Switch from agalsidase beta to agalsidase alfa in the enzyme replacement therapy of patients with Fabry disease in Latin America.

There are currently two available enzyme replacement therapies for Fabry disease and little information regarding efficacy and safety of switching therapies. Between 2009 and 2012 there was a worldwide shortage of agalsidase beta and patients on that enzyme were switched to agalsidase alfa. This retrospective observational study assessed a 2-year period of efficacy and safety in a population of Fabry patients, in Argentina (30 patients) and Venezuela (3 patients), who switched therapies from algasidase beta to agalsidase alfa.

Single-dose Universal Hepatitis A Immunization in One-year-old Children in Argentina: High Prevalence of Protective Antibodies up to 9 Years After Vaccination.

Background: Single-dose hepatitis A virus (HAV) vaccination was implemented in all Argentinean children 12 months of age in 2005. Previous studies demonstrated high prevalence of protective antibody response 4 years after single-dose vaccination. This study assessed long-term seroprotection against HAV after vaccination.

Placental programmed cell death: insights into the role of aquaporins.

Study Hypothesis: Are the placental aquaporins (AQPs) involved in the apoptosis of human trophoblast?

Study Finding: The general blocking of placental AQPs with HgCl2 and, in particular, the blocking of AQP3 activity with CuSO4 abrogated the apoptotic events of human trophoblast cells.

What Is Known Already: Although apoptosis of trophoblast cells is a natural event involved in the normal development of the placenta, it is exacerbated in pathological processes, such as pre-eclampsia, where an abnormal expression and functionality of placental AQPs occur without alterations in the feto-maternal water flux. Furthermore, fluctuations in O2 tension are proposed to be a potent inducer of placental apoptotic changes and, in explants exposed to hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R), transcellular water transport mediated by AQPs was undetectable.

[Serum uric acid levels and risk of developing preeclampsia].

It is well known that preeclampsia is associated to high uric acid levels, but the clinical assessment of this relationship is still under consideration. Our research was to evaluate if periodic doses of uric acid during pregnancy might help to identify a high risk group prior to the onset of preeclampsia. We conducted a retrospective investigation in 79 primary gestates with normal blood pressure and 79 women with preeclampsia who were assisted at Hospital Nacional Posadas during 2010.

[Tamoxifen and endometrial disease in patients with breast cancer].

The objectives were to evaluate prevalence of endometrial disease in patients treated with tamoxifen (TAM) and analyze the epidemiological, sonographic, hysteroscopic and histopathological findings. From January 1999 to December 2008, 152 breast cancer patients treated with TAM (20 mg/day), symptomatic (with bleeding) or asymptomatic, pre-and postmenopausal, were included consecutively in a prospective and observational follow-up study. Diagnostic methods were (TV) transvaginal ultrasound, hysteroscopy and curettage biopsy.

Prevalence, clinical spectrum and atypical symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux in Argentina: a nationwide population-based study.

Background: Population-based data on gastro-oesophageal reflux in Latin America are lacking.

Aim: To assess gastro-oesophageal reflux symptom prevalence, clinical spectrum and association with the atypical symptoms in our country.

Methods: Gastro-oesophageal reflux self-report questionnaires validated at Mayo Clinic, USA, were submitted to a sample of 1000 residents (aged 18-80 years) from 17 representative geographical areas of Argentina.

Long-term course and mechanisms of progression of renal disease in hemolytic uremic syndrome.

In the classic form of hemolytic uremic syndrome associated with toxins of gram-negative enterobacteria, mortality in the acute stage has been lower than 5% since 1978 (data from the Nephrology Committee, Argentine Society of Pediatrics). Children usually die because of severe involvement of the central nervous system, intestine, or myocardium and its complications, or because of intercurrent infection. Treatment in this phase is supportive, and efforts should be put into prevention of infection by Shiga-like toxin-producing enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli.