A rare case of oxacillin-induced leukocytoclastic vasculitis

Leukocytoclastic vasculitis is a pathology whose mechanisms are associated with the process of vascular inflammation. It is estimated that up to 24% of the cases of vasculitis are drug-related, with beta-lactam antimicrobials being one of the pharmacological groups commonly associated with this adverse outcome. Oxacillin, a semisyntheticpenicillin, has a beta-lactam ring that confers biological activity and is most frequently associated with reports of leukocytoclastic vasculitis. However, similar cases related to this antimicrobial are rare, with only three cases identified in the literature. Against this background, we report a fourth case of leukocytoclastic vasculitis in a 56-yearold man, on oxacillin treatment, who developed the vasculitis on the 3rd day of antimicrobial use. In addition to oxacillin suspension, he was treated with 125 mg/day of intravenous methylprednisolone for seven days, followed by 20 mg/day of oral prednisone for four days, resulting in satisfactory remission of the skin lesions and no new adverse outcomes. This case provides further evidence supporting the potential causal relationship between the use of oxacillin and the development of leukocytoclastic vasculitis, albeit a rare occurrence. The positive response to therapeutic interventions, such as oxacillin suspension and corticosteroid treatment, underscores the effectiveness of these approaches in addressing this complication.A vasculite leucocitoclástica é uma patologia cujos mecanismos estão associados ao processo de inflamação vascular. Estima-se que até 24% dos casos de vasculite estão relacionados ao uso de fármacos, sendo os antimicrobianos beta-lactâmicos um dos grupos farmacológicos comumente associados a este desfecho adverso. A oxacilina, uma penicilina semissintética, possui um anel beta-lactâmico que confere atividade biológica e está associada com maior frequência a relatos de vasculite leucocitoclástica. No entanto, casos semelhantes relacionados a esse antimicrobiano são raros, sendo identificados apenas três casos na literatura. Diante desse contexto, relatamos um quarto caso de vasculite leucocitoclástica em um homem de 56 anos, em tratamento com oxacilina, que desenvolveu avasculite no 3º dia de uso do antimicrobiano. Além da suspensão da oxacilina, ele foi tratado com 125 mg/dia de metilprednisolona endovenosa por sete dias, seguido de 20 mg/dia de prednisona oral por quatro dias, resultando em remissão satisfatória das lesões cutâneas e ausência de novos desfechos adversos. Este caso corrobora a possível relação causal entre o uso de oxacilina e o desenvolvimento da vasculite leucocitoclástica, apesar de sua ocorrência ser rara. A resposta favorável às intervenções terapêuticas, incluindo a suspensão da oxacilina e o uso de corticosteroides, destaca a eficácia dessas abordagens no tratamento dessa complicação

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

Método fenotípico automatizado versus método manual na identificação de micro-organismos isolados de hemoculturas: desfechos clínicos e microbiológicos

Introdução: A automação laboratorial é cada vez mais utilizada em microbiologia, no entanto, poucos estudos avaliam desfechos clínicos em comparação aos métodos tradicionais. No Brasil, nenhum estudo com esse objetivo foi detectado. Objetivo: Analisar os impactos clínicos e microbiológicos após implantação de método fenotípico automatizado em um serviço de microbiologia. Métodos: Realizamos estudo observacional e retrospectivo no laboratório de microbiologia referente a exame de hemocultura de pacientes da Unidade de Terapia Intensiva (UTI). Os dados foram coletados de pacientes internados entre janeiro/2014 a dezembro/2015. Analisou-se o tempo de internação, número de terapias empíricas, óbitos e dados relacionados ao isolamento microbiológico. A amostra foi obtida por conveniência. Para a comparação entre os desfechos foram empregados os testes t de Student e Qui-quadrado de Pearson. O programa empregado foi o Stata release, versão 11, sendo considerados significativos valores de p<0,05. Resultados: Foram avaliados 472 pacientes. Não houve redução na prescrição empírica de antimicrobianos (54,7% vs 45,3%; p=0,33), tempo de internação na UTI (14,5 dias vs 15,8 dias p=0,78) e na taxa de óbitos (54,4% vs 45,6%; p=0,36). Similarmente, o perfil de agentes isolados em ambos os métodos não parece ser discrepante, no entanto, houve um aumento de 44,7% no número de isolados microbianos (76 vs 110) com melhor caracterização dos mesmos. Conclusão: A automação do laboratório de microbiologia não impactou no tempo de internação, mortalidade na UTI e no número de terapias empíricas. No entanto, a identificação e o isolamento de microrganismos melhoraram

Dois casos de hiperpigmentação cutânea induzido pela polimixina B

Introdução: O processo de hiperpigmentação cutânea envolve mecanismos bioquímicos e imunológicos que estimulam a melanogênese e apesar da nefrotoxicidade consistir na reação adversa mais relevante da polimixina B, o antimicrobiano também está associado a esta alteração. Relato do caso: Caso1: paciente masculino diagnosticado com Linfoma de Hodgkin, que desenvolveu hiperpigmentação cutânea após iniciar tratamento com meropenem, anidulafungina e polimixina B devido a um quadro de choque séptico. Caso 2: paciente masculino admitido na UTI por rebaixamento do nível de consciência e suspeita de IAMCSST, diagnosticado com endocardite e pericardite, que também apresentou hiperpigmentação cutânea durante terapia com anfotericina B e polimixina B. Conclusão: Após criteriosa avaliação da ordem cronológica e medicamentos utilizados pelos pacientes, concluímos que a polimixina B desencadeou a hiperpigmentação em ambos. Por fim, baseado ao mecanismo desta reação e aos achados científicos, estudos clínicos que possam evidenciar um provável efeito farmacológico com o uso de antagonistas H2 são necessários

Crude extract from Libidibia ferrea (Mart. ex. Tul.) L.P. Queiroz leaves decreased intra articular inflammation induced by zymosan in rats

Abstract Background Libidibia ferrea (L. ferrea) has been used in folk medicine to treat several conditions and to prevent cancer. This study performed a chromatographic analysis of the crude aqueous extract of Libidibia ferrea (Mart. ex. Tul.) L.P. Queiroz (LfAE) leaves and evaluated its in vivo antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential. Methods Polyphenols present in LfAE were characterized by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Anti-inflammatory activity was studied in an experimental model of zymosan-induced intra-articular inflammation, conducted in Wistar rats treated with LfAE at the doses of 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg by gavage. Synovial fluid was collected for global leukocyte count, for spectrocopical UV/VIS analysis of myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, total glutathione and malondialdehyde (MDA), and for quantification of inflammatory cytokines IL1-β and TNF-α by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Synovial membrane was collected for histological analysis. The level of statistical significance was p < 0.05. Results HPLC detected concentrations of 1.56 (0.77) %m/m for ellagic acid and 1.20 (1.38) %m/m for gallic acid in LfAE leaves. Treatment with LfAE at all doses significantly decreased the leukocyte influx into the synovial fluid (p < 0.001) and myeloperoxidase activity (p < 0.001), an important marker of neutrophils. LfAE at doses of 100 (p < 0.05), 200 and 300 mg/kg (p < 0.001) also reduced the levels of MDA. LfAE at doses of 200 and 300 mg/kg significantly decreased the levels of IL-1β (p < 0.05) and TNF-α (p < 0.001). All doses of LfAE resulted in increased levels of total glutathione (p < 0.001). Histopathological findings confirmed a reduction of the inflammatory infiltrate in the rats treated with LfAE at a dose of 200 mg/kg (p < 0.05). Conclusion LfAE has an important anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effect on intra-articular inflammation

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora