Venous graft repair following brachial artery thrombosis in a neonate

A case of venous graft repair to recover blood flow of a newborn's upper extremity, is described. Eventhough this complication remains uncommon, we emphasize on to avoid brachial artery for vascular monitorization and to perform microsurgical revision as elective procedure if conservative therapy is unsuccessful. Accepted: 4 February 1997     

A comparison of the incidence of the oculocardiac and oculorespiratory reflexes during sevoflurane or halothane anesthesia for strabismus surgery in children

We examined changes in the cardiorespiratory system of small children during surgical correction of strabismus with a laryngeal mask airway and spontaneous respiration with sevoflurane or halothane inhaled anesthesia. Fifty-one children, 1-7 yr old, having outpatient strabismus correction were randomized to sevoflurane (S) or halothane (H) in 66% nitrous oxide at 1.3 minimum alveolar concentration. Children breathed spontaneously through a laryngeal mask airway and were not pretreated with anticholinergics. The oculocardiac reflex (OCR), defined as a 20% decrease in heart rate (HR) from baseline, dysrhythmias, or sinoatrial arrest concomitant with ocular muscle traction occurred less frequently with sevoflurane than with halothane (S 38%, H79%, P = 0.009). The baseline HR was higher with sevoflurane (S 114 +/- 13 bpm, H 101 +/- 15 bpm, P = 0.002). The lowest HR occurred with halothane (S 95 +/- 22 bpm, H 73 +/- 19 bpm, P = 0.001). The incidence of dysrhythmias was higher in the halothane group (S 4%, H 42%, P = 0.004). Reductions in minute ventilation and PETCO(2) accompanied OCRs. Airway irritability was present with halothane only (S 0, H 3). Eleven children, of whom the majority had received halothane, required measures to correct SpO(2) < 95% or PETCO(2) > 60 mm Hg during maintenance anesthesia (S 11%, H 32%). Sevoflurane may be a more suitable anesthetic than halothane for operations involving traction on the ocular muscles with spontaneous respiration in children because of reduced incidence of OCR, airway irritability, and ventilatory disturbances. IMPLICATIONS: Some children experience a sudden slowing of the heart and impaired breathing when the surgeon pulls on the eye muscles during squint operations under anesthesia. Sevoflurane, a recently developed anesthetic vapor, may reduce this problem when compared with the established vapor halothane.     

Cholecystectomy: costs and health-related quality of life: a comparison of two techniques.

BACKGROUND: Outcomes of previous health economic evaluations comparing minilaparotomy cholecystectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy have been inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: To compare costs for minilaparotomy cholecystectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy and to study changes in quality of life induced by these operations. DESIGN: Single-blind, randomized controlled trial, run from 1 March 1997 to 30 April 1999. SETTING: One university hospital and four non-university hospitals in Sweden. MAIN MEASURE: : Cost and perceived health estimation according to the global quality of life instrument EuroQol-5D. RESULTS: Of 1719 cholecystectomy patients at five centres, 724 entered the trial and were treated with minilaparotomy cholecystectomy or laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 362 in each group. Total health care costs were less for minilaparotomy cholecystectomy than for laparoscopic cholecystectomy (median values US$2428 for minilaparotomy cholecystectomy versus US$2613 or US$3006 for laparoscopic cholecystectomy with 100 operations per year and reusable trocars or 50 operations per year and disposable trocars, respectively). There was no significant difference in total costs (including costs due to loss of production) between minilaparotomy cholecystectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy with 100 operations per year and reusable trocars in laparoscopic cholecystectomy (US$3731 versus US$3649, respectively). However, in calculations assuming 50 operations per year and disposable trocars in laparoscopic cholecystectomy, this technique was more expensive than minilaparotomy cholecystectomy (US$4042 versus US$3731). Health-related quality of life was slightly but significantly lower for the minilaparotomy cholecystectomy group 1 week after surgery. One month and 1 year postoperatively no difference between the randomized groups was found. CONCLUSION: Total costs did not differ between minilaparotomy cholecystectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy with high-volume surgery and disposable trocars, whereas laparoscopic cholecystectomy was more expensive with fewer operations and disposable trocars. The gain in health-related quality of life with laparoscopic cholecystectomy compared with minilaparotomy cholecystectomy was small and of limited duration.     

Asthma and Rhinitis in South America: How Different They are From Other Parts of the World

Asthma and rhinitis epidemiology has wide variations around the world. The aim of this review was verify the prevalence of asthma and rhinitis in South America and report differences from other regions of the world. We reviewed studies with International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) methodology in South America, Phases I and III. In South America the ISAAC Phase I ranked four countries among top ten in prevalence of asthma and three countries among top ten in prevalence of rhinoconjunctivitis. ISAAC Phase III showed little changes in asthma and rhinitis prevalence in South American countries. The prevalence increases of asthma and rhinitis in South American centers indicate that the burden of both is continuing to rise, but the differences in prevalence are lessening.     

Association between underweight and overweight/obesity with oral health among independently living Brazilian elderly

ObjectivePoor oral status, represented by partial/complete tooth loss, may lead to changes in food choice, which may ultimately lead to underweight, overweight, or obesity. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether poor oral status is associated with underweight or overweight/obesity, regardless of physical activity.MethodsThis cross-sectional study is part of a major project, The Frailty in Brazilian Elderly Study, carried out in Campinas, Brazil (2008–2009). The sample was composed of 900 independent-living older adults. Complete data were available for 875 individuals including sociodemographic, self-reported amount of medications used and eating difficulty questionnaire, smoking habit, depressive symptoms, physical activity, oral examination, and anthropometric assessments according to the WHO criteria. Body mass index was used as an outcome. Multinomial logistic regression was adjusted for confounding variables.ResultsThe mean age of the sample was 72.7 y (±5.81) and the prevalence of edentulism was 47.7%. Edentate individuals not wearing dentures were more likely to be underweight [odds ratio (OR) = 3.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14–13.64] and overweight/obese (OR = 2.88, 95%CI 1.12–7.40). Males (OR = 0.56, 95%CI 0.36–0.85) and those not using medications (OR = 0.41 95%CI 0.24–0.70) were less likely to be overweight/obese. Individuals who smoke (OR = 2.62, 95%CI 1.26–5.44) were more likely to be underweight. Older individuals with family income between 3.1 and 5 minimum wage (OR = 1.69, 95%CI 1.00–2.87) were more likely to be overweight/obese.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is one of the first studies associating poor oral health, represented by edentulism not rehabilitated with dentures, with unfavorable body mass, regardless of the two major confounders, physical activity and depression symptoms.     

Human apolipoprotein A-I Gly26Arg stimulation of inflammatory responses via NF-kB activation: Potential roles in amyloidosis?

The cascade of molecular events leading to Human apolipoprotein A–I (apoA–I) amyloidosis is not completely understood, not even the pathways that determine clinical manifestations associated to systemic protein deposition in organs such as liver, kidney and heart. About twenty natural variants of apoA–I were described as inducing amyloidosis, but the mechanisms driving their aggregation and deposition are still unclear. We previously identified that the mutant Gly26Arg but not Lys107-0 induced the release of cytokines and reactive oxygen species from cultured RAW 264.7 murine macrophages, suggesting that part of the pathogenic pathway could elicit of an inflammatory signal. In this work we gained deep insight into this mechanism and determined that Gly26Arg induced a specific pro-inflammatory cascade involving activation of NF-κB and its translocation into the nucleus. These findings suggest that some but not all apoA–I natural variants might promote a pro-oxidant microenvironment which could in turn result in oxidative processing of the variants into a misfolded conformation.