Gestational malaria: HELLP syndrome mistaken diagnosis

Malaria is one of the most important parasitic infections in Mexico and Latin America. Here we report a case of a 21 year-old female with 38.4 weeks of pregnancy and previous hospitalization due to malaria. Showing a thick drop negative test she was referred to Mexico City Hospital de la Mujer with presumptive diagnosis of preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome. During her stay in ICU she developed malarial paroxysm and Plasmodium vivax was identified, conducting to specific therapy.     

Physical principles, methodology, consistency, and safety in Doppler assessment of the fetal-placental circulation

Introduction of Doppler ultrasound in obstetrical practice has changed both management and understanding of several diseases that put at risk women and them fetuses. To establish necessary basics and correctly apply this technique, this review will focus in physical principles, acquisition methods, consistency, and safety issues of Doppler ultrasound, in order to improve precision, accuracy and interpretation of this methodology.     

Efectividad y seguridad de la terapia de rescate en pacientes VIH

IntroductionThe treatment used after failure of at least two lines of antiretroviral treatment in HIV patients is called salvage therapy. The study aims to describe the characteristics of HIV patients subjected to such a regimen, and determine the safety and effectiveness of treatment with tipranavir (TPV), darunavir (DRV), enfuvirtide (ENF) and etravirine (ETR) combined with an optimised antiretroviral regimen.Patients and methodsHIV patients treated with ENF, TPV, DRV or ETR in a tertiary hospital infectious diseases department subjected to at least 12 weeks treatment. The patient characteristics are described and the effectiveness, durability and adherence to the treatment analysed.ResultsThere were 28 patients studied, with an average of 10 treatment regimens prior to starting salvage therapy (SD = 3.5; 95 % CI, 8.9-11.1). A total of 85.7 % patients had treatment adherence > 90 %. For ENF, 70.8 % of the treatment lines were suspended during follow-up. After salvage therapy, the percentage of patients with viral load (VL) < 400 copies/ml doubled, and cases with undetectable CV (< 50 copies/ml) almost tripled. The treatments used did not change the liver or kidney profiles; however, they changed the lipid profile and increased the percentage of patients with hyperglycaemia.ConclusionsThe salvage therapy studied was effective. Good adherence to the therapy is critical for its effectiveness.     

The Role of Alpha Tocopheryl Succinate (α-TOS) as a Potential Anticancer Agent

In recent years, efforts to improve cancer therapy have focused on developing new anticancer agents, such as mitocans. These agents include vitamin E analogues and suppress cancer by inducing apoptosis by targeting mitochondria. Alpha tocopheryl succinate (α-TOS) is the most effective form of vitamin E analogues causing inhibition of proliferation and apoptosis of cancer cells. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that α-TOS selectively kills tumor cells with little or no effect on normal cells. Treatment with α-TOS shows great promise for future clinical applications, as it causes cell death, at least in part, by selectively inducing apoptosis by mitochondrial destabilization. This review presents an overview of perspectives on α-TOS and the potential uses of α-TOS in cancer treatment and other clinical applications.