Advanced systemic sclerosis complicated by pulmonary hypertension and complete atrioventricular block: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disorder of unknown etiology characterized by fibrosis of the skin and visceral organs, in which the heart is frequently (40-70% of patients) and severely involved. Pulmonary hypertension affects 10-15% of patients with SSc and is one of the most important complications adversely influencing their survival. CASE REPORT: The case report presents a 59-year-old male patient with advanced systemic sclerosis whose initial examination revealed pulmonary hypertension, rhythm and atrioventricular conduction disturbances, and elevated level of NT-proBNP. After six months the patient deteriorated; an increase in NT-proBNP level and progression of pulmonary hypertension were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The described case is followed by a discussion of cardiovascular involvement in systemic sclerosis and emphasizes that heart involvement in SSc may have very serious clinical implications.     

Absolute and relative activities of platinum-complexes on human tumors as evaluated by an antimetabolic in vitro assay

An in vitro assay, which evaluates drug effect on ³H-thymidine incorporation, was used to investigate the absolute and relative activities of cisplatin (DDP), carboplatin (CBDCA) and iproplatin (CHIP) on 317 specimens from untreated tumors, including breast and ovarian cancers and malignant melanomas. Similar activities were generally observed for DDP and CHIP, whereas CBDCA exhibited a lower, although not significantly different cytotoxicity on breast and ovarian cancers. The relative activities of Platinum analogues were analyzed on 239 two-way drug sensitivity comparisons. The overall agreement rates ranged from 80.2 to 83.9% for the different comparisons. High coresistance, from 61.1 to 93.8%, was observed for all the comparisons, regardless of the tumor type. Cosensitivity rates were poor for breast and ovarian cancers, from 0 to 37.5%, whereas for melanomas an association in sensitivity was observed in 80% of the cases.     

Hepatotoxicity in HIV-infected children and adolescents on antiretroviral therapy.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Adverse drug reactions are a significant problem in patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). We determined liver enzyme elevation frequencies in HIV-infected children and adolescents receiving ART, and their association with risk factors. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study, at the Pediatrics Immunodeficiency Division, University Hospital, Universidade Estadual de Campinas. METHODS: Medical records of 152 children and adolescents (54.6% male; median age 7.48 years) were analyzed, with a mean of 2.6 liver enzyme determinations per patient. Clinically, patients were classified in categories N (6), A (29), B (78) and C (39). Serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were evaluated. Hepatotoxicity was scored as grade 1 (1.1-4.9 times upper limit of normality, ULN), grade 2 (5.0-9.9 times ULN), grade 3 (10.0-15.0 times ULN) and grade 4 (> 15.0 times ULN). To assess hepatotoxicity risk factors, odds ratios (OR) and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for age, gender, TCD4+ cell count, viral load and medication usage were calculated. RESULTS: We observed grade 1 hepatotoxicity in 19.7 % (30/152) patients. No cases of grade 2, 3 or 4 were detected. There was a significant association between hepatotoxicity and use of sulfonamides (OR, 3.61; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.50-8.70; aOR, 3.58; 95% CI, 1.44-8.85) and antituberculous agents (OR, 9.23; 95% CI, 1.60-53.08; aOR, 9.05; 95% CI, 1.48-55.25). No toxicity was associated with ART. CONCLUSIONS: One fifth of patients experienced mild hepatotoxicity, attributed to antituberculous agents and sulfonamides. Our results suggest that ART was well tolerated.     

Increased GABAergic transmission aggravates nucleus basalis magnocellularis lesion-induced behavioral deficits

Quisqualic acid NBM lesions had no effect on water maze performance, but slightly impaired passive avoidance acquisition. GammavinylGABA treatment alone had no effect on the passive avoidance and water maze performance, but aggravated acquisition deficit in rats subjected to NBM lesioning. However, gammavinylGABA-treated NBM-lesioned rats reached control level of performance.     

Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction in Middle-aged Patients

Background: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) after noncardiac surgery is strongly associated with increasing age in elderly patients; middle-aged patients (aged 40-60 yr) may be expected to have a lower incidence, although subjective complaints are frequent.

Methods: The authors compared the changes in neuropsychological test results at 1 week and 3 months in patients aged 40-60 yr, using a battery of neuropsychological tests, with those of age-matched control subjects using Z-score analysis. They assessed risk factors and associations of POCD with measures of subjective cognitive function, depression, and activities of daily living.

Results: At 7 days, cognitive dysfunction as defined was present in 19.2% (confidence interval [CI], 15.7-23.1) of the patients and in 4.0% (CI, 1.6-8.0) of control subjects (P < 0.001). After 3 months, the incidence was 6.2% (CI, 4.1-8.9) in patients and 4.1% (CI, 1.7-8.4) in control subjects (not significant). POCD at 7 days was associated with supplementary epidural analgesia and reported avoidance of alcohol consumption. At 3 months, 29% of patients had subjective symptoms of POCD, and this finding was associated with depression. Early POCD was associated with reports of lower activity scores at 3 months.     

High affinity neurotrophin receptors in the human pre-term newborn, infant, and adult cerebellum

The immunohistochemical occurrence of the high affinity neurotrophin (NT) receptors trkA, trkB, and trkC is shown in the pre-term newborn, infant, and adult human post-mortem cerebellum. Immunoreactive neuronal perikarya and processes were observed in all specimens examined, where they appeared unevenly distributed in the cerebellar cortical layers and deep nuclei, and showed regional differences among cerebellar lobules and folia. The trk receptor-antibodies, tested by Western blot on human cerebellum homogenates, revealed multiple immunoreactive bands for trkA and single bands for trkB and trkC. The results obtained show the tissue localization of the trk receptor-like immunoreactivity in the human cerebellum from prenatal to adult age. The analysis for codistribution of the receptors with the relevant ligand and among the receptors in discrete cortical and deep nuclei tissue fields shows a wide variety of conditions, from a good similarity in terms of type and density of labeled structures, to a lack of correspondence, and suggests the possibility of colocalization of trk receptors with the relevant neurotrophin and among them in the cerebellar cortex. These results sustain the concept that the neurotrophin trophic system participates in the development, differentiation, and maintenance of the human cerebellar connectivity and support the possibility of a multifactorial trophic support for the neurotrophins through target-derived and local mechanisms.     

High Stroke Volume Para-aortic Counterpulsation Device versus Centrifugal Pump in Cardiogenic Shock: Experimental Study

p < 0.001), the tension time index (712 ± 381 versus 1333 ± 694, p < 0.01), and the double product (5629 ± 2574 versus 7440 ± 3294, p < 0.01) were significantly lower during assistance with the PACD than with the CBP. It was concluded that PACD is at least as effective as CBP for restoring hemodynamic status during acute experimental cardiogenic shock. Moreover, the PACD unloads the left ventricle more effectively than CBP, making it suitable for left ventricular mechanical support in cases with reversible myocardial damage.     

Dolichol content in isolated sinusoidal liver cells after in vivo chronic treatment with thioacetamide.

The content of dolichol, an isoprenoid present in all biological membranes, was determined in isolated sinusoidal liver cells after treatment of rats for 2 and 4 months with a low dosage of the hepatotoxin thioacetamide. The significant decrease in dolichol observed in hepatocytes after 2 months might be explained by peroxidation of the isoprenoid. At the same time point, retinol was retained, and decreased only after 4 months of treatment. After 4 months of treatment therefore both lipids decreased. In a subfraction of hepatic stellate cells, Ito-1 cells, the main storage site of vitamin A, dolichol decreased significantly only after 4 months. A remarkable difference from hepatocytes is that in Ito-1 cells retinol content significantly decreased after 2 months of treatment. In another subfraction, Ito-2 cells, the content of the two isoprenoids decreased in parallel. This heterogeneous subfraction might represent those transitional hepatic stellate cells that, while losing retinol, are in the process of differentiating into myofibroblasts secreting extracellular matrix components. In Kupffer cells and sinusoidal endothelial cells, impairment of dolichol might be observed later, only after 4 months of treatment, while retinol decreases uniformly over time. Starting after two months of treatment, the decrease of dolichol and the increase of retinol in hepatocytes, at the same time as retinol decreases in hepatic stellate cells, might be taken as an early index of incipient liver injury due to thioacetamide. This hypothesis is discussed with regard to a role of dolichol in the modulation of membrane fluidity for intracellular and intercellular retinol transport.     

Effect of artifacts due to flowing blood on the reproducibility of phase-contrast measurements of myocardial motion

The reproducibility of myocardial motion trajectories calculated from cine phase-contrast (PC) velocity data is reduced by artifacts due to the inconsistent motion of intracardiac blood. Spatial presaturation reduces these artifacts but requires a longer sequence TR, with a potentially negative effect on trajectory accuracy and reproducibility. We investigated the effect of spatial presaturation on trajectory reproducibility. A midventricular transaxial slice was imaged in five normal volunteers. The same slice was imaged three times each with sequences using spatial presaturation or not. Because the most serious artifacts originate in the heart chambers and propagate in the phase-encoded direction, myocardial regions that were in line with the heart chambers (in the phase-encode direction) had the highest artifact level in the scans without spatial presaturation. The reproducibility of trajectories for regions placed in these areas (the anterior wall, septum and posterior wall in the transaxial scans with phase encoding in the anterior-posterior direction) improved by a factor of two when presaturation was used (P < .001). In areas that were not in line with the heart chambers (eg, the anterior aspect of the lateral wall in the transaxial scans), the effect of presaturation was not significant. These results correlate well with the measured reduction in artifact level. The reproducibility of myocardial motion trajectories over large areas of the heart is improved to approximately 1 mm when presaturation is used. Therefore, use of presaturation is recommended for myocardial motion studies using cine PC velocity data.