Reoperation in patients with heart valve prostheses. Analysis of risk factors affecting perioperative mortality

Sixty-two patients with at least one prosthetic heart valve each underwent a total of 70 reoperations. Their cases were analysed with special regard to the risk of perioperative mortality and to the factors affecting that risk. The age of the patients studied was 47 +/- 14.6 years (mean +/- 1 SD), and 4.75 +/- 4 years had elapsed since their previous operation. A total of 85 prostheses were implanted at the time of initial surgery. Forty-nine of those were mitral, 28 were aortic, and 8 were tricuspid prostheses. There were 48 mechanical valves, 24 bioprostheses and 13 Carpentier rings (9 of the latter being mitral and 4 tricuspid). At reoperation (n = 70) 95 valves required treatment. Eighteen patients died following their first reoperation (18/62, 29%), and two more died after a second reoperation (2/8, 25%). Actuarial probability of hospital survivors being alive 8-9 years following reoperation was 47 +/- 15%. It was found by multiple regression analysis that the duration of cardiopulmonary bypass (p less than 0.01), surgical priority (p less than 0.05) and the patient's age (p less than 0.05) were the only independent predictors of hospital death. A review of the literature and our own results suggest that surgical problems encountered with reoperation have unfavourably affected surgical results in the past. Objective risk factors are currently more related to the operative outcome. For these to be neutralised, patients with dysfunctioning prosthetic heart valves should be operated at an early stage before they reach a critical one. Only patients with stable, mild dysfunction unlikely to worsen acutely may probably be followed-up safely.     

Diagnosis and management of severe atherosclerosis of the ascending aorta and aortic arch during cardiac surgery: focus on aortic replacement

Objective: Severe atherosclerosis of the ascending aorta and arch frequently causes difficulties during heart operations, hindering surgical manoeuvres and potentially leading to systemic embolism. The aim of our study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of replacing the atherosclerotic ascending aorta in this setting. Methods: Aortic atherosclerosis was characterized by epiaortic ultrasonographic scanning in 90.1% of 1927 consecutive adult patients undergoing cardiac operations, and by computed tomographic chest scanning in selected cases. Thirty-six of the 152 patients requiring major derangements from our standard practice due to aortic atherosclerosis underwent replacement of the ascending aorta and constitute the study group. Replacement of the aorta was extended to the arch in 13 cases (36.1%). It was associated with single or multiple valve surgery in 34 patients (94.4%) and with coronary revascularization in 30 (83.3%). Two patients (5.6%) underwent coronary bypass grafting without valve surgery. A cryoablation procedure was associated in three patients with permanent atrial fibrillation. Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest was employed in 34 patients (94.4%), while proximal aortic disease allowed conventional distal crossclamping in 2 cases. The risk of operative mortality was estimated by the logistic EuroSCORE both with and withholding the variable ‘surgery of the thoracic aorta’. All survivors were followed-up for 1–41 months (16 ± 12). Results: Two patients died in the hospital (5.6%) and two during follow-up, for a cumulative survival of 91.3% and 85.6% at 1 and 3 years, respectively (hospital deaths included). The hospital death rate compared favourably with the expected estimates of 25.5% (p < 0.05) and 10.3% (p = 0.67) obtained by the EuroSCORE full model and without ‘aortic surgery’, respectively. In-hospital adverse neurologic events occurred in six patients (16.7%), including stroke in one patient (2.8%) and neurocognitive disturbances in five (13.9%), although they were all transient and cleared before discharge. Excess bleeding required re-exploration in four patients (11.1%), and one more patient underwent emergency grafting for acute postoperative coronary occlusion. Ten patients (38.5%) were intubated for longer than 24 h. Conclusion: Despite significant perioperative morbidity, replacement of the severely atherosclerotic aorta is worth consideration to avert expectedly higher death and stroke rates.     

Heparin-interacting sites of bovine lactoferrin are involved in anti-adenovirus activity

Lactoferrin, a member of the transferrin family of approximately 80 kDa, consists of a single polypeptide chain folded in two symmetric, globular lobes (N- and C-lobes), each able to bind one ferric ion. This glycoprotein, found in physiological fluids of mammals, plays an important role in immune regulation and in defense mechanisms against bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Although the antiviral activity of lactoferrin is one of the major biological functions of such protein, the mechanism of action is still under debate. We have investigated both the role of tryptic fragments of bovine lactoferrin and the mechanism of lactoferrin antiviral effect toward adenovirus infection in HEp-2 cells. The results obtained demonstrated that the anti-adenovirus activity of lactoferrin is mediated by the N-terminal half of the protein as the N-lobe was able to inhibit adenovirus infection, even if at lower extent than undigested lactoferrin, whereas C-lobe was ineffective. The results also showed that the anti-adenovirus action of lactoferrin and of its N-terminal peptide lactoferricin took place on virus attachment to cell membrane, mainly through competition for common glycosaminoglycan receptors. The data provide evidence that the anti-adenovirus activity of lactoferrin is mediated mainly by the cluster of positive charges at the N-terminus of whole molecule and that the N-terminal peptide lactoferricin alone is sufficient to prevent infection.     

Genetic relationship between Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from nasopharyngeal and cerebrospinal fluid of two infants with Pneumococcal Meningitis

The molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from carriage and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concurrently recovered from the same individual has not yet been reported. By using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, we demonstrated the genetic linkage among strains from CSF and nasopharynges of two children with pneumococcal meningitis.     

Group‐specific component (GC) in curiaú and pacoval,two african‐derived brazilian populations

The group‐specific component (GC) system is of interest in anthropological genetic studies because the distribution of its subtypes distinguishes among major ethnic groups. The GC system was analyzed in Curiaú and Pacoval, two remnant Quilombo populations (African‐derived populations) from the Brazilian Amazon. There was no significant statistical difference in allelic frequencies between the two populations or between them and three other African‐derived Brazilian populations (Mimbó, Sítio Velho, and Gaucinha in Northeastern Brazil). These populations share similarities among themselves and with African populations (high frequencies of GC*1F and lower frequencies of GC*1S), which may reflect the influence of a high level of African contribution to their formation, but there is a clear difference between them and Europeans and South American Indians. It is suggested that the GC system is a useful marker for studying relationships between single populations and major ethnic groups, but does not discriminate between populations which share the same parental stock. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 13:718–720, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Corticospinal excitability and sleep: a motor threshold assessment by transcranial magnetic stimulation after awakenings from REM and NREM sleep

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a recently established technique in the neurosciences that allows the non-invasive assessment, among other parameters, of the excitability of motor cortex. Up to now, its application to sleep research has been very scarce and because of technical problems it provided contrasting results. In fact delivering one single suprathreshold magnetic stimulus easily awakes subjects, or lightens their sleep. For this reason, in the present study we assessed motor thresholds (MTs) upon rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep awakenings, both in the first and in the last part of the night. Taking into account that a full re-establishment of wake regional brain activity patterns upon awakening from sleep needs up to 20-30 min, it is possible to make inferences about the neurophysiological characteristics of the different sleep stages by analyzing the variables of interest immediately after provoked awakenings. Ten female volunteers slept in the lab for four consecutive nights. During the first night the MTs were collected, following a standardized procedure: 5 min before lights off, upon stage 2 awakening (second NREM period), upon REM sleep awakening (second REM period), upon the final morning awakening (always from stage 2). Results showed that MTs increased linearly from presleep wakefulness to REM sleep awakenings, and from the latter to stage 2 awakenings. There was also a time-of-night effect on MTs upon awakening from stage 2, indicating that MTs decreased from the first to the second part of the night. The increase in corticospinal excitability across the night, which parallels the fulfillment of sleep need, is consistent with the linear decrease of auditory arousal thresholds during the night. The maximal reduction of corticospinal excitability during early NREM sleep can be related to the hyperpolarization of thalamocortical neurons, and is in line with the decreased metabolic activity of motor cortices during this sleep stage. On the contrary, the increase of MTs upon REM sleep awakenings should reflect peripheral factors. We conclude that our findings legitimate the introduction of the TMS technique as a new proper tool in sleep research.     

Seasonal malaria transmission and variation of anopheline density in two distinct endemic areas in Brazilian Amazonia

Studies on seasonal anopheline fauna variation were performed in two distinct settlements in the State of Rond?nia, Brazil: one at the Madeira River banks (Portuchuelo) with stable native Amazonian population; the other at an inland lumber-extracting farm (Urupá) in dry land, in which adults are mostly migrants. During a 6-yr period (1994-2000), 8,638 adult anophelines were collected: 2,684 in Urupá and 5,954 in Portuchuelo. Anopheles darlingi represented >95% of total mosquitoes caught. Dissection of 4,424 A. darlingi females yielded a very low sporozoite infection index below 0.1%. Oocysts were found in both localities in approximately 0.1% of dissected mosquitoes. Determination of the hour biting rates disclosed seasonal variations in both localities. However, in Portuchuelo, mosquito density peaked at the acme of the rainy season, whereas at Urupá it peaked in the dry season. The increase in mosquito density and incidence of malaria cases were coincident. The high mosquito densities observed in the riverine settlement of Portochuelo sector B, which permits evaluation in > 10,000 mosquitoes' bites/person/year, could explain, in spite of the low mosquito's infection index, the previously described development of natural immunity in the local population that is not observed in the dry land agroindustrial settlement of Urupá.     

Psychoneurodendocrine correlates of lymphocyte subsets during healthy ageing

Ageing has been associated with increased cortisol levels and absolute counts of T lymphocytes with memory phenotype. Although the mechanisms underlying these changes are still unknown, it has been speculated that this could be related to a dysfunction in FAS/CD95 expression in naive or memory cells. In this study, we investigated the role of psychoneuroendocrine variables in regulating CD95 expression on lymphocyte subsets. Forty-six elderly subjects (65-91 years) and 33 young adults (20-40 years) were recruited accordingly the SENIEUR protocol. The psychological status was measured by structured clinical interviews, salivary cortisol was assessed along the day (9, 12 and 22h) and peripheral blood lymphocytes were immunophenotyped. The elderly were more stressed, depressed and anxious than the young subjects. Cortisol levels were increased in the elderly, indicating an activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. We observed reduced counts of CD45RA+CD95+ cells in the elderly compared to young adults. The elderly subjects also showed a reduced expression of CD3 and CD62L in contrast to increased CD95 expression in CD45RA+ cells. The emotional state was positively correlated with the lymphocyte markers. Our data suggest the healthy ageing is associated with psychoneuroendocrine alterations that may be implicated in the regulation of CD95 expression on peripheral T cells.     

Increased COVID-19 Lockdown Burden in Italian Adults with Gastrointestinal Diseases

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes not only severe illness but also detrimental effects associated with the lockdown measures. The present study aimed to evaluate reported lifestyle changes in a cohort of adults in Italy, including physical exercise, food choices, and psychological wellbeing, after two months of lockdown. Methods: A web survey on social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) of 32 multiple-choice questions aiming to evaluate the impact of the national COVID-19 lockdown in a sample of Italian adults. Results: We received 1378 complete responses (women 68.3%, mean age 39.5 ± 12.5 years). The percentage of participants reporting regular exercise decreased during lockdown (52 vs. 56.5%). The vast majority of people continued to consume the three traditional meals per day, but the consumption of meat, fish, and eggs significantly decreased. Women reported more frequent anxiety, sadness, fear, and feelings of insecurity than men. The factors predicting the worst outcome during the lockdown were being a woman, low education and income, gastrointestinal diseases. Conclusion: The lockdown has had a limited impact on food choices and physical exercise in Italian adults of our series, since most of them made an effort to improve their lifestyle. However, women with gastrointestinal diseases reported more frequent negative feelings and poor adaptation to the lockdown.