Normal growth of nephrotic children during long-term alternate-day prednisone therapy

Statural growth has been evaluated in 20 prepubertal nephrotic children who received alternate-day prednisone therapy for a year at least. Bone age was assessed in 16 of these children after 1-4 years of therapy. During the follow-up 12 children showed variations in height standard deviation score (SDs) below 0.5, 7 gained more than 0.5 SDs and 1 lost 0.5 SDs. Bone age fell within the normal range for chronological age in all the children studied. On the while alternate-day prednisone therapy does not affect statural growth and bone maturation of children with lipoid nephrosis.     

Infracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage: a diagnostic challenge

Infracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage can be erroneously diagnosed as respiratory distress of several different etiologies during the neonatal period. A cross-sectional echocardiography study with Doppler color flow mapping can preoperatively determine the precise drainage site and pulmonary venous return pattern, thereby allowing cardiac surgery to be performed promptly, prior to any clinical deterioration.     

Circulating Neutrophils and Liver Injury in Rat Models of Experimental Alcoholic Liver Disease

The present study examined the relationship between circulating neutrophils and liver injury in two widely used rat models of chronic ethanol administration. Hematological alterations, liver histopathology, and biochemical indices of liver injury were assessed in rats receiving chronic ethanol by oral liquid diet feeding (Lieber-DeCarli method) or by continuous intragastric infusion (Tsukamoto-French method). Oral administration of ethanol did not affect circulating neutrophil counts, but resulted in minimal liver injury characterized by elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (79%), increased liver mass (15%), and moderate steatosis. In contrast, rats receiving ethanol by continuous intragastric infusion showed an ∼ 2-fold increase in circulating neutrophils, and a moderate degree of liver injury, indicated by a 169% elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase and a 2-fold increase in liver mass. Liver biopsies from these rats showed severe steatosis and scattered necrotic hepatocytes, and some neutrophil infiltrates. To determine whether an increase in the number of circulating neutrophils could potentiate liver injury induced by oral ethanol feeding, rats were treated with human recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor at a dose of 100 μg/kg/day (sc) for 4 days. Treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor resulted in a 6- to 9-fold increase in circulating neutrophil counts. Nevertheless, this change did not enhance the minor degree of ethanol-induced liver injury in this model. Our results indicate that, whereas neutrophil leukocytosis accompanies more severe manifestations of ethanol hepatotoxicity in rats, this condition per se does not directly induce or exacerbate ethanol-induced liver injury.     

A search for natural bioactive compounds in Bolivia through a multidisciplinary approach. Part VI. Evaluation of the antimalarial activity of plants used by Isoceño-Guaraní Indians

Seventy-seven plant extracts (corresponding to 62 different species) traditionally used by the Isoce?o-Guaraní, a native community living in the Bolivian Chaco, were screened for antimalarial activity in vitro on Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine sensitive strain (F32), and on ferriprotoporphyrin (FP) IX biocrystallisation inhibition test (FBIT). Among these extracts, seven displayed strong in vitro antimalarial activity, and 25 were active in the FBIT test. Positive results on both tests were recorded for six extracts: Argemone subfusiformis aerial part, Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco bark, Castela coccinea leaves and bark, Solanum argentinum leaves and Vallesia glabra bark. Results are discussed in relation with Isoce?o-Guaraní traditional medicine. Further studies to be undertaken in relation with these results are also highlighted.     

Emerging thermotolerant Campylobacter species in healthy ruminants and swine

Campylobacters other than Campylobacter jejuni or C. coli were isolated in 35% of 343 farms recently analyzed in northern Spain. This study was aimed at identifying at the species level the 120 isolates collected (21 ovine, 52 beef cattle, 44 dairy cattle, and 3 porcine) by species-specific polymerase chain reaction and 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. Thus, five species were identified: Campylobacter hyointestinalis (90 isolates), Campylobacter lanienae (12), Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus (10), Campylobacter lari (1), and Campylobacter sputorum (1). Ambiguous results were obtained for six isolates. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA gene sequence placed three of them (cattle isolates) as an intermediate clade between C. hyointestinalis subsp. hyointestinalis and C. fetus, two ovine isolates formed a new clade clustering with Campylobacter concisus despite sharing higher similarity with Campylobacter mucosalis, and one porcine isolate shared similarly high homology with C. lanienae and C. hyointestinalis subsp. lawsonii. C. hyointestinalis was the predominant species, particularly in cattle, but it was also isolated from sheep and swine. C. lanienae was only found in sheep, C. fetus in cattle and sheep, and C. lari in a single dairy cattle farm. Although previously reported, the isolation of C. lari from cattle is not common, and this is the first report of C. lanienae and C. hyointestinalis in sheep. This study demonstrated the wide distribution in livestock of several emerging zoonotic Campylobacter species and provided valuable information on their host animal reservoirs.     

A case of hemidiaphragmatic paralysis after an anti-G suit failure

This paper reports a case of left hemidiaphragmatic paralysis in an instructor pilot and his later recuperation. This incident was provoked by a failure in the anti-G suit, which remained inflated after the aircraft completed the maneuver that had originated the inflation. The spontaneous recuperation of both the respiratory functional test and the neurophysiological pattern are consistent with a Type II Seddon's axonotmesis of the phrenic nerve. Considering the short time of regeneration (6 months), this lesion must have involved the distal portion of the phrenic nerve.