Hematoma Pararetal Pós-Parto

A puerperal vulvovaginal hematoma is not an unusual finding after vaginal deliveries. However, most of them are small and self-limited. Even though there are multiple risk factors identified, the majority of cases happen in low risk settings. We here report a case of a nulliparous young woman who developed a massive pararretal hematoma after an uncomplicated vaginal delivery. Surgical intervention was useful but selective embolization was required. Our goal is to highlight the importance of being aware of this potential complication of a vaginal delivery and the need of an early diagnosis in order to offer the most suitable treatment and prevent severe damages.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Randomized Clinical Trial of Balloon Occlusion versus Conventional Microcatheter Prostatic Artery Embolization for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Purpose: To compare balloon occlusion prostatic artery embolization (bPAE) with conventional microcatheter PAE (cPAE). Materials and methods: In this single-center trial, between November 2017 and November 2018, 89 patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia were randomly assigned to cPAE (n = 43) or bPAE (n = 46). All patients received embolization with 300-500 μm Embosphere microspheres and were evaluated before and 1 and 6 months after PAE. Primary outcome measure was change from baseline in International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). Student t test was used for between-group comparisons of change from baseline, and paired t test was used for within-group comparisons. Results: At baseline, groups were identical (P > .05). Unilateral PAE was performed in 4 patients receiving cPAE and 3 patients receiving bPAE (9.30% and 6.52%, P = .708). Procedural and fluoroscopy times, dose area product, air kerma, embolic volume, and mean prostate-specific antigen (PSA) 24 hours after PAE did not differ between groups (P > .05). Coils were used in 6 patients receiving cPAE and 4 patients receiving bPAE (14.0% and 8.70%, P = .51). Assessments at 6 months after PAE showed mean IPSS reduction was 7.58 ± 6.88 after cPAE and 8.30 ± 8.12 after bPAE (P = .65); mean prostate volume reduction was 21.9 cm3 ± 51.6 (18.2%) after cPAE and 6.15 cm3 ± 14.6 (7.3%) after bPAE (P = .05); mean PSA reduction was 0.9 ng/mL ± 2.22 after cPAE and 0.22 ng/mL ± 1.65 after bPAE (P = .10). Penile skin lesions (n = 3) and rectal bleeding (n = 2) were documented only in patients receiving cPAE (11.9%, P = .01). No major adverse events occurred. Conclusions: bPAE is as effective as cPAE in treating benign prostatic hyperplasia with a potential to reduce nontarget embolization.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CT-Guided Percutaneous Embolization of a Rasmussen Aneurysm with Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol Copolymer

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Ranking System for Reference Libraries of DNA Barcodes: Application to Marine Fish Species from Portugal

BACKGROUND: The increasing availability of reference libraries of DNA barcodes (RLDB) offers the opportunity to the screen the level of consistency in DNA barcode data among libraries, in order to detect possible disagreements generated from taxonomic uncertainty or operational shortcomings. We propose a ranking system to attribute a confidence level to species identifications associated with DNA barcode records from a RLDB. Here we apply the proposed ranking system to a newly generated RLDB for marine fish of Portugal. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Specimens (n = 659) representing 102 marine fish species were collected along the continental shelf of Portugal, morphologically identified and archived in a museum collection. Samples were sequenced at the barcode region of the cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (COI-5P). Resultant DNA barcodes had average intra-specific and inter-specific Kimura-2-parameter distances (0.32% and 8.84%, respectively) within the range usually observed for marine fishes. All specimens were ranked in five different levels (A-E), according to the reliability of the match between their species identification and the respective diagnostic DNA barcodes. Grades A to E were attributed upon submission of individual specimen sequences to BOLD-IDS and inspection of the clustering pattern in the NJ tree generated. Overall, our study resulted in 73.5% of unambiguous species IDs (grade A), 7.8% taxonomically congruent barcode clusters within our dataset, but awaiting external confirmation (grade B), and 18.7% of species identifications with lower levels of reliability (grades C/E). CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: We highlight the importance of implementing a system to rank barcode records in RLDB, in order to flag taxa in need of taxonomic revision, or reduce ambiguities of discordant data. With increasing DNA barcode records publicly available, this cross-validation system would provide a metric of relative accuracy of barcodes, while enabling the continuous revision and annotation required in taxonomic work

The pharmacological regulation of cellular mitophagy

Small molecules are pharmacological tools of considerable value for dissecting complex biological processes and identifying potential therapeutic interventions. Recently, the cellular quality-control process of mitophagy has attracted considerable research interest; however, the limited availability of suitable chemical probes has restricted our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved. Current approaches to initiate mitophagy include acute dissipation of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) by mitochondrial uncouplers (for example, FCCP/CCCP) and the use of antimycin A and oligomycin to impair respiration. Both approaches impair mitochondrial homeostasis and therefore limit the scope for dissection of subtle, bioenergy-related regulatory phenomena. Recently, novel mitophagy activators acting independently of the respiration collapse have been reported, offering new opportunities to understand the process and potential for therapeutic exploitation. We have summarized the current status of mitophagy modulators and analyzed the available chemical tools, commenting on their advantages, limitations and current applications