C.B‐17 SCID mice develop epicardial calcinosis with unaltered cardiac function

Inbred mouse strains are the most widely used mammalian model organism in biomedical research owing to ease of genetic manipulation and short lifespan; however, each inbred strain possesses a unique repertoire of deleterious homozygous alleles that can make a specific strain more susceptible to a particular disease. In the current study, we report dystrophic cardiac calcinosis (DCC) in C.B‐17 SCID male mice at 10 weeks of age with no significant change in cardiac function. Acquisition of DCC was characterized by myocardial injury, fibrosis, calcification, and necrosis of the tissue. At 10 weeks of age, 38% of the C.B‐17 SCID mice from two different commercial colonies exhibited significant calcinosis on the ventricular epicardium, predominantly on the right ventricle. The frequency of calcinosis was more than 50% for mice obtained from Taconic's Cambridge City colony and 25% for mice obtained from Taconic's German Town colony. Interestingly, the DCC phenotype did not affect cardiac function at 10 weeks of age. No differences in echocardiography or electrocardiography were observed between the calcinotic and non‐calcinotic mice from either colony. Our findings suggest that C.B‐17 SCID mice exhibit DCC as early as 10 weeks of age with no significant impact on cardiac function. This strain of mice should be cautiously considered for the study of cardiac physiology.     

Atención recibida al final de la vida en los servicios de urgencias desde la perspectiva de los cuidadores: estudio cualitativo

Objective

To discover the experiences of end-of-life patients attended by the emergency services, through the discourse of the family caregivers who accompanied the family member in this care transit.

不同营养状况与慢性阻塞性肺病患者预后的相关性分析

<正>慢性阻塞性肺病(chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases,COPD)在临床呼吸科发病率与病死率排名首位,使患者的生命受到严重威胁[1]。COPD患者由于消化、呼吸功衰退,营养吸收功能减弱,同时气道阻力升高,减弱了肺部顺应性,所以伴发能量不足型营养障碍的机率较高[2-3]。出现营养不良的患者往往疾病加重,影响预后,而临床COPD患者疾病严重程度与预后又同肺功能变化密切相关[4]。本文分析了不同营养状况与COPD患者预后的相关性。