ECMO and cytokine removal for bridging to surgery in a patient with ischemic ventricular septal defect - a case report.

Even in the modern era of percutaneous coronary intervention, postinfarction ventricular septal defect (VSD) remains a serious and often lethal complication. Whether or not immediate surgical repair or delaying surgery a few days aided by intra-aortic counterpulsation provides the optimal strategy remains a matter of debate. An interdisciplinary approach of intensivists and cardiac surgeons in this setting is mandatory.

Dormancy Associated Translation Inhibitor (DATIN/Rv0079) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis interacts with TLR2 and induces proinflammatory cytokine expression.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis in humans, is present approximately in one third of the world's population, mostly in a dormant state. The proteins encoded by the dormancy survival regulon (DosR regulon) are mainly responsible for survival of the bacilli in a latent form. To maintain latency, mycobacteria orchestrate a balanced interplay of different cytokines secreted by immune cells during the granulomatous stage.