Real-life validation of a sample pooling strategy for screening of hepatitis C.

Objectives: To test a real-life sample pooling screening strategy which contributes to increasing the diagnostic capacity of clinical laboratories and expanding access to massive screening of hepatitis C.

Methods: After evaluating the sensitivity of the pooling strategy for seven different commercial assays which are used to determine the concentration of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA in the plasma or serum, consecutive samples submitted for HCV diagnosis during the first 3 weeks of November 2021 were tested for HCV antibodies and, in parallel and in a blinded way, were pooled into 100 samples and tested for HCV-RNA. When the result was positive, a strategy to un-mask the positive(s) pool(s), which needed up to 15 total HCV-RNA tests, was used.

Rate of non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasms with papillary-like nuclear features depends on pathologist's criteria: a multicentre retrospective Southern European study with prolonged follow-up.

Purpose: To determine the rate of non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP) in a multi-institutional series from the Iberian Peninsula and describing this NIFTP cohort.

Methods: Retrospective study of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) or well-differentiated tumours of uncertain malignant potential (WDT-UMP) diagnosed between 2005 and 2015 and measuring ≥5 mm in adult patients from 17 hospitals. Pathological reports were reviewed to determine the cases that fulfil the original criteria of NIFTP and histology was reassessed.

Perinatal HCV Transmission Rate in HIV/HCV Coinfected women with access to ART in Madrid, Spain.

Background: Maternal HIV coinfection is a key factor for mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HCV. However, data about HCV MTCT in HIV/HCV-coinfected pregnant women on combined antiretroviral treatment (ART) are scarce. This study assessed the HCV MTCT rate in the Madrid Cohort of HIV-infected women.

High prognostic value of measurable residual disease detection by flow cytometry in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients treated with front-line fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab, followed by three years of rituximab maintenance.

It has been postulated that monitoring measurable residual disease (MRD) could be used as a surrogate marker of progression-free survival (PFS) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients after treatment with immunochemotherapy regimens. In this study, we analyzed the outcome of 84 patients at 3 years of follow-up after first-line treatment with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) induction followed by 36 months of rituximab maintenance thearpy. MRD was assessed by a quantitative four-color flow cytometry panel with a sensitivity level of 10 Eighty out of 84 evaluable patients (95.

Prospective observational cohort study of the association between antiplatelet therapy, bleeding and thrombosis in patients with coronary stents undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Background: The perioperative management of antiplatelet therapy in noncardiac surgery patients who have undergone previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains a dilemma. Continuing dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) may carry a risk of bleeding, while stopping antiplatelet therapy may increase the risk of perioperative major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE).

Methods: Occurrence of Bleeding and Thrombosis during Antiplatelet Therapy In Non-Cardiac Surgery (OBTAIN) was an international prospective multicentre cohort study of perioperative antiplatelet treatment, MACE, and serious bleeding in noncardiac surgery.

Prospective validation of a lymphocyte infiltration prognostic test in stage III colon cancer patients treated with adjuvant FOLFOX.

Background: The prognostic value of lymphocyte infiltration (LI) of colorectal carcinoma (CC) has been demonstrated by several groups. However, no validated test is currently available for clinical practice. We previously described an automated and reproducible method for testing LI and aimed to validate it for clinical use.

Spanish national registry of celiac disease: incidence and clinical presentation.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the incidence and clinical pattern of celiac disease (CD) presently diagnosed in Spanish children.

Methods: A prospective, multicenter, nationwide registry of new cases of CD in children <15 years was conducted from June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007. The parameters studied were age at diagnosis, sex, clinical symptoms, associated diseases, nutritional status, CD serology, histological lesions, and HLA-DQ2/-DQ8.

Ivermectin in human medicine, an overview of the current status of its clinical applications.

Ivermectin is a broad spectrum antiparasitic veterinary drug introduced in human medicine in 1987. It is considered the drug of choice in onchocerciasis and strongyloidiasis infections, and remains as a therapeutic option for mass treatment in lymphatic filariasis, for which it has widely proved its efficacy. While research continued for human use, new therapeutic targets for ivermectin have emerged.

[Morbid obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome and bariatric surgery].

Objectives: The objectives of the present study are: 1) to assess protein changes in patients diagnosed with morbid obesity (MO) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or steatohepatitis (NASH); 2) to assess the likely reversibility of these entities after bariatric surgery, and 3) to analyze their progression seven years after the gastric bypass.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data from 190 patients, 150 women (79%) and 40 men (21%) diagnosed with MO and surgically treated at our Hospital (Capella's gastric bypass). Mean age of the patients was 36.

[Thoracic drainage].

Pleural pathology is a frequent clinical problem. In some cases, treatment includes draining the cavity which can be carried out by thoracentesis evacuators, but on occasions treatment requires maintaining a drainage permanently inside the pleural cavity Pleural drainage consists in inserting a catheter in the pleural sack to drain the presence of air; liquid or blood which causes a variable degree of lung collapse having a clinical consequence in function of the reserve breathing capacity the patient previously had and the degree of collapse. There are various models of thoracic tubes as well as systems to drain the pleural cavity and their spot for insertion depends on the type of pathology being dealt with for the patient under treatment.

[Sclerokeratitis and invasive conjunctival squamous cell carcinoma].

Purpose/methods: To describe one case of invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva in a 74-year-old woman, who two years previously had presented with a lesion which appeared to be an anterior nodular scleritis.

Results/conclusions: An anterior nodular scleritis, which did not respond to therapy, preceded the development of a squamous cell carcinoma of the conjunctiva adjacent to it. In our patient, the conjunctival squamous cell carcinoma could have masqueraded as a scleritis, delaying the correct diagnosis and allowing orbital spread of the tumor.

[Epidemiology and natural history of primary nonalcoholic fatty liver disease].

The clinical impact of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease depends on its prevalence and natural history. The prevalence in the adult population is estimated to be about 23% and is on the increase. Thus, it has become the most common cause of persistent elevated liver enzymes, chronic liver disease, and cryptogenic cirrhosis in developed countries.

[Treatment with topical interferon alone in severe conjunctivo-corneal neoplasia].

Case Report: A 78-year-old man was referred for evaluation of a limbic lesion in his left eye. This had a gelatinous appearance and an extension of 240 degrees . The lesion was clinically diagnosed to be a conjunctival and corneal intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).

Simultaneous bilateral exudative retinal detachment and peripheral necrotizing retinitis as presenting manifestations of concurrent HIV and syphilis infection.

Purpose: To describe an unusual case of simultaneous bilateral exudative retinal detachment and peripheral necrotizing retinitis as presenting manifestations of concurrent HIV and syphilis infection.

Case Report: A previously healthy 35-year-old Caucasian male was first seen for bilateral sudden visual loss. Ophthalmoscopy showed bilateral exudative retinal detachment involving the posterior pole and a placoid-like area of peripheral necrotizing retinitis in his left eye.

[Medical management of primary nonalcoholic fatty liver disease].

The need for an effective and safe medical treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is urgent due to its high prevalence and progressive character. At the moment, therapeutic strategies are largely empirical and based on the control of associated clinical conditions (especially obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hypertriglyceridemia) and the use of some specific drugs (insulin sensitizing agents, cytoprotectives, antioxidants, and anticytokines) as an attempt to counteract known elements of the pathogenesis. None of these specifics measures have been found to display enough evidence to recommend their clinical use.

[Possibility of cauda equina nerve root damage from lumbar punctures performed with 25-gauge Quincke and Whitacre needles].

Objective: To assess the possibility of puncturing nerve roots in the cauda equina with spinal needles with different point designs and to quantify the number of axons affected.

Material And Methods: We performed in vitro punctures of human nerve roots taken from 3 fresh cadavers. Twenty punctures were performed with 25-gauge Whitacre needles and 40 with 25-gauge Quincke needles; half the Quincke needle punctures were carried out with the point perpendicular to the root and the other half with the point parallel to it.

[Pathogenesis of primary nonalcoholic fatty liver disease].

The challenges of growing prevalence and evident trend to progressive damage of primary nonalcoholic fatty liver disease confront a poorly understood pathogenesis. It appears to develop in two steps. First, a high adipocyte protein production in the context of a silent inflammatory background causes insulin resistance in adipose tissue.

[The effect of AM3 in the resolution of otitis media with effusion (OME) in paediatric patients].

Objective: Otitis media with effusion (OME) is one of the most frequent diseases and the main cause of hearing loss in childhood. The medical treatment for OME includes antibiotics, antihistamine-decongestant combinations, steroids and Eustachian-tube autoinflation as the Valsalva manoeuvre.

Methods: A total of 62 children aged 2 to 8 years with a diagnosis of OME were enrolled in a prospective study to assess the resolution of OME.

[Treatment of refractory anterior diffuse scleritis with infliximab].

Case Report: A 48-year old woman diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis 10 years previously, developed severe anterior scleritis in the right eye (RE) refractory to conventional treatment. The patient was treated with 3 intravenous doses of Infliximab achieving complete remission of the scleral inflammation within four weeks.

Discussion: The use of Infliximab, a blocker of tumour necrosis factor (TNFalpha) could be an alternative approach to the management of refractory scleritis, but further long-term investigations would be necessary to evaluate their safety and efficacy.

Bilateral lid margin ulcers as the initial manifestation of Crohn disease.

Purpose: To report an unusual bilateral ulcerative lid involvement as the presenting manifestation of a severe Crohn disease.

Design: Observational case report.

Method: Description of an otherwise healthy woman who initially presented with bilateral ulcerative lid involvement before the discovery of an extensive ulcerative intestinal inflammatory disease.

Ultrastructural findings in human spinal pia mater in relation to subarachnoid anesthesia.

Unlabelled: We examined ultrastructural details such as the cellular component and membrane thickness of human spinal pia mater with the aim of determining whether fenestrations are present. We hypothesized that pia mater is not a continuous membrane but, instead, that there are fenestrations across the pial cellular membrane. The lumbar dural sac from 7 fresh human cadavers was removed, and samples from lumbar spinal pia mater were studied by special staining techniques, immunohistochemistry, and transmission and scanning electron microscopy.

Granulomatous foreign body reaction against hyaluronic acid: report of a case after lip augmentation.

Background: Hyaluronic acid (HA) (Restylane and Hylaform) is becoming more widely used for cosmetic procedures such as lip augmentation and treatment of facial skin lines, as other products, mainly bovine collagen, have proved allergenic in many patients.

Objective: To report a case of a 48-year-old woman who developed discrete nodules in the lips after HA injection for lip augmentation. The histologic analysis revealed the presence of a granulomatous reaction surrounding a blue amorphous material with the tinctorial features of HA.