Analysis of Risk Scores to Predict Mortality in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery for Endocarditis.

Background: Risk scores are available for use in daily clinical practice, but knowing which one to choose is still fraught with uncertainty.

Objectives: To assess the logistic EuroSCORE, EuroSCORE II, and the infective endocarditis (IE)-specific scores STS-IE, PALSUSE, AEPEI, EndoSCORE and RISK-E, as predictors of hospital mortality in patients undergoing cardiac surgery for active IE at a tertiary teaching hospital in Southern Brazil.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study including all patients aged ≥ 18 years who underwent cardiac surgery for active IE at the study facility from 2007-2016.

Long-lasting recognition memory impairment and alterations in brain levels of cytokines and BDNF induced by maternal deprivation: effects of valproic acid and topiramate.

Exposure to stressful events early in life may have permanent deleterious consequences on nervous system function and increase the susceptibility to psychiatric conditions later in life. Maternal deprivation, commonly used as a source of neonatal stress, impairs memory in adult rats and reduces hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukins (IL) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) have been shown to be increased in the peripheral blood of patients with psychiatric disorders.

Differential effects of modafinil on memory in naïve and memory-impaired rats.

Modafinil is a wake-promoting drug and has been approved for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness in narcolepsy and obstructive sleep apnea. Modafinil was shown to improve learning and memory in rodents, and to reverse memory deficits induced by sleep deprivation or stress. However, depending on the memory paradigm used, modafinil might also impair memory.