Distribution of p75 and trk-neurotrophin receptor proteins in adult human sympathetic ganglia

We investigated the expression of immunoreactivity (IR) for low- (p75) and high-affinity (trk proteins) neurotrophin-receptor proteins in adult human paravertebral-sympathetic ganglion neurons. Mouse monoclonal antibodies against the pan-neurotrophin-receptor p75, and rabbit polyclonal antibodies against specific epitopes of the intracytoplasmic domain on trk neurotrophin-receptor proteins were used in fresh unfixed and formaldehyde-fixed paraffin-embedded sympathetic ganglia. All adult human paravertebral-sympathetic neurons displayed trkA neurotrophin-receptor-like protein IR, 10% express trkC neurotrophin-receptor-like protein IR, 37–44% show p75 IR, and no IR was obtained for trkB neurotrophin-receptor-like protein. The intensity of immunostaining was independent of the neuron size. Labelling of non-neuronal tissues, especially blood-vessel walls, was observed for p75, trkA and trkC neurotrophin-receptor proteins. These results indicate that overlapping exists in the expression of p75 and trk neurotrophin-receptor proteins in adult human paravertebral-sympathetic neurons, and suggest that neurotrophins might act on these neurons.     

Opportunistic infections

Opportunistic infections (OIs) remain a serious problem for HIV-positive patients who remain vulnerable to fungal, parasitic, and bacterial infections. OIs continue to cause severe illness and death in many HIV-positive patients. Researchers are looking at ways to diagnose and prevent PCP, HIV-related cancers, CMV, resistant Candida, and MAC. Treatment regimens are outlined, and results from a number of studies are outlined.     

Intravenous Leiomyomatosis of the Uterus

Three cases of intravenous leiomyomatosis (IVL) of the uterus, a rare benign smooth-muscle tumor, are described. A preoperative diagnosis of IVL was not made in any of the patients, all of which presented with a pelvic mass with the presumptive diagnosis of leiomyoma. Surgical exploration confirmed the presence of uterine mass and two of the three cases showed extra-uterine extension into the ovarian or uterine veins. Histological examination demonstrated a fascicular pattern of bland spindle-shaped smooth-muscle cells, which extended to veins inside the myometrium or to extrauterine veins. This was confirmed by immunohistochemical stain for desmin and factor VIII. Despite their histological benignity, these lesions have a tendency to metastasize and are closely related to the conditions called “benign metastasizing leiomyoma” and “intracaval mass and cardiac extension”. The primary treatment of IVL is hysterectomy and excision of any extrauterine tumor, when technically feasible. Anti-estrogenic therapy has been suggested as potentially useful in controlling of unresectable tumor. According to the literature, the follow-up must be long and periodic postoperative ultrasonic or magnetic nuclear resonance imaging studies may be useful in detecting growth of residual intravascular tumor.     

Fumonisins in foods from Cordoba (Argentina), presence and genotoxicity.

Fumonisins B(1), B(2)yB(3) (FB(1), FB(2)yFB(3)), are a group of toxins produced by different mold species, Fusarium moniliforme and Fusarium proliferatum being the most important ones. Its compounds were tested in chromosome aberrations (CA), sister chromatid exchange (SCE), and micronucleus (MN) in human lymphocytes, and, in Allium cepa (onion), the chromosomal aberrations (CA) assay was used. Moreover, the presence of fumonisins and their producer moulds was determined in different food substrata in Cordoba city, Argentina. Cytogenetic studies using FB(1), FB(2) and FB(3) levels gave positive results for the higher concentrations (5 and 10mug/g) with FB(1). As regards the cytogenetic aspect of FB(1), we found an increase in the incidence of genetic damage measured by chromosomal aberrations, sister chromatid exchange, micronuclei and chromosomal aberrations in Allium cepa. These results indicate that human lymphocytes cells and plants cells (Allium cepa) have a very sensitive cellular response to the mycotoxin fumonisin B(1) as observed at the highest concentrations.     

The role of associated injuries on outcome of blunt trauma patients sustaining pelvic fractures

In order to identify the prognostic factors and to evaluate the impact of associated injuries in the outcome of patients with pelvic fractures, a retrospective review of the medical records of patients admitted with a pelvic fracture during a 42-month period was carried out. Demographic data, the mechanism of injury, the physiologic status on admission, associated injuries, pelvic fracture classification, complications and mortality were analysed. One hundred and three patients were included in the study. Fifty-nine were male, and the mean age was 34. The mean Revised Trauma Score (RTS) and Injury Severity Score (ISS) were 7.1 and 20, respectively. Pedestrian vs vehicle (59%), was the most frequent mechanism of injury. Twenty patients died (19%) most frequently due to "shock". Complications developed in 37 patients (36%), pneumonia being the most frequent. Age greater than 40 years (p=0.02), "shock" upon admission (p=0.002), a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)<9, Head AIS>2 (p<0. 001), Chest AIS>2 (p=0.007), and abdominal AIS>2 (p=0.03) all correlated with increased mortality. No correlation between pelvic fracture classification or fracture stability with mortality was observed. The outcome of patients with pelvic fractures due to blunt trauma correlates with the severity of associated injuries and physiological derangement on admission rather than with characteristics of or the type of fracture.     

Evaluation of an educational module on dengue and Aedes aegypti for schoolchildren in Honduras]

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a special course on environmental health and dengue, given to primary school students and intended to promote behavioral changes in the mothers of those students that would lead to the safe handling of water, adequate disposal of trash, and control of household breeding sites of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito vector for dengue. METHODS: In the period from April to November 2002 a community field trial was carried out that included four public schools in the city of Comayaguela, Honduras. Two of the schools formed the intervention group, and the two others made up the comparison or control group. The data collection activities before and after the intervention included knowledge tests for the schoolchildren and the teachers; surveys of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the students' mothers; entomological surveys (systematic checking in order to find water containers, to search for mosquito larvae) in the homes of the schoolchildren; in-depth interviews with the students' mothers; observation in the classrooms; and postintervention focus group with the teachers. RESULTS: During the intervention period the largest epidemic of classical dengue ever in the history of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, occurred. That event prompted the Secretariat of Health to undertake large-scale control activities. In the two intervention schools there was a significant increase in the students' knowledge of the following three variables: dengue caused by a virus, life cycle of the vector, and reduction of breeding sites, which is the most effective measure for controlling the vector (P < 0.0001 for all those increases in knowledge). There were also significant increases in the knowledge of the same variables among the teachers in the intervention schools: dengue caused by a virus (P = 0.03), life cycle of the vector (P = 0.01), and reduction of breeding sites (P = 0.004). Reducing the number of breeding sites as being the best measure for controlling Aedes aegypti was the knowledge variable that showed the greatest change among the mothers in the intervention group (P = 0.02). The values for two of the entomological indices (the House index and the Breteau index) were better in the intervention group than in the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant. However, there was a statistically significant difference in the Breteau index values between the two control group schools and the one intervention school where the education course was implemented more adequately than in the other intervention school. CONCLUSIONS: The application of educational interventions directed to schoolchildren, as a part of a comprehensive plan for controlling Aedes aegypti, is an effective way to raise the awareness of teachers and parents with respect to the problem of dengue, and it also helps in encouraging family members to be involved in reducing breeding sites in the home. In moving to control the dengue vector, this strategy should take into consideration the involvement not only of families but also of civic and public institutions in the community. Given our results, it appears that this approach of using a special course for schoolchildren can constitute a fundamental pillar in the strategy for integrated dengue control.     

Ablação por Cateter é Superior a Drogas Antiarrítmicas como Tratamento de primeira linha para Fibrilação Atrial: uma Revisão Sistemática e Metanálise

BackgroundCatheter ablation is a well-established therapy for rhythm control in patients who are refractory or intolerant to anti-arrhythmic drugs (AAD). Less is known about the efficacy of catheter ablation compared with AAD as a first-line strategy for rhythm control in atrial fibrillation (AF).ObjectivesWe aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of catheter ablation vs. AAD in patients naïve to prior rhythm control therapies.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched for randomized controlled trials that compared catheter ablation to AAD for initial rhythm control in symptomatic AF and reported the outcomes of (1) recurrent atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATs); (2) symptomatic AF; (3) hospitalizations; and (4) symptomatic bradycardia. Heterogeneity was examined with I²statistics. P values of < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsWe included five trials with 994 patients, of whom 502 (50.5%) underwent catheter ablation. Mean follow-up ranged from one to five years. Recurrences of AT (OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.25-0.52; p<0.001) and symptomatic AF (OR 0.32; 95% CI 0.18-0.57; p<0.001), and hospitalizations (OR 0.25; 95% CI 0.15-0.42; p<0.001) were significantly less frequent in patients treated with catheter ablation compared with AAD. Symptomatic bradycardia was not significantly different between groups (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.18-1.65; p=0.28). Significant pericardial effusions or tamponade occurred in eight of 464 (1.7%) patients in the catheter ablation group.ConclusionThese findings suggest that catheter ablation has superior efficacy to AAD as an initial rhythm control strategy in patients with symptomatic AF.     

Multi-population generalizability of a deep learning-based chest radiograph severity score for COVID-19

To tune and test the generalizability of a deep learning-based model for assessment of COVID-19 lung disease severity on chest radiographs (CXRs) from different patient populations.A published convolutional Siamese neural network-based model previously trained on hospitalized patients with COVID-19 was tuned using 250 outpatient CXRs. This model produces a quantitative measure of COVID-19 lung disease severity (pulmonary x-ray severity (PXS) score). The model was evaluated on CXRs from 4 test sets, including 3 from the United States (patients hospitalized at an academic medical center (N = 154), patients hospitalized at a community hospital (N = 113), and outpatients (N = 108)) and 1 from Brazil (patients at an academic medical center emergency department (N = 303)). Radiologists from both countries independently assigned reference standard CXR severity scores, which were correlated with the PXS scores as a measure of model performance (Pearson R). The Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) technique was used to visualize the neural network results.Tuning the deep learning model with outpatient data showed high model performance in 2 United States hospitalized patient datasets (R = 0.88 and R = 0.90, compared to baseline R = 0.86). Model performance was similar, though slightly lower, when tested on the United States outpatient and Brazil emergency department datasets (R = 0.86 and R = 0.85, respectively). UMAP showed that the model learned disease severity information that generalized across test sets.A deep learning model that extracts a COVID-19 severity score on CXRs showed generalizable performance across multiple populations from 2 continents, including outpatients and hospitalized patients.