Urinary antimony in infancy

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether antimony may be detected in the urine during infancy and early childhood and its association with passive exposure to tobacco smoke, as assessed by urinary cotinine. DESIGN: Analysis of spare aliquots of urine collected from infants participating in studies of respiratory function and passive smoking. Urinary antimony was assayed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy in 201 urine specimens collected at different ages throughout the first two years of life from 122 term and 26 preterm infants. Urinary cotinine was measured using gas liquid chromatography. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Urinary antimony concentrations. RESULTS: Absolute antimony concentrations varied widely between infants, being below the laboratory detection limit of 0.02 microgram/l in 7% of samples, below 0.5 microgram/l in 90.5%, and above the reference value of 1 microgram/l reported for non-occupationally exposed UK populations in 4%. Creatinine standardised antimony values were unrelated to postnatal age or urinary cotinine concentrations and were highest in urine collected from preterm infants within 24 hours of birth (geometric mean (95% confidence interval): 2.3 ng/mg (1.5 to 3.4)). CONCLUSIONS: Although antimony is present at very low concentrations in urine during infancy and early childhood, the relevance to health is uncertain. The higher levels found in preterm infants may reflect prematurity or fetal assimilation of antimony. Tobacco is unlikely to be an important source of environmental exposure to antimony during infancy and early childhood.     

New Electrocardiographic Features in Brugada Syndrome

Brugada syndrome is a genetically determined familial disease with autosomal dominant transmission and variable penetrance, conferring a predisposition to sudden cardiac death due to ventricular arrhythmias. The syndrome is characterized by a typical electrocardiographic pattern in the right precordial leads. This article will focus on the new electrocardiographic features recently agreed on by expert consensus helping to identify this infequent electrocardiographic pattern.     

A survey of hemoparasites and ectoparasites in Nasua nasua Linnaeus, 1766 with a redescription of Hepatozoon procyonis Richards, 1961 based on morphological and molecular data

Parasitology Research - Hemoparasites are vector-borne parasites that infect wild carnivores worldwide. Since data on hemoparasite infections in Nasua nasua from Brazil are lacking, the aim of this...     

Estudio de los mecanismos implicados en la génesis y evolución del asma (proyecto MEGA): creación y seguimiento a largo plazo de una cohorte de pacientes asmáticos

The general aim of this study is to create a cohort of asthma patients with varying grades of severity in order to gain greater insight into the mechanisms underlying the genesis and course of this disease.The specific objectives focus on various studies, including imaging, lung function, inflammation, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness, to determine the relevant events that characterize the asthma population, the long-term parameters that can determine changes in the severity of patients, and the treatments that influence disease progression. The study will also seek to identify the causes of exacerbations and how this affects the course of the disease.Patients will be contacted via the outpatient clinics of the 8 participating institutions under the auspices of the Spanish Respiratory Diseases Networking System (CIBER). In the inclusion visit, a standardized clinical history will be obtained, a clinical examination, including blood pressure, body mass index, complete respiratory function tests, and FENO will be performed, and the Asthma Control Test (ACT), Morisky-Green test, Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Mini AQLQ), the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 22 (SNOT-22), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) will be administered. A specific electronic database has been designed for data collection. Exhaled breath condensate, urine and blood samples will also be collected. Non-specific bronchial hyperresponsiveness testing with methacholine will be performed and an induced sputum sample will be collected at the beginning of the study and every 24 months. A skin prick test for airborne allergens and a chest CT will be performed at the beginning of the study and repeated every 5 years.