Postoperative pain in root canal treatment with ultrasonic versus conventional irrigation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Clinical Oral Investigations - The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis (SRM) was to answer the question whether the use of ultrasonic irrigation (UI) results in less postoperative...     

Biomarkers for traumatic brain injury: a short review

Neurosurgical Review - Cellular response to TBI is a mixture of excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, and cell death. Biomarkers that can track these lesions and inflammatory processes are being...     

Rhizobium response to sole and combined exposure to cadmium and the phytocompounds alpha-pinene and quercetin

Soils can be contaminated with substances arising from anthropogenic sources, but also with natural bioactive compounds produced by plants, such as terpenes and flavonoids. While terpenes and flavonoids have received much less attention from research studies than metals, the effects that phytocompounds can have on soil organisms such as beneficial microorganisms should not be neglected. Herein we report the sole and combined exposure of Rhizobium to cadmium, to the monoterpene alpha-pinene and to the flavanol quercetin. A range of environmentally relevant concentrations of the phytocompounds was tested. Physiological (growth, protein content and intracellular Cd concentration), oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation, protein carbonylation) and antioxidant mechanisms (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, glutathione-S-transferases, protein electrophoretic profiles) were assessed. Results suggest that exposure to both phytocompounds do not influence Rhizobium growth, but for combined exposure to phytocompounds and Cd, different responses are observed. At low concentrations, phytocompounds seem to relieve the stress imposed by Cd by increasing antioxidant responses, but at high concentrations this advantage is lost and membrane damage may even be exacerbated. Thus, the presence of bioactive phytocompounds in soil may influence the tolerance of microorganisms to persistent toxicants, and may change their impact on the environment.     

Skin infection by Mycobacterium marinum – diagnostic and therapeutic challenge

The number of skin infections caused by atypical mycobacteria has increased in recent decades. They usually appear after contact with wounds and interruptions in the integrity of the skin. The present report describes a case of cutaneous infection by Mycobacterium marinum, in a young, immunocompetent patient, with a prolonged evolution, diagnosed through a skin lesion culture (from a spindle biopsy of the skin). The patient was treated with multidrug therapy, including clarithromycin, doxycycline, and rifampicin, due to the lesion extent, with satisfactory results. A brief review of the literature is also provided.     

Herpes simplex virus 2 vasculitis as cause of ischemic stroke in a young immunocompromised patient

Journal of NeuroVirology - Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) is a very rare cause of central nervous system (CNS) infections. We report a case of a young woman with a left middle cerebral artery (MCA)...