Experiencia en práctica clínica de optimización de tiopurinas mediante determinación de sus metabolitos en la enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal

Introduction

Thiopurine therapy can be optimised by determining the concentration of the drug's metabolites.

Correlation of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguinis colonization and ex vivo hydrogen peroxide production in carious lesion-free and high caries adults

Objective

This study was conducted to estimate oral colonization by Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguinis in adults with high and without any caries experience. Furthermore, differences in the amount of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) produced by S. sanguinis isolated from both groups were assessed.

Design

Forty adults were divided into: (i) carious lesion-free, without any carious lesion, assessed by the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS), or restoration, (CF) and (ii) high caries experience (HC). Saliva samples were collected and seeded on respective agar-plates for enumeration of total streptococci, S. mutans and S. sanguinis (CFU/mL) and compared between groups. Additionally, S. sanguinis colonies obtained from both groups were inoculated on Prussian blue agar for H₂O₂ detection. Production of H₂O₂ was quantified and compared between the two groups. S. sanguinis counts were significantly higher in CF than HC individuals (p < 0.05). Conversely, S. mutans showed significantly higher levels in HC than CF subjects (p < 0.001). S. sanguinis colonies from CF individuals produced significantly larger H₂O₂ halos compared with HC subjects.

Conclusions

S. sanguinis predominates over S. mutans in saliva of adults without caries experience. In those people, S. sanguinis produces more H₂O₂ex vivo.     

Creation of a High‐fidelity,Low‐cost Pediatric Skull Fracture Ultrasound Phantom

Over the past decade, point‐of‐care ultrasound has become a common tool used for both procedures and diagnosis. Developing high‐fidelity phantoms is critical for training in new and novel point‐of‐care ultrasound applications. Detecting skull fractures on ultrasound imaging in the younger‐than‐2‐year‐old patient is an emerging area of point‐of‐care ultrasound research. Identifying a skull fracture on ultrasound imaging in this age group requires knowledge of the appearance and location of sutures to distinguish them from fractures. There are currently no commercially available pediatric skull fracture models. We outline a novel approach to building a cost‐effective, simple, high‐fidelity pediatric skull fracture phantom to meet a unique training requirement.     

Stem cell bioengineering strategies to widen the therapeutic applications of haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells from umbilical cord blood

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation has observed a significant increase in recent years, due to the unique features of UCB haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSCs) for the treatment of blood‐related disorders. However, the low cell numbers available per UCB unit significantly impairs the widespread use of this source for transplantation of adult patients, resulting in graft failure, delayed engraftment and delayed immune reconstitution. In order to overcome this issue, distinct approaches are now being considered in clinical trials, such as double‐UCB transplantation, intrabone injection or ex vivo expansion. In this article the authors review the current state of the art, future trends and challenges on the ex vivo expansion of UCB HSCs, focusing on culture parameters affecting the yield and quality of the expanded HSC grafts: novel HSC selection schemes prior to cell culture, cytokine/growth factor cocktails, the impact of biochemical factors (e.g. O₂) or the addition of supportive cells, e.g. mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC)‐based feeder layers) were addressed. Importantly, a critical challenge in cellular therapy is still the scalability, reproducibility and control of the expansion process, in order to meet the clinical requirements for therapeutic applications. Efficient design of bioreactor systems and operation modes are now the focus of many bioengineers, integrating the increasing 'know‐how' on HSC biology and physiology, while complying with the GMP standards for the production of cellular products, i.e. through the use of commercially available, highly controlled, disposable technologies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.