The impact of COVID-19 on the provision of cardiac surgical services

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has had a significant global impact on healthcare systems. One implication of this pandemic is the cancellation of elective cardiac surgeries and the centralization of services. As a result, hospitals in Europe, North America, and the United Kingdom have had to alter the services offered to patients to be able to cope with service provision for COVID infected patients. Data should be collected during this period to provide a good insight following the lockdown period to understand the implication of such service alteration. Future research should also focus on the effects on long-term mortality and morbidity as well as financial implications on hospitals as a result of these changes.     

Lateral unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA): Contemporary indications,surgical technique,and results

Unicompartmental femoro-tibial osteoarthritis usually affects the medial compartment of the knee, but in 10 %, the lateral compartment is primarily involved. Femoral osteotomy is attractive to avoid TKA in younger patients with low-grade unicompartmental osteoarthritis and a valgus deformity. However, only limited functional results can be expected for patients with Ahlback grade 2 or greater osteoarthritis. Moreover, because of previous skin incisions and hardware removal, TKA after femoral osteotomy remains a complex procedure with poor functional results. Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty for both the medial and the lateral compartments has been performed since the 1970s. In a patient with involvement of only one compartment, a medial or a lateral UKA can provide a quicker recovery and enhanced function when compared to TKA. In addition, it preserves bone stock and can be “easily” revised by a TKA. Technical improvements, combined with strict patient selection, have resulted in ten year survivorships greater than 90 %. However, lateral UKA is technically more challenging than medial UKA due to the lower number of indications, as well as the functional anatomy of the lateral compartment. The goals of this article are to present up-to-date information concerning indications, patients’ selection, surgical technique and results of lateral compartment UKA.     

Efficient in situ N-heterocyclic carbene palladium(ii) generated from Pd(OAc)2 catalysts for carbonylative Suzuki coupling reactions of arylboronic acids with 2-bromopyridine under inert conditions leading to unsymmetrical arylpyridine ketones: synthesis,characterization and cytotoxic activities

N,N-Substituted benzimidazole salts were successfully synthesized and characterized by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C {¹H} NMR and IR techniques, which support the proposed structures. Catalysts generated in situ were efficiently used for the carbonylative cross-coupling reaction of 2 bromopyridine with various boronic acids. The reaction was carried out in THF at 110 °C in the presence of K₂CO₃ under inert conditions and yields unsymmetrical arylpyridine ketones. All N,N-substituted benzimidazole salts 2a–i and 4a–i studied in this work were screened for their cytotoxic activities against human cancer cell lines such us MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and T47D. The N,N-substituted benzimidazoles 2e and 2f exhibited the most cytotoxic effect with promising cytotoxic activity with IC₅₀ values of 4.45 μg mL⁻¹ against MDA-MB-231 and 4.85 μg mL⁻¹ against MCF7 respectively.

The in situ prepared four component system Pd(OAc)₂, 1,3-dialkylbenzimidazolium halides 2a–i and 4a–i, K₂CO₃ under CO atmosphere catalyses carbonylative cross-coupling reaction of 2-bromopyridine with various boronic acids to yield unsymmetrical arylpyridine ketones.     

Impact of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtypes on virologic response and emergence of drug resistance among children in the Paediatric European Network for Treatment of AIDS (PENTA) 5 trial

The association between virologic response and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype was investigated in 113 HIV-1-infected children randomly assigned to receive zidovudine plus lamivudine, zidovudine plus abacavir, or lamivudine plus abacavir in the Paediatric European Network for Treatment of AIDS (PENTA) 5 trial. Symptomatic children (n=68) also received nelfinavir; asymptomatic children (n=45) were randomly assigned to receive nelfinavir or placebo. HIV-1 subtypes A, B, C, D, F, G, H, A/E, and A/G were found in 15%, 41%, 16%, 9%, 5%, 2%, 1%, 5%, and 7% of the children, respectively. Resistance assay failure rates were higher for non-B subtypes than for B subtypes (genotype, P=.01; phenotype, P=.02). HIV-1 subtype was not associated with virologic response at 24 and 48 weeks after initiation of treatment. No differences were observed in the frequency of development of resistance mutations L90M (P=1.00) and D30N (P=.61) in B and non-B viruses. In conclusion, no evidence that subtype determined virologic response to therapy was found.     

Neuromodulatory effects of green coffee bean extract against brain damage in male albino rats with experimentally induced diabetes

Metabolic Brain Disease - Diabetes mellitus is an increasing metabolic disease worldwide associated with central nervous system disorders. Coffee is a widely consumed beverage that enriched with...