Cytomegalovirus esophagitis as a treatable complication of systemic sclerosis.

We report the case of a 51-year-old woman with a connective tissue disease of 8 years duration. She had been taking corticosteroids at a dose of 1 mg/kg/day and azathioprine at a dose of 3 mg/kg/day for 1 month. Given the clinical suspicion of systemic sclerosis (limited form of scleroderma), she was studied according to a protocol including endoscopy to assess the degree to which the underlying disease had affected the gastrointestinal tract.

[Left atrial posterior wall and pulmonary vein refractory periods are associated with atrial fibrillation inducibility in a swine model].

Introduction And Objectives: Ectopic activity originating inside the pulmonary veins has been associated with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in some patients. However, the roles played by the pulmonary veins and the posterior wall of the left atrium in maintaining atrial fibrillation are not well understood.

Methods: Our aim was to determine whether there is a correlation between the refractory period of either the lateral wall of the right atrium, the lateral wall of the left atrium, the posterior wall of the left atrium, or the pulmonary veins, and the inducibility of atrial fibrillation in an experimental swine model.

Impact of nocturnal heartburn on quality of life, sleep, and productivity: the SINERGE study.

The aim of the SINERGE study was to assess the impact of nocturnal heartburn on quality of life, sleep, and productivity. Ambulatory patients >/=18 years old and classified as defined cases of nocturnal heartburn (n=337), nonnocturnal heartburn (n=139), uncontrolled hypertension (n=198), and symptomatic depression (n=104) were included in this cross-sectional study. Information on age, gender, body mass index, and comorbidity was collected and the following validated questionnaires were applied: SF-12, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire.

[Acalculia: its classification, aetiology and clinical management].

To carry out a review of the literature on the different neurological mechanisms involved in processing calculations, the injuries to brain structure that can result in acalculia and the clinical management of these patients. Development and conclusions. Acalculia is defined as the disorder affecting the ability to calculate that is acquired as the result of a brain injury.

[Diagnostic process and management of schizophrenia in Spain: the ACEE project].

Introduction: Although schizophrenia has a great impact on the health care, social and family levels, there is little epidemiological information on patients with schizophrenia, its diagnosis and treatment in Spain. The ACEE (Abordaje Clínico de la Esquizofrenia en España; Clinical Approach to Schizophrenia in Spain) study was designed with the primary objective of defining the management of schizophrenia in Spain from the perspective of current clinical practice.

Method: ACEE is a descriptive cross-sectional multicenter observational study with data collected in the setting of current clinical practice by means of a specifically designed questionnaire.

Biochemical and mechanical behavior of ostrich pericardium as a new biomaterial.

We have performed a comparative analysis of glutaraldehyde-preserved ostrich pericardium, as a novel biomaterial, with bovine pericardium. The biochemical characteristics (histology, water content, amino acid composition, and collagen and elastin contents), mechanical properties, and in vivo calcification in a subcutaneous rat model were examined. Ostrich pericardium is slightly thinner and shows a higher water content (70+/-2% vs.

Determination of the force necessary for the propagation of tears in ostrich and calf pericardium.

The durability of prosthetic heart valve leaflets made of biological materials is limited. A tear in the biomaterial accelerates their early failure, but microtearing of the collagen fibers may be responsible for their medium-term failure. We studied the force necessary to propagate tearing in two biomaterials: ostrich and calf pericardium.

Durability of a cardiac valve leaflet made of calf pericardium: fatigue and energy consumption.

We studied the mechanical behavior of membranes of calf pericardium, similar to those employed in prosthetic valve leaflets, when subjected to tensile fatigue. The objective was to assess its durability, as a fundamental property of cardiac bioprosthesis, and analyze the energy consumption. For this purpose, the authors built a hydraulic simulator to subject a spherical valve leaflet made of calf pericardium to cyclic stress mimicking cardiac function.

[Arrhythmias and cardiac electrophysiology: main developments in 2005].

Cardiac electrophysiology laboratories deal with a wide range of pathological conditions, diagnostic techniques, and treatments. Since a huge quantity of material has been published in recent months, this article will be limited to discussion of the most significant developments in the prognostic evaluation of arrhythmias, hereditary disease, syncope, atrial fibrillation, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, cardiac resynchronization therapy, and catheter ablation. Even within these areas, discussion will be restricted to specific concrete topics and to a limited number of publications that were judged to have important implications for clinical practice.

Calcification of the posterior cricoid lamina simulating a foreign body in the aerodigestive tract (2005:11b).

This interpretation corner case, reporting a man with suspicion of ingestion and perforation of the oesophagus by a foreign body, highlights the danger of false appearances on plain radiographs for detection of foreign bodies in the aerodigestive tract. Plain radiographs and CT revealed a needle-shaped calcified object between the cricoid plate and the oesophagus lumen, which turned out to be an abnormal cricoid calcification. There is also a discussion about the role of radiology in the detection of foreign bodies in the aerodigestive tract.

Is gammaglobulin anti-CMV warranted in lung transplantation?

Unlabelled: The usefulness of anti-CMV hyperimmune gammaglobulin (IgG-CMV, Cytotec) in lung transplant patients (LTx) is controversial. The objective of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of IgG-CMV in our LTx receptors.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective study of LTx recipients treated with IgG-CMV as prophylaxis or as treatment for invasive disease.

Rapamycin in lung transplantation.

Introduction: Rapamycin (RAPA) is a powerful immunosuppressant that also acts as an antiproliferative, which, therefore, could be useful in the treatment and prevention of bronchiolitis obliterans (BOS) in lung transplant recipients. We sought to report our experiences with RAPA in lung transplant patients with BOS that has not responded to the administration of other drugs.

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the clinical characteristics, pulmonary function, and complications among patients with BOS who received RAPA.

Vasculitis during immunotherapy treatment in a patient with allergy to Cupressus arizonica.

Unlabelled: Allergen immunotherapy dates back to 1911 and has been used successfully to treat large numbers of patients throughout the last century.

Case Report: a 66-year-old woman presented with symptoms of allergic rhinitis and asthma due to sensitization to Cupressus arizonica. Specific immunotherapy was prescribed as a continuous 2-year treatment with a depot preparation of standarized and characterized allergen extracts of Cupressus arizonica pollen.

Intraclonal variability of VH genes in follicular lymphoma patients who have received anti-idiotypic immunotherapy.

Subclonal heterogeneity can affect idiotypic determinants present in the clonotypic immunoglobulin of B-cell follicular lymphomas (FLs) and may limit the effect of antilymphoma treatments performed by immunization of patients with their own tumor-associated idiotypic immunoglobulin. Idiotype-secreting hybridomas were obtained by fusion of tumor cells from 5 patients with FL, and the K6H6/B5 human heteromyeloma and rearranged VH genes from tumor samples and hybridomas were amplified, cloned, and sequenced. Sequences were aligned with germline genes and somatic mutations, intraclonal heterogeneity and genealogic relations of the B-cell clones in the different biopsy specimens were determined.

Rearrangement of only one human IGHV gene is sufficient to generate a wide repertoire of antigen specific antibody responses in transgenic mice.

In recent years, mice carrying human IG transgenes are being generated for the production of human monoclonal antibodies as an alternative approach to the conventional use of mouse or chimeric-humanized antibodies. Theoretically, the size of the repertoire of human antibodies that these mice could produce would be critically dependent on the number of human V genes introduced in the transgene. This could be the case for BABkappa and BABkappa,lambda transgenic mice, which carry several genes from the human IGK (BABkappa), and IGK and IGL (BABkappa,lambda) loci, but only five human IGHV genes and the entire IGHD-IGHJ cluster linked to two human IGHC (IGHM-IGHD) genes.

Antibody-based antiangiogenic cancer therapy.

Monoclonal antibodies are beginning to fulfil their potential as therapeutics in different pathological conditions, with a special focus on cancer. At the same time, antiangiogenic therapy has evolved into one of the most active fields in cancer research. The logical combination of both strategies has produced a growing number of antibodies aimed to interfere with tumour angiogenesis at different steps of the angiogenic process.

[Antitachycardia pacing efficacy significantly improves with cardiac resynchronization therapy].

Introduction And Objectives: The effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy on antitachycardia pacing still has to be determined.

Patients And Method: A total of 490 heart failure patients with an indication for an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator participated in the VENTAK CHF/CONTAK CD study, a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. We compared antitachycardia pacing efficacy in patients with or without cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Ziprasidone: from pharmacology to the clinical practice. One year of experience.

More than a year after the marketing of the atypical anti-psychotic ziprasidone, data from research studies and clinical practice have provided a fair amount of useful information for its practical use in the treatment of schizophrenia. Its pharmacodynamical characteristics and the results from clinical trials with a flexible dose seem to justify the need to administer doses in a range higher than what was initially foreseen, with an initial minimum of 120 mg per day and a fast titulation up to 160 mg per day. Such doses make it possible to achieve sufficient plasma concentrations to occupy at least 60 % of the D2 receptors from which the anti-psychotic effect derives.

[Locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer].

The objective of the treatment in stages III A and III B without pleural effusion should be both locoregional and distant disease control. We known that at least 80% of the patients had micrometastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, so that a treatment that is only local would be condemned to failure from the time it is suggested. Many clinical questions continue to exist and each step achieved is followed by a new diagnostic or therapeutic dilemma and is thus a fertile field for clinical research.

[Ischemia-reperfusion injury during experimental heart transplantation. Evaluation of trimetazidine's cytoprotective effect].

Introduction And Objectives: The objectives of this study were to analyze the ischemia-reperfusion injury due to free radicals that occurs during heart transplantation and to determine the potential cytoprotective effect of trimetazidine.

Material And Method: A total of 21 orthotopic heart transplantations were performed in pigs. We divided the experimental animals into 2 groups: in group A (n=11),standard myocardial protection was used; in group B (n=10), trimetazidine was added to the cardioplegic solution used to protect the donor heart and to the solution administered to the recipient prior to release of the aortic clamp (trimetazidine, 10(-5) mol/L), and recipients were pretreated with trimetazidine, 2.