NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES: A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics.

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data.

Respiratory Needs in Patients with Type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy Treated with Nusinersen.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of nusinersen on respiratory function of patients with type 1 spinal muscular atrophy.

Study Design: Observational, longitudinal cohort study. We collected respiratory data from 118 children with type 1 spinal muscular atrophy and differing pulmonary requirements and conducted a semistructured qualitative interview among a subsample of caregivers at baseline, 6 months, and 10 months after the first nusinersen treatment.

Could the medical humanities be a remedy for the rising disengagement between physician and patient?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The idea of incorporating an interdisciplinary field about the Human Condition of the patient and its intrinsic dignity, under the title of Medical Humanities or simply Humanities into the core curriculum of medical education seems reasonable.

Supportive periodontal treatment and full-mouth ultrasonic debridement: a randomised controlled clinical trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of different maintenance recall intervals in patients with chronic periodontitis treated by full-mouth ultrasonic debridement.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-eight patients participated in the study and were divided into two groups: group 1 (n = 14) underwent full-mouth ultrasonic debridement followed by monthly supportive periodontal therapy; group 2 (n = 14) underwent full-mouth ultrasonic debridement followed by supportive periodontal therapy delivered at 3-month intervals. Plaque index (PI), bleeding on probing (BOP), pocket probing depth (PD), gingival recession (GR) and clinical attachment level (CAL) were evaluated at baseline and after 3 and 6 months.

Clinical and metabolic evaluation of one-stage, full-mouth, ultrasonic debridement as a therapeutic approach for uncontrolled type 2 diabetic patients with periodontitis.

Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic potential of one-stage, full-mouth, ultrasonic debridement (FMUD) as a treatment for type 2 diabetic patients with generalized severe chronic periodontitis.

Method And Materials: Sixteen patients diagnosed with generalized severe chronic periodontitis and type 2 diabetes mellitus were allocated to the diabetic group; another 15 subjects with periodontitis but without metabolic disorders were placed in the nondiabetic group. Both groups were treated using the FMUD protocol, a unique 45-minute session of ultrasonic debridement of all sites presenting periodontal disease.

Double-masked randomized clinical trial evaluating the effect of a triclosan/copolymer dentifrice on periodontal healing after one-stage full-mouth debridement.

Background: This study evaluates the effect of triclosan/copolymer dentifrice on the 6-month clinical response of patients with generalized severe chronic periodontitis (GSCP) treated with one-stage, full-mouth ultrasonic debridement (FMUD).

Methods: Thirty patients diagnosed with GSCP (≥8 teeth presenting probing depth [PD] ≥5 mm and bleeding on probing [BOP]) were selected and randomly allocated to a control group (n = 15) subjected to FMUD and daily use of a placebo dentifrice or to a test group (n = 15) subjected to FMUD and daily use of a triclosan/copolymer dentifrice. Patients were analyzed for the following parameters: full-mouth plaque index (FMPI), full-mouth BOP score (FMBS), gingival recession, PD, and clinical attachment level (CAL).

A comparative study of lingual bracket bond strength.

Aim: To compare the adhesive potential, the mechanics implicated in adhesive failure, and the effect on the enamel of four brands of lingual brackets.

Methods: One hundred sixty premolars and four types of commercially available lingual brackets (STB, ORG, Magic, and Stealth) were selected. Forty brackets per manufacturer were used, half bonded directly and half indirectly.

Low-Intensity swimming training after weaning improves glucose and lipid homeostasis in MSG hypothalamic obese mice.

Low-intensity swimming training, started at an early age, was undertaken to observe glycemic control in hypothalamic obese mice produced by neonatal monosodium l-glutamate (MSG) treatment. Although swimming exercises by weaning pups inhibited hypothalamic obesity onset and recovered sympathoadrenal axis activity, this event was not observed when exercise training is applied to young adult mice. However, the mechanisms producing this improved metabolism are still not fully understood.

Establishment of a pediatric liver transplantation program: experience with 100 transplantation procedures.

Objective: To analyze the primary factors that influence the development and consolidation of a pediatric liver transplantation program.

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective study of 100 liver transplantation procedures performed in 84 pediatric patients between May 1990 and November 2007. The male-female ratio was 40:60.

A short training program improves the accuracy of portion-size estimates in future dietitians.

The objective of this study was to determine whether a short training program, using real foods, would decreased their portion-size estimation errors after training. 90 student volunteers (20.18+/-0.

Keloids: A viral hypothesis.

The triggering cause of keloid formation on a healing wound remains an enigma. In fact, the hypotheses put forward so far to explain this phenomenon seem inconsistent with some clinical features of the disease. The recently established bonds between infectious agents and some pathologies of unknown origin such as peptic ulcer disease, Kaposi's sarcoma or cervical cancer among others led us to consider a potential infectious origin for keloids.

Radical surgery-peritonectomy and intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy for the treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis in recurrent or primary ovarian cancer.

Background And Objectives: Advanced ovarian cancer typically spreads in a diffuse intra-abdominal fashion. This characteristic suggests that combined radical surgery and intraperitoneal chemotherapy may be a useful treatment procedure. The purpose of this study was to review patients submitted to surgical debulking and hyperthermic intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIIC) and to evaluate the potential prognostic survival factors for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer in our center.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) simulation on EGEE grid architecture: a web portal design.

In this paper, we present a web portal that enables simulation of MRI images on the grid. Such simulations are done using the SIMRI MRI simulator that is implemented on the grid using MPI and the LCG2 middleware. MRI simulations are mainly used to study MRI sequence, and to validate image processing algorithms.

Bridging clinical information systems and grid middleware: a Medical Data Manager.

This paper describes the effort to deploy a Medical Data Management service on top of the EGEE grid infrastructure. The most widely accepted medical image standard, DICOM, was developed for fulfilling clinical practice. It is implemented in most medical image acquisition and analysis devices.

Melatonin reduces apoptosis and necrosis induced by ischemia/reperfusion injury of the pancreas.

The pancreas is highly susceptible to the oxidative stress induced by ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury leading to the generation of acute pancreatitis. Melatonin has been shown to be useful in the prevention of the damage by ischemia-reperfusion in liver, brain, myocardium, gut and kidney. The aim of the study was to evaluate the cytoprotective properties of melatonin against injury induced by IR in pancreas.

Melatonin prevents experimental liver cirrhosis induced by thioacetamide in rats.

Liver cirrhosis is a critical stage of chronic liver diseases that can produce liver failure, portal hypertension and hepatocarcinoma. Sustained oxidative stress plays a key role in cell damage and fibrosis induced during liver cirrhosis. We evaluated the effect of oxidative stress regulation by melatonin on the development of parenchymal destruction and stellate cell activation in experimental liver cirrhosis.

Assignment of steatotic livers by the Mayo model for end-stage liver disease.

Prognosis after liver transplantation depends on a combination of recipient and donor variables. The purpose of this study is to define an allocation system of steatotic donor livers relative to recipient model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score. We reviewed 500 consecutive OLT, computing the MELD score for each recipient.

Polymorphism analysis within the HLA-A locus by universal oligonucleotide array.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I genes present some of the most complex single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) patterns in the human genome. HLA typing is therefore extremely challenging. In this article, we use the ligation detection reaction (LDR) combined with a universal array (UA) as a robust and efficient method to analyze SNPs within the HLA-A region that includes HLA-A alleles of interest for immunotherapy in tumor diseases.

Predictors and prognostic value of myocardial injury following stent implantation.

Background: Troponin I concentrations are frequently elevated following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) even in procedures without complications and are considered, by some, as predictive of long-term morbidity and mortality. We assessed whether post-PCI troponin I concentrations bore any relationship to clinical, angiographic and in-laboratory minor adverse events indicative of myocardial injury and evaluated, in follow-up, whether these levels are useful as a predictive markers of adverse events.

Methods: Patients (n=147) who were scheduled for PCI for stent placement were prospectively studied.

Prognostic significance of K-ras, p53, bcl-2, PCNA, CD34 in radically resected non-small cell lung cancers.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of a panel of biological parameters in patients with radically resected non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). 269 cases with pathological stage I-IIIA NSCLC were retrospectively analysed. Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect protein expression of p53, bcl-2, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and CD34.

Detection of HLA polymorphisms by ligase detection reaction and a universal array format: a pilot study for low resolution genotyping.

We present our results in the identification of polymorphic sites within the second exon of the human leukocyte antigen A (HLA-A) region using the DNA microarray technology. Allele specific detection was performed by polymerase chain reaction followed by ligase detection reaction (LDR) in combination with a universal array, a powerful method for high throughput DNA sequence analysis. By this approach we confirmed 32 human samples previously characterized by direct DNA sequencing, thus demonstrating the interest of this approach.

Influence of marginal donors on liver preservation injury.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the accumulated effects of marginal donor quality factors on liver preservation injury (LPI).

Methods: The most recent 400 consecutive liver transplantations at our institution were reviewed. Marginal liver donor criteria included the following: older than 60 years, an intensive care unit stay under ventilatory support for more than 4 days, a cold ischemia time more than 14 hr, high inotropic drug use, prolonged hypotensive episodes for more than 1 hr and less than 60 mm Hg, a peak serum sodium more than 155 mEq/L, and high levels of bilirubin, alanine transferase, or amino transferase.

Results of liver transplantation in a Spanish group: a report from the Cordoba unit.

The liver transplantation unit from Córdoba, Spain, performed its first liver transplantation in 1989. Since then, 500 liver transplants have been performed in our institution up to November 2001. Our one-year recipient and graft survival rates are 77% and 76%, respectively.