Seroepidemiology of rubella in pregnant females in Catalonia (Spain)

The seroepidemiological study carried out on a random sample of pregnant females aged between 15 and 45 in Catalonia (Spain) showed that the prevalence of antibodies found in the survey (97.5 +/- 2) varies from that shown by studies performed in continental areas of Europe and North America in the pre-vaccination era (80-90%) and is similar to that currently found in certain continental areas of Asia and Africa (about 95%) where the prevalence of the virus seems to be very high, and in certain industrialized countries which have implemented effective vaccination programmes (95-97%). Although 28.8% of the females surveyed stated that they had been vaccinated against rubella, it has not been possible to find any statistically significant differences as regards the prevalence of antibodies between vaccinated and nonvaccinated females. This suggests that the high prevalence of anti-rubella antibodies shown by the survey is due not so much to the existence of effective vaccination programmes as to the fact that the wild virus is extremely widespread among the Catalonian population, similar to certain continental areas of Asia and Africa.     

Primary Ewing sarcoma: follow-up with Ga-67 scintigraphy

While avid accumulation of gallium-67 citrate and technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (MDP) occurs initially in most cases of primary Ewing sarcoma, uptake after therapy is less well defined. Thirty patients with Ewing sarcoma who underwent Ga-67 and bone scintigraphy at diagnosis, at completion of therapy, and at relapse from 1978 to 1988 were evaluated. All 30 patients showed less primary site Ga-67 activity following therapy. Twenty-three of 28 patients who underwent corresponding bone scintigraphy showed less uptake, but residual activity was usually more intense than with Ga-67. Avid reaccumulation of Ga-67 occurred in four of five patients with primary site relapse, while patients who underwent bone scintigraphy showed less change. It was concluded that a greater decrease in Ga-67 than in Tc-99m MDP uptake often occurs in patients successfully treated for primary Ewing sarcoma. Information obtained at Ga-67 scintigraphy is most likely to be helpful if results of bone scintigraphy remain abnormal or if occult relapse is suspected.     

Fibromyalgia and nutrition, what do we know?

Many people suffer from fibromyalgia (FM) without an effective treatment. They do not have a good quality of life and cannot maintain normal daily activity. Among the different hypotheses for its ethiopathophysiology, oxidative stress is one of the possibilities. Non-scientific information addressed to patients regarding the benefits of nutrition is widely available, and they are used to trying non-evidenced strategies. The aim of this paper is to find out what we know right now from scientific studies regarding fibromyalgia disease and nutritional status, diets and food supplements. A systematic search has been performed on Medline with a wide range of terms about these nutritional issues. The search has been made during 2009, for articles published between 1998 and 2008. Target population: people suffering from FM. Vegetarian diets could have some beneficial effects probably due to the increase in antioxidant intake. There is a high prevalence of obesity and overweight in patients, and weight control seems to be an effective tool to improve the symptoms. Some nutritional deficiencies have been described, it is not clear whether they are directly related to this disease or not. About the usefulness of some food supplements we found very little data, and it seems that more studies are needed to prove which ones could be of help. Dietary advice is necessary to these patients to improve their diets and maintain normal weight. It would be interesting to investigate more in the field of nutrition and FM to reveal any possible relationships.     

Neuroprotective effects of pramipexole against tunicamycin‐induced cell death in PC12 cells

• 1 Pramipexole (PPX), a dopamine D2 and D3 receptor agonist, exerts neuroprotective effects via both dopamine receptor‐mediated and non‐dopaminergic mechanisms. In the present study, we demonstrate that PPX reduces the toxicity of tunicamycin, a typical endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stressor, in PC12h cells, a subline of PC12 cells.
• 2 The PC12h cells were treated with 300 μmol / L PPX in the presence of 0.5 μmol / L tunicamycin for 24 h. The neuroprotective effects of PPX against tunicamycin‐induced cell death were evaluated using 3‐(4,5‐dimethyl‐2 thiazoyl)‐2,5‐diphenyl‐2H‐tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assays, Hoechst 33258 staining and western blot analysis.
• 3 Tunicamycin (0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 μg / mL) dose‐dependently decreased MTT activity and increased LDH release from PC12h cells. Treatment with 300 μmol / L PPX rescued the tunicamycin‐induced decrease in cell viability.
• 4 Spiperone (10 μmol / L), a dopamine D2 and D4 receptor antagonist, had no effect on PPX neuroprotection against tunicamycin in these cells. Marker proteins of ER stress and apoptosis are known to be upregulated by tunicamycin, but we detected no significant effects of PPX on these factors.
• 5 In conclusion, we speculate that a combination of several mechanisms may be involved in PPX‐induced neuroprotection.

     

Novel pharmacological targets based on receptor heteromers

Studies performed in the last 10 years have provided solid evidence indicating that G-protein-coupled receptors are expressed on the plasma membrane as homo and heterodimers. The first consequence of this fact is that homo and heterodimers are the true targets of natural (hormones, neurotransmitters) and synthetic drugs. Furthermore a given receptor in a heteromer may display a different functional and/or pharmacological profile than the same receptor characterized as monomer or as homodimer. Recent evidence indicates that receptor heteromers are sensors that lead to a fine-tuning in neurotransmission or hormone regulation; mainly this is achieved by a modification of the signaling pathways activated via a given receptor when it is forming a given heteromer. Quite often antagonists display variable affinities when a given receptor is expressed with different heteromeric partners. This fact should be taken into account in the development of new drugs. Finally it should be pointed out that radioligand binding data has to be analyzed by a model that considers receptors as dimers and not as monomers. This model provides a novel approach to characterize drugs interacting with the orthosteric center (agonists/antagonists) or with allosteric centers (allosteric regulators).     

Mouthrinses: a comparative microbiological study.

This study was performed in order to evaluate the efficacy of different mouthrinses whose use is extended in Spain. Six different antiseptic mouthrinses were studied by means of determination of Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus mutans, Prevotella intermedia, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. Also in vivo experiments were carried out in volunteers by the use of mouthrinses and evaluation of bacterial populations before and after the treatment. Finally, the kinetics of bacterial death was determined. Results suggested that the determination of MIC values is not a reliable method to evaluate the antibacterial effect of such products. On the other hand those rinsing solutions based on the effect of oxygen, such as those containing carbamide peroxide have a greater efficacy against anaerobic bacteria compared with rinses whose active molecule is a disinfectant. Finally, the kinetics of bacterial death demonstrates that the essential oil rinse kills bacteria much faster. All tested mouthrinses were active as antibacterial although those based on oxygen production or essential oils were more active than solutions based on chlorhexidine and Triclosan.     

Spinal electrical stimulation. Current indications and results in a series of 46 patients]

We report the clinical results observed in a series of 46 patients with chronic pain who underwent spinal cord electrical stimulation. Candidates were selected according to previous clinical criteria and they were followed-up during a period of 5 to 27 months. Fifteen patients had a residual backache after surgery of the lumbar spine, 19 patients complained angina pectoris, 5 patients peripheral vasculopathies, and 7 subjects had different types of neurogenic pain. A total of 5 patients failed to complete the trial period of 7 to 10 days. Among the 34 patients who continued to use the medullar stimulation, good results were obtained in 75% of cases of backache , 100% of patients with angina and vasculopathies, and 50% of patients with neurogenic pain. There were no relevant complications. We conclude that the results of spinal cord stimulation can be improved by using more strict indications, by performing a previous test period before definitive implantation, and by achieving a large technical experience.     

High frequency of asymptomatic Leishmania spp. infection among HIV-infected patients living in endemic areas for visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil

This study aims at estimating the prevalence of Leishmania infection among HIV-infected patients through the use of non-invasive tests. The study was conducted in three Infectious Diseases Services in two large Brazilian cities, both endemic areas for visceral leishmaniasis. Three hundred and eighty-one asymptomatic patients were enrolled whose ages ranged from 19 to 58 years old; 63.5% were men; mean TCD4+ was 380 cells/μl; and mean viral load was 153800 copies/ml. All individuals were tested for Leishmania infection through: ELISA using crude Leishmania infantum (ELISA), ELISA using the recombinant K39 antigen (rK39), indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and PCR targeted to kDNA region. The tests' positivity were: 10.8% (ELISA), 3.9% (IFAT), 0.8% (rK39), 6.3% PCR and 20.2% (overall, at least one positive test), with no statistical correlation between positivity and clinical and laboratorial variables. Concordance among tests was low (Kappa <0.20). Prevalence of Leishmania asymptomatic infection was high in this population, reinforcing the need for attention in the evaluation of HIV patients from endemic areas. New efforts are needed to develop more specific and sensitive tests to diagnose Leishmania asymptomatic infection. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) seems to have a protective role against disease progression in co-infected individuals.     

The p21(Cip1) protein, a cyclin inhibitor, regulates the levels and the intracellular localization of CDC25A in mice regenerating livers

Liver cells from p21(Cip1-/-) mice subjected to partial hepatectomy (PH) progress into DNA synthesis faster than those from wild-type mice. These cells also show a premature induction of cyclin E/cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 2 activity. We studied the mechanisms whereby cells lacking p21(Cip1) showed a premature induction of this activity. Whereas the levels of CDK2, cyclin E, and p27(Kip1) were similar in both wild-type and p21(Cip1-/-) mice, those of the activator CDC25A were much higher in p21(Cip1-/-) quiescent and regenerating livers than in wild-type animals. Moreover, p21(Cip1-/-) cells also showed a premature translocation of CDC25A from cytoplasm into the nucleus. The ectopic expression of p21(Cip1) into mice embryo fibroblasts from p21(Cip1-/-) mice decreased the levels of CDC25A and delayed its nuclear translocation. The levels of CDC25A messenger RNA in p21(Cip1-/-) cells were higher than in wild-type cells, suggesting that this increase might be responsible, at least in part, for the high levels of CDC25A protein in these cells. Thus, the results reported here indicate that p21(Cip1) regulates the levels and the intracellular localization of CDC25A. We also found a good correlation between CDC25A nuclear translocation and cyclin E/CDK2 activation. In conclusion, premature translocation of CDC25A to the nucleus might be involved in the advanced induction of cyclin E/CDK2 activity and DNA replication in cells from animals lacking p21(Cip1).