His-Purkinje conduction was preserved.

Rapid diagnosis of human brucellosis by SYBR Green I-based real-time PCR assay and melting curve analysis in serum samples.

The aim of this study was to develop a LightCycler-based real-time PCR (LC-PCR) assay and to evaluate its diagnostic use for the detection of Brucella DNA in serum samples. Following amplification of a 223-bp gene sequence encoding an immunogenetic membrane protein (BCSP31) specific for the Brucella genus, melting curve and DNA sequencing analysis was performed to verify the specificity of the PCR products. The intra- and inter-assay variation coefficients were 1.

A new treatment for atrial fibrillation based on spectral analysis to guide the catheter RF-ablation.

Background: By studying the spectrum of atrial potentials by fast Fourier transform (FFT) we have found two types of atrial muscle: the compact (CM) and the fibrillar (FM) myocardium. The former presents normal in-phase conduction inferring a great number of cellular connections, long-lasting refractoriness and leftward FFT-shift. The latter shows anisotropic out-of-phase conduction, fewer cellular connections, short refractoriness and a segmented right-FFT-shift.