Current status of laboratory and imaging diagnosis of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis continues to be a devastating disease process for very low birth weight infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. The aetiology and pathogenesis of necrotizing enterocolitis are not definitively understood. It is known that necrotizing enterocolitis is secondary to a complex interaction of multiple factors that results in mucosal damage, which leads to intestinal ischemia and necrosis. Advances in neonatal care, including resuscitation and ventilation support technology, have seen increased survival rates among premature neonates and a concomitant detection in the incidence of this intestinal disease.Diagnosis can be difficult, and identifying infants at the onset of disease remains a challenge. Early diagnosis, which relies on imaging findings, and initiation of prompt therapy are essential to limit morbidity and mortality. Moreover, early management is critical and life-saving.This review summarizes what is known on the laboratory and instrumental diagnostic strategies needed to improve neonatal outcomes and, possibily, to prevent the onset of an overt necrotizing enterocolitis

Silibinin modulates lipid homeostasis and inhibits nuclear factor kappa B activation in experimental nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with increased liver-related mortality. Disturbances in hepatic lipid homeostasis trigger oxidative stress and inflammation (ie, lipotoxicity), leading to the progression of NASH. This study aimed at identifying whether silibinin may influence the molecular events of lipotoxicity in a mouse model of NASH. Eight-week-old db/db mice were fed a methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet for 4 weeks and treated daily with silibinin (20 mg/kg intraperitoneally) or vehicle. Liver expression and enzyme activity of stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 and acyl-CoA oxidase, and expression of liver fatty acid-binding protein were assessed. Hepatic levels of reactive oxygen species, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and nuclear factor kappa B (NFkB) activities were also determined. Silibinin administration decreased serum alanine aminotransferase and improved liver steatosis, hepatocyte ballooning, and lobular inflammation in db/db mice fed an MCD diet. Gene expression and activity of stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 were reduced in db/db mice fed an MCD diet compared with lean controls and were increased by silibinin; moreover, silibinin treatment induced the expression and activity of acyl-CoA oxidase and the expression of liver fatty acid-binding protein. Vehicle-treated animals displayed increased hepatic levels of reactive oxygen species and TBARS, 3-NT staining, and iNOS expression; silibinin treatment markedly decreased reactive oxygen species and TBARS and restored 3-NT and iNOS to the levels of control mice. db/db mice fed an MCD diet consistently had increased NFkB p65 and p50 binding activity; silibinin administration significantly decreased the activity of both subunits. Silibinin treatment counteracts the progression of liver injury by modulating lipid homeostasis and suppressing oxidative stress-mediated lipotoxicity and NFkB activation in experimental NASH

Prognostic indicators of successful endoscopic sclerotherapy for prevention of rebleeding from oesophageal varices in cirrhosis: a long-term cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Although band ligation is now recommended for prevention of rebleeding from oesophageal varices in cirrhosis, sclerotherapy is still widely used. Patients submitted to chronic sclerotherapy undergo several endoscopies and experience a large number of serious complications. However, long-term outcome is poorly defined. AIMS: To assess the clinical course and prognostic indicators of patients undergoing chronic sclerotherapy for prevention of variceal rebleeding as a basis for future evaluation of long-term band ligation outcome. METHODS: Prospective cohort study; prognostic analysis by the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: A total of 218 consecutive cirrhotic patients (37 Child class A, 154 B, 27 C) were enrolled in the study Varices were obliterated in 139 (64%) patients in a mean of 5 (+/-2.6) sessions and recurred in 58/139 (41.7%) within one year. A total of 132 (60%) patients experienced 283 rebleeding episodes and 73 (33%) died. Bleeding from oesophageal ulcers was the most serious complication causing 14% of all rebleeding episodes. Significant prognostic indicators of sclerotherapy outcome were: Child-Pugh class for variceal obliteration; gastric varices and platelet count for recurrence of varices; failure to obliterate varices, variceal size and gastric varices for rebleeding; blood urea nitrogen and failure to obliterate varices for death. Presence of gastric varices was the only prognostic indicator for death in the 79 patients not achieving variceal obliteration. A mean of 10 endoscopies and of 6 hospital admissions were needed per each patient with an estimated cost of US dollars 7154 per patient during the first two years of therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Sclerotherapy is a very demanding and costly treatment, and is associated with frequent and serious side-effects. The probability of treatment failure is significantly higher in Child C patients with gastric varices. Alternative treatments should be considered for these patients

Effect of crotamine, a cell-penetrating peptide, on blastocyst production and gene expression of in vitro fertilized bovine embryos.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-06T10:29:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cnpgl2014ZygoteEffectofcrotamine.pdf: 409383 bytes, checksum: d2225aa35a48dc4200a05127e91eab4f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-04201

Prevalence and trends of markers of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and human Immunodeficiency virus in Argentine blood donors

BACKGROUND: Transfusion-transmitted infections are a major problem associated with blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to determine prevalence and trends of HBV, HCV and HIV in blood donors in Argentina. METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out in blood donors of 27 transfusion centers covering the whole country over a period of eight years (2004-2011). Serologic screening assays for HBsAg, anti-HBc, anti-HCV, and anti-HIV were performed in all centers and nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) was performed in 2 out of the 27 centers. RESULTS: The 2,595,852 samples tested nationwide from 2004 to 2011 showed that the prevalence of HBsAg decreased from 0.336% to 0.198% (p < 0.0001), that of anti-HBc from 2.391% to 2.007% (p < 0.0001), that of anti-HCV from 0.721% to 0.460%, (p < 0.0001) and that of anti-HIV from 0.208% to 0.200 (p = 0.075). The prevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV was unevenly distributed among the different regions of the country. Two out of 74,838 screening- negative samples were positive in NAT assays (1 HIV-RNA and 1 HCV-RNA); moreover, HBV-DNA, HCV-RNA and HIV-RNA were detected in 60.29, 24.54 and 66.67% of screening-positive samples of the corresponding assays. As regards donors age, positive HBV-DNA and HCV-RNA donors were significantly older than healthy donors (46.6, 50.5 and 39.5 y respectively, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Argentina has a low prevalence of HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV in blood donors, with a decreasing trend for HBsAg, anti-HBc and anti-HCV but not for anti-HIV over the last 8 years. The uneven distribution of transfusion-transmitted infections prevalence among the different regions of the country highlights the need to implement regional awareness campaigns and prevention. The discrepancy between samples testing positive for screening assays and negative for NAT assays highlights the problem of blood donors who test repeatedly reactive in screening assays but are not confirmed as positive upon further testing. The uneven distribution of age between healthy donors and NAT-positive donors could be related to changes in risks of these pathogens in the general population and might be attributed to a longer exposure to transmission risk factors in elderly people.Fil: Flichman, Diego Martin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Blejer, Jorgelina L.. Fundación Hemocentro; ArgentinaFil: Livellara, Beatriz I.. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Ré, Viviana Elizabeth. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bartoli, Sonia. Centro regional de Hemoterapia Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Bustos, Juan A.. Banco de sangre San Jorge; ArgentinaFil: Ansola, Claudia P.. Provincia de Mendoza. Servicio de Hemoterapia; ArgentinaFil: Hidalgo, Susana. Hospital Dr. Enrique Vera Barros; ArgentinaFil: Cerda, Martín E.. Hospital Dr. Lucio Molas; ArgentinaFil: Levin, Alicia E.. Provincia de Mendoza. Servicio de Hemoterapia; ArgentinaFil: Huenul, Adriana. Hospital Artémides Zatti; ArgentinaFil: Riboldi, Victoria. Hospital Regional Río Gallegos; ArgentinaFil: Treviño, Elena M. C.. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Salamone, Horacio J.. Fundación Favaloro; ArgentinaFil: Nuñez, Felix A.. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Fernández, Robert J.. Fundación Hemocentro; ArgentinaFil: Reybaud, Juan F.. Fundación Favaloro; ArgentinaFil: Campos, Rodolfo Hector. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología. Cátedra de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Evaluación de comunidades microbianas edáficas mediante CLPP : estandarización de una técnica de laboratorio para reemplazar microplacas comerciales

129-136Variation of soil-microbial communities are good bioindicators of human impacts in soils, such as different soils management or contamination. Considering that traditional methods of isolation and taxonomic analysis do not consider the functionality of the microbial community, Community-Level Physiological Profiles (CLPP) emerged as a complementary methodology to study microbial communities. Several studies have shown that Biolog® EcoPlates® are very useful for determining physiological differences between communities from different samples. However, commercial microplates have some disadvantages which led us to the idea of replacing them by microplates prepared in the laboratory (Laboratory's). Here, we compared both types of microplates using soil samples from a bioremediation assay. We compared a) the average well color development for each sample, b) the averages of absorbance values for each type of microplate, c) Principal Components, and d) Shannon-Weaver's diversity index (H). Although Laboratory's showed significantly lower Average absorbance values than EcoPlates®, the principal component analysis and diversity index did not differ between types of microplates. In conclusion, both types of microplates showed a relatively similar ability to detect differences in the CLPP of the treatments studied. Consequently, microplates prepared in laboratory are a reliable and economical tool to study the physiology of soil microbial communities

Evaluación de comunidades microbianas edáficas mediante CLPP : estandarización de una técnica de laboratorio para reemplazar microplacas comerciales

129-136Variation of soil-microbial communities are good bioindicators of human impacts in soils, such as different soils management or contamination. Considering that traditional methods of isolation and taxonomic analysis do not consider the functionality of the microbial community, Community-Level Physiological Profiles (CLPP) emerged as a complementary methodology to study microbial communities. Several studies have shown that Biolog® EcoPlates® are very useful for determining physiological differences between communities from different samples. However, commercial microplates have some disadvantages which led us to the idea of replacing them by microplates prepared in the laboratory (Laboratory's). Here, we compared both types of microplates using soil samples from a bioremediation assay. We compared a) the average well color development for each sample, b) the averages of absorbance values for each type of microplate, c) Principal Components, and d) Shannon-Weaver's diversity index (H). Although Laboratory's showed significantly lower Average absorbance values than EcoPlates®, the principal component analysis and diversity index did not differ between types of microplates. In conclusion, both types of microplates showed a relatively similar ability to detect differences in the CLPP of the treatments studied. Consequently, microplates prepared in laboratory are a reliable and economical tool to study the physiology of soil microbial communities

Deletion of the GABAA α2-subunit does not alter self dministration of cocaine or reinstatement of cocaine seeking

Rationale GABAA receptors containing α2-subunits are highly represented in brain areas that are involved in motivation and reward, and have been associated with addiction to several drugs, including cocaine. We have shown previously that a deletion of the α2-subunit results in an absence of sensitisation to cocaine. Objective We investigated the reinforcing properties of cocaine in GABAA α2-subunit knockout (KO) mice using an intravenous self-administration procedure. Methods α2-subunit wildtype (WT), heterozygous (HT) and KO mice were trained to lever press for a 30 % condensed milk solution. After implantation with a jugular catheter, mice were trained to lever press for cocaine (0.5 mg/kg/infusion) during ten daily sessions. Responding was extinguished and the mice tested for cue- and cocaine-primed reinstatement. Separate groups of mice were trained to respond for decreasing doses of cocaine (0.25, 0.125, 0.06 and 0.03 mg/kg). Results No differences were found in acquisition of lever pressing for milk. All genotypes acquired self-administration of cocaine and did not differ in rates of self-administration, dose dependency or reinstatement. However, whilst WT and HT mice showed a dose-dependent increase in lever pressing during the cue presentation, KO mice did not. Conclusions Despite a reported absence of sensitisation, motivation to obtain cocaine remains unchanged in KO and HT mice. Reinstatement of cocaine seeking by cocaine and cocaine-paired cues is also unaffected. We postulate that whilst not directly involved in reward perception, the α2-subunit may be involved in modulating the “energising” aspect of cocaine’s effects on reward-seeking

Microorganismos del suelo y sustentabilidad de los agroecocistemas

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Microorganismos del suelo y sustentabilidad de los agroecocistemas

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