Cardiac involvement in the catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS): Lessons from the "CAPS registry".

Objective: To analyze the demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) patients with cardiac involvement, and to identify the factors associated with this cardiac involvement.

Material And Methods: Based on the analysis of the "CAPS Registry", the demographic, clinical, and serological characteristics of patients with cardiac involvement were analyzed. Cardiac involvement was defined as heart failure, valvular disease, acute myocardial infarction, pericardial effusion, pulmonary arterial hypertension, systolic dysfunction, intracardiac thrombosis, and microvascular disease.

Extracellular symbiont colonizes insect during embryo development.

Insects typically acquire their beneficial microbes early in development. Endosymbionts housed intracellularly are commonly integrated during oogenesis or embryogenesis, whereas extracellular microbes are only known to be acquired after hatching by immature instars such as larvae or nymphs. Here, however, we report on an extracellular symbiont that colonizes its host during embryo development.

Paleocene origin of a streamlined digestive symbiosis in leaf beetles.

Timing the acquisition of a beneficial microbe relative to the evolutionary history of its host can shed light on the adaptive impact of a partnership. Here, we investigated the onset and molecular evolution of an obligate symbiosis between Cassidinae leaf beetles and Candidatus Stammera capleta, a γ-proteobacterium. Residing extracellularly within foregut symbiotic organs, Stammera upgrades the digestive physiology of its host by supplementing plant cell wall-degrading enzymes.

[Validation of the French version of the Assessment Tool for Hospital Admissions Related to Medications (AT-HARM10) to detect drug-related hospitalizations].

Admissions of the elderly related to medication errors are frequent in hospital, more than half would be avoidable, but there is currently no validated method in French to identify them. The objective of this work was to validate the French version of the AT-HARM10 tool in order to use it for patients admitted in our healthcare facilities. The tool has 10 questions.

Heart Valve Involvement in Patients with Antiphospholipid Syndrome: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study of a Single Centre.

Background: Valve involvement is the most common cardiac manifestation in antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). The objective of the study was to describe the prevalence, clinical and laboratory features, and evolution of APS patients with heart valve involvement.

Methods: A retrospective longitudinal and observational study of all APS patients followed by a single centre with at least one transthoracic echocardiographic study.

The leaf beetle Chelymorpha alternans propagates a plant pathogen in exchange for pupal protection.

Many insects rely on microbial protection in the early stages of their development. However, in contrast to symbiont-mediated defense of eggs and young instars, the role of microbes in safeguarding pupae remains relatively unexplored, despite the susceptibility of the immobile stage to antagonistic challenges. Here, we outline the importance of symbiosis in ensuring pupal protection by describing a mutualistic partnership between the ascomycete Fusarium oxysporum and Chelymorpha alternans, a leaf beetle.

For the road: calibrated maternal investment in light of extracellular symbiont transmission.

Faithful transmission of beneficial symbionts is critical for the persistence of mutualisms. Many insect groups rely on extracellular routes that require microbial symbionts to survive outside the host during transfer. However, given a prolonged aposymbiotic phase in offspring, how do mothers mitigate the risk of symbiont loss due to unsuccessful transmission? Here, we investigated symbiont regulation and reacquisition during extracellular transfer in the tortoise beetle, (Coleoptera: Cassidinae).

Pervasiveness of the symbiont Serratia symbiotica in the aphid natural environment: distribution, diversity and evolution at a multitrophic level.

Symbioses are significant drivers of insect evolutionary ecology. Despite recent findings that these associations can emerge from environmentally derived bacterial precursors, there is still little information on how these potential progenitors of insect symbionts circulate in trophic systems. Serratia symbiotica represents a valuable model for deciphering evolutionary scenarios of bacterial acquisition by insects, as its diversity includes gut-associated strains that retained the ability to live independently of their hosts, representing a potential reservoir for symbioses emergence.

Insight into the bacterial communities of the subterranean aphid Anoecia corni.

Many insect species are associated with bacterial partners that can significantly influence their evolutionary ecology. Compared to other insect groups, aphids harbor a bacterial microbiota that has the reputation of being poorly diversified, generally limited to the presence of the obligate nutritional symbiont Buchnera aphidicola and some facultative symbionts. In this study, we analyzed the bacterial diversity associated with the dogwood-grass aphid Anoecia corni, an aphid species that spends much of its life cycle in a subterranean environment.

Cost-Effectiveness of Low-Field Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance in Glioma Surgery.

Object: Low-field intraoperative magnetic resonance (LF-iMR) has demonstrated a slight increase in the extent of resection of intra-axial tumors while preserving patient`s neurological outcomes. However, whether this improvement is cost-effective or not is still matter of controversy. In this clinical investigation we sought to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of a LF-iMR in glioma surgery.

Shared Reflection to Maximize Resources and Minimize Costs: The Reflecting Team Applied to a Hospital Environment.

Severe mental illness entails multiple hospital admissions and a large use of public resources. The Reflecting Team (RT), together with other dialogue strategies, place in a single therapeutic space, the patient, his family and a team of professionals to find together a solution to a situation of stagnation. The aim of this study was to evaluate feasibility and cost-effectiveness of a RT intervention in psychiatric inpatients in a public hospital.

Evolutionary responses of mutualistic insect-bacterial symbioses in a world of fluctuating temperatures.

Climate change is altering the abundance and distribution of millions of insect species around the world and is a major contributor to the decline of numerous species. Many insect species may be indirectly affected through their nutritional dependence on mutualistic bacteria. Indeed, these bacterial partners generally have a highly reduced and static genome, resulting from millions of years of coevolution and isolation in insect cells, and have limited adaptive capacity.

Outcomes beyond the Third Month of Anticoagulation in Patients Aged >75 Years with a First Episode of Unprovoked Venous Thromboembolism.

 The ideal duration of anticoagulant therapy in elderly patients with unprovoked venous thromboembolism (VTE) has not been consistently evaluated.  We used the RIETE ( egistro nformatizado nfermedad rombo mbólica) registry to compare the rate and severity of pulmonary embolism (PE) recurrences versus major bleeding beyond the third month of anticoagulation in patients >75 years with a first episode of unprovoked VTE.  As of September 2017, 7,830 patients were recruited: 5,058 (65%) presented with PE and 2,772 with proximal deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Circulation of the Cultivable Symbiont in Aphids Is Mediated by Plants.

Symbiosis is a common phenomenon in nature that substantially affects organismal ecology and evolution. Fundamental questions regarding how mutualistic associations arise and evolve in nature remain, however, poorly studied. The aphid- bacterium interaction represents a valuable model to study mechanisms shaping these symbiotic interspecific interactions.

New Insights into the Nature of Symbiotic Associations in Aphids: Infection Process, Biological Effects, and Transmission Mode of Cultivable Bacteria.

Symbiotic microorganisms are widespread in nature and can play a major role in the ecology and evolution of animals. The aphid- bacterium interaction provides a valuable model to study the mechanisms behind these symbiotic associations. The recent discovery of cultivable strains with a free-living lifestyle allowed us to simulate their environmental acquisition by aphids to examine the mechanisms involved in this infection pathway.

Evidence for Gut-Associated Serratia symbiotica in Wild Aphids and Ants Provides New Perspectives on the Evolution of Bacterial Mutualism in Insects.

Many insects engage in symbiotic associations with diverse assemblages of bacterial symbionts that can deeply impact on their ecology and evolution. The intraspecific variation of symbionts remains poorly assessed while phenotypic effects and transmission behaviors, which are key processes for the persistence and evolution of symbioses, may differ widely depending on the symbiont strains. Serratia symbiotica is one of the most frequent symbiont species in aphids and a valuable model to assess this intraspecific variation since it includes both facultative and obligate symbiotic strains.

Physical Activity of Patients with COPD from Regions with Different Climatic Variations.

Seasonal changes in physical activity in daily life (PADL) of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) living in regions of the world with contrasting (i.e., mild or marked) weather variations have not been yet investigated.

Development of a real-time PCR for Bartonella spp. detection, a current emerging microorganism.

A real-time PCR assay using SYBR Green was optimized to detect those Bartonella that are most frequently described as pathogens. The assay was genus-specific. Sequencing allowed to distinguish species.

Shell-vial culture, coupled with real-time PCR, applied to Rickettsia conorii and Rickettsia massiliae-Bar29 detection, improving the diagnosis of the Mediterranean spotted fever.

Rickettsia conorii and Rickettsia massiliae-Bar29 are related to Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF). They are intracellular microorganisms. The Shell-vial culture assay (SV) improved Rickettsia culture but it still has some limitations: blood usually contains low amount of microorganisms and the samples that contain the highest amount of them are non-sterile.

Shell-vial culture and real-time PCR applied to Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia felis detection.

Murine typhus is a zoonosis transmitted by fleas, whose etiological agent is Rickettsia typhi. Rickettsia felis infection can produces similar symptoms. Both are intracellular microorganisms.

Coinfection with "Rickettsia sibirica subsp. mongolotimonae" and Rickettsia conorii in a Human Patient: a Challenge for Molecular Diagnosis Tools.

Rickettsioses are zoonoses transmitted by vectors. More than one agent can coexist in vectors. Although vectors may transmit more than one microorganism to humans, information on dual infections is scarce.

Ongoing and cumulative pregnancy rate after cleavage-stage versus blastocyst-stage embryo transfer using vitrification for cryopreservation: impact of age on the results.

Purpose: To determine if blastocyst transfer increases the ongoing and cumulative pregnancy rates, compared with day 3 embryo transfer, in women of all ages when at least 4 zygotes are obtained.

Methods: Prospective study including patients undergoing a first IVF/ICSI treatment and assigned to cleavage stage (n = 46) or blastocyst (n = 58) embryo transfer. Supernumerary embryos were vitrified and patients failing to achieve an ongoing pregnancy after fresh embryo transfer would go through cryopreserved cycles.