Epidemiology of Hematologic Malignancies in Real-World Settings: Findings From the Hemato-Oncology Latin America Observational Registry Study.

Purpose: Limited information is available on multiple myeloma (MM), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) management in Latin America. The primary objective of the Hemato-Oncology Latin America (HOLA) study was to describe patient characteristics and treatment patterns of Latin American patients with MM, CLL, and NHL.

Methods: This study was a multicenter, retrospective, medical chart review of patients with MM, CLL, and NHL in Latin America identified between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2015.

Acanthosis nigricans in middle-age adults: A highly prevalent and specific clinical sign of insulin resistance.

Background: Insulin resistance (IR) precedes the diagnosis of many metabolic and non-metabolic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a clinical sign associated with IR. However, AN prevalence and diagnostic accuracy in middle-age adults before or at the time of prediabetes/diabetes diagnosis remain uncertain.

A novel experimental immunomodulatory therapy against Nocardia brasiliensis in a BALB/c murine model.

Background: Mycetoma is recognized as a neglected tropical disease and there are still therapeutic challenges, especially in cases recalcitrant to standard therapy or with high risk of dissemination. Subcultures have been used previously to decrease the virulence of human pathogens. Previous reports have demonstrated that after carrying out 200 subcultures of Nocardia brasiliensis, a decrease in virulence was observed.

Predictors of Loss to Follow-Up Among Pediatric and Adult Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Survivors: A Report from the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research.

Follow-up is integral for hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) care to ensure surveillance and intervention for complications. We characterized the incidence of and predictors for being lost to follow-up. Two-year survivors of first allogeneic HCT (10,367 adults and 3865 children) or autologous HCT (7291 adults and 467 children) for malignant/nonmalignant disorders between 2002 and 2013 reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research were selected.

"Los libros y la noche", perspectiva neurológica de la ceguera de Jorge Luis Borges.

The works of Argentinian scholar Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) have captivated physicians. An assiduous reader, he was given, with magnificent irony, "books and the night". Borges suffered from chronic and irreversible blindness, which influenced much of his work and has been the subject of different literary and diagnostic analyses from the ophthalmological point of view.

Magnetic resonance imaging in the management of prolactinomas; a review of the evidence.

Purpose: This review aimed to evaluate data on the use of magnetic resonance imaging in the management of prolactinomas.

Methods: Recent literature about prolactinoma behavior and magnetic resonance imaging in the management of prolactinomas is reviewed.

Results: A review of evidence regarding prolactinoma pituitary MRI follow-up; techniques and sequences, recent data on possible gadolinium retention, the role and a review of T2-weighted images in the identification of prolactinomas and frequently encountered clinical scenarios, as well as MRI correlation with prolactin secretion, tumor growth and prediction of response to medical therapy are presented.

Analysis of Mortality among Neonates and Children with Spina Bifida: An International Registry-Based Study, 2001-2012.

Background: Medical advancements have resulted in better survival and life expectancy among those with spina bifida, but a significantly increased risk of perinatal and postnatal mortality for individuals with spina bifida remains.

Objectives: To examine stillbirth and infant and child mortality among those affected by spina bifida using data from multiple countries.

Methods: We conducted an observational study, using data from 24 population- and hospital-based surveillance registries in 18 countries contributing as members of the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research (ICBDSR).

A Cellularized Biphasic Implant Based on a Bioactive Silk Fibroin Promotes Integration and Tissue Organization during Osteochondral Defect Repair in a Porcine Model.

In cartilage tissue engineering, biphasic scaffolds (BSs) have been designed not only to influence the recapitulation of the osteochondral architecture but also to take advantage of the healing ability of bone, promoting the implant's integration with the surrounding tissue and then bone restoration and cartilage regeneration. This study reports the development and characterization of a BS based on the assembly of a cartilage phase constituted by fibroin biofunctionalyzed with a bovine cartilage matrix, cellularized with differentiated autologous pre-chondrocytes and well attached to a bone phase (decellularized bovine bone) to promote cartilage regeneration in a model of joint damage in pigs. BSs were assembled by fibroin crystallization with methanol, and the mechanical features and histological architectures were evaluated.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in 30-Day Hospital Readmissions Among US Adults With Diabetes.

Importance: Differences in readmission rates among racial and ethnic minorities have been reported, but data among people with diabetes are lacking despite the high burden of diabetes and its complications in these populations.

Objectives: To examine racial/ethnic differences in all-cause readmission among US adults with diabetes and categorize patient- and system-level factors associated with these differences.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study includes 272 758 adult patients with diabetes, discharged alive from the hospital between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2014, and stratified by race/ethnicity.

Acanthosis Nigricans in the Knuckles of Infants: A Novel Clinical Marker of High Metabolic Risk.

Introduction: Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is an early clinical sign of insulin resistance (IR) primarily in adults. The prevalence and association of AN and IR in infants, however, remains uncertain. We aimed to describe the prevalence of AN and its association with IR in a group of Latin-American infants.

Post-Ablation Cavity Evaluation: A Prospective Multicenter Observational Clinical Study to Evaluate Hysteroscopic Access to the Uterine Cavity 4 Years after Water Vapor Endometrial Ablation for the Treatment of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding.

Study Objective: Patients who have undergone endometrial ablation may present a diagnostic challenge when they subsequently develop vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, or postmenopausal bleeding. Extensive scarring of the uterine cavity often precludes evaluation and/or conservative treatment. For further research on this topic, we performed hysteroscopic examination in study subjects a mean duration of 4 years after they had undergone water vapor endometrial ablation.

Genetic Variants at the rs4720169 Locus of and the rs12921862 Locus of May Increase the Risk of Congenital Heart Defects in the Mexican Population: A Pilot Study.

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most common type of birth defects and a major cause of infant mortality. Although knowledge of genetic risk variants for CHDs is scarce, most cases of CHDs are considered to be due to multifactorial inheritance. To analyze the association of 14 single nucleotide polymorphic variants previously associated with a risk of CHDs in a Mexican population with isolated CHDs.

Differences in omentin-1 levels in term newborns according to birth weight.

Background: Adipokines are produced by adipose tissue and are involved in metabolic processes. Omentin-1 is an adipokine that has been shown in vitro to possibly be involved in insulin sensitivity modulation. The prenatal stage is a crucial period for development of metabolic diseases in the long term, therefore, small (SGA) and large (LGA) for gestational age newborns have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome later in life.

Phenotypic severity in a family with MEND syndrome is directly associated with the accumulation of potentially functional variants of cholesterol homeostasis genes.

Background: Male EBP disorder with neurologic defects (MEND) syndrome is an X-linked disease caused by hypomorphic mutations in the EBP (emopamil-binding protein) gene. Modifier genes may explain the clinical variability among individuals who share a primary mutation.

Methods: We studied four males (Patient 1 to Patient 4) exhibiting a descending degree of phenotypic severity from a family with MEND syndrome.

Diagnostic utility of Gallium-68-somatostatin receptor PET/CT in ectopic ACTH-secreting tumors: a systematic literature review and single-center clinical experience.

Purpose: Tumors causing ectopic Cushing's syndrome (ECS) are often not visible with conventional imaging. Gallium-68-DOTATATE, DOTATOC, and DOTANOC positron emission tomography/computed tomography (Ga-SSTR PET/CT) reportedly exhibits greater sensitivity in identifying an ECS source, however, evidence is limited to mainly case reports and a few small retrospective studies. Previous systematic ECS imaging review has shown Ga-SSTR PET/CT sensitivity is similar to CT (81.

One-day point prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in four countries in Latin America.

Background And Aims: Experience in the region shows that in some countries there is very good surveillance of Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in health services, but there is no national data consistently in all countries. Therefore, we set to estimate the total burden of HAIs and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals in Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, and Colombia using the one-day point prevalence methodology.

Methods: The survey was conducted between June and July 2016.

Red Scrotum Syndrome Treatment with Pregabalin: A Case Series.

Red scrotum syndrome (RSS) (also known as male genital dysesthesia) is a rarely recognized entity characterized by scrotal erythema accompanied by a burning sensation, pain, hyperesthesia/dysesthesia, increased temperature and pruritus. Although its physiopathology is unknown, it has increasingly been associated with chronic topical steroid use in the male genital area. Treatment is challenging and no standardized treatment is currently available.

A Bioactive Cartilage Graft of IGF1-Transduced Adipose Mesenchymal Stem Cells Embedded in an Alginate/Bovine Cartilage Matrix Tridimensional Scaffold.

Articular cartilage injuries remain as a therapeutic challenge due to the limited regeneration potential of this tissue. Cartilage engineering grafts combining chondrogenic cells, scaffold materials, and microenvironmental factors are emerging as promissory alternatives. The design of an adequate scaffold resembling the physicochemical features of natural cartilage and able to support chondrogenesis in the implants is a crucial topic to solve.

Eosinophils and Respiratory Viruses.

Eosinophils have been mainly associated with parasitic infection and pathologies such as asthma. Some patients with asthma present a high number of eosinophils in their airways. Since respiratory viruses are associated with asthma exacerbations, several studies have evaluated the role of eosinophils against respiratory viruses.

Acral bullous lichen sclerosus intolerant to UVA-1 successfully treated with narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy.

Lichen sclerosus (LS) is an uncommon, chronic, lymphocyte-mediated, inflammatory dermatosis characterized by ivory-white patches with scar-like atrophy. Extragenital bullous lichen sclerosus may rarely affect palms and soles, causing severe pain and substantially impairing quality of life. We present the first case of acral bullous lichen sclerosus intolerant to UVA-1 phototherapy successfully treated with low doses of narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy.